My first antique tsuba

Just purchased this and awaiting arrival.

Robert H.

Good start It is a real tsuba :D

You could try to decipher the signature.

But the eBay seller takaramon has done that already...

So, what do you want to know?

Thanks,

I see the choshu, and haji I read is area, what is the saku? Also, what is your opinion? I was taken with the style from hello.

Robert H.

I like it a lot. Some nice carving there, and it seems to be in good condition. A great start.

Brian

Saku - made (this). Masatomi, Choshu. Nice tsuba, well done Now you'll want to check if the signature is genuine.

Thanks for the help!

Just figured out the "made" part. Thought about it and checked "Japanese sword glossary". The tsuba has NTK Authentication. Hope that is good. Pretty new to nihonto. I just purchased a Shigaseki Kanenobu Katana from Aoi Art and bought the tsuba for that blade. I am going to make fuchi and kashira and buy or make bamboo menuki in my spare time. That should take about 30 years!

Robert

Very nice Choshu tsuba. A good purchase for your first one.

Thank you Raven2.

Robert

Hi Robert - Thanks for sharing your first tsuba selection with us. I've always enjoyed good Choshu tsuba; the tsuba at right that I identify with is Choshu. I've always heard that those tsuba using the town name "Hagi" in their mei are a step up from those without this place-name. I think those are also the more earlier made tsuba, if memory serves correctly. It's interesting that Choshu tsuba show both sides of the theme. If you would have a plum branch and blossomes, one side would show the front of the blossoms, the other side, the backside of the blossoms. A them like you have, I wonder how that is handled.

Just me, but it always kind of puzzles me why everyone (today?) wants to "dress up" a sword to their taste. Your AOI sword purchase is likely in shirasaya; your tsuba is very enjoyable and in a box for nice presentation. Why not just enjoy each of these as they are; stand alone items to be enjoyed? Just an old man's thinking...sorry. Ron STL

I believe there was a feature article in National Geographic this year, last year...on the town of Hagi. Just FYI...Ron STL

Thank you for the info. As far as fittings, I enjoy the look of koshirae. It also makes the sword more "mine" if I do the work I can do. Yes, I am a bit crazy

Robert

Very well done Robert. It refreshing to see beginners in this forum commit as you did to buying from known and reputable dealers, and acquire pieces of tosogu and nihonto which afford avenues to grow your knowledge. The tsuba is great as you can learn some kanji, appreciate and learn carving technique, composition and aesthetics, and get a feel for the iron. Keep at it!

Best Regards,

Boris.

Hi Robert,

Nice tsuba. I was watching that tsuba on eBay and you beat me to it. I generally not a Choshu school collector. :lol: My first papered tsuba was a tsuba from Owari Province. Now about 11 years later I have a few more and one really nice one with a Hakogaki. The first nice tsuba made an impression on me that shaped my collecting habits and study for a little more than a decade. In tens years you will likely have some more papered Choshu tsuba. :D

Robert,

nice aquisition!

The subject of your TSUBA seems to have been familiar in that school. There is a similar TSUBA being pictured in 'SUKASHI TSUBA by KOKUBO KENICHI on p. 104. It is signed NAGATO HAGI no JU NAKAI ZENSUKE TOMOTSUNE SAKU. Sources from the web say that the families of the KAWAJI, NAKAI, OKAMOTO, and some more, which were descended from the SHOAMI school, were the mainstream of TSUBA production in this area.

If you are interested in researching about your TSUBA I would like to recommend you start with the NAKAI family.

Thanks for the info. I received the tsuba today and I am smitten. I don't know if the price paid was "GOOD" or not, but I feel fine about the purchase. I am always thrown by how small these items are. I collected production katana for several years and I figure they are made for larger people. The blades and fittings on those seem huge compared to antique items I have seen. I was disappointed that the tsuba didn't come in a display box, but the seller did not list one, so no foul. It did arrive in a nice cloth bag that seems to have been made for it.

Robert H.