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Gentlemen, I believe this is the real thing in terms of simple iron tsuba mounted on samurai swords during the long Sengoku period. I have seen a few old swords in simple field koshirae, with very similar - albeit smaller - tsuba and with saya wrapped in thin leader and (alongside all kodogu) covered in a matt black coating. Poor man's urushi someone called it, Richard Turner I believe. This kind of coating differs dramatically from the urushi you have on some more ornate tsuba. It must have been cheap and quick to apply. This example is big (like 8+cm big), is convex and thick and massive in hand. With such a fat body no tsuba expert will call this guard a ko-katchushi as ko-katchushi must be anorectic Never mind, I don't take those 'schools' seriously, though they may be useful as neat names for cataloguing stuff. Anyway, a workhorse tsuba and the lacquer (as I believe it is lacquer) is cool. Some corrosion at rim, as you ca see in the third picture. As to the measurements - the last pic shows it next to a 7.3 x 7.1 tsuba. $250 (EUR 230) incl. shipping to US and EU

The third tsuba, 八幡太郎鳩丸 – Hachiman Taro Hatomaru 御太刀鍔 – On-Tachi tsuba (tsuba for a tachi)

Yesterday I had lunch with an old friend who brought me a batch of tsuba asking me to sell them. they were in a safe along with ivory netsuke. most of the tsuba are signed, they will be in the For sale section, once their value assessed.

Just seeing this post. I have a tiny little moroha tanto by Osafune Kiyomitsu. Approximately 3.5" nagasa and 5.5" overall.

Not sure if this one will be ‘special’ enough, but the nakago/mei is from a yari made by 11th Generation Izumi no Kami Kanesada in 1867 and opinion of NTHK-NPO is authentic. I haven’t seen many yari signed on all four sides of nakago with “who”, “when”, “where”, and “for who”.

@francois2605 just posted this one on the Gendaito thread: "Here's a special order blade by Minamoto Moritaka (rated 2 million yen, high to superior gendaito according to Slough). Signed in tachi mei: "Koteki Mu Kotsu Minamoto Moritaka + Kao" / "Oujyu Mitsuda Jirou Shi Saku" / "Kigen Ni Sen Roppyaku Ni Nen Ju Ichi Gatsu" "Our enemy has no backbone" / "Made at the request of Mr. Mitsuda Jirou" / November 1942"

Item No. 303 Fuchi Kashira in copper with gold and silver. Subject of Fukurokuju being annoyed by some Karako . Signed by Joi ( Nara School ) 19th Cent. Crafted with great attention to detail , the face of the god is particularly expressive and is carved in 3d , wrapping around the side of the fuchi. I should be able to post some background information in the next few days , courtesy of George Miller.

Plenty of exemples and explanations in this thread :

Reward sword rare Homei-to by Kotani Takenori/ Yasunori

Hi all, This is the first of what decided will be a semi-regular newsletter where I get to address issues, give current news, and generally make a few points. Apologies, but these will be mandatory reading as they will contain info and issues than need addressing. I promise to make them infrequent and informative if possible. Here are a few points I need to emphasize I am still seeing people replying to the notification emails they get when someone sends them a pm. In other words, you get a forum email saying "you have a private message from someone..please respond via the pm system" and then they hit reply and reply to the email. Folks, the recipient will NEVER get your reply. Email addresses are private here, so you can't email someone or reply to a notification. Go into your pm inbox and reply to them there. You CAN edit your posts for a certain time. I don't know why we get people posting, and then immediately replying to their post to correct something. Go to your post and click the 3 dots top right, and click edit. Then correct your post or spelling or layout or whatever and click save, bottom right. Layouts. Oh my goodness. When you attach pictures, they will automatically insert themselves at the bottom of your post. Please don't click "insert into post" unless you want the picture placed where the cursor is or specifically placed between sentences. Otherwise just click post. What we are seeing is that people type a sentence and leave the cursor in a random place. They then upload attachments and click "insert into post" which puts the image somewhere random at the cursor and has the text all over the place, or wrapping around the image. If you want to insert the picture somewhere, hit return after the sentence. THEN insert the pic. It will appear on the next line at least. And again...refer to the point above...if you see your layout is messed up, click edit. Go to the end of the sentence, hit return. This will fix the picture placement by adding a line down. Looks neater for everyone. Don't be lazy! Proof read your posts after placing them, and fix things that need fixing. Image sizing. There are file upload restrictions. Images don't have to be huge to be clear. But if you are uploading directly from your phone, they probably are. Find a free online image resizer. There are plenty. Resize down to less than 300kb...your image will be plenty big. No need for images that are 3 megs big. Also...please watch what format your phone uses. Don't upload Apple .HEIC files. Google how to take pics in regular jpeg. It's not difficult. If the uploader says your file is too big..it IS. Don't give up, this is 2023. Google image resizers, scale it down...upload again. Find a 10 year old to explain. They are good at this. Folks, this is not Facebook. And I am very glad about that. And unfortunately the reality is that everyone's opinion is NOT equal. That's life. If you are a beginner and you post a reply that says "X is definitely Y" then there will be other novices that take that as fact. Your statement does NOT hold as much water as the 40 year student of Nihonto that replies after you. So please bear that in mind when you make statements. Please remember to clarify it's a (novice) opinion. And consider that sometimes the person you are arguing with is 80 years old and knows a lot. It's funny to see people advising advanced tsuba collectors of 30 years what they have, when they are experts in the subject. Expect to be put in your place. Undoing the false info that is stated as fact takes time and energy and muddies the water. I'm not saying don't post opinions or challenge theories, I'm saying be careful how you do it. We have youngsters and ladies on the forum. Please watch the language and off-colour jokes. I'm as bad as the next guy, but I'd like this place to be a step above the usual bawdy bar. Let's all pretend we are more sophisticated than we are? Gold memberships: These greatly help the forum. Your $30 or $60 really helps to maintain this place, and allows everyone to get free info and to continue doing what we do. Please consider a membership. It's not a lot of money, and comes with decent benefits. You can find the options here: https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/subscriptions/ Your support really is hugely appreciated. There are donations links at the top for people who wish to contribute via either Paypal or credit card. You guys rock! If you need any help donating or buying a subscription, just pm me. And if you are a Gold Member, please consider renewing when it expires. Newcomers: At the top of the forum is a FAQ section. Please check it out. It will be of help. To the right is a section that will assist people to translate things. At least give a try before you ask for help. We all started knowing nothing. Its a great way to make progress. There is also a ton of info in the 'Nihonto Info' section. Browse! Those people in charge of societies dealing with Nihonto or related: I am considering offering private areas where these societies can allow their members to communicate or share info etc, that will only be available to their member list. Please contact me if you have any interest in having a private section where you can share info or discuss society business and can have your own moderators etc. These can be done in various ways, from password protection to only having certain people access it. The software here is set up for that and there are various advanced ways to have "clubs" Please guys...support our dealers. Most of them are here because they can be generally trusted, otherwise they would have been called out. Also, if you list something for sale, and mark it sold, it is nice if you would mention if you sold it here or to a member, or somewhere else. Just helps us gauge how far we reach. Same...if you buy something from an overseas dealer, mention you are a member here and heard about them here, and ask if they have a NMB discount. Something I intended to investigate further. I am attending the San Fran Sword Show for the first time ever, in August. Will have a table on behalf of a local collector. It would be great to meet as many of you as possible. Maybe arrange a dinner or gathering. I am really looking forward to it. If you are going, please post here: https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/44379-san-francisco-sword-show I will also be in New York for 3 days around the 9th...so if anyone is near Manhattan and wants to meet up, please let me know. First vacation in over 10 years. I'm putting a lot into this, and hoping to make it both a successful trip for that collector, and also a bit of a much needed vacation for myself and Nicky who is coming with. With the above in mind, and considering our local currency in South Africa is approaching toilet paper status, I am shamelessly asking anyone who is willing to contribute a few bucks towards making this trip a success, to please use the link in my signature, or use this one: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/japaneseswords if you are willing to assist with any expenses. Yes...I am really embarrassed to ask, but I want people to know that these funds will be used for the trip and not the forum expenses, for complete openness. Even 5 or 6 days free time is expensive on an SA budget. I really hate to ask, but asking is what I am doing. Anything is appreciated. I am also wondering if anyone would like to donate any items such as tsuba or fittings or similar that don't take up much space, that can be sold at the show and the funds used for the annual forum fundraising. This would be similar to the old days of a raffle, but instead they will be available at the SF Show. Please message me in private if you would consider this. Items can be shipped to a location in SF anytime from now, and held until the show. Happy to list the donors here with huge thanks. Please consider any items of reasonable value that would be worthwhile for NMB fundraising. I think we are going to need another mod or 2 to assist with this place. I hope John is doing ok, but there is a lot of work for Jean. I think I will appoint a mod or 2 that only handles their own specialty section. Like someone for the military section, someone for Katchu (is it possible to find someone impartial there??) and the translate section needs someone. There are obvious choices in each category, but need to check they are willing. It's a thankless job. Lastly (for now) I want to thank everyone here for their participation, patience (with me) and for all the help, support, information, uploads, kind words and everything else that we see here. Can't do any of this without you and there are a LOT of you that deserve far more than a simple thanks. Oneday I'll work through the list and properly thank you all. Remember that this is an online forum. It's all pixels on a screen. Don't let people stress you out. Treat people with respect, even if you disagree with them. Allow them their opinions. Use the report feature if something is grossly wrong. Let myself or the mods handle it. Let's keep on keeping on. - Brian -

i have 12 books. They are approx 6" x 9" and in Japanese but have pictures. All are used but seem in decent condition. Terms: Books are $20 each, If you want one please post here so we all see it, you will pay Brian $20 (he will post instructions). He will let me know payment is made and i will ship the book. I will cover U.S. Media mail, if a book is sent outside the U.S. the buyer will have to pay me to cover shipping (i will send however the buyer requests). This way Brian gets the full amount of book sales. Here is a chance to help Brian with some small trip expenses and also get something to enjoy Koichi Moriyama kindly translated the tiles, a big thanks! 1. 楽しむ日本刀 – Nihonto to enjoy SOLD <Subtitle> 脇物・無銘・郷土刀のすすめ – Recommendation of wakimono (antimainstream), mumei (unsigned), kyodo-to (local sword) <Publisher> 光芸出版 – Kogei-shuppan 2. 日本刀職人職談 – Stories on craftsmen and works of nihonto <Subtitle> 研ぎ・鍛冶・白金・鞘・柄巻・刀身彫刻・鐔・下げ緒・色上げ - togi, kaji, shirogane, saya, tsukamaki, toshin-chokoku, tsuba, sageo, iroage <Author> 大野正 – Ōno Tadashi <Publisher> 光芸出版 – Kogei-shuppan 3. 日本刀職人職談 - Stories on craftsmen and works of nihonto <Author> 大野正 - Ōno Tadashi <Publisher> 光芸出版 – Kogei-shuppan 4. 脇差入門 – An introduction to wakizashi SOLD <Publisher> 光芸出版 – Kogei-shuppan 5. 新版　日本刀入門 – An introduction to nihonto, new edition SOLD <Subtitle> 選び方、買い方 – how to choose, how to buy <Author> 柴田光男 – Shibara Mitsuo <Publisher> 光芸出版 – Kogei-shuppan 6. 新々刀入門 – An introduction to shinshinto SOLD <Subtitle> 幕末・維新の日本刀 – Nihonto in the last days of Tokugawa shogunate and the Meiji Restration <Author> 柴田光男 – Shibata Mitsuo <Publisher> 光芸出版 – Kogei-shuppan 7. 愛刀百華選 – 100 favorite swords SOLD <Author> 林盈六ほか – Hayashi Eiroku and others <Publisher> 光芸出版 8. 坂本龍馬と刀 - Sakamoto Ryōma and swords SOLD <Author> 小美濃清明 – Omino Kiyoharu <Publisher> 新人物往来社 – Shin-Jinbtsuoraisha Co.,Ltd. 9. 日本刀　小刀図鑑 – A picture book of kogatana SOLD <Author> 柴田光男 – Shibata Mitsuo <Publisher> 光芸出版 – Kogei-shuppan 10. 日本刀の買い方 – How to buy nihonto <Publisher> 光芸出版 – Kogei-shuppan 11. 槍・薙刀入門 – An introduction to yari and naginata SOLD <Author> 飯田一雄 – Iida Kazuo <Publisher> 光芸出版 – Kogei-shuppan 12. 珍刀　奇刀　掘出し刀 – Rare swords, curious swords, and lucky find SOLD <Subtitle> 日本刀の収集談義 – Stories on collecting of nihonto <Publisher> 光芸出版 – Kogei-shuppan

Dear all I would like to have your opinion on my most recent acquisition. It is 83.5 mm x 78.6 mm, thickness at seppa dai 3 mm, at mimi 4.1 mm. It has hira zogan of brass and silver. From the shape, distribution of thickness, the quality of the mixed hira zogan, the quality and color of the iron I am inclined to attribute it to Washida shcool rather than Heinajo zogan or Kaga Yoshiro. What is your take? Regards Luca

Gentlemen, a while back I acquired a TSUBA that is a riddle to me. It makes a solid impression at 80 x 79 x 4,5 mm, but the decoration is superfine and even difficult to see - a bit like fingerprints with a tiny HOSOKAWA KAMON in the middle. One could also think of a ZEN garden with raked gravel, seen from a distance. I cannot imagine the technique it was made in, and I have no clue about school, maker or age. Does someone have an idea they would be kind enough to share?

Great idea for a thread, these inscriptions make a sword a lot more desirable!.

And this one posted by @DaBears HERE 金剛兵衛盛高靖博 Kongo Byoe Moritaka Yasuhiro "於興亜聖戦陣頭 Oite Kōa seisen jintō From the front line of the Asian holy war of unification. 高原登喜夫佩之 Takahara Tokio kore wo haisuru This sword worn by Tokio Takahara." translation by @SteveM

Plus the lacquer box with fans in which they were.

Classic Akasaka school design, bell cricket and fern. I used to own one myself with Kanzan hakogaki other examples :

I found this piece quite humorous (and disturbing at the same time). It's not something I would associate with someone of the samurai class wearing on their sword... but who am I to judge. It's late Edo period. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/25728 Damon

National Treasure "Mikazuki Munechika" With English audio guideショート動画で刀剣鑑賞【刀剣庵】 #shorts https://youtube.com/shorts/nO44jZjMNq8?feature=share

Thank you a lot, this is an amazing design in my opinion and I wonder how it was done. Maybe I should ask Ford for that, he will know.

Brian, I am looking forward to this sale

Thanks Marius! Will email when I get home. Something for the European buyers...less shipping.

Thank you for your help and comments, very helpful. I have tried playing around a bit with the images and have inserted below. I think they are quite ok - at least on my screen. Perhaps still a bit to the dark side. The front of Tsuba is darker than backside btw. @Matsunoki Haha, thanks. It was not my intention to catch your interest whis way. This Tsuba have been really dificult for me to shoot natural pictures of and no matter my light settings, pics became very "artificial" and unnatural, which bothered me. It have not been my intention to sell this Tsuba, however, if interested, please feel free to send me a PM (eventually with an offer) and lets discuss it. @Brian (and others) I have shot those pictures on gray background actually. I found this solution to bring out the natural look much better than on white background. Its like the camera "reacts" much better, when background is not white. Yes, I use and are quite experienced with photoshop and the shadow/highlight tool are great. I actually just had forgot a bit about this tool, so thank you for reminding me about it. I try to shoot the pictures as best as possible right away for 2 reasons. First is that the better the picture are, the less time I need to use to correct it. Other reason is that, when editing in photoshop, you can very easily "over-edit" and make more worse than good. I am very thankful to your all. I have for a long time felt my pictures was okay, but not quite as natural as I wanted them to be and it seems I am finally on the right path I think. A little about the Tsuba: Left side is translated to: 道寿之住 Michitoshi no saku Right side is translated to: 東都小西湖畔 - Toto Konishi Konan kore Ju - (On the shores of Lake Konishi in the Eastern Capital (now Tokyo)) MITO school 8.20 mm x 7.60 mm x 0.40 mm (at nakago-ana) If any knows the story/motif of this Tsuba, Im all ears... It looks like an odd party with a tadpole trying to escape it

Hi There. In short, yes. If not done properly. The "coffee shop prop" armor was a complete strip down. At the point that I found it, it was in such bad shape, I would never recommend anybody to try to save it. Leaving it the way it was would have resulted in it only getting worse over time. I had a short time and a zero budget. Rather than make an armor, I took the basket case that was sitting around in the window and made it into something beautiful and representative of the company. Something that looks like the painting that hangs on the wall. So people could see what an edo period armor would have looked like when it was new done in the same way. Total re-do and made to look like something else than it originally was. To address your query though, yes, armors can be ruined with bad restoration. Especially with epoxies and other things that dont jive well with the original materials. We have a saying with armor. Urushi is alive. urushi expands and contracts with the seasons. Epoxies, resins, fake urushi does not. What happens over around 5 years is when the urushi starts to "breathe" and the parts dont, then it starts to crack and pop and de-laminate. The sad part is once this is done, it cant be removed without a total strip down. Another way to ruin an armor with a restoration is by not knowing what is proper for an armor, sometimes its a cultural mismatch, sometimes its stylistically anachronistic or a mismatch of styles. If you are well trained you will know and be able to do the proper restoration or replacement. the armor I showcased here was a re-make more than it was a restoration. Though it was done traditionally.

Hello all, Per Mr. Grey's suggestion, I wanted to start a page dedicated to fake or questionable armor that is coming out of Japan. I've got a few pieces in mind and I'll try to contribute when I can. Best regards, Chris

……..and the winner is…….the humble sparrow (maybe)

Razor sharp means the blade is not in the first polish anymore. The polisher leaves some more material where the edge starts so the first ~6cm are dull what increases the lifetime of a sword on the long run I think. How many polishes it takes untill the Ubuha is completely gone depends on different things like polisher condition or damage I would say.

I actually do really like the conversation, Colin. I don't think you think too much. hahaha! I'm not rooting for any particular bird species. I think you could be right about a sparrow. My initial search shows that they are widely depicted in both Chinese and Japanese art so that would follow with the Chinese style perch, however there isn't the same convenient connection to it being a popular caged bird as is the case with the uguisu. Most of the art depictions have sparrows in the wild. Based on looks alone, though, the sparrow... wait for it... FITS THE BILL. *knee slap* Eurasian tree sparrow - Wikipedia

Jeremy, hello, this is fun yes?🙂 I think there are many different canaries that all look a bit different…….just to add to the speculation! I was just thinking that as it is depicted on a domestic (Chinese) bird apparatus together with its little water bowl it was more likely to be a domestic songbird than a wild one. But maybe it’s just any old bird, could even be a sparrow! I sometimes think I think too much…..

Washida school work would be my guess. Nice piece. Best, rkg (Richard George)

The wave tsuba is rather tanto size. I have just taken pictures of the batch, I will post them in the tsuba section

Damon that tsuba reminds me too much of the movie "Wolf Creek" (2005) - 'Head On A Stick' scene, I won't post the link it is far far to graphic and no fun at all !!!

Dear Colin. What a cracker! I love it. I think your Shinshinto call is a good one from the sugata, nakago and what I can see of the boshi. Personally I have ditched the idea of a merchant's sword, unless you have documentary evidence of a sword's history and it's koshirae there really is no way of telling who carried it and, malachite flecks not withstanding, I think this is a very harmonious and attractive koshirae. Thanks for sharing and enjoy! All the best.

Maybe Jean's tsuba represents silk spools seen end on? Without the modern branding of course!

Check out 'ito-maki' bobbins for silk/cotton thread, Dale. 糸巻　鍔 - Bing images ヤフオク! - 鐔・鍔 後代甚吾「糸巻図鐔」 鑑定書付 江戸時代 (yahoo.co.jp)

An interesting one. Gold paint in the 'face' of a tsuba, but nowhere else. On an undated, showa-stamped Kaneyuki (first time I've seen that name in the survey). The rest And for @JohnC, another kanji + number

Thanks to both of you for your input. I went ahead and ordered it. These things always seem like a bit of a tight rope walk between doing my due diligence and missing out. I'm happy to hear to any other input on this piece.

A good piece, the old mans face is very well done. It probably was only mounted once and not for very long. A little evidence of being mounted. But it is just as possible as Carlos has said that it wasn't and could be a 'presentation' piece.

Funny in more ways than I want to think of!

I'm not an expert, but I believe it's genuine Japanese. Possibly Shoami school, early Edo. It may have rusted before and the rust cleaned up. The rust pattern suggests it's wrought though. Lovely piece, looks like someone in a fur costume sitting at a trap. Could be a weasel or ermine on the bundles of hay. Either way a desirable animal for fur or a pet. Don't worry there's no signs of use - not all of them were ever mounted.

You confused me at rayskin dying vs rayskin dyeing. The marine biologist side of me got curious at the title. On the tosogu side: mostly red lacquer, gold lacquer, and just standard urushi brown-black. I believe I have seen blue once or twice, and possibly green too- thought the green may have been more modern. With a shinsakuto, I believe there even was a warm purple color same tsuka- but it was part of an anime inspired koshirae.

Thank you Darren for this exceptional work.

translation sayagaki by Sato Kanzan san: Dai Hokkyo Iga no Kami Nyudo Minamoto Kikuhira Tadashi Atago san un'nun kisei-mei kore ari (in addition,the blade asks for divine assistance) Hacho ni shaku ni sun go-bu kore ari showa Kanzan shirusu+Kao

SOLD

Ok...this is too much reading and even I am getting bored with this whole back and forth. I'm closing this debate. And from now on, will only allow discussion of armour itself, and all the topics associated with it as LONG AS people themselves are kept out of it. In other words, I don't want to see any discussion of PEOPLE. Just methods, construction, history, etc etc etc. This is just plain boring now guys. Everyone seems to be obsessed with who is doing what. Just take a break armour guys. We all need to breathe for a bit. Oh...and for the record, this has NOTHING to do with the legal threats that I am again getting. I don't care about those...by all means proceed. I am just plain sick of this section being like a kid's playground. Get back to the history and construction and educational posts that don't hint at one side or the other?

I once had a big Shinshinto katana with a red-lacquered same tsuka. I still have a Shinshinto katana with a gold-lacquered same tsuka. BaZZa.

Gendaito: Tsukamoto Ikkansai Okimasa Saku , Kigen 2601 Nen 8 Gatsu Hi ( August 1941). Blade length :67.7cm , Sori: 1.7cm

Part 2 Random shots attempting to show some of the opalescent patterns revealed. Blame the photographer.

刀子 Small knife Recently I came across a word that I should have known but didn't. 刀子, for which the English given was 'Tosu'. This piqued my curiosity. In the exhibition of (O)mamori-gatana (see separate thread), was this specially made kozuka in a jewellery-like brightly-decorated koshirae, described as a To-su, or small knife. The blade and koshirae were a special order for the Manga artist Akiko Hatsu, 波津彬子 Hatsu Akiko. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akiko_Hatsu The Kanji suggested that the To- must be a long sound, as in Nihontō. Eventually I found that this word has been used in Japan throughout history to describe a small knife, and that it can be pronounced either Tōsu or Tōshi, (although the former seems to be more common). Her name contains the Kanji 波 (Ha/Nami) for ‘wave’, so the koshirae has silver waves, according to the description.