MauroP

Dear NMB members, I’m back once again to ask for your kind help! I’m trying to fill in a few missing kanji and improve the romaji transcription of tsuba hakogaki by Satō Kanzan. The updated document (draft no. 3) is available here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/gkfcfqc6gs14invoeg6hn/KanzanHakogaki.pdf?rlkey=5i89f80fkbbf60x67f1lloa2k&st=j7yud1nq&dl=0 Here are the points that still need attention (I'm posting the relevant hakogaki one by one): HGK1 三信家 鐔 ＊ San-Nobuie tsuba 盡忠則命 ＊??? 木瓜形 鉄地 毛彫 ＊ mokkō-gata tetsu-ji kebori 銘 三信家 ＊ mei San Nobuie 美同銘★ 無出共右者 ＊ ??? ??? 珍重 伊達家伝来之一 ＊ chinchō Date-ke denrai no itotsu 昭和甲辰夏日 ＊ Shōwa kinoe-tatsu kajitsu [1964, a summer day] 寒山 ＊ Kanzan Question 1: how should I transcribe the description of subject (盡忠則命)? Question 2: little idea about correct kanji and meaning of the 3rd column from the inside writing of the box. Thank you for any suggestion.

Dear Alexander, I finally had the opportunity to review your project: very interesting and exceptionally well done. It offers a historical perspective that is not often appreciated by modern collectors. I especially valued the inclusion of relevant bibliography for each chapter. Thank you for your effort.

John, maybe I'm not grasping the question... if it has horns, moos and looks like a cow, well, most probably is a cow... Your tsuba has an Akasaka look and is signed Bushūj jū Akasaka, so what else? About layers I'm quite convinced I can even see them (but don't take it too seriously).

Kyō-kinkō?

Hi Dale, nice tsuba, but I don't think it depictsa bell. Here another tsuba depicting 高台 - takadai, a kind of raised holder.

When "mystery" is mentioned about tsuba, it translates "Shōami" indeed...

The examples I provided are all from papered tsuba, and all NBTHK papers reported the subjects as karigane. The stylized birds with "twisted body' are reported as 結雁金 - musubikarigane.

Nice kozuka. I suppose you already know that the subject depicted is probably Kojima Takanori.

Love the discussion, although I’m not very confident that we can eventually arrive at a solid understanding of tsuba attribution to a specific school. So, let’s get back to the details, which may become clearer as our thinking progresses. Let’s try to move from naturalistic to more abstract representations of wild geese: Now it’s quite clear how the more abstract pattern is oriented.

Looking for auspices ("auspices" means "looking at birds") in tosogu is almost as varied as it is in nature. Birds may fly centripetally, centrifugally, or in circles (sometimes in the same direction, or occasionally in opposite directions). A brief treatise on “Tsuba Augury”:

Sesko Markus, Signatures of Japanese Sword Fittings Artists, Lulu Inc., 2014, eBook. 680 pages. Possibly the best buy in my nihontō-related library — highly recommended.

There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent. [Mao Zedong] Maybe the pieces in hand would narrow down a decision? Nope! It isn't science, it's a kind of kult. The experts don't consent even on the kind of birds... (clearly karigane, not chidori, IMHO).

Unfortunately, I don't have the book Gai Sō Shi – Study Collection of Japanese Sword Fittings by Haynes, but I would be curious to know how the supposed Gotō Teijō daishō is presented there.

I'm not about to play since I know the book where the first tsuba was taken (but I'm not so sure the attribution proposed by the book is correct indeed). The sekigane which broaden the seppa-dai could suggest that the first tsuba is the oldest...

Hi Tim, the tsuba shown is neither mine nor from a book. It’s simply an entry in my database, sourced online from a link that is no longer active. The snippet comes from an NBTHK certificate attributing it to Shōami (so I’m not responsible for that attribution…) and reports it's made of iron.

I came across a short article in the British Medical Journal by the late Dr. Lissenden. An opportunity to remember a respected member of the NMB ten years after his passing. from: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2359109/pdf/bmj00573-0034.pdf

Hi Julien, most of tsuba offered in auction were quite impressive regarding their dimension, being in the bigger segment of their own school/tradition. In particular the Tenpō tsuba bought by Dimitri (see above) outstanded for its unusual dimension. Anyway, too many eye-catcher to make wise choices... rationality woke up just when prices compelled me to chose.

These are my tsuba from the auction. And, well, my only regret was not having a bigger wallet... Seeing all those tsuba together was like finding Santa's sledge parked in the backyard for a kid... The second tsuba has a paper, but it's a minus, not a plus... guess what's the attribution?

I also had an unpleasant experience with shipping from Bonhams Skinner (Marlborough, MA). I paid a 28% premium on the hammer price, and shipping via UPS (the cheapest option) cost $370 (from the US to Italy). Additionally, the shipping agency failed to provide the correct fiscal code, so in the end my tsuba cost me more than double the hammer price. Previously, I purchased a tsuba from Czerny’s, and the shipping cost was only €20 (although, of course, that was within Italy).

I was in Sarzana and attended the auction. It was my first time attending in person, and it was a pleasant experience. Unfortunately, the prices went higher than I expected for a couple of tsuba I was mostly interested in. Nonetheless, I successfully bid on two lots for a reasonable price, which is not bad at all.

Hi, Liang. Neither signature looks perfectly coherent with what's reported in Sesko's "Signatures of Japanese Sword Fittings Artists", but the quality of both kozuka seems quite good to me. Since I've no experience about Jōi pieces, I refrain to comment on the genuinity of your kozuka.

Special feature: On the Shakudo plate, a kettle for the tea...

The character on the kozuka looks possibly having leaves in his garments, so it could be some kind of sennin. On the fuchi instead is depicted Taikōbō.

Very interesting their rice straw shoes from Edo period...