MauroP

About item no. 34: 霊獣図 - reijū zu - sacred beasts The shape (in the NBTHK paper generically reported as kawari-gata) is sometimes referred as fundō-gata (分銅形). Bye, Mauro

Hi Barbara, I'm unsure about the theme, could be snowflake (雪花 - yukibana) or sea cucumber (海鼠 - namako). The hammered surface (tsuchime-ji) could suggest a katchūshi or Myōchin school (or Shōami, of course...), early to mid Edo period, maybe. Just my not-so-educated opinion (waiting some more knowledged people would chime in).

Hi Piers, nice tsuba, I think you are correct about yatsuhashi theme and aori-gata. The carving could have been obtained through kusarashi (腐らし). Symmetrical hitsu-ana could suggest Higo...

Hi Thomas, find here enclosed my record for a tsuba i bought 10 years ago. I'm sorry it's in Italian, but I've a busy time now. Tsuba018.pdf

Little to add on the merit of this topic, but just to remark the relativity of our judgement. The tsuba here below got a kanteisho as ko-Shōami (I can't understand why).

No. 19: Shinsui Ito (1898-1972) made a serie of ukyio-e with bijin (beauty) looking at fireworks in the '30.

Dale, your contribution is really valuable for the nihonto & tosogu collector community. I appreciate your effort very much.

Dale, you're the top tsuba market supervisor!

Thank you both for your interventions. Bashō wrote Nozarashi Kiko in the late 17th century, but I also suspect the theme "Bones in a Field" predates Bashō's poems. If memory helps there should be nozarashi tsuba by Kaneie, commonly dated in Momoyama period.

Complexity in Japanese visual art tradition keeps on intriguing me. Even supposedly common themes may reveal more than one interpretation. I was prompted by a recent post in NMB (https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/35147-kozuka-calligraphy/) to reconsider a record in my database (I've collected just images, not the real tsuba): The NBTHK paper reports in description: あなめ図鐔 - aname no zu tsuba. According to a legend the poet Ariwara no Narihira heard a voice from a skull and recognized the bones of his former lover Ono no Komachi. Aname means something like "Oh, my eyes hurt!", and refers to lamentation about the discomfort produced by grass growing in the skull orbits. Ono no Komachi was one of the Rokkasen, the six best waka poets of the early Heian period, and she was renowed for her unusual beauty. The theme nozarashi (野晒) seems, at my untrained eyes, indistinguishable, but should be based on poems by Matsuo Bashō. I'd like to know some more precise references about the two themes. Thank you for reading.

The second kanji of the name Masayoshi looks like a variant affecting one of its radical (in red here below). In "Signatures of Japanese Sword Fittings Artists" by Markus Sesko are reported just 3 Masayoshi, and one fits quite fine with the signature of Robert''s tsuba. Just my 2 cents...

Hi Robert, nice tsuba. Ufortunately the NBTHK certificale states just the obvious (as usual...). The relevant transcription is: 河骨勝虫図鐔 - kawahone katsumushi no zu tsuba 銘 正義作 - mei Masayoshi saku 竪丸形 鉄磨地 鋤出彫 - tatemaru-gata tetsu-migaki-ji sukidashi-bori 象嵌色絵 鋤残耳 - zōgan iroe sukinokoshi-mimi (I see now that Yas was faster than me)

Could be somethig like 熊谷囗明 (Kumagai ...iaki)? See: https://blog.goo.ne.jp/tsuba_001/e/6227c6f39ad54c9eb403554d0d309267

Not shure if the same pattern is represented in the 2 Kanayama tsuba here below. Anyway the interpretation is far from staightforward, since the same pattern is described either as 桐紋 (kiri-mon - paulownia) or 杉 (sugi - Japanese cedar).

blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed [John 20:29]

Hi Stephen, good catch. I also have a tsuba I've previously tagged as Jakushi (but unsigned), then I found an almost identical one papered as Hizen Kugimoto. Anybody knows relations between Hizen Kugimoto and Jakushi school?

Actually not. Ko-sukashi is written 小透. Ko-sukashi written 古透 means "old openwork", and makes little sense. Here below a NBTHK paper reporting a ko-tōshō (red box) tsuba with ko-sukashi (blue box) decoration.

Should be pieces of a Korean armour

Hi Dale, the signature is consistent with Masanao (正直), Bushū-Itō school. The gingko leaves composition is well carved, and the price is still low... (but I'm out of budget)

From "Signatures of Japanese Sword Fittings Artists" by Markus Sesko, an invaluable source for collectors.

Hi Chris, here below a tsuba from my collection, signed Kōfu jū Masayuki and wth the same shape of fundō (分銅), i.e. the shape of old scales weights. A similar tsuba is also reported in the booklet "The Japanese sword and its fittings, from the collections of the members of the Japanese Sword Society of New York and the Cooper Union Museum", p.26.

A deeply irregular surface (ōtotsu - 凹凸) is quite common in Sanada Tenpō, Myōchin and Shōami (of course..). Your tsuba is not typical of one of the above schools, but does't looks modern to me, maybe late Edo.

Hi, here you have a NBTHK certificate. The relevant informations are as follow: A kanteisho (certificate) B subject (here a katana) C signature (here 備陽長船藤原祐盛); the sword also report the date of forging (文政二年二月日 should be february 1819) D the dimension of the blade

紀府住 正喜 - Kifu jū Masayoshi