John A Stuart

It is maybe Tomohide 友秀 John

What is this? 乾山造 Kenzan zukuri, style of Kenzan? John

Maybe 乾 John

Totally spurious in my opinion. John

Bungo 豊後 Shu 州 something ...hide ?秀 saku 作 John

So true, David is it? Chidori have those little downwards protuberances in their sugata. I guess named from the shape of that short little pointy plovers beak? John

This may help. https://web.archive.org/web/20131003111835/http://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/spp088_siddham_china_japan.pdf

Sahari is a cast product usually and is subsequently fired to remove surface lead from the object, I think it is called yakiageru. Anyway on tsuba I find blemishes, bubbles, pits etc. that look as if the tsuba has been baked after the sahari added. This might account for the look some pieces have, fired a little longer than others. John

My Monju Kanehisa. John

Kanemoto. John

It has that look of saharizogan, but is this actually zogan? more a nunome technique perhaps? John

Noshu Ju Kaneuji. John

I've seen some very nice shinchu tsuba. John

https://youtu.be/OrvJvx5kKC0

Henk, is no Dutchman in Japan for the DTI that can bring a pouch back for you?

http://www.flandria-tobaccos.be/nl/start/ http://www.kiseru-pipe.com/en/content/11-kizami-tobacco

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/23933-fusa-yasu/

Just one correction. Both gold and silver and their salts are toxic. John

This Kunihiro has celluloid. John

Yes Shoda Masafusa seitan 精鍛 John

Okada Kanesada saku; 岡田兼定 John

Broken up tatara? John

Maybe 筆 John

I have little problem with collectors that buy swords and take the fittings for their collection and sell the sword on, it is after all their possession. To switch out a tsuba with an inferior one when it is not theirs is a whole different thing. To do it with an old historical koshirae that has significant importance would be a shame though and should be frowned upon. Preservation.

This potter was very prolific. Not too expensive either for new collectors. Kawakita Handeishi (1878-1963) A wealthy cotton merchant from Ise born to the Kawakita Kyudaku household, he was separated from his parents and became the head of the family at around 1. He took the name of Kyudaku the 16th, and received training in Zen and so on from his grandmother (what is currently called "emperor studies"). After graduating from Waseda University, he took on his father's occupation, also working as a Hyakugo Bank board member in 1903 before becoming Hyakugo's president in 1919, and its chairman in 1945. He also served as a member of the Mie prefectural assembly. During this time he also showed a wide ranging talent for ceramics, calligraphy, and painting, particularly ceramics. He began making Raku ware in 1912, and opened a coal furnace at his home in 1929. In 1934 he built a Noborigama kiln of his own design, and held a one man show at Rosanjin's Hoshigaoka-saryo restaurant. He also formed the "Karahine Kai" group with Kaneshige Toyo and Arakawa Toyozo in 1939, and established the Hironaga Toen studio in 1946. He put particular effort into tea bowls, but rather than formal molds or expressions he would develop pieces with free expression, using an abstracted Buddha motif in calligraphy and paintings and so on to develop a unique world. They are currently highly valued on the market.