zanilu

I would side with Pietro on this. Look a lot like a Soten piece or to be more precise (or more generic, you choose ) it looks like one of the Soten like pieces made by various artisans that took advantage of the Soten school popularity. From the reduced number and larger size of the human figures I would also say a later one. As always I could be wrong... Regards Luca

Sent

I may suggest Giorgio Movilli. He did a top notch work for my Yoshihara for both shirasaya and koshirae. You can see his works at http://www.Japanese-sword.it/ Among the examples you can also find my sword. Regards Luca

Sad to hear that! We had long private conversations on Washida school, especially on the later generation Mitzunaka. He has deep knowledgeable on the subject but he was also able to convey it in such a simple way to make it sound obvious... I will miss him a lot. Luca

Thank you Moriyama san! Thank you Dale! It seems we are on the right track! All the best Luca

Wonderful Dale! You are our image hunter! Thank you. I will work on it. Regards Luca

Really beautiful! What else to say? Thank you for sharing! Regards Luca

Thank you guys! This seems to be a really tough one!

Dear all I have recently acquired a nice kozuka that, as a first guess, I would classify as Kaga Zogan. Dimensions 98.3 mm x 14.0 mm, 4.8 mm thickness, the base material is shibuichi with gold and silver hira-zogan inlay. The decoration on the back is sayamon (紗綾文), but I am struggling with identifying the decoration on the front. They look like some kind of pendant or weight attached to a chain. Any suggestion about the front decoration is welcome. @SpartancrestDale any idea? You are our black belt in this jutsu! Regards Luca

You know Curran, I am an engineer so if you talk about a rule I do expect it... 😉 Luca

Curran, your reasoning is based on some rule or criteria. Do you care ti elaborate it a little more? Thank you in advance Regards Luca

Curran, I had the same problem. I wrote to the and got the following reply in a matter of hours: Thank you so much for reaching out! We apologize for your inconvenience due to the shipping technical issue. It’s been fixed now. First, we would like to inform you that the complete companion translation and commentary on Nobuie will be published as a softcover volume including all the illustrations from the main text of the Nobuie book. If you are interested in, we suggest waiting until its release at the end of October ( no later than November 1), so that both can be shipped together. A link to purchase both will be provided to you when the translation is ready. If you have any questions, please contact us. We’ll be happy to assist you They fixed the list of countries in the address form. It seems also that waiting a few weeks will be better to have also the companion. I hope it helps. Regards Luca

Have a look here Artur. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kōdō Hope it helps. There seems to be many variation and in some cases the sukashi is simply inspired to those from the Genji monogatari. Regards Luca

My guess has always been that the four metal squares or triangles where there to support the post and to strengthen the thin metal of the menuki in the area. As for method of attaching the post and the squares I have alwasynassume brazing. Regards Luca

Hi Alexi I have purchased some tsuba from Machi san in the past without any major problem. He is not the fastest in reply to inquiries or in preparing the shipping since he is often busy teaching martial arts, but overall my experience with him is positive. The items are as advertised the prices reasonable, I will buy from him in the future if suitable items pop up on his website. Hope it helps Regards Luca