A bronze tsuba

Description:

Japan, sign.: Yasuchika utsushi Umetada Narinobu und kakihan (Umetada Narinobu), late Edo period, about 1800
6.7 x 6.4 x 0.45 cm (0.25 cm mimi)
Tate-maru-gata. Bronze, iroe-taka-zogan in shakudo, gold and copper, shishiai-bori, sekigane in copper. Depicting a Tiger and mythical creatures. Ko-kaku-mimi.
From an old German private collection, published in: Günther Heckmann, ‘Tsuba’. H.U.B Verlag, Nürtingen, 1995, T 87
The inscription "Yasuchika utsushi Umetada Narinobu" = " (made by)Umetada Narinobu (as a) copy of Yasuchika", calls attention to the fact that Narinobu had produced this object as a direct copy of a Yasuchika - tsuba, or in imitation of one. What is strange about the object, is the illustrated motif of the tiger in combination with the heads of the "baku". Usually a baku has a head with the nose of a tapir, small tusks and long hair, on the body of a lion, with the tail of an ox. The head of a baku on a dragon's body is not known in realm of mythology