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Bamboo Leaves?

Mountain wasabi by the stream.

Dear All. A late iron one. All the best.

Another Peony . The tsuba is tanto size so is enlarged and a little blurry. Ian Brooks

Not sure if you mean flowers & plants or flowers or plants (or both ) but let's start with these 2 pieces from Suzuki Yoshihiko & Kano Natsuo

From my own collection - the nanako is minute and the design wraps around the nanako mimi - not done in shakudo as one would expect, but shibuichi.

My plants

Here's one from my collection, lilys from the Choshu school.

Here are an early OWARI (?) TSUBA (ex Roger Dundas collection) and a rare KO-UMETADA. Sadly, I don't know what kind of flowers are depicted.

Kiri depiction signed Choshu Kiyoshige

My first ever tsuba, on my inherited katana. A permanent part of my collection

Some of mine

A simple piece from my collection, but my favorite as it was my first. Owned by my grandfather, it was mounted on an officer's sword taken back to the USA after WW2. Damon

A few “non native” plants and flowers currently living in Denmark 🌿🍀 /Soren

Knotweed...(or maybe Wasabi..who knows.)

Sakura clusters

This is one of the best threads in a while.... here is another of my favourites

Read from right to left, 第二千八百七十三号 -> No. 2873 コクラケン -> Kokuraken https://aucview.com/yahoo/j1140802752/ Here, this rifle also had similiar number to yours.

Birds and pine trees. One of my few blinged out pieces…

Another I'm quite fond of

even if the subject is not the blade as such but the blacksmith, and the polishing is old, lack of visibility, I send you some photos. Some nie over the whole length of the blade, quite nice. thanks you gentleman. max

Don't use gun oil on swords. A lot of them have cleaning elements meant to dissolve powder residue, lead, copper fouling etc in them, as well as lubricants that may or may not come off with isopropyl. This applies to things like wd40 and 3 in 1, break free, etc as well. Stick with sword oil or mineral oil.

Hi Jake, Just a few simple things to look at- when you look at goto work you are usually looking at excellent and precise execution. Look at the nanako on a verified goto piece. Compare that with yours and you can see there is a big difference in execution and precision. The precision of design and carving in any design a goto artist does is crisp and flows. Look at your horses, they look a bit muddled in comparison. Not trying to knock your piece, just pointing out a few things that caught my eye immediately. I don't know lot about the Goto school but have overtime come across lots of pictures (wish more in hand). You start to see what goes into a quality piece by breaking down the details. There is a reason why the Goto school is so respected. I am guilty as most, looking at the signature 1st. But we always heard from the "older crowd" that the "workmanship confirms the signature " and I understand why now more than when I first started collecting. Why is this so hard to accept? Simply, it points out how much I don't know. Lol. Best of luck and I'm glad you are enjoying what you have.

One of my low end tsuba! I still think it is great artwork!

I always thought that Choshu is underrated as a tsuba school - they have some magnificent work.

The crown or ball of the tassel is a separate piece that covers the ends of the strings. You can see on the sword below where the crowns have come off.

A charming little Ko-Kinko in my collection, understated but I really like it.

My humble contribution - a classical Kyo-Sukashi with bamboo and iris. Florian

Well back to the armor! I think we are talking about a "Tetsu sabiji nimai-dô gusoku" (russet iron two part-cuirass armor - simplifiyed naming!) with nunome-zogan adornment, might dating back to the latter half of the Edo period. The helmet is a so called "Hoshi-kabuto" (or Koboshi-kabuto)* of rather good quality. Unfortunately the provided pictures don't tell much about the whole. What I can say is that kote (sleeves) and suneate (shin guards) comming from a matching set, but it seems the haidate (apron) is missing. This is also true for the dô (cuirass) and the kabuto (helmet)*. In case of the Jingasa (bajo-jingasa = riding hat) and the ogi (fan), however, we can't be sure... Note, the dô is insofar interesting, that it was made to look like a rokumai-dô (six part cuirass)! A word about the mon (coat of arms) that makes the helmet and the cuirass "matching". The example below is very close and probably related at least to 3 families, namely: 島村氏, 河村氏 and 茅野氏. The names have several readings so I won't go deeper for the time being... * The helmet might be older. It would be nice to have some more pictures (front-, side-, back- and top-view) as also some shots from inside, if the liner (ukebari) allows it?!

Hi everyone, I run a small auction house, this is my first time posting and I think it's quite special. We randomly had a guy come in and drop off a Hitsu with a complete suit, Katana, Jingasa and fan (not sure the name). We have sold quite a few suits for a local collector with the information usually being provided by him. I think this suit is waaayy better than anything we've had before and I'm wondering if anyone has any information about it. The silver inlay and chased bronze scream high quality. Check out the photos and if there's anything else you want to see let me know and I'll add it! Hope this is allowed, here's the link to more photos.. https://drive.google...HC1jqUMG?usp=sharing Thanks, Angus

Not necessarily, Russ!

If you are going to be in Tokyo you should really consider attending both of these events. The Cinq event has included some very high quality blades for kantei and a great evening of fun. The Boat trip is just a great time with collectors from all over the world.

The gun looks good from here John, well used, with some minor damage and the original coating stripped off completely. The Mei looks to be 正忠 Masatada (or 正良 Masayoshi) + Saku, but I cannot immediately find a record of either personal name without the smith family name above. The gun does have some distinguishing features, but not really enough for me to place it geographically. (Kunitomo?) As to age, we can say loosely mid-Edo. On the side of the butt is the 壬申 Jinshin Bango number from the great round-up of 1872. Looks like 1,873 号 ('go' =number). Under that may be コクフケン 'Kokufu Ken', an early Gifu Prefecture name(国府県?) but I haven't yet figured that out. In early Meiji, the old Han were abolished and a new system of prefectures was introduced. Some of the new prefectures only lasted a few years, merging with others for example, but many kept their original name. (Still working on it) PS Since the barrel has no rifling, it might be better to call it a Tanegashima (smoothbore) matchlock long gun, etc.

One I forgot I had - strange how I bought it at a time I was working packing poppy seed! [It has an undulating/wavy plate.]

Steve, Nobody is somebody around here! He has phrased it in such a way that it is impossible to be sure whether that is a four character name or a combination of name and number. These four characters could be read from left to right or right to left, changing it totally. 二 can be a number (2) or part of a name, as in Shoji above. ロ can be the sound 'ro', used a as a counter, (イ,ロ,ハ = 1,2,3) or it can be kuchi (a mouth), i.e. part of a name, etc. So, with no other context it could even be 2 Oda (Ro) for example, if some rank, or bunk, or cabin is meant. So there are various possible readings depending on what the original writer meant. With no other context, Nobody's answer is the safest.

Old sources mention Go Yoshihiro and Norishige as natives of Etchu Province, with Go said to have died young. To me, It would seem highly improbable that he was a Yamato Senjuin smith. Name matching doesn't help us as the only signed and dated Yoshihiro blade (YOS143) doesn't match in characters to those of Go in ancient records, and the date (1343) is far off in time, moroever the records make no mention of a resemblance to the work of Go. What about the Yamato influence? The majority of Go's kitae is typically described as itame, often mixed with nagare or mokume. There is only one instance I could find where his kitae is partially blended with masame: the renowned Kabuto-Giri Go. I have also observed that certain works display his ichimai boshi with a subtle hakkikake flavor. Regarding influences, I've had in hand Go's with traits from three different attribution clusters: the Norishige cluster (Mokume/Matsukawa, complex jiba), the Masamune cluster (angular chickei, yubashiri, inazuma), and the Yukimitsu cluster (ko-itame in the Shintogo style). For Go, I have not personally handled an example where Shizu comes to mind, though the Kabuto-Giri Go is noted for this in the NBHTK setsumei record. It is essential to recognize that, while not all blades attributed to Go feature an ichimai boshi, its presence—when combined with the masterful traits typical of other top Soshu smiths—strongly leans toward an attribution to Go. Now where would such Yamato influence come from, if not Senjuin? We can have fun and speculate. We we might imagine the possibility that Shizu and Go, both supposedly active during the Kenmu era, experimented with one another's techniques while working alongside Yukimitsu, Masamune, and Norishige in the Kamakura atelier. However, this idea rests on many unsecured assumptions, including that Shizu apprenticed directly under the Soshu masters and that certain Soshu-den works displaying Yamato influence are accurately attributed to Go. Attribution is uncertain. As seen with signed works by Yukimitsu, his craftsmanship shows considerable variation, making him the prime candidate for pieces where distinguishing traits are less pronounced. His range spans from Shintogo-like hada with a gentle, shallow notare, to a flamboyant midareba incorporating gunome elements, even producing works approaching Hitatsura. This uncertainty is not limited to Yukimitsu. For instance, of the four extant signed tachi by Norishige, two exhibit a shintogo-like fine hada, a far different approach to Matsukawa. Nor was Matsukawa the exclusive domain of Norishige. Hata Chogi, of which we know very little, left us two works indistinguishable on a trait-basis from Norishige's signed tanto. It's wise to think in probabilities. Perhaps the Kabuto-Giri Go, with its distinct Yamato influence and ichimai boshi, was a masterwork of Shizu? We may never know for certain, as the hand behind it is never known for certain. I think that the key to thinking about attribution and influences is to think in probabilities. The best way is to go with the cannon of tradition. After in-hand examination, it could be 60% Go, 40% Shizu. This is certainly the most tractable way, but is the most accurate way? The alternative is going with the historical dark matter. Or in other words, incorporating the lost record. Imagine that it might be 45% Go, 35% Shizu, 4% Yukimitsu on a creative day, 1% the long lost Shintogo student Kuniyasu, and 15% a master whose name has left our records forever. Then replace all these probabilities with distributions encoding uncertainty and you start to reach the limits of useful abstraction. Not much of a means of knowledge advancement since there is no knowledge, only questions. The supreme quality of the Kabuti-Giri Go, however, is beyond doubt. An accepted attribution to a Soshu grandmaster of this caliber signifies the most masterful craftsmanship that reflects the pinnacle of the Soshu tradition, and one amongst the best Nihonto in existence. This brings a bit of nostalgia. Darcy would have enjoyed this thread. As he used to say, we don't have a time machine.

Well you could well be right. Even so I had an absolute blast and got to see the entire collection of 60 blades of which 40 I removed from their shirasaya and inspected. The overall condition I have to say was a little upsetting. The blades have been languishing in a storage room since Anton Petermandl donated them to the museum in the late 19th century. The curator was more than gracious and allowed me to remove the tsuka and inspect the nakago of the 40 blades. I spent 3 hours in the room with the swords that were stored in 4 pull out drawers and could have enjoyed 3 days. When people say old polish that would have described these blades, probably rarely out of their saya in over 100 years. There were 2 Heian era blades and a total of 4 or 5 blades that had signatures. Then we can judge if Albrecht von Roretz had been taken for a ride. The Masamune is in desperate need for a polish. So much Ware and uchiko like scratch patterns it was almost impossible to see the finer detail hiding underneath. At first blush it looked like a good blade, whether it is up to the standard of the top Soshu master is yet to be determined. The motohaba was approx 2.9cm. I will post the photos I took of the sayagaki for the 30 or so blades that had attributions and the Mei on the Nakago. Maybe those more knowledgeable will be able to say who wrote the sayagaki. My first cursory inspection suggested there were maybe 5 blades that could benefit and justify the post of a proper polish. One Bizen blade and what might be a Go seemed especially worthy. Here's a teaser. I was a little perturbed a Masamune would have a copper habaki though.

Ok. Finished my tally of mei types - Tachi vs Katana - on stamped blades. It is clear that blades inspected by civilian authority (Showa and large Seki stamps) used Katana mei, with minor deviations; and blades inspected by Army arsenals (small Seki, and Arsenal inspector stamps) used Tachi mei. Blades with the Tan stamp used Katana mei, supporting the proposal that it was a "gendaito" approval stamp of the Seki Cutlery Manufacturers Assoc. Unexpectedly, the Toyokawa Navy Arsenal used Katana mei, while Tenshozan forge used just the opposite, Tachi mei. The implication, to me, is that smiths knew which inspector their blades were being made for and engraved their mei accordingly. I tested this theory by looking for smiths that had blades inspected by both civil and army in the same year. I didn't find many, but those I found fit the pattern exactly. 1941 Large Seki w/Katana mei Na stamp w/tachi mei Kanetsugu Kanetsugu 1943 Large Seki w/Katana mei Na stamp w/tachi mei Kanenori Kanenori Kanetaka Kanetaka Nagamitsu Nagamitsu So it does appear the smiths knew who each blade (or batch) was heading for and placed the mei accordingly. The star blades were predominantly Tach mei, but they did have an unusual number of blades with Katana mei. Here's the chart: TACHI OR KATANA MEI SHOWA KATANA MEI TACHI MEI 1935 1 1937 1 1939 4 1940 21 1 1941 21 1942 1 ND 63 1 SEKI Large 1940 4 1941 7 1942 37 1943 19 1944 5 ND 108 1 SEKI small 1943 1 1944 1 Star 18 (8 Star) 1945 10 (2 Star) ND 1 NA 1941 1 1942 8 (1 Star) 1943 46 (2 Star) 1944 15 1945 1 ND 3 GIFU 1944 1 1945 16 ND 1 SAKA 1943 2 1944 5 ND 7 Ko 1935 1 1942 3 (1 Star) 1944 1 (1 Star) ND 2 1 YAMA 1943 4 (1 Star) 1944 1 TAN 1940 1 1941 1 1942 2 ND 13 STAR 1941 1 1942 5 16 1943 19 47 1944 5 61 1945 2 19 ND 6 12 Toyokawa 1939 20 1 Kiyomichi Tenshozan 28 All Dates

I am so happy to see this tread up and live again. Archery theme too! Just a great balance of exhibition. As an archery aside: A favorite of my small collection are Goto Tokujo father and Goto Kenjo son pair of goto kozuka of arrow design. Poem is Taira no Tadanori's death waka.

Dear Piers: Exciting find. Bravo. Jacques nailed it with the Imura Taikan I have attached the whole page of the oshigata in question, and the cover title of the taikan. I have it listed as 4th generation in my inventory, but could be 3rd generation. Hope these give you more info. Regards, Bill E. Sheehan (Yoshimichi) .

Your inbox is full? Oh, well, wasn’t planning to strip naked in public, but ‘in for a penny in for a pound’. I’ll have to go take a shot! 😂 For Paul and Dirk