Leaderboard

Yes Adam a great reference. I have found one image from the same volume that matches the design of a guard found in the National Gallery of Victoria [Australia] The guard though is unsigned. I am seriously thinking of doing a copy of the volume for my own reference, it is all in the public domain so there would be no copyright problems. I do wonder if the designs are for "new" pieces or is the book a collection of "past" pieces? Some pictures look like rubbings of existing work.

三ツ胴重裁断之 Mitsudō kasane saidan kore 貞享五年戊辰十月十三日　鵣飼十郎衛尉義真 Jōkyō go nen tsutinoetatsu jūgatsu jūsan-nichi Ukai Jūrōe-no-jō Yoshizane Three body cutting test 1688, October 13th. Ukai Jūrōe-no-jō Yoshizane Presumably this is Ukai Juroemon who is a well-known tester. I don't know why his name is missing one of the kanji here (門).

Up front, this whole rig very well may be a post-war, G.I. or Bubba, piece-together. But your question raises an interesting, and maybe unrelated, topic. We know that many Japanese hid hundreds, thousands, of swords in attics, basements, and other places. Additionally, we also know there was a bit of business making tourist tantos with the ends of blades that had been cut in half (ok, "know" is maybe too strong. We have seen tanto we believe were made this way). It is possible this rig was made from a longer piece of blade that had been cut up, explaining the rough, make-shift nakago. As to "risk", the Japanese are not immune to making/selling shady products, or breaking laws. Plus, the war devastated many people's businesses. People had to put food on the table somehow. People will take risks to eat. Way out in speculation-land, but an interesting discussion all the same.

It's a collaborative effort really . He collected designs as much as made his own. Some will be other people's ideas some his, all put into the books for a client to select. Sadly due to this you cannot definitely say that a piece referenced in the books is by him unless signed in Soshu script. Especially as in your example where it's not his mei in the book but another's. However your tsuba example could be missing that mei in the drawing because it's really close workmanship. Get that mei translated and your a step closer. These books were also passed on to other artisans for decades . Things were added at later stages.

I'll let other to evaluate artistic qualities and offer assistance in identifying on that field. I'll give some info about the signature if it is indeed the same sword that was on earlier threads and it is dated. Like Moriyama-san identified in earlier thread the signature and dating on your sword is 修理亮盛光 / 応永拾年二月日 = Shūri no Suke Morimitsu / Ōei 10 nen ni gatsu hi (1403). My focus in here is in the kanji 拾 used for 10. It might not be common knowledge but after looking at thousands of signatures my own analysis shows the use of this kanji for 10 in years did not appear (I haven't yet found an example) before Bunmei (1469-1487). The earliest dated signatures I've seen this appear are Tadamitsu signature 1478 and Katsumitsu & Munemitsu sword dated 1486. I have recorded nearly 1000 dated signatures pre-1450 and this kanji does not appear in any of them. Most commonly this rare kanji appears in Keichō era (1596-1615) signatures. Of course this is kinda extremely specific info that is impossible to know for beginning collectors and pretty much to most collectors who have not been extremely fixated with mei. I think this sword is much better than the Sukesada you posted earlier. As you said in the opening post you can see characteristics of this sword much better than in the Sukesada.

Offering a large group of JSS/US newsletters. This lot covers from 1980-2010. *NOTE, typo at the bottom of list should read 2020. There are a few issues missing, please see the following list for complete details. Japanese Sword Society of the United States Newsletters: Box size = 17” x 10” x 12” Weight 42 lbs. This group of books weighs 42 lbs., therefore I will restrict this lot to CONUS only as shipping outside CONUS would be cost prohibitive. Within CONUS shipping via "media mail" will cost approximately $30. $150 plus S/H *** No pm's please. If interested please contact me at: Yakiba.com@gmail.com Like Comment Share

I think the demage a sword blow does can vary

Hello, I just got interesting tsuba from conservation (few pictures now and before). It is signed "Seijuken Hamano Haruyoshi" and it is made of iron. I found almost identcal one made of shakudo sold at Sothebys. http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2005/Japanese-works-of-art-prints-and-paintings-l05861/lot.1017.html They are almost identical in design. Tree on the front side in right upper corner has the same coposition of gold and copper inlay. Based on that I assume that maker of the iron one had the one from Sothebys in hand. As far as I can say inlay is made of solid gold. So this was not meant to be cheap replica. Just found and iron one in Choshuya: https://www.choshuya.co.jp/senrigan/李白観瀑図鐔　銘　-生壽軒濱野春好(花押)/鍔/春好（花押）?lang=en I wonder what are your thoughts abut it. Regards, Krystian

Finally I managed to sign up! I just had to uncheck the automatic renewal...

Dear Dan. This is one of those recurring designs that crop up from time to time, keep looking and you will see another. Of particular note is the rather good photograph of the mouth of the kozuka which shows the thinness of the metal very well. This is one of the indicators for a pressed item rather than a traditionally made one. Dale, (aka Spartancrest), has done some great work focussing on tsuba reproductions, perhaps we can do the same for pressed kozuka? All the best.

There is an image in "Japan AND ITS ART by MARCUS B. HUISH (October 1912)." I have it in my "Early Articles for Tsuba Study 1880 -1923" book page 238 . You will notice the over large Pectoral fins on this example. The smaller image has already been shown in George's post.

If it's about the size of the end of your thumb, then it's more likely to be an Ojime, judging by the holes above and below, i.e. a slide. Possibly imitating the shape of a 瓶子 Heiji/Heishi sake jar. The pattern on the side can be seen as a (Hoshi-tsuki) Hanawa/Shippo Mon/Kamon design. This white ceramic is typical of Hirado or Imari/Arita, I think, but that's reaching the outer limits of my knowledge. PS A sweet little object, either way, IMHO.

It doesn't look like a netsuke to me, but I have no idea of what it could be.

Hi Dan, I can do so in cases of "emergency", like for example, when the items are bought, really wanted by the buyer, and then the seller or proxy company (like Buyee) says they won't ship them. Can you show me the items you bought, please? (send links in a PM). Note, DHL does not send any blade/weapon items. My usual fee is 15% of win price/min 6000 yen/item. Plus shipping and paypal fees. DHL shipping for small box of tosogu, for example, is usually about 7500 yen.

NMB is my preferred school for the moment . So many information. This toy is apparently named "Yojirobe" in Japanese

I found two hand drawn images of Ruyi menuki in the Metropolitan Museums collection from "Album of Designs for Metal Carving (Chōsen Gafu)" by Ranzan Tsuneyuki [mid 19th century]

Should have led with those pics 🙂 Wow.

The potential buyer asked for more pictures but im not sure he has recieved them. I will add a few more here.

Note, for the record, I will NOT be refunding any members who choose to leave or are unhappy for any reason. I took a hit doing that for Rayhan, and will not be doing it again. Please take this as official policy. We do our best here, and usually any actions taken are not just my own choice, but are representative of majority choice. I'm not going to make a big deal of this. If anyone posts here, then anyone is entitled to respond. There is no such thing as banning someone from your threads. If someone is obviously biased, then I will take action and remove them from posting. That is not the case here. We have a wonderful "ignore" function here in your profiles. You can add someone and not see their posts. If you don't get on with someone, use that. Adam, your choice. You have some nice items to share, so would enjoy seeing them. But if people want to comment, that is the risk you take and is how we all learn. Sometimes we learn the most from arguments. Ball is in your court. I mentioned many times less is more and it is time to back off just a little.

So being the ebay conossuier that I am (worlds largest flea market and I do love it for that knowing the risks) I discovered a scam seller thats popped up a lot recently in Japanese antiques. Basically what this seller does is take previously sold listings in Japanese antiques and copies/relists them at a higher price than they even originally sold for (bold bastards). Not only that they brazenly copy currently active listings for items such as a Jingasa I had asked about here. So be careful if you find an item you want and its from this seller, stop right there. They do not have the item, you will not receive it and its just a giant dummy operation. Im posting pics of the sellers profile. An image used by that seller of a Zunari Kabuto they have "for sale" that I had already purchased and received from another seller along with proof of that purchase. So beware......

Dear Bruno, nice print! I think that we both posted images of "Shiei" or "Shiyei" Sennin who is actually a different Sennin than the Kinko Sennin that Russ posted... Here's a tsuba that is probably Kinko Sennin instead of Shiei/Shiyei Sennin (because of lack of dragon wings - although Kinko Sennin usually has an open scroll in his hand whereas Shiei/Shiyei Sennin is holding the fish-dragon's horn):

Dear Russ, Always liked this one from the Boston MFA:

Ahhh, the Vandals are alive and well... BaZZA