raiden

nidai

Hope this helps, busy with an exhibition tomorrow!

As often with any large school, there always seem to be many different levels of quality, yet works that are similiar in feeling. I have seen many Nobuie tsuba that have been authenticated of way varying quality. I have been taught that when one sees quite a bit of examples from a large school, most likely there will be dai saku mei works. The Hizen School is a good example, especially during the reign of the 2nd Tadahiro. I believe, no matter what, each piece needs to be judged on its own merits, even when authenticated by any group. For me it is easier to tell a upper grade Nobuie, as I have seen several famous examples, but what seems to amaze me is the amount of works that are available (authenticated ones), especially when compared to those of authenticated Kaneiye. My teacher told me once that Nobuie was a Bushi fashion statement during his time, so they were very popular and thus in great demand. This could be the reason why there are so many examples of varying quality, satisfying all levels of clients. Of course the Dai-Sho set that I saw at the time was top notch , belonging to the Ogasawara Daimyo. My teacher had gotten his information from his teacher Sasano sensei. I was taught that every piece should be judged on its own merits, and by seeing notable great examples, ones eye grows. The theory of Nobuie having students or sons doing work for me is credible just by the shear amount of items that are left that have varying qualty and signatures. All I can say is that one should just learn to recognize the differences between masterpieces and student works and log them in your mind for future references. This will also help you in determining the differences bewtween false signature items and judging unsigned ones. Back to rest as this cold I have is horrible!

I have had this maker before, he did sign very small, and the tsuba looks like that of the Toryusai school in my opinion. The subject of a pot would require such a ji to appear like stone. The workmanship while not of top quality, is not that bad. It is worthy of more study in and and a possible trip to Jpan for shinsa. But that is only my 2 cents worth without seeing it in hand, and I have a few Kiyotoshi....I would like to see this in San Francisco to confirm.It does however need some traditional teirei! Mike

without seeing it in hand....saotome or Heianjo sukashi......

I am thinking if I will take them to the SF show, but 1 of them belongs to a mounted tanto that will be at the show I hope. Which one were you interested in? please e-mail me if interested at mike@tetsugendo.com

probably have one, e-mail me mike@tetsugendo.com

I think it is trying to say "Konkan" like Iwamoto...

At least the living smiths can try to obtain the "Ningen Kokuho" level which is a super high honor - perhaps such makers swords in the future may achieve Juyo status. Also interestingly enough some smiths like Matsuba Kunimasa test thier blades on Bamboo - he just won a major award for his sword.

Just so everyone knows, they will be set at $3200 for sale(NMB members), $3750 other wise.

also what IS the color? you state copper, but yet it looks blue - black in the photo...

Ok, I would like to know the size ( top to bottom in inches if possible ), humor me, I am going some where with this, but need some info.

Russian Roulette with an automatic is not a good idea...

I'm glad everyone could think a bit about these things, I feel it is important when buying on the web. Of course that is why we and others offer inspection periods as well. Good hunting! I myself am attending a Macro class this weekend - I know i suck as a photographer - RKG come live in LA!

From what I know, by the OLD standards of the NTHK shinsa, this mount won't get too much info other than estimated age, and if the fuchi signature is deemed genuine, my advice is use the money for something more worthwhile like a blade as they have more hurdles to over come when sending to Japan, so usually we only send the nicer ones these days for shinsa and polish. But hey what do I know!

Be aware of the differences of the pics offered. Also according to Mike Han (NVIDEA Corp) he told me an important fact - most people do not have their monitors calibrated properly including those that are doing the pics! Here is a pic of a Nobuiye that I just bought, right side is the pic they sent me, left is mine.

so I can see that we have an enormous range of values for this set! My goal is to show that everyone has a different idea of value for almost everything, that is why "fair market value' is an important factor when accessing value on a piece for any reason. To me they were a good buy at $2750US, I factored in the condition, workmanship, theme, maker, genuine signature with certification, custom box and the fact that I do not see anything else that good for that price! Sorry to be a bore!

figure about 1" or so

I bought this set by Hashimoto Ishi, they are solid gold with the silver done on top of the golod. A very nice set, great work, good condition, signed, custon boxed and papered. He is a top artist from the Ichijo School. How about everyone guess the price?

Actually "No" the Taikan doesn't show all of his pieces, however, there is a very exact inventory record some that include the complete time the piece took to make from start to finish. I showed an example of this record in the posted pic. The kozuka that passed Juyo last year by Natsuo also isn't shown in the Taikan, but IS listed in the inventory record. - Just so you know, the kozuka and teh Fuchi came from the same source, but neither was papered yet. But the kozuka required shinsa for Juyo submission. Another example of items that did not have any kanteisho, but are known in other situations.

looks like he made it with clouds to match the fiting on the left page.....enough I have work to do!

I think the workmanship is as good or better than Yasuchika, but hey what do I know.........

The inventory record for the Naginata Fuchi with date of manufacture - this research was done by a good friend of mine from the NBTHK as a favor.