MauroP

I'd suggest 葡萄 - budō - grapevine for the second tsuba.

Unusual description, Curran, the paper say 二叉車透鐔 but I don't know how to read it (maybe futatsu mataguruma sukashi tsuba). Anyway it should mean something like "two stacked wheel design".

Hi Tristan, welcome to the forum. Both tsuba have seen better days, so it’s difficult to judge. Sorry, I’m unable to sort out the signatures. The first one shows takabori, suemon-zōgan, and possibly remnants of nunome-zōgan. The coexistence of multiple decorative techniques makes me think of Shōami school (or possibly Nara school). As for the other one, the bird depicted appears to be a pigeon, so the shape is called hato-gata. There are irregular granulations on the rim, which could be either iron bones (a good sign) or casting debris (a bad sign). I’m quite confident the first tsuba is an old piece; I’m less certain about the second one.

Chestnuts?

Jack, the "guy" you are tolking about is Satō Kanzan, one of the most respected experts on the Japanese sword. The point here is that I don't think the hakogaki was genuinely written by Satō Kanzan. Nonetheless nothing written in the hakogaki is false (but the signature, of course).

Steve, my guess was 老, meaning ‘old,’ but in both instances I’m unable to grasp the meaning.

Storing tsuba in Petri dishes, that'a a great idea!

In my opinion, the tsuba we are discussing is a “legitimate” modern tsuba, produced in the late 1950s to early 1960s. Was it made according to tradition? That depends on how strict one’s criteria for “tradition” are. Ford Hallam certainly produced traditional works of art, but he used fine saw blades for sukashi, whereas in the Edo period only chisels and files were available...

Thank you, Moriyama-san. I was wondering whether 古香存矣 might be a more likely transcription than 右香存矣, taking into consideration another hakogaki which shows:

大和守忠行 - Yamato no Kami Tadayuki

The project to compile a short collection of transcriptions of hakogaki by Satō Kanzan has grown larger than I originally intended. It now comprises 86 hakogaki (although at least three are likely forgeries, but I digress…). There are still missing kanji and transcriptions that need to be confirmed, so I kindly ask for your help. Thank you in advance. HGK04 Only one kanji is missing (but I am unable to identify it). 葵形 鉄地 ＊ aoi-gata tetsu-ji ★鐔 透 ＊ ??? sukashi 馬面序政(花押) ＊ Bamen Tsunemasa (kaō) 珍也 ＊ chin nari 昭和卅六年春 ＊ Shōwa 36-nen haru [1961, spring 寒山 ＊ Kanzan HGK05 There are quite a few gaps here: 軍扇透鐔★ ＊ gunsen sukashi tsuba ??? 木瓜形 鉄地★ ＊ mokkō-gata tetsu-ji ??? ★★ ★地 小透 打 ＊ ??? ko-sukashi uchi 返耳 ★★★★ ＊ kaeshi-mimi ??? 信家 尾張也 ＊ Nobuie Owari nari 昭和卅六年春 ＊ Shōwa 36-nen haru [1961, spring] 寒山 ＊ Kanzan HGK13 One kanji is missing (could be 芝, but what does il mean?). 丸形 山金地 ★覆 ＊ maru-gata yamagane-ji ??? fuku- 輪 小田原之 ＊ rin Odawara no kore 無銘 彦三 ＊ mumei Hikozō 昭和乙巳歳春 ＊ Shōwa kinoto-mi no toshi haru [1965, spring] 寒山 ＊ Kanzan

Here's how I organized my collection records (now I need to improve the photographs)

鐔 寒山拾得図 * tsuba Kanzan Jittoku zu 朧銀銅广地丸形 * oborogin migaki-ji maru-gata 耳打返高彫 * mimi uchikaeshi takabori 金銀色絵象嵌 * kin gin iroe zōgan 銘定常金象嵌 * mei Sadatsune kin-zōgan 昭和甲辰年春吉日 ＊ Shōwa kinoe-tatsu-nen haru kichijitsu [1964, spring, an auspicious day] 寒山誌 ＊ Kanzan shirusu

Go for it, Dan. Every collection will eventually be dismantled. Whether it’s sold at a Goodwill or at Sotheby’s doesn’t really matter from the point of view of the deceased collector...

Dan, stay tuned! https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/53919-tsuba-hakogaki-written-by-satō-kanzan/

The hakogaki is well written and states some perfectly legitimate assumptions about the tsuba. Unfortunately (or rather, thank God), it is not by the Satō Kanzan. Below are others hakogaki, likely written by the same “pseudo-Kanzan,” concerning modern tsuba.

Patina or kuro-urushi?

For reference (from Signatures of Japanese Sword Fittings Artists by Markus Sesko).

At least a true itomaki-gata tsuba, unfortunately from an auction dead link.

I’m quite in disagreement with what has been written so far. Here we have a tsuba with the classic Soten signature. I’m not able, from the photos, to judge whether it is a genuine late-Edo tsuba or a modern copy, but it is certainly not a Hamamono/Nagoyamono. Those are tsuba definitely mass-produced, but they weren’t even trying to look like something else. Here the question is: genuine Hikone tsuba or a fake.

Thank you, Damon. I had forgotten about that post. I’ve already updated the file with your hakogaki.

Dear NMB members, first of all, thank you for your interest in this project. All the missing or unclear writings have been brilliantly resolved by Steve M, to whom I extend my warmest thanks for his kindness and expertise. I would also like to thank Jean (AKA Rokujuro), Manuel (AKA C0D) and Matt (AKA M Ubertini) for the interesting correspondence on the topic. I have just released the 2nd draft of "Tsuba hakogaki written by Satō Kanzan". The file is available for download from the same link (https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/gkfcfqc6gs14invoeg6hn/KanzanHakogaki.pdf?rlkey=5i89f80fkbbf60x67f1lloa2k&st=zfh4ao27&dl=0). Several new hakogaki have been added, so the file is now even larger. Since the focus is on the hakogaki rather than on the tsuba, I decided to include hakogaki that are highly suspicious forgeries, as well as others that clearly refer to tsuba different from those stored in their respective kiribako (sadly it seems quite common for tsuba to be randomly swapped from one box to another). Annotations have been added at the end of the document to point out inconsistencies and to provide rough translations of Japanese expressions beyond simple tsuba descriptions. The new additions, of course, contain missing kanji and transcriptions that still need to be confirmed (which is why this remains a draft rather than the final release). I look forward to receiving further feedback from all of you. Thank you.

窓桐透 - mado kiri sukashi

Brilliant analytical writing, very well done! (... but personally, I would lean toward the Hikone/Sōten attribution).

iroe (色絵) – The term iroe, lit. “color(ed) picture,” is sometimes wrongly applied to different techniques of coloring by gilding or silvering, but should be used to describe any coloring of a motif, regardless of the technique used. [From Encyclopedia of Japanese Swords by Markus Sesko]