Guido

Looks like "Kiyomitsu" at first glance - hard to tell without better pics / Oshigata.

To quote my mother (who raised three sons, me being the eldest): "If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning!"

Not directed at anyone particular: There are words in Japanese for steel - Kôtetsu 鋼鉄 - and iron - Testsu 鉄 - but one hardly ever finds Kôtetsu in (Japanese) descriptions; only Tetsu is used, be it Jitetsu 地鉄 when it comes to swords, or Tetsuji 鉄地 when dealing with Tsuba. If the Japanese (experts) don't care, why should *we* get all excited about it? This discussion might have some academical merit, but after all is said and done, the quality (or lack thereof) of the individual Tsuba is what we should focus our attention on.

A few people in my neighborhood. :lol:

I thought the day would never come , but I'm 100% with Jacques on this one, up to it possibly being Mino. I don't know to whom you've been talking, Shan, but I'm afraid there will be no lengthy debate on *this* forum. You've constantly seeing Goto in your fittings, and now Heian in your sword; this is kind of alarming. If you don't mind some advise: sell the sword and the other fittings you showed us so far, and pull the Boston catalog from eBay: it's the only real collector's item you have. Invest the earnings from the sale into a good library, and become a member of the NBTHK and British Token Society (you're located in the UK, right?). It won't take long and you'll have a good laugh about "how I started out" .

Just for clarification (in case I got your reply wrong): I was refering to your "not getting" Kaneie, not the Tsuba in the first post - which, in my not so educated opinion, are a far cry from *real* Kaneie Tsuba. I, too, had problems to appreciate Kaneie until I saw some first hand - Ginza Choshuya had an exhibition of Kaneie a couple of years ago, and they even published a calender with Tsuba by him. Seeing them up close changed my perception quite a bit, and it really helps to know where he got his motif ideas from without actually copying them. Neither Kaneie nor Ma Yuan are very impressive on first glance, one has to really study those art forms in order to understand and appreciate them. I'm not pretending that I got that far yet, but also wouldn't discount much more educated opinions than my own because "I don't like it". An open mind goes a long way in personal development of art appreciation and taste.

Customers Who Bought Tsuba By Kaneie Also Bought Paintings By Ma Yuan

What Brian said - there are no shortcuts, as there are no "touch-up polishes". Anyhow, even when living in Japan I had my lacquer work done by someone in the US, the very same person Jon Bowhay and Ted Tenold work with now after I introduced them to him (I'm a certified saint occassionally ). Shoot Jon or Ted an e-mail or PM, and I'm sure they'll get the job done. Be prepared for a rather long waiting time, but the result will be worth every single Yen/Cent, plus you don't have to deal with the "difficult" (and I'm being nice here) traditional Japanese craftsmen who refuse to give you a cost estimate before doing the job, expecting you to pay any price they ask *after* finishing the item, if you like it or not (both the workmanship and the price).

It won't become a habit, I promise!

Piers, don't be too hard on yourself - even the vast majority of native speakers would read 上野 "Ueno" and not "Kôzuke" - and the second last Kanji is up to debate anyhow.

An "inventory Sayagaki" - name of the smith and date (as found on the Nakago), or name and period (if Mumei and papered) as well as the length - doesn't neccessarily increase the value, but also doesn't decrease it. I've seen quite a few (most recently a contemporary one on a Tokujû Kanemitsu), and basically it's the earliest form of Sayagaki. Adding comments, and signing it, is better left to the experts, and there are only a few I can think of: Kunzan (Dr. Homma), Kanzan (Dr. Satô), Yoshikawa Kentarô and Honami Kôson and Nisshû (all deceased), and Tanzan (Tanobe Michihiro) and Honami Kôshû who are presently doing Sayagaki. As I said before, having a Sayagaki done for easy identification without drawing the sword is not unusual (although the same can be achieved by attaching a label to the Shirasayabukuro, also frequently seen), finding a calligrapher who can do it properly is a different story altogether. If someone claims that he can do it, but doesn't know that regular Sumi should be used, is highly suspicious IMO. I also think that many non-Japanese can't properly judge the quality of a Sayagaki in terms of calligraphy. The lady who did the Hakogaki for Justin is a rare exception. She also did a Kakejiku for me not too long ago, and everybody who saw it was full of praise - including my wife's aunt who is a Sumi-e teacher. But if someone can't provide credentials - or if you're not able to judge the quality of the calligraphy by yourself - less is more, i.e. no Sayagaki is better than a potentially crappy one that most definately will decrease the value.

Looks like you got good advise from George:

One of your patients?

rkg's website is here, and looks indeed very professional. Unless we're dealing with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide, I think you got the wrong "George".

That's the most important thing, and should conclude this thread.

I always thought Robert had his trademark moustache from early childhood on . That's what being deeply involved in Japanese sword fittings can do to you, too! :lol:

I recently stumbled upon "George's Tsuba Pictures" - seemed like a nice enough website on first glance, until I realized that a couple of photos of Tsuba are "borrowed" from Mike and Cyrus' Tetsugendo website. No credit whatsoever is given to Tetsugendo, and "George" even has the guts to state and, talking about himself in the third person Well, maybe he's a professional photographer, but he fails to mention that at least some of the photos are not taken by him, and he even doesn't mention Tetsugendo on his links page.If nothing else, at least very bad form IMO.

tetsuji (iron "plate") engata (round shape) tsuchimeji (hammered surface) shihô (four corners/places) inome (boar's eye) sukashi Koichi, couldn't it be 四之 (yotsu no) instead of 四方?

Hmmm, I somehow don't think that's what Brian meant ... Btw - and since you stated your full name in an earlier thread - are you by any chance the WWII Japanese aviation author?

Well, the Mei, the papers, and especially the headline says in huge letters 則安.

Shirake-Utsuri is is not the most desirable type of Utsuri, but perfectly normal for, for instance, Mino swords; it's whitish (hence the name) and indistinct. I think you're confusing it with Tsukare (tired)-Utsuri, which looks like Utsuri on first glance, but is actually a result of over-polishing. "Masa-Utsuri" might be another expression for "Bô (straight)-Utsuri", although I never heard of it. Anyhow, since "Kanetoyo" is a member of this board, he might want to comment on it.

The question is: does it deserve the high reserve? After all, it's a Meiji period "souvenir sword" mounting with a non-descript blade that got some badly executed dragon and Bishamonten Horimono.

Hi Jon, I'm glad you finally decided to participate in the NihontÅ Message Board; it only took me - what, five or so years? - to convince you to join us. Since Jon (when he was born the letter "h" wasn't inveted yet for given names ) can be a little shy on occasion, let me give you some background on him: I met Jon L. Bowhay for the first time in 1990, shortly after he became an independent polisher, through the introduction of Fred Lohman. During one of his visits to Japan Fred asked me to do some interpreting for him in his negotiations with a Japanese supplier. Usually Jon Bowhay translated for him on such occasions, but was unavailable at that time. Fred later on told Jon about me and gave him my phone number. A few days later Jon called, we met, and soon became friends. Jon spent almost his entire life in Japan, where he studied art, oriental history and sociology at Sophia University, TÅkyÅ. After getting interested in Japanese art swords, he spent about seven years looking for a polishing teacher, nearly giving up as he was turned down time and again due to his age and being a foreigner - in those days it was inconceivable for a Gaijin to even think about doing something traditionally Japanese like that. Finally he was accepted as a student by a polisher in the Honami tradition, and completed a full ten years apprenticeship from 1979 to 1989. Due to his dedication and talent, Jon not only became an accomplished polisher, but also has the contacts to get any work concerning NihontÅ done, from Saya lacquering to Tsukamaki or custom fittings - whatever you can imagine, being it the restoration of an antique sword or a completely "new", traditional Koshirae. In the Summer of 2000 Jon and I edited and updated three articles on polishing by him. These are "The World of the Togishi", followed by "Hada and Nugui" and "HadÅri and Sashikomi"; the first one was published originally in "The East" magazine, the second and third one in the JSS/US Newsletter. If Jon doesn't mind, I'll send those articles to Brian for the soon-to-come FAQ and articles section. I hope they will be both educating and entertaining for those interested in this craft/art, IMO giving a rare insiders view into certain aspects of Togi, the art of polishing.

Come to think of it, I might have confused Yobina with Zokumyô ä¿—å or Tsûshô 通称 - or they are different expressions for the same thing. Where are my books or anybody (nobody ) out there?

Still with my books in transit, let me try to give you an answer off the back of my head: In the Edo period names of Samurai had the following construction: MyÅji è‹—å­— (family name) + Yobina 呼å ("second" given name) + Nanori åä¹— (formal given name). RokurÅ would be a typical given name, meaning something like "sixth son". At one time it became fashionable to add to that an old "unit" name used by the Rokuefu 六衛府 (the six imperial household troops) like Saemon 左衛門 and Uemon å³è¡›é–€, as well as the title (no) JÅ å°‰. In this case "RokurÅzaemon no JÅ" doesn't implicate any function or title, it's just a name. "S" sometimes becomes the softer "Z" when it follows a vowel, and the family name is not given; however, he states that he's a resident of Fukuoka.