A fine and rare documentary copper tsuba
Shonai School, dated 1853
Of slightly irregular oval form, inlaid and engraved with 16 signed designs in iro-e takazogan, honzogan, katakiri-bori and other techniques comprising, clockwise from top:

Obverse: Plum blossom, signed Yoshimasa with kao (Kumagai Yoshimasa, 1824-1891, Haynes H11808); Butterfly, signed Chikurintei Masanari with kao (unrecorded); Hornet, signed Yurakusai Sekibun (Katsurano Sekibun, 1790-1872, Haynes, no.H08118); Tiger lily, signed (on the side) Ikkin (Funada Ikkin, 1812-1863, Haynes H01864); Flying swallow and waves, signed Masachika Nyudo with kao (Watanabe Masachika, dated work of 1859, Haynes H03870); Catfish, signed Yoshinobu with seal Kumagai (Kumagai Yoshinobu, 1790-1867, Haynes H11984); Uguisu (warbler), signed Fumiko (Katsurano Fumiko, Haynes, no.H00502).

Reverse: Bat, signed Fumihide (Watanabe Fumihide, dated work of 1861, Haynes H00498); Bat, signed Jusansai Bunju (Bunju, aged 13; Katsurano Sekibun, 1838-1912, Haynes H08119); Crescent moon, signed Mitsunaka with kao (Washida Mitsunaka, 1830-1889, Haynes H05306); Geese, signed Kazunobu (Kimura Kazunobu, Haynes H11360); Withered tree, signed Kyukodo with kao (Washida Mitsutoki, 1801-1862, Haynes H05455); Horse and stream, signed Mitsuchika with kao (Washida Mitsuchika, 1823-1902, Haynes H05142); Kingfisher on taro stalk, signed Ryuunsai (Ryuunsai of Shonai, Haynes H07649); Flowering iris, signed Ariyoshi with kao (Watanabe Ariyoshi, died 1866); Spider and web, signed Arinobu with kao (Watanabe Arinobu, dated work of 1848, Haynes H00134).

With a 30-character inscription. 8.5cm (3 3/8in).
FOOTNOTES
鍔　昆虫・動物・植物十六図　庄内派　1853年

銘「義正（花押）; 竹林亭雅也（花押）; 遊洛斎赤文; 一琴; 雅哉入道（花押）; 義信　熊谷（丸印）;　文子;　文秀;　十三才文壽;　光中（花押）;　一信;　求古堂（花押）;　光親（花押）;　龍雲斎;　在珍（花押）;　在信（花押）」

記「内藤盛業閑弄銅鐔而令諸家氣韵揮　昌平嘉永六癸丑年仲冬一陽来復日」

The sixteen artists involved in the creation of this remarkable tsuba were all active in the Shonai fief in the middle of the nineteenth century. While several of them are relatively obscure, others such as Katsurano Sekibun and Funada Ikkin were among the greatest metalworkers of their day. It is interesting to note that one of the artists was only 13 years of age and that another, very unusually, was a woman, Fumiko, daughter of the older Sekibun (1790-1872) whose son Fumihide also took part in the project. All the biographical references (except Ariyoshi) are to Robert E. Haynes, The Index of Japanese Sword Fittings and Associated Artists, Ellwangen, Germany, Nihon Art Publishers, 2001, but in some cases this important documentary piece enables us to refine Haynes’s dating.

The long inscription, dated to the winter solstice of 1853, records that Naito Seigyo was idly toying with a copper tsuba and ordered a group of metalworkers to decorate it just as they wished. Naito (birth name Noboru) was a learned senior samurai retainer of the Shonai fief who compiled a number of important works of local history, see for example Otani Tamaki, ‘Tenpo juichinen Shonai-han kunigae hantai undo no hassei yoin ni tsuite (On the origins of the anti-relocation movement in the Shonai fief in 1840)’, p.16, viewable at http://www7b.biglobe.ne.jp/~y-mihara/2005.1.20ooya.pdf

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/22338/lot/17/