Tsuba: Umetada “Budō-mon no tsuba”

Signature/mei: Umetada

Material: shakudō ground, various soft metals

Era/jidai: Edo

Dimension(h/w/rim): 66.8 x 61.1 x 4.1 mm

Custom made box with cushion

NBTHK: Tokubetsu Hozon (2022)

Price: €9375 / $10350 / ¥1500000

About the Umetada School

The Umetada School has existed since the end of the Muromachi period and has worked for the Ashikaga Shogun’s family for several generations. The Umetada masters were very versatile; In addition to swords, they also made habaki, seppa, fuchi kashira and tsuba. The Umetada were also responsible for shortening blades and creating kin-zogan signatures, as well as engraving Horimono.

Menuki, kogai and kozuka are not known from the Umetada, which is mainly because the masters of the Goto school were commissioned with this work.

The design “Budō-mon no zu tsuba” translates to “tsuba with the design of grapevines”, a design, for which some artist of the Umetada school are famous for. A tsuba with a similar design “Budō ni kochō-mon no zu tsuba” (see comparison 1) by Umetada Myōju is even designated as jūyō-bunkazai. Both tsuba have nearly the same size and are made from a polished shakudō plate, in which the grapes are inlaid in a technique called hirā-zōgan.
The shape of the tsuba is tatemaru-gata (oval) with a fukurin (rim) made also from shakudō.
The tsuba has one hitsu-ana and some sukashi elements. Umetada tsuba are known to have sukashi elements, particular also for this design, for example as the ito-sukashi on the tsuba in comparison 4.
The sukashi on the presented tsuba are placed very delicately below the hitsu ana and underline the design very tastefully. A true masterpiece with the signature “Umetada”.