Marius

Piers, I have several prints of this series, but not this one, I am afraid :-) I wish, I had it. I was writing an article about Yoshitosh's Tsuki Hyakushi and its pictures of warriors for an exhibition in Torun (May 2011) - http://gomabashi.blogspot.com/2011/01/a ... tsuba.html. One of the prints shown there will be the one I have posted here - Mount Tobisu Dawn Moon. And I got interested in this 3D sashimono.

Christian, I am just trying to be a contrarian It is probably one of those later (Momoyama) kagami-shi tsuba with surface to remind rotten wood. I must admit I don't like this tsuba, although I am a great fan of kagami-shi guards. Maybe that is why I don't want it to be a mirror-maker's tsuba Henry, I agree with you. All the kantei-points are valid. Your conclusion with the deteriorated mould seems absolutely valid.

John, Amazing... After a year I have come back to this post to look for SAKAI TADATSUGU's sashimono (and I have found it). I was inspired by Yoshitoshi's Mount Tobisu moon from the TSUKI HYAKUSHI series. Actually, I wonder if Sadatsugu's sashimono could have been not a banner with a skull but a 3D skull (so to say), either a real one or made from wood? Thanks for this post and for the amazing amount of information in the artwork Any answer to the sashimono problem would be greatly appreciated. I have attached Yoshitoshi's version of it and Evalerio's artwork

OK, not that I disagree, but here is an opportunity to learn :-) The kantei points for kagami-shi, please?

Henry, I am not quite sure that this is actually a kagamishi tsuba. It looks cast, to be sure, but otherwise it is not round as the kagamishi in Sasano's booklet (one exception there is mokko, actually) and the decoration is pretty unusual. Whatever it is, it is a nice irogane ko-tsuba :D

Jason, try at the source - as Stephen said "do a search HERE" viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5505&view=next

Wrong. This post has put you in a dicussion mode Also, you have fared quite well - you got your answers, which is probably better than your post being completely ignored. Hang on to this Board, you will learn a lot. Just don't get discouraged. be prepared to move up in your acquisitions, spend much much more money on books than on swords, then, if you know what you like, get yourself a decent sword (does not have to cost a fortune) and begin the journey. Hey, my first sword was crap. The second one - I paid way to much what was low grade in crap polish. I did not learn anything. Impatience is not the best council when it comes to those multi-$$$$ items. Read a lot, refrain from buying, save up, you'll have more fun and education. That's the mantra, and it has been discussed many times here.

I have had the same impression, actually :-)

One must ask you (but please do not feel offended by these questions): why are you asking? What did you expect buying this sword? Why have you bought it in the first place? Yes, your wakizashi is probably "real" - in the sense that it is not a Chinese copy. Otherwise, not much to say about the blade - it is out of polish, with the tang covered by loose, red rust. The kissaki lacks yokote, which might mean that someone has buffed the sword in the past. Fittings: Tsuba is cast, fuchi-kashira are eaten away by rust, "menuki" is goodness knows what. Tsuka-maki is worse than bad. The whole package is not particularly interesting.

Well, you might want to read this: http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/tsubacastiron.html - I find the remarks there quite good. Also, please note that the tsuba has a crack. It woud be very unlikely for a forged tsuba to have a crack in such a thick rim. Besides, really bad cast copies (I am not talking about modern cast fakes) are like pornography - hard to define, but you know what it is when you look at it Seriously - look for remains of the casting seam inside the openings.

Brian, you have become the victim of your own, high standards People have seen three or four tassel posts and they got uncomfortable :D Thanks for your focus, I am sure it is very appreciated by the Forum members. We don't have commercial spam here, we don't have off-topics too often, we don't have adolescent flame wars, somebody show me another forum with such a track record

In a nutshell - yes, you might see traces of the hamon in the new nakago. Pleas go to this section: viewforum.php?f=17 and download the file "Suriage" Or you might want to buy the whole book, here is a review (mine, actually ) http://gomabashi.blogspot.com/2011/01/r ... s-and.html

Keith, and this is exactly why Brian has moved this thread to the proper section. Thank you Brian, very much appreciated

Oh dear... I see...

I know this might not be the "popular" view, but here I go, if you don't mind: In recent weeks I have seen tassels, tassels, and tassels on this Forum. I understand that members here collect militaria, but this is supposed to be a nihonto and kodogu Forum (mainly). Am I still right? My suggestion is: could we keep those things where they do belong, regardless if they are on eBay or anywhere else - in the "Military Swords of Japan" section? I must say, I don't appreciate those tassel/sarute/other gunto parts sales in the or Sale or Trade section. But I assume I'll have to live with that. Brian, please, don't let this forum degenerate into a place for militaria. Just a humble request, now I am ready to take the flak.

Quite honestly, there are no rules as to what size of tsuba would fit the wakizashi. This depends on the style of koshirae (mountings). Now, it seems that what you are trying to do is to assemble some sort of mountings, any sort, actually, just to have the blade look like a real "samurai sword". If I am wrong, please accept my apologies. If, however, I am right, please do not try to do this. It will not work if you are don't know A LOT about koshirae and HAVE THE MONEY to order one. You will end up with a haphazard koshirae which will not add any value to your sword. If the wakizashi is in a shirasaya, keep it that way. Appreciate the blade.

Attached is my favourite :-) No, I don't own it

Markus, many many thanks on behalf of my friend

Dear All, A friend of mine has difficulties to read the signature on a tsuba. Pictures of signature and tsuba are attached. I am awfully sorry to bother you with something that I think is of fairly low quality, but as it is the request of a friend, I have to comply. Your help will be greatly appreciated

Beware of sellers who post poor quality pictures - they want to hide details. These are new copies, if you are lucky, Meiji. Anyway, Meiji or modern, we are talking about rubish here.

Hello, the signature says: "made in China" Sorry, but Brian is right here. What you have here, are reproductions, and very poor ones.

Steve, this looks like it might be an interesting blade, a shortened wakizashi. But your pictures are simply not good enough to allow anybody to make any kind of statement. It could be a sword from the Muromachi period, but it could be Bakumatsu. It could be a kitchen knife (OK, just a joke ) Please do post some better quality pictures (don't forget the tang) and maybe people here will have something to say about the blade... You will probably know by now, that any "restoration" attempts by yourself or an unqualified "polisher" will result in a serious deterioration or outright destruction of this blade. There are two ways for you to go: 1. leave it as it is. You can cover it with a thin film of high quality machine oil or gun oil (Balistol works for me) or choji-abura (the clove-smelling stuff used for Japanese swords). Do nothing more. OR 2. find a polisher (a real one, not some self-taught idiot) with the help of this forum Send the sword to him to have it assessed (be prepared for a waiting time and for some costs). Maybe the polisher will want to open a "window" to see if the blade is worth polishing at all. If it is, you'll have to decide if you can afford it/want to spend the money. Unless it is a masterpiece, it will probably make no economic sense. Polishing is expensive, you can't do it on the cheap, really not, unless you want to ruin the blade, that is. OK, I think that is all. Has been said here a Thousand times, BTW :D Thanks for your attention

Thanks for your thoughts, I do appreciate it Now, what do you think about a tsuba with a similar motif, that has come to me with the attribution to Akao?

Lorenzo, I think what you see is part of the decoration - it is the bamboo ladle (hishaku)

thanks for your thoughts I must say, I thought Ono as well, but this school is so obscure and there are so few examples with solid attributions (if any), that I hesitate to make such a statement (who am I to do it, anyway?) The well cover is a good explanation of the motif. What about the shape? I admit I like this tsuba, but I think it lacks finesse somewhat.