MauroP

Hi Don, I'm unable to answer your question, the hitsu-ana plug (umegane) is almost surely shakudo, the other material could be either unpatinated shakudo or another copper-based alloy. I had a second look at the other tsuba (with the engraved sayagata pattern) and only now I see some seal script kanji. It could be interesting and educative to have them translated. Bye, Mauro

Interesting tsuba and very nice F/K set, but not matching theme. On tsuba a popular fabric design, on F/K lightings omong clouds. Bye, Mauro

My guess is Umetada (...or Shoami, of course). Bye, Mauro

My guess is Higo. bye, Mauro

Hi Nikolas, nice fuchi indeed. The subject depicted is probably Taikōbō (太公望), also known in China as Lu Shang or Taigong. Bye, Mauro

The paper say just mumei (Shimada) - 無銘 (島田). Bye, Mauro

Hi John, I think the inlay could most probably be gold nunome-zōgan rather than shinchū hira-zōgan (the paper say just ko-sukashi zōgan). Bye, Mauro

一。 卍繋文鐔 無銘 (武州) 鉄地 丸形 小透 象嵌 赤銅覆輪 Bye, Mauro

Many thanks, Chris and Koichi Best regards, Mauro

Thank you Chris. Of course 小 - ko = small. The meaning of 小菊散 should be "scattered small chrysanthemi". The transcription you propose has the same meaning? Bye, Mauro

Translating NBTHK kanteisho found on the Internet can be an effective and inexpensive way to study tsuba. I'm particularly interested in papers dealing with tsuba similar to mine. Please see the following: I think I succeeded in finding the right kanji, but I'm still unsure about the correct rōmaji transcription: 小菊散圖鐔 - ki kiku chishi zu tsuba 無銘 正阿弥 - mumei Shōami 木瓜形 鉄地 刻印打込 - mokkō-gata tetsu-ji kokuin uchikomu 角耳小肉 - kaku-mimi koniku Any corrections? Thanks for reading. Mauro

Hi everybody, I'd really be surprised if these Namban tsuba (see below) would eventually prove to be casted. Anyway chapeau if any artisan is able to cast this quality of items just with a charcoal furnace! Bye, Mauro

Hi Hamish, I have a similar tsuba papered by NBTHK as Myōchin (明珍). My tsuba has a more pronounced uchigaeshi-mimi (打返耳) but the same ko-sukashi pattern, described as karakusa mon sukashi (唐草文透). Dimensions are 79,3 x 74,8 x 4,7 mm. In my opinion it should be a middle-late Edo piece. Bye, Mauro

A very similar tsuba is here: http://www.silk-road.us/jingo7.html. Bye, Mauro

The kanji should be 乘意 but I'm uncertain how to read them. For the same mei see http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/19295/lot/35/ Bye, Mauro

Banshū (播州) is the other name of Harima Province, and Harima was a sub-school of Umetada, so Umetada attribution could be consistent with the provenience. Index of Japanese Swordsmiths by markus Sesko reports at p. 382 a Yoshishige (義重), Kanbun (寛文, 1661-1673), Harima. Bye, Mauro

The kawari mokkō-gata (変り木瓜形) tsuba is mine; the tsuba with udenuki-ana shaped as orbits of a skull is from "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", 1966, p. 22. Bye, Mauro

Hi David, in my opinion the paper say just "mei Nobuie". Bye, Mauro

Kyō-sukashi, late Momoyama? But the shape of hitsu-ana may suggest also Hayashi. Bye, Mauro

Hi David, yours it's really a puzzling tsuba. Some features suggest an early Kamakura - 鎌倉 influence (i.e. kōsuki-bori - 甲鋤彫 style of carving and the same design on both sides). On the other hand other features do not fit the Kamakura hypothesis: ten-zōgan -点象嵌 and that kind of dote-mimi - 土手耳 (or it's a tomotetsu-fukurin - 共鉄覆輪?). The fine carvings on the border in omote resemble the early representation of waves in some Heianjō tsuba. Anyway most of features in my opinion point to a pre-Edo piece. Even the hitsu-ana may well be a later modification (why else disrupt so badly the design in ura side?). On the main issue (why the tsuba has been papered as Higo) I simply cannot understand. Bye, Mauro

Hi Richard, I bought several tsuba from Takahashi-san and I consider him a gentleman. Unfortunately it's hard to judge the quality of items he is selling on eBay from his pics. This seems a very interesting ko-kinko tsuba, and you got it at a bargain price. Bye, Mauro

Hi everybody, I apologize in advance for reopening a long time closed thread, but since NMB is (or should be) an authoritative resource for western tsuba connoisseurs, I think it would be useful to fix definitely some old but still unresolved issues. So, back to basics: A: sekigane (責金). The small bits of soft metal added to the nakago-ana to fit the tsuba to a sword are unanimously defined sekigane by all the books I have consulted (ref.s 1,2,3,4). B: sekigane (責金). Soft metal inserts lining the medial side of kōgai-ana and/or kozuka-ana (whatever they were intended to serve for) are called sekigane in Sasano (ref. 2). The exact meaning of sekigane is unclear in Haynes (ref. 5, p. 256). C: ategane (当金). I think that the plugs that obliterate an hitsu-ana can safely called this way, but I was unable to find any support from my very limited library. D: kuchibeni (口紅). Haynes (ref. 5, p. 251) states that the so called "lipstick" are the copper plugs which may be seen at the top and bottom of the central opening of a tsuba. I suppose it would be safe to call this way the sort of sekigane which were build with the tsuba itself (like most tsuba from Tanaka school, for instance). E: ??? no idea at all. Decorative plugs of ko-sukashi can as well be called ategane/umegane? I have deliberately ignored on-line glossaries (which I suspect are all cross-referenced). Thanks in advance to whom will help me to definitely understand that issues, but please referenced statements, not just personal opinions. Bye, Mauro References: 1. Earle J., Lethal Elegance, MFA Publications, Boston, 2004, p. 36 & 235 2. Sasano M, Early Japanese Sword Guards. Sukashi Tsuba, Robert G. Sawers, London, 1972, p. 278 3. Shibata M., Tsuba Nyūmon, Kōgei Shuppan, Tōkyō, 1967, p. 19 4. Kashima S. et al., Tsuba-no-Bi, Ribun Shuppan, 1969, p. 237 5. Torigoye K. & Haynes R.E., Tsuba. An Aestetic Study, Northern California Japanese Sword Club, 1994

Really a challenging task. My best guess is 秀忠刻 - Hidetada koku. Bye, Mauro

Hi everybody, I don't know why but tadpoles (katō - 蝌蚪) are not so uncommon in tōsōgu representation: Tsuba A is mine; tsuba B from Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford; menuki C from http://www.toukenkomachi.com/image/B040514-2.jpg ; tsuba D from http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/20189/l ... ference=14. Bye, Mauro

The tsuba probably depicts the "Green Dragon" polearm of Guan Yu, a legendary chinese hero and a guardian deity in Taoism. Bye, Mauro