Marius

Dear All, These are some of my sukashi tsuba, which, being a beginner, I cannot attribute. I would truly appreciate your input. A tsuba similar to the one with the wachigai is featured in Haynes - catalogue 5, page 32. Thanks for looking

Hi Deborah, can you post some pictures of this sword? The whole shape, both sides of the tip and the tang should be shown separately. Pictures of the mounting would be interesting, too. Without pictures it will be rather difficult to tell you anything about the sword.

No, it is not. Sayagaki is a an attribution written by a sword appraiser on the sword's saya. Your paper is called a Torokusho. I assure you that you could You may want to read this thread: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6473 This is a Torokusho, or a certificate which confirms that the sword is a traditionally made nihonto. Please read this excellent guide of the Japanese Sword Society of the US: http://www.jssus.org/nkp/japanese_sword_laws.html

Dear tagonagy (BTW, what is your name?) that was my impression too, I just didn't want to sound as if I were an expert (I am not). Dear John, thanks for this comment. I have had the same impression, but then again, sometimes activities in the hamon (or rather yakiba like here) are only a reflection of the hada. Also, the hamon is not alwayts visible in pics, the yakiba is always.

You have hit the nail on the head, Brian :D Oh, and many thanks to Ted for the information on the Enomoto hada. I appreciate it

the hada on the Sadayoshi John has posted, yes. The sword on eBay...

Thank you gentlemen :-) I have made a fool of myself :-)

I have noticed this sword on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/Japanese-Sword-Kata ... 822wt_1167 I wonder what you think about the hada.

he seems to confuse tanto with a bayonette. You don't clean the former with sandpaper

I aways wonder how they re-patinate the nakago. I can imagine this should be "easy" on relatively new nakago (shinshinto or gendai), but what if you have a Kamakura sword with a false mei?

Dirk, with a Mac you don't need support (unless you run into Time Capsule which is real crap). Not because they are perfect, but because they are away from the typical troubles Windows has.

Well, I would recommend: get a Macintosh.

For most low-grade tsuba I think the risk is huge. Apart from the abundant Chinese fakes, I regulary see dubious items on eBay. Just an exaple - I don't say they are fake, but can you really tell the age of this tsuba? : http://www.auctiva.com/hostedimages/sho ... 0&format=0 or this one? : http://cgi.ebay.com/E441-REAL-Japanese- ... 35a5318e5d IMHO, genuine pieces are relatively easy to identify - you cannot easily or cheaply fake good workmanship, tekkotsu and patina, present in this one, sold by an NMB member: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... K:MEWNX:IT Just my two cents worth...

I am not exactly posting a revelation here - you certainly know this much; the size would indicate at least early Edo, later pieces tend to be smaller and thicker. Sukashi is plum and cherry blossoms, and it seems that on some of the ume the inside has indeed been lost. The tsuba is badly rusted, I think I see a battle scar below the nakago ana... The eBay seller of this tsuba posts high resolution pics which allow to see what you will eventually get, but his items are usually low-grade or/and in poor shape . I would not expect this to be anything other than a heavily rusted and pitted tsuba. Just an opinion.

I was thinking about samurai symbols - what about a gunpai (commander's iron fan)? Here is one late Edo katchushi tsuba, I used to own... A similar katchushi tsuba should be easy to find...

Yup. Instruction for nihonto-"experts": 1. Read the kanji 2. Transliterate into Romaji 3. Look up Hawley's 4. Pick the best of several swordsmiths 5. Congratulations! Your sword is a Juyo class item!

Well, I agree with those colleagues here, who do not seem to be impressed with either tsuba. Forgive me my bluntness, but they show inferior workmanship and they simply look dull and boring. Your lovely menuki do not deserve any of these tsuba. I think in your search for something matching the menuki you might end up with something rather awkward. I have gone through this - it has started with a rather bad Goto shishi and peony tsuba - I have managed to add the same motif in menuki, fuchigashira and kozuka - all shakudo in nanako-ji and kin-zogan. The result was just awful! I shall never try to do this again. I am still asahamed of this "set". My advice: Don't try to find a direct match - it wil always be only "close", but never the real McCoy (as to be found in genuine sets of koshirae). Go for an honest steel (that's my personal preference, don't shoot!) tsuba with any of the usual warrior symbols - be it grass and stirrups, cherry blossom, broken fans, or just about anything else that might symbolise a samurai. It doesn't have to be armor or weapons.

And I have thought Polish customs regulations are awkward...

Barry, I have seen a similar (albeit a much better IMHO) tsuba in this German book: http://www.amazon.de/Das-Schwert-Samura ... 3877486479 The tsuba from the book is either in the Museum für Völkerkunde zu Dresden or in the Museum für Völkerkunde zu Leipzig. Unfortunatelly, this book has been written by an author lacking knowlegde of kodogu, so that tsuba description boils down to the material the tsuba was made from. I might do a scan if someone is interested.

Hi, this has been said on this Forum many times, but it is always good to reiterate: anything on eBay signed with a great (or just good) mei should be treated as gimei, unless accompanied by a relatively new (not before the 90-ies) NBTHK or NTHK certificate.

Marc, I did enjoy it thoroughly. Thank you And, I enjoyed it not because I happened to guess the right answer, but because I see nihonto as a part of the wonderful Japanese history and culture.

Guido, that was great!

Marc, I must admit, I have noticed a very low activity on the NMB recently, too. I wonder if that is seasonal? (Funny, John has posted the same moment as I have commented on your complaint, so maybe it is not so bad after all?) :D

some new pics (macro) - they show the surface better. What do you make of this? Was this surface produced this way? Thanks

Marc,