rkg

Gary, Let's see, where to begin... Please forgive me if anything below is too basic/condescending - I never know where any particular photographer is coming from w/o more information, so... First of all, it will save you a lot of time if you become familiar with your camera's operation, particularly the manual mode. I took a quick look at your camera's specifications, and you may have a problem in that your camera doesn't appear to have manual focus - not impossible to work around, but sometimes you have to do stuff like stick something up next to the sword for the camera to lock onto, etc. to get it to even "see" the blade reliably - fortunately these little cameras have lots of depth of field so you don't have to absolutely nail the focus point/shoot really stopped down like you do with DSLR, MF, or large format camera, though you won't get optimal results. I also didn't see if it would shoot tethered or not, which is also very helpful. Note also that you've just become a victim of the Megapixel Wars - if you run the numbers the the geometry of the sensor/lens arrangement on these little cameras, it quickly becomes obvious that a sensor size above ~8 megapixels on them doesn't buy you much, if anything [lengthy diatribe deleted]. Second, depending on what you want to do, you might look into getting a decent tripod - you can do some OK stuff with the "hunt until you see the hada show up/nie glow and hit the button" method, but you'll end up getting unpredictable results with your camera, so you'll be shooting a lot more pics than you have to, and maybe not even get the "money shot" at all before you get frustrated/tired and give up... Third, its all about the light - swords are a b*tch to shoot which is why there aren't many cookbook articles out there - you get better results as you start controlling more and more stuff (which is where the camera's manual mode comes in). If you're serious, pick up a copy of Hunter and Fuqua's book and actually read it - or at least the very least the sections about photographing metal and glass: Light, Science, and Magic Its actually a lot easier to shoot stuff when you start thinking about the physics of the lighting. And the previous poster's advice about turning off your flash before you do anything is a Really Good Idea - you usually want the lighting coming from a different place/be different (and actually for general photography you do too [another diatribe deleted]...). Some guy in Canada distributed a videotape a few years ago that had some sort of OK cookbook ideas for where the lights would go, though as you'd expect I do something different because I want to see different stuff when I shoot a sword. Note also that the method the guy shows of supporting the sword for photography is creepy (basically it involved building a stand and holding the sword off the ground with a cheeseball clamping mechanism at the nakago) DON'T DO THIS!!! its entirely too easy for the sword to end up falling out and doing a tip plant, somebody walk into the sword and get it bloody, etc. - the swords deserve better than this. And finally, because of a sword's extremely high contrast, you need a LOT of pixels placed across the sword to get a decent image. particularly in print (at ~300ppi the resulting image is tolerable - at 400PPI, its starting to look pretty good) - and you actually need a printer that can honestly resolve this. So to get a kick-b*tt image, you're talking about caturing at least 11000-14000 pixels along the length of say a 36 inch long overall piece (so don't count on getting a stunning overall image of your pieces with your camera in one shot) assuming a 2x3 format that would require what, a 55 Megapixel+ sensor... There's a reason why a lot of people scan (or revert to using large format cameras) on these pieces.... I had posted a diatribe a while back on Mr. Hallam's list about this. On the fittings, you are a little better off - a good start is to read up on how jewelry guys shoot stuff. Again, there are few "cookbook" methods for these - I've always been a little surprised how two fittings that "appear" nearly identical require very different lighting setups, and it can sometimes take a Very Long time fiddling to get the shot that really captures the piece. Also, you have to be careful with a lot of the jewelry methods - decent fittings are actually highly reflective, and doing the simpleminded stuff like putting them in a lightbox and hoping for the best usually makes them look really bad. (unless you end up filling up the light tent with subtractive flags, but I digress..). They're actually quite challenging to shoot and make look really good which is probably why I'm so fascinated with imaging them... Good Luck, rkg (Richard George)

Ford, That's a good question, as usually the nakago on a naginata is vaguely sword shaped, though the older ones were quite a bit thicker and have this relatively tall shinogi-ji - the ana in the two edo pieces in Dirk's image is vaguely what you'd expect. I haven't had enough caffeine this morning to remember clearly and currently don't have an ubu nagamaki in my collection to look at to see if they were significantly different, though the Yamabushi site that that large "steering wheel" tsuba attributed to have been mounted on a nagamaki with a triangular nakago ana. (I did not physically see the nagamaki piece I have mounted up - it was one of those where the blade was by some big name koto guy that gets sent in for juyo and the tatty orignal mounts get disposed of in pieces because they'd probably be worth less together - you gotta love that...). The supposition from my drug-free brain would be that they didn't bother following the nakago ana exactly with these "retrofits" because they didn't need to be all that precise thanks to the big shinogi-ji to stabilize it/didn't take the time because they were polearms that were basically consumables. Best, rkg (Richard George)

Dirk, Nope, those are naginata tsuba - the ones you are showing are are seen a fair amount on edo period naginata koshirae. Best, rkg (Richard George)

Piers, There's actually a variety of polearm tsuba, but here are a couple I currently have... Here's the first - a naginata tsuba: And here's one that was pulled off of a nagamaki (gotta love people who bust up a koshirae/blade), though I now believe it was originally a tachi tsuba: the sukashi on this one is filled with lead and it weighs a ton... it also has surface carving and brass decorations under the lacquer. On the piece you've posted, I could believe its for a nagamaki, but there's something odd about it - the carving/sukashi is very "rustic" - almost too primitive - but maybe that's just me... On the motif, is the sukashi at the bottom a turtle? I should have photographed some of the other polearm tsuba I've handled over the years :-/ Best, rkg (Richard George)

Hi, You know, I don't think I'd carry one of these in public these days - given the general level of tension our law enforcement authorities are walking around with (and actually the public in general), seems like you'd be likely to end up on the ground with several glocks pointed at your head (or worse) when you went to draw it in a public place. Sh*t, I just about get that when I take the lens cap off my camera when I have a long telephoto on it ( rant deleted) - as if I'd be stupid enough to draw attention to myself with several thousand dollars worth of highly visible camera gear if I was up to no good. Maybe they should be worried about the hordes of people with cell phone cameras instead. I guess it makes them feel like they are doing something. Best, rkg (Richard George)

Hey guys, In case anybody is interested, I just picked up a copy of Turnbull's The Samurai and the Sacred on off the closeout rack at Powell's for ~$13 I have not read it yet (just got home with it), but it seems like a good reference to those of us who keep trying do figure out fittings themes. In addition, in thumbing through the book, it seems to have a large section on Christianity in Edo period Japan. Best, rkg (Richard George)

Hi, I've seen them signed on both sides, depending on the artisan/school and probably who the piece was for as well... Best, rkg (Richard George)

Hey guys, I need to pick up a few (more) tsuba boxes. who sells these at an OK price these days? everybody still getting them from Fred Lohman buddy, or...? Also, is there a "standard" box that you use with a piece with a tanto sized nakago opening? I finally got a tsuba with a tanto sized ana that's "worth" a box, and... Also, has anybody out there actually made a custom inserts for their piece(s)? thx, rkg (Richard George)

Hi, I hate to use the same pic in several posts, but the wakizashi whose closeup I have online still has a piece of the other guy's sword stuck in the kiri komi - its amazing that they preserved it.... http://www.rkgphotos.com/recent_stuff/ko_uda.jpg There are a number of tsuba out there that seem to have cuts on them, but if you look carefully, they're usually where it would be impossible to actually deliver a blow to cause them it the tsuba was actually mounted (as was mentioned in an earlier post on this thread) - I'd posit that these are effectively a "proof" mark to show how tough the tsuba was. It would be interesting to know if it was by edict, custom, or merely a marketing tool for the tsubako. Wasn't there a kyo in one of the haynes auctions that really seems to have taken a sword hit? I seem to recall one having a wicked cut in it. I had the honor of photographing a tsuba a couple of years ago that had a pretty obvious musket ball hit - the cool part was that the ball hit was from the "back", so either the guy actually had the sword drawn, or the ball went through him... Best, rkg (Richard George)

you've seen it before, but my favorite wak is at: http://www.rkgphotos.com/recent_stuff/ko_uda.jpg Dial up alert: its a pretty big file... Now that I'm done with the fittings shooting I've been doing, maybe I'll re-shoot this so it looks better... Best, rkg (Richard George)

Hi, So, what's the story on this ko-bizen Masamune anyway? I had occasion to check Fujishiro (my mail computer's boot/software drive croaked last week), and I see there isn't an entry for the guy (the second listed is a sue-mihara guy, and..). thx, rkg (Richard George)

Lee, I wouldn't recommend using the original koshirae for anything but display. Old koshirae tend to self destruct on their own after a couple of hundred years, and I can't imagine you wanting to risk injuring yourself or somebody else if that were to happen while training... If you want to use the blade for this, you can have a modern koshirae made by somebody who knows what they are doing (and I think Fred Lohman even still makes replica fittings/ishizuki/etc.,), though it might actually be cheaper to just buy a modern replica sold for kata use. On the MOP falling off, this seems to be a common affliction - I have a naginata pole that I'm not sure what to do with myself - I'm afraid to even ship it off to somebody to get the MOP conserved because its so fragile - on the other hand, it would be great to be able to display it more prominently - the fittings are amazing... http://home.teleport.com/~rkg/photos/kunisuke_kosh.jpg Good Luck, rkg (Richard George)

Why, to ebay, of course Best, rkg (Richard George)

Remy, I believe that leaving tosogu in the bathroom is one of the "standard" suggestions for getting patination started/re-started. I'm not sure it will do much to "good" rust on an iron tsuba, but it might well make "bad" red rust get worse, and I'd probably think twice about leaving shakudo (unless you are trying to repair the patination) and possibly brass in a high humidity place like that - and I'd probably not leave something like a koshirae there (rapidly changing humidity/ temperature = bad). Just be sure the better half is OK with leaving the fittings in public view (story about some of wife's friends seeing one of my naginata koshirae and never returning to our house deleted). Best, rkg (Richard George)

Hi, This would probably be better posted in the "articles" section, but I see you can't post there, so... Since we were snowed in, I managed to find some time to "finish" an article I was working on about how to use a scanner to photograph small stuff. You can find it on the "news" section of my website: http://www.rkgphotos.com/news.htm Feel free to PM or email with comments, to point out errors (I'm sure there are some), etc.,. Best, rkg (Richard George)

Hi, Let's try this again - for some reason my last post didn't seem to go through... I actually had some time to look at Eprey in the last week or three and remember seeing this piece. The dimensions and composition say "saotome" to me (as I think the seller mentioned), but the surface does not. It appears to have either been burned (most likely) or was badly corroded and boned back to life (or all of the above), and it might well have been repatinated on top of that. Just an opinion that is probably worth what you paid for it... Best, rkg (Richard George)

Hi, On the support staff, aren't there a couple of books that list this? I seem to recall reading one or two in the distant past that had lengthy lists of personnel and supplies that went into a military campaign. One thing I've wondered about a lot was what surface condition most swords from this period actually had at the time - did they all have the "white metal" type of polish similar to a lot of modern martial artistas leave on their pieces, or was it even that good? I have an early shinto naginata with what appears to be the original finish on it (the piece was never mounted), and its pretty coarse (the trouble is that I don't know if this was the actual final finish, or just how the swordsmith left it). Here's a couple of old bad pictures: http://home.teleport.com/~rkg/photos/ub ... verall.jpg http://home.teleport.com/~rkg/photos/ubu_nag_tip1.jpg Has anybody done any research into what the finish of a Japanese sword was prior to the hoity-toity polish that was developed during the Edo period? The other question is what kind of (if any) oil was being used - some vegetable based oils kind of form this nasty varnish when they dry, that might have been fairly protective. (as an aside, what kind of oil were you using on your pieces? seems like you shouldn't have had any problems if you were using some of the modern gun oils like sheath or break-free...). Best, rkg (Richard George)

Chris, I second getting ahold of a copy of Tsuba an Aesthetic study as a starting point. Its not terribly expensive, and has some reasonable descriptions/is a pretty good overview. If you've gotten some offers from advanced collectors to look at some pieces, I'd HIGHLY recommend taking them up on that sooner than later - its really very hard to understand a lot of tsuba w/o actually seeing some decent physical examples to give meaning to the text/flat pictures. (comments about lack of close-ups deleted). Good Luck, rkg (Richard George)

Hey Guys/Brian, WHAT!!!?? I have nothing to do with the "George's Tsuba Pictures" website. And actually, theft of images/intellectual property is one of my hot buttons, and and I certainly in any case would not use somebody else's images w/o the image owner's permission. As Mr. Schiller pointed out, my website is: http://www.rkgphotos.com Feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions. (you can use PM or email at rkg@rkgphotos.com). Best, rkg (Richard "I don't steal people's images" George)

Hi, Has this piece been cleaned? Normally tsuba end up looking silverish in photographs due to lighting problems (that patina is actually highly reflective), but I don't see enough dark spots to lead me to believe this in this case (maybe its just the lack of caffeine this morning) Also, do you have a little bit more of an "angle" shot so we can see the shape of the rim? thx, rkg (Richard George)

Hey guys, Actually, old brass pieces aren't that bad. Here's one I got on a lark not too long ago from aoi art (and still happen to have the images online): The piece is a bit interesting in that it appears that it was covered with gold/lacquer with black lacquer in the low spots at one point - I didn't get a hi-mag image, but here's a close-up: Best, rkg (Richard George)

Joakim, You could try to get the seller to stop the auctions, but I'd guess they wouldn't do it for the price you mentioned, as Brian observed. In General, Eprey isn't the best place for a beginning collector to look for swords - often the pictures are lousy, the descriptions are incomplete or misleading, and its an "auction" environment where you can get sucked into paying more than you should for something (a prior poster's observation about setting your max bid is spot on - when I was doing a lot of listings, I'd always look at the bid history and stop listing additional items of a certain type if there were too few bidders - usually we'd do real well when we got at least a couple of people who really wanted a particular item :-) ). Along with everybody else, I'd recommend that you might want to sit pat and save your pennies er, uh, Euros until you've accumulated enough to get something reasonable - unless you get lucky sniping or fall into a deal, you should plan on spending at least USD1500-2000 for an servicable in-polish wakizashi (even with a koshirae), more for a katana (though you can sometimes pick up a mostly in-polish traditionally made WWII era piece by a no-name smith, maybe even with a (mostly) complete koshirae, for that price or sometimes less if the blade has issues that make it a "gamble"). I'd recommend avoiding pieces that need a polish when you're starting out though- most of the time anything on the "open market" is out of polish because somebody else (who probably knows a lot more than you) decided it wasn't worth the risk/wouldn't cost more than they could sell the finished piece for. Also remember to factor in shipping and possibly import duties (A/R). Things are tough right now, so always making an offer is probably a good idea - you'll find experienced sellers will probably deal more on pieces that have issues (non-fatal flaws, shinto and later era pieces that have been shortened and/or have had the machi moved up, unsigned pieces or pieces by no-name makers, pieces that aren't "typical" (short wakizashi or katana, etc.), pieces with marginal polish, etc.,. Good Luck, rkg (Richard George)

Hi, Look for: Kokusai Tosogu Kai, 2006 International Convention & Exhibition various vendors have them - or you can hit Craig Harris's site (Bridge of Dreams Books): http://www.bridgeofdreams.com/shop/bridge/index.html Best, rkg (Richard George)

Actually, having the lights all around the tip like that will blow out most of the surface on highly reflective/flat-ish things (look at their quarter image, for example), though you might be able to do some good by slipping some paper to block some of the light from LED ring so you get darkfield illumination going on, or block some of the LEDs so you can get some contrast/shadows... Best, rkg (Richard George)

Ted, I have no real doubt that your conclusion is correct on them being used as big "fire pokers", its just a little confusing as it usually takes quite a bit of heat to detemper/cause a phase change a chunk of metal, and... I wonder if there is a book somewhere on fire fighting techniques in the Edo period (I'm wondering if their technique was to pull the offending buildings down, create a break by pulling down the surrounding structures, or...?) If they were looking for "pokers", interesting that you wouldn't find the odd koto piece like this (I mean they're usually longer and you find things like kama yari which would be useful for this) - I wonder if that meant these were considered more valuable or if they got retempered or they were relatively rare or the koshirae were in such decrepit shape they couldn't be used or... I can't remember where I came across that tidbit on detempering sword tips (I'm too young to have senior moments, dammit!), but if it was done, I could see it being one of those "pot roast" things that got passed along, particularly if it was among the ashigaru or something... Best, rkg (Richard George)