Ford Hallam

Hi John Your second piece is quite different. I can discern traces of irregular dendritic structure (modern material would be pretty uniform) in the breakdown of the surface due to corrosion. The surface corrosion is reasonably varied, I see one or two fissure like folds just visible, again due to corrosion. One such fold is to be seen trailing off the bottom outer edge of the kogai hitsi in the top image. Another at 10:30 on the same image near the mimi. And the wear around the kogai hitsu and nakago-ana is a bit like broken off stone, again exactly what I'd expect from corroding and friable old metal. Compared to modern iron/steel, which is quite pliable when in an unhardened state, old forge weld consolidated sponge iron (tatara material etc.) is somewhat crumbly. I use, almost exclusively now, old mid 19th century finely wrought iron in my own work, and even the best material, which looks flawless to the naked eye, has a grainy structure under the chisel and can tear and break in ways that are simply not the same as homogeneous steel. Actually this is a good example to contrast with the first piece to illustrate those subtleties that distinguish modern from pre-industrial iron. I've attached a microphotograph of some dendritic structure in a modern steel as a guid to what can be seen on this old tsuba. Uniformity is of course the aim in modern metallurgy whereas pre-industrial stuff is inevitably much less ordered, even when relatively well processed.

I agree with Grey, I have my own suspicions about this piece. Despite it appearing to have suffered a fair amount of corrosion it reveals to signs we'd expect of a non-homogeneous piece of tatara produced iron. Just to clarify, pre-industrial iron in Japan that was forged etc. ( cast iron is a very different beast with it's own characteristics) was at no point a molten uniform mass, so it all looks a bit like filo pastry in terms of internal structure, of varying degrees of refinement, naturally. Here there are no signs of layering, inclusions and the like. In fact the basic material seems remarkably uniform....modern!, one might suggest.

To my eyes it looks as though the rust was removed in a solution of dilute hydrochloric acid. That's apparently also the 'patina' you can see, a post acid bath dull grey. I hope it's been well and truly neutralised, which is quite difficult on fibrous wrought iron like this, or the corrosion will ramp up pretty soon on the inside and the whole thing will start to crumble in short order. I see the 'restorer' claims to have picked the rust off with a scalpel...I've seen quite a few bits of ancient metalwork done professionally in the V&A and British museum done this way, under a microscope, and the surface left is nothing like this dull grey. Sorry to be the 'bad cop' but this is acid stripping.

If I were to saw this bolt in half lengthways and stick them on a tsuka under the wrap they'd serve as menuki, BUT would that make them actual menuki? And now we're falling into the deep hole that is the epistemology of tosogu. If that's not a thing I reckon it jolly well ought to be.

Some interesting questions raised by these wax carved and cast menuki shaped objects... There, I've nailed my colours to the post Can we call a CGI designed and printed/cast object that has the outer form of a tsuba a real tsuba? I dont think so. A tsuba, like sushi, pizza, menuki and all sorts of culturally and creatively defined things are recognised as such by their conformity to accepted criteria. Toated dough, melted cheese and a tomato sauce doesn't automatically make the tasty treat a pizza....it may merely be a toasted cheese sandwich, even if you sneak in an anchovy. On a purely functional point menuki were made by means of skilfully manipulating sheet metal for a number of reasons, each significant in terms of what we understand a menuki to be. Sheet work means they're lighter and consume less material, so that choice reflects an awareness of the limits of material resources as well as the need to keep the overall weight of the sword to a minimum for its effective functioning. These are two important and defining aspects of what make menuki menuki. The skill needed to work sheet metal in this way, in such delicate and fine detail was one of the reasons menuki were in fact the most highly regarded of the tosogu when they originally came into use. We do actually value menuki in part because we recognise the remarkable effort their creation entails, finding a more efficient way of producing a similar looking outward appearance is missing a lot of where the value of menuki lies, I think. I don't want to criticise the objects Mario's wife made for him, they're perfectly nicely made objects, in their own right. But, as menuki I find the forms overly 'heavy/chunky'. So while I recognise they are intended to act as menuki, and of course that's Mario's prerogative, and that his wife made them makes them more meaningful to him no doubt, to my thinking they are 'menuki shaped objects, and not objects made to be menuki in the way menuki are and always have been made. I'm not trying to offend anyone's sensibilities by making this post, I'm merely attempting to clarify what I believe would be the reaction of most traditional artisans.

ah, maybe a rare early example of a kinetic sculpture in tosogu. Take that Alexander Calder

Same theme but just look at the two kashira, they're completely different designs. If you're unable to see the details in tosogu then what are you looking at, really?

I would agree with Geraint and George with regard to leaving this piece as it is. However I can't imagine the Goto work ever incorporated any sort of worn look originally. The entire ethos of the Goto school, as part of the Shogunate's strategy of claiming and emphasising legitimacy, was one of dignity and unchanging perfection. It was very much a Confucian philosophy that informed the ruling structures, one of rectitude and order. Any suggestion of wear or decay in terms of court wear might even be seen as subversive I imagine.

Hi Jeremiah, yes, shibuichi is the least poetic of the alloy's names, and actually inaccurate in most cases to boot. 朧 銀 can be read as either Oboro-gin or Rō-gin , hazy or misty silver.

To my eyes this tsuba would appear to be shakudo. Un-patinated shakudo is virtually identical to copper in colour. Shibuichi is, by comparison, a much paler pink colour before patination, but when the patina is worn off the bare metal tarnishes very rapidly to hid the fresh pale pink. Invariably what we see is a tone of grey, a more silvery patch sometimes (where the copper component of the patina has been lost leaving a silver rich film) or a dirty coppery/brass sort of tarnish. I'll try and put together a little chart of images to illustrate the different alloys, patinated and not, to help in future identifications. Copper alloys with less than around 10% silver patinate (in rokusho, the traditional method) to a deep chocolate colour, not grey or black.

I think most aspects have been already well covered but I'd like to add.. A properly carried out restoration generally wouldn't be an issue when it came to shinsa, especially if the repair is invisible, which in my view it ought to be. A shonky job will, of course, be a red flag and may result in the work being rejected though. Gold foil on iron is typically nunome-zogan and when lost or worn away its repair is complicated by the inevitable rust present and blending in with remaining gold foil when it comes to recutting the damaged area. It's possible but a very tricky job to do well. It is possible to effect a cosmetic touch up by means of electroplating but matching the gold colour is sometimes impossible. As has been already mentioned kin-keshi, or murcury amalgam / fire gilding was one traditional method on non-ferrous metals and alloys but quite a lot of gold foil on non-ferrous, especially larger areas of polished gold (like on kozuka backs for example) appear to be a form of fusion application. Damage to these grounds is often in the form of a tear or where a little dent has wrinkled an area of incomplete fusion. This technique is not like the modern Korean technique of Keum Boo nor does it appear to use any murcuric nitrate (sui-gin) as a flux but is more akin to direct fusion, with a rosin flux from what I've been able to deduce from texts and microscopic examination. This technique, hitherto not documented yet in evidence everywhere on tosugu, is certainly not practiced today. Repair to this sort of surface may be very tricky. On the odd occasion I've done it I actually matched the gold colour and then inlaid a patch to extend slightly beyond the damaged area and then carefully polished the slightly raised patch down until it melded with the original foil. It's a bit like eye surgery.

I'm with Richard, the mei itself does actually look pretty good, the Kao in particular, and that's hard to do. I know, I've tried There are certain aspects that might be seen as Natsuo studio in terms of style and it's worth remembering he had a working studio of at least 12 artisans at the hight of his output so there may be all sorts of possible explanations for this tsuba's existence. On balance though I'd have to say not by his hand. The whole thing ultimately feels a bit heavy and lumpen. And Natsuo was always so refined and elegant as a person and in his work. I dont yhink the mei had HIS approval and was either added after production, ato-mei, or the whole piece may have been made by an old student after the master's death and when on hard times.

say my name three times and click your heels and I will appear... A few observations; Rust is generally harder than any underlying patina, if any really remains...so when rubbing active rust on a tsuba surface you're inevitably abrading any underlying patina. I dislike this old approach for this reason. Just because a rust deposit is red doesn't mean it's active. Active rust requires at least some degree of humidity so the most effective and least damaging action is to keep rusty pieces in a very dry atmosphere until a less aggressive treatment can be applied. A box with desiccating packets might be an easy temporary step if you're really concerned. And micro crystalline wax really isn't abrasive at all, and is perfect for tosogu of all types. Ibota wax, on the other hand, the traditional wax used, is a bad idea as it readily breaks down in the presence of copper and it's alloys to form corrosive compounds. ...and having said all that, Mark, I think You've done a pretty decent job. The only real remaining issue now is the bright steel spots, but they were bare before you started.

the copper inserts in the tang opening are very strong indicators that this is Suruga work. I see nothing else to contradict that attribution.

To me this looks be be a fairly non controversial Heian-jo type guard. I would debate the Momoyama dating, I think that the introduction of brass inlay needs to, at least be brought forward from the Onin period the the late 1500's, more reasonably perhaps early 1600's. Similarly nunome-zogan would appear to be a later technical adoption, from Korea it seems, and comes some time after wire and flat inlay. So I'd suggest the nunome decoration traces was a later addition. I don't think the leaves look like grape vines though, a case of mistaken identity maybe

...and of the examples Dirk posted none are alike either .

This is an early 19th century piece by Horie Okinari. It features coral 'berries' and a malachite inlay representing a mossy rock. The use of gemstones, glass, ivory, lacquer and other such non-metallic materials in tosugu decoration isn't very common but we do occasionally see examples. This suggests that while not unknown it wasn't, evidently, ever a hugely popular feature. Curiously, though, the use of enamels (the Hirata school output being most notable) was highly appreciated. And Murakami Jochiku is celebrated for his creative use of mother of pearly in his compositions. The Tsuba is copied from the "Tosogu, Treasures of the Samurai" catalogue by Graham Gemmell, one of my early mentors in this field.

Fukurin start off as flat strips of thin metal, they are accurately shaped like a frame around the outside of the tsuba and then silver soldered close. Only then is the 'frame' fitted to the tsuba and the overlapping edges of the frame gradually cold worked down onto the surface of the tsuba plate. On iron tsuba this would be done after the iron patina has been fully developed. You'll find a series of images showing this process here: https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPDjMsj6e4pIjnu5RaoPG693ANz-JBM9ERTXnHs1_Lf34RmDP1k3u8nU8di-yShHQ?key=NHF6N0VTb0J4anlJZ1lQWjhyeE1VQm9EQVltLW13 In this case it's a shakudo fukurin on a yamagane-like base plate but the procedure on iron would be exactly the same. This is also why we often encounter applied rims that are a little bit loose, it's very tricky to close the edges inwards without the outer edge stretching a little bit.

The Brass mon on the Masdanaga look very unusual to my eyes. They appear to be applied on top of the surface, rather than inlaid, but there's no evidence of nunome-zogan cross-hatching. Also, the cut out details on the leaves of the mon are very delicate, but one or two details/irregularities seem to be repeated on both remaining mon. This leads me to suspect that they are modern laser cut stencils. Their actual placement of the iron plate looks awkward to my "Edo eyes' too

To add a little art technical info here... The katakiri is gilded. Were the gilding done in the classical way with mercury, fire gilding or kin-keshi, it'd have a sightly frosted look. Quite distinctive in fact. This, on the other hand, has been done by means of electroplating. This technology was only introduced to Japan, from Germany I believe, in the very late 19th century. It's application, like this, to gild engraved lines is called chinkin-bori. It became relatively common in the Meiji period.

I love the 'helicopter' rabbit

The subject is of a famous Chinese scholar and strategist called Han Xin, circa 200BC. from wikipedia "On another occasion, a hooligan saw Han Xin carrying a sword and challenged him to either kill him or crawl between his legs. Han Xin knew that he would become a criminal if he killed him, so instead of responding to the taunts, he crawled between the hooligan's legs and was laughed at." Some versions of the story make the bully a fisherman who was intent on belittling Han Xin and amusing his fishermen mates. Han Xin complies and thereby demonstrates his humility. While the actual tsuba looks like it needs some careful restoration I would suggest the price was fair. I think it's a pretty decent bit of work and if restored well would look pretty grand. The bully's face is particularly well rendered and expressive, and the clothing folds and patterning is very good. A complex composition well executed. The mei appears to read Nobumori, possibly the Tanaka/Sonobe school artist. Student of the 3rd gen. master Nobuyoshi.

I would suggest a later date for the decorative work. Kata-kiri style cutting, the tiger's stripes, bamboo leaves etc, developed around the first quarter of the 18th century, ie; 1725 ish. Centred on the Yokoya school.

As someone who has used this collection, in a number of ways professionally, I would encourage members to get a copy and to become familiar with the designs. Some are in fact ink rubbings taken from actual pieces, some even very important works by major names. A particularly fine Yokoya Somin shishi in katakiri, for example, is shown as a rubbing and in that reveals more than most photos of the piece. The mei is also more clearly illustrated this way than most photographs in the standard reference books too, so that's a bonus. Additionally what we can easily realise when studying a large collection of images of designs as they would have been available to period carvers us that notions of school based on subject or theme become less certain if everyone had access to the same design sources.

John While I can appreciate your concern I don't feel my post wasn't all that controversial. As I suggested, a careful examination of the item in question reveals exactly what it is. I'm certainly not asking anyone to take my word as the authority at all. Merely that one's own eyes ought to be able to reveal the reality of the piece. As far as I'm concerned this 'tsuba' is a straightforward cast copy fake. And if it isn't pointed out in a forthright manner then there will undoubtedly more in the future. But as Geraint has pointed out, the language used in their description absolves the auction house of responsibility.