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Curran - My bad, it was the older papers, the NTHK ones. Thank you for the info, I assume a tsuba signed with Yamashiro kuni, kodai Kaneiye would likely be a Saga Kaneiye piece? Cheers

See attached from one of those green papers, I carved out the attribution section...

Any thoughts on this one?

Grats, I look forward to seeing them.

This one was recently sold on ebay and wanted to know your thoughts. Oh, and congrats to the winner if it was a board member. Now a Tsuba with almost the same design was talked about in a previous thread here : http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/5539-nobuiye-with-questionable-manufacture-method/?hl=%2Bnobuie+%2Bturtle&do=findComment&comment=51757 Which school do we think? The large kozuka ana is quite different then the one in the linked thread. Thoughts? Dimensions Length 63mm, Width 60mm Thickness 3mm, most thick 5.5mm

Stephen - Agreed, really nice one. Hey, get me a price reduction on his Akasaka while your at it. Who am I kidding, it would still be too pricey for me...

I agree, that one would be cool to handle in person. Although I wonder, do we think this is the work of an independent?

Stephen - What do you mean by "with claws coming out" ?

Of all of the early "hot stamp" tsubas, I do not recall seeing any with that style of floral hot stamp. My inclination would be Edo as well. I will say it looks like a really nice piece, no matter the era, in my humble opinion...

Can you provide the dimensions?

Also, relevant to this conversation is this past thread : http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/12900-tsuba-mei/

Here is mine.

Nice one and that explains why it disappeared from my watch list! Do you have a clearer pic of the Mei? The reason I ask is because it looks similar to the mei on a tsuba I just bought which reads : 鉄仁　'Tetsujin'

Ahh Kaneie! Now that is a familiar signature. Though on a sukashi Tsuba and not in the style of Kaneie at all, maybe a different one?

Dimensions : 84.6 Tall, 82.5 Wide, 6 mm thick and no hot stamps. Stephen - I thought about bidding but held off, just did not know enough about it. I see now the auction is over, did you bid on it?? If so, hope you won it and can tell us about it!

Thoughts?

Agreed, great piece though I do not have any knowledge on the Goto crew.

Thanks Jean!

John - Nice tsuba and I would agree that it shares a good number of characteristics with the Echizen Kinai school. Also, in looking at the good number of samples from the MFA site, some do appear close to that glossy black patina that is present in your photos. I am no expert so I could not say if the patina has been touched up. I wonder if part of that is due to someone's use of choji oil? Coincidentally, I just picked up a Kinai myself but it has lost much of its deep dark color. Hoping I can gently bring it back.

Any thoughts on this signature? 2 pics attached... Thanks!

Thank you very much, I was able to find him now.

Yeah, it was an impulse buy. I had a bit of buyer's remorse because I had not done my research on it. Now, after I have done so, I am quite happy. An early Edo piece and it even has Amida Yasuri... Steve, do you still have your "Tetsujin" Tsuba?

Great stuff guys. I have lots to learn and this thread has helped me a lot. Besides the 2 books mentioned above are there others that show paintings in this style we are talking about. I know that Ford has posted some examples in the past but is there a nice book with lots of examples? I am hoping to have a Tsuba sent to me (thanks again Steve) that I am hoping might have this "hard to describe" aesthetic. Will post pics then.

Found this thread while researching a Tsuba I just won on auction. A nice little Tosho Tsuba signed "Tetsujin". I found some more info thanks to the previous posters in this thread. There is mention of him and his family in the following book : Classical Weaponry of Japan: Special Weapons and Tactics of the Martial Arts By Serge Mol His family were not only skilled martial artists but also iron craftsman, producing swords, swordguards and son. It appears that Aoki "Tetsujin" Kanesada and his brother both signed there work "Tetsujin". It goes on to say they posessed metal-working skill of the highest order and that objects made by them were of exceptional quality. The Aoki family also continued the line of Enmei Ryu (a style of martial arts) which was also known as Enmei Jitte Ryu, Tetsujin Jitte Ryu, Tetsujin Nito Ryu, and Tetsujin Jitte Ryu. And by the way, Enmei Ryu was the style originally studied by Myamoto Musashi, the style founded by his grandfather. Also, we have a date of 1643 as to when Aoki "Tetsujin" Kanesada wrote some illustrated manuscripts. So, we have a good date for when these may have been made. Interesting stuff.

Any idea what the signature might be for this one? I enhanced it the best I could...