MauroP

No. 55: usually referred as 格子 - kōshi (lattice pattern).

Tosa-Myōchin?

Hi, Kōfu jū Masayuki means "Masayuki living in Edo (Tokyo)". Efu is an alternative reading of Kōfu. Possibly late Edo period, Bushū-Itō school.

Item No. 53: the subject is usually referred as Aridōshi (蟻通し). It's a Nō play in which the god of Aridōshi shrine is represented disguised as an old priest holding an umbrella and a lantern.

Hi, I think it's just a tsuba for a bokken. Possibly this one was originally made to be mounted on a wood sword (late Edo to Showa), but I've seen some true old tsuba modified accordingly.

Luca, you have open to me a whole library of wonderful design Meiji book. Thank you!

葡萄図鐔 - budō zu tsuba 無銘 平安城象嵌 - mumei Heianjō-zōgan 竪丸形 鉄鎚目地 鋤出彫 - tatemaru-gata tetsu-tsuchime-ji sukidashi-bori 真鍮象嵌 角耳小肉 - shinchū-zōgan kaku-mimi ko-niku

Chevron-like decoration are frequently referred as sugi (杉 - Japanese cedar), but I suspect (and somewhere indeed I read about it) that it could also be a highly stylized representation of waves.

If shinchū-zōgan then Heianjō. That's the way tsuba are presently "boxed" (I doubt this classification is of any help, but what I know?). Nice tsuba, anyway.

Steve and Morita, thank you both for your effort. Once more the contribution of Morita-san shows invaluable for our community.

I've had this tsuba for some years, but far too difficult for me to figure out the mei. Two kanji and a kaō, even hard to take in photo. Here my best pictures, obtained trough a flatbed scanner. Thank you for any input.

The polearm should be the "Green Dragon Crescent Blade" of the Chinese general Guan Yu.

Vita brevis, ars longa, ... iudicium difficile...

The keshō-tagane finish and the round shape of hitsu-ana make me lean toward Akasaka (or Shoami )

Hi Colin, the pattern inlayed in the upper part is called sayagata - 紗綾形 (pattern of interlocking swastikas).

I've made the transcription (some OCR work pretty well), now we need someone making a translation better than Google. 藤戸 満々たる水を乗り切る騎馬武者。その弓の弭にとりつく鎧武者。この図を、鐔・小道具の社会では「藤戸」と 言い 慣わしてきている。 これは源平合戦の場面で、先陣争いで知られる「藤戸の渡し」である。『源平盛衰記』によると平家は「左馬 頭行 盛を大将軍として、飛騨守景家以下侍共を相具して、二千余艘にて備前国児島著。三川守範頼も、同国西河 尻、藤戸渡に押寄て陣取。源平海を隔て招合い」睨み合いの状態となった。この時、源氏の将佐々木三郎盛綱 (宇治川先陣で知られた佐々木四郎高綱の兄)が一人の漁夫を見つけ、 これに物を与えて藤戸の潮の干満、 深浅を教 わり、騎馬で渡る自信を得て「二十六日の辰刻に......主従十五騎轡をならべて海へ颯と打入て ぞ渡ける」。源氏 の諸将もこれに続いて押渡る、盛綱は先陣を果たしたのであるが、この時、盛綱の家来の和比 八郎が平家の侍加 部源次と組合って馬から落ち、水中の格闘で首を切られる。八郎の従兄弟の小林三郎重隆 が源次と引組み、また 海に落ちる。 「波の荒き所へ弓のほこを指入れて、彼此捜りければ、敵の源次弓の筈に取附たり。引上見れば敵也。主の小 林も源次が腰にいだき附て上りければ、敵の源次をば頸を切、主をば取上助てけり」これを写したのがこの小柄 で あるが、源三位頼政の「橋合戦」にも弓弭に取りつく武者があるので紛らわしい。川柳に「先陣 兄弟ながら 手が 悪し」とあるのは、佐々木高綱が宇治川で梶原景季を欺いたことと、三郎盛綱が藤戸の浅瀬を教えた漁 夫を殺 したとの俗説によるものである。

Hi, here below is the entry relating to Fujito from vol. 3 of "Tsuba-Kodōgu Gadai Jiten", for those who want to learn more (and translate ...)

hoshinamako.pdf Here three examples of unsigned hoshinamako-zu tsuba with NBTHK attribution to Shōami, Fukanobu and Yagyū (so you can choose...)

The object depicted in ura could be a Buddhist sceptre (nyoi - 如意), so the bald man could be a monk...

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).