MauroP

A watch case repurposed as tsuba is far better that a jingasa repurposed as tsuba....

Hi, it could well be inome - 猪目 (boar's eye), not an aoi leaf.

Two more transcriptions need to be confirmed (sorry, there are still a few others on the list). HGK3 竹茎透 鐔 ＊ takekuki sukashi tsuba 丸形 鉄地 地透 ＊ maru-gata tetsu-ji ji-sukashi 無銘 尾張興 ＊ mumei Owari-kō 昭和辛亥年秋 ＊ Shōwa kanoto-i-nen aki [1971, autumn] 寒山誌 ＊ Kanzan shirusu (kaō) The kanji written on the box looks different from 茎. Is it a variant form, or is it a completely different character? The second kanji I am uncertain about is 興 in 尾張興. What does it mean in this context? HGK4 初代 友善 ＊ shodai Tomoyoshi 龍透 鐔 ＊ ryū sukashi tsuba 竪丸形 鉄地肉 ＊ tatemaru-gata tetsu-ji niku- 形 銘 一柳友善作 ＊ bori mei Ichiryū Tomoyoshi saku 初代 ★也力作 ＊ shodai ??? nari risaku 昭和辛亥初月日 ＊ Shōwa kanoto-i toshihazuki no bi [1971, a day in january] 寒山誌 ＊ Kanzan shirusu (kaō) One kanji here seems to elude my understanding. Thank you for your help.

Let me add Markus Sesko's Signatures of Japanese Sword Fittings Artists. I love paper books, but having it as a searchable file makes it my first choice. A must have.

Not costly at all, but not so easy make them professionally looking. Often on modern tsuba sekigane are too big or very simple shaped.

Usually that not-so-refined tsuba get a Shōami attribution (sadly).

Fully agree. Hard to judge the signature, but at least the sekigane are real.

Thank you so much, Steve and Koichi. The romaji transcription for 面白元作之珍重 should be omoshiro gensaku no chinchō, right?

HGK2 尾張透 ＊ Owari sukashi 四方花形文 鐔 ＊ shihō hanagata-mon tsuba 撫角形 鉄地 四方透 ＊ nadekaku-gata tetsu-ji shihō sukashi 無銘 尾張透 ＊ mumei Owari sukashi 時代 室町時代 ＊ jidai Muromachi jidai 出来宜矣板★ ＊ dekī yoroshi ?? 昭和庚戌年晩秋 ＊ Shōwa kanoe-inu-nen banshū [1970, late autumn] 寒山誌 ＊ Kanzan shirusu (kaō) Here, I am a bit perplexed by the repetition of the word jidai in the third column. I would also appreciate any confirmation of my transcription of the fourth column, as the last kanji still eludes me.

Dear NMB members, I apologize for once again asking for your help in transcribing and translating some tsuba hakogaki by Satō Kanzan. HGK1 甲冑師作 ＊ katchūshi saku 五方小透 鐔 ＊ gohō ko-sukashi tsuba 変り木瓜形 鉄 ＊ kawari-mokkō-gata tetsu 地 五方小透 ＊ ji gohō ko-sukashi 無銘 甲冑師 ＊ mumei katchūshi ★★★作之珍重 ＊ ??? no chinchō 昭和己酉晩秋 ＊ Shōwa tsuchinoto-tori banshū [1969, late autumn] 寒山誌 ＊ Kanzan shirusu (kaō) I am unable to recognize the first two (or perhaps three) kanji in the fourth column on the inside of the box.

Hi Adrian, welcome in NMB. I suppose you already know that document is a tōrokusho and is not intended to be exported from Japan with the blade (at least if the Japanese law is respected). Anyway the paper relates to a katana, nagasa (lenght) 63.4 cm, and the document was issued in Reiwa 6 (2024), november 13.

Mitsutoshi - 光寿 est correct (peut-être que je ne comprends pas la demande...)

Thank you, Colin. I was completely unaware of the connection between the Awa-Shōami school and the kenjō tsubako. Actually, the hakogaki by Satō Kanzan states in the third column: 阿波献上 正阿弥 ＊ Awa kenjō Shōami

Honestly I'd also said Kyō-kenjō, but here below two similar daisho tsuba: The first has an hakogaki by Satō Kanzan saying Shōami, the second a NBTHK paper with attribution den Awa-Shōami. So, don't be rude with your friend, if you say Shōami you will never be alone....

針石目 - hari-ishime (or just ishime). PS: indeed the NBTHK paper reports suaka-ishime-ji.

In the Edo period, gimei was not always interpreted according to the modern Western distinction between authentic and fake, but was part of a cultural system where imitation, transmission of tradition, genealogical prestige, and commercial value were deeply intertwined. This perspective emerges particularly clearly from Kameda-Madar's studies on the practice of utsushi. It would likely be of interest to more than one member of the NMB. https://www.academia.edu/10385390/Copying_and_Theory_in_Edo_Period_Japan_1615_1868_

Yoshihide 義英 * 芳英 * 美英 * 宜秀 * 敬英

Signature, kaō and workmanship seem all compatible with a true Teruhide tsuba. I'm more doubtful about the other pieces

This one deserved a hakogaky by Satō Kanzan sensei: 鬼鍾馗透鐔 ＊ oni Shōki sukashi tsuba 丸形 山銅地 ＊ maru-gata yamagane-ji 鋳金 銘 房吉作 ＊ chūkin mei Fusayoshi saku 昭和辛亥冬 ＊ Shōwa kanoto-i fuyu [1971, winter 寒山誌 ＊ Kanzan shirusu (kaō)

They are all "real ones" from Edo (sometimes pre-Edo) period, just mass produced for lower class customers (bushi and commoner as well).

Surely a cast tsuba, but possibly a legitimate one. Edo kagamishi can get a NBTHK paper.

I don't think this can disproof the genuinity of the sayagaki.

At that time, the Chinese were not communists, and the Japanese were not chauvinists....

Nice ko-kinkō tsuba, possibly shakudō-nanako-ji, with tsuyu-zōgan iroe. Here a similar example:

Thank you so much, Moriyama san. If even you have to make a guess, I feel less shy about my limited skills.