Item No. 108 – Iron Tsuba with gold 76.9 cm x 7.12 cm x 0.56 cm

Subject of peony and shi-shi in sunken relief cave or caverns. Signed Yoshihiro- age unknown.

Could this Yoshihiro be from the Myochin lineage ? If so it would be of considerable age but somehow it feels younger in the hand.

High grade workmanship all round with painstaking details on the rock carving and a highly animated shi-shi almost leaping free from the plate. The peony, eye and bud appear to have been carved from solid gold . The plate itself showing pleasing grain structure , not untypical of Myochin , hence the question above regarding artist school.

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Hey Guys, Haynes 11577 uses the wrong Yoshi (吉). Bob’s Yoshi is 喜, so his tsuba is by Noda Yoshihiro Haynes 11592 who worked in Edo and lived from 1693-1765. Started in the Nara School and then studied with Yasuchika. He worked for the Daimyo Matsudaira Yoshisada and was listed in the Soken Kisho. I checked the mei in Wakayama and it looks good to me.

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Hi Bob, on the design of Item No. 108, it is a rare combination of two different Shishi motifs. One is Shishi-Botan (“Liondog and Peony”) which means regal or ultimate power because the Shishi is considered the King of the Beasts and the Botan (Peony) is the Queen of the Plants. The second motif is “shishi no ko otoshi” (shishi dropping its cub), where the shishi throws its young off a cliff and will only raise the cubs that survive and climb back up the cliff (tough parenting…) The motif is often represented by just the parent on a cliff or rock or the cub falling or climbing up or down a cliff (often suggesting but omitting one of these elements). Sometimes these elements are represented on different parts of the tosogu (so we shouldn’t break up these sets….) This motif was to remind the Samurai to be a great leader and rigorously train themselves and their subordinates.

source: https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/34920-a-series-of-fittings-or-how-not-to-build-a-collection/page/14/