zanilu

Happy Birthday Grev.!

Thank you all!

Hello guys. This script is well above my kanji translation skills: and this is the content Thank you in advance for the help. Regards Luca

Thank you Dale. It would be great to have it in text format! Best Regards Luca

I do this regularly. I remove one of the nails and use the other to keep the wood peg in position while I dill a hole trough the base plate and the peg itself using a hand drill. I adjust the length of the drilling tip (3 mm diameter) to avoid drilling trough the canvas on the peg. The using a bamboo tooth pick as a new peg. I glue it into the peg and use it to keep the peg in position while i drill the second hole (after removing the second nail). I then fix the peg in position with two little drops of vynil glue in the holes of the base plate. I then cut the excess length of tooh picks protruding from the base palate back. If necessary I replace the paper on the plate back with new one... Luca

Recently I also bought this kozuka: base material iron. Dimensions 97 mm x 14 mm. I have no yet it in hand. It is with a friend waiting the end of the lock down. Could this be Washida too? Luca

ubi maior minor cessat! Washida, then! Guido, do you have additional pictures? Dimensions? Mine is: A: 87.2 mm x 82.2 mm, Thickness at mimi 4.0 mm Best Regards Luca

Guido, Tom. Washida could be a likely candidate candidate. I have had no time yet to look deeper in Washida. I will do in the weekend considering the isolation I would have plenty of time! Guido I would say two peas in a pod. What most amaze me of this hobby is that you newer stop learning! Luca

Dear All Some times ago I have acquired this tsuba: My guess about it is Yoshiro, what do you think? I have based my calssification on a similar tsuba, recently repatinated by Ford Hallam (http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/24844-kaga-yoshiro-wonderful-restoration-by-mr-hallam/), having the same mixed metal hira zogan and some other tsuba I have found on the net attributed to Yoshiro from the Sagagawa City Museum's Aozu Yasushi Collection (http://is2.sss.fukushima-u.ac.jp/fks-db//txt/20011.002/html/00029.html) What is your opinion? Thank you in advance. Luca

I have seen it too Richard! And this is signed, I have not tried to translate the signature though. More puzzling than ever! I do not want to sound blasphemous but I have the impression that "Heianjo Zogan" is more a style than a school. Given that an artisan is an person that work to earn his living, now and in the past, I would not be shocked to learn that a Shoami (or a Washida) artist produceed an "Heianjo Zogan" tsuba if requested by a client! I could be completely wrong, as usual...

Wow! This tread is looking better and better at every post. With reference to the first tsuba posted by Ford (on Seyudo site) it looks similar to one in my collection: And to others attributed to Yoshiro in in the Sagagawa City Museum's Aozu Yasushi Collection http://is2.sss.fukushima-u.ac.jp/fks-db//txt/20011.002/html/00029.html or at the NSW Art Gallery https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/436.1996/ Even though the workmanship looks cruder (at least on mine for the others the pictures are not so good to judge). What do you think? Yoshiro? Not Washida... Luca

Nice piece Guido! Thank you for the additional information! Luca

Curran you are welcome! An eye opener for me too Ken. I have never heard of Washida school before Regard Luca

Guido, Brian I do appreciate your comments. What really nags me is the fact that this tsuba looks to me in most aspect not different from other Heianjo tsuba I have seen around or have in my collection. I will do some comparative study as soon as I find some spare time from everyday life... Guido you mentioned the mimi, the color and texture of the iron and the hira zogan as distinctive point for Washida school. Do you have some reading material available on that school or you can point me to some sources, or it is based on your experience? If you are willing can you post some pictures of yours? By the way I have found this tsuba also attibuted to Washida (http://world.seiyudo.com/product/tu-040517/). Also from MFA (https://collections.mfa.org/objects/11916). I am really thrilled... Best Regards Luca

Dear All This post is mainly due to the pit of ignorance I have found myself in all of a sudden. When I found this tsuba listed on Aoi Art website I though, well here it is a nice Heianjo Zogan tsuba worth to be added to my collection regardless of the Washida school attribution reported in its description. At first I considered the attribution to the Washida school a clerical error in the compilation of the web page. This attribution is confimed by NBTHK though, as I got from a quick translation of the relevant kanji in the paper. What am I missing here? What is your opinion about it guys? Is this one of the revival pieces made in Heianjo Zogan stile at the end of the Edo period? The few information I have found on Washida School mention nothing about Heianjo Zogan and the examples I have found do not look like Heianjo Zogan at all... If the attribution is right what points lead to it and not to Heianjo Zogan? I need some enlightenment! Regards Luca

Thanks Curran I should have though about it! I will check it out! Again Thank You!

Dear All I have a question that shows my ignorance on tosogu. I was running through Wakayama Toso Kodogu Meiji Taikei and now and then I found what look like cross references like this one Granted that 4 does not refer to a volum number, since the Toso Kodogu Meiji Taikei is composed of three volumes, and the kanji part says something like page 131 (in this case) my guess is that it says something like "signature number 4 on page 131 of this same volume" Am I right. Thank you in advance for your answers guys! Regards Luca

Hello Roger As said by other members here your tsuba is one of the so called "Hikone Bori" or tsuba made in the style of Soten by many craftsman around Japan. According to the common wisdom the at a certain point in time Soten tsuba were so popular that the Soten school itself subcontracted some of its production to other workshops for the cheapest commission (I do not know if it is true but we have no way to verify). What is certain it that we have a lot of tsuba out there that are signed soten with a wide range craftsmanship quality ranging from cheap rubbish to sublime pieces. This makes the attribution of pieces to the school itself rather difficult. The waters are quite muddy!!!! Actually I have tried to make some comparison between the pieces in my collection and papered or distinguished pieces coming from reputed publication but with little success. I have compiled a little summary that you can find here: http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/forum/84-study-of-a-soten-tsuba/ I hope it can help. Regars Luca

Thank you guys!

Dear All This kozuka was one of my latest acquisition. I think that it will fit nicely into the Kaga Zogan bin. Dimensions are 98.1 mm x 14.1 mm x 4.5 mm. I have some doubt about the base material used for its construction. In the shots from the seller auction I thought it to be shakudo due to the black/blue color shown. Now that I have it in hand it looks more brown than black in most of the shots I took and also under direct sunlight. So my question; could it be shibuichi or it is a shakudo, that due to is composition is more brown than black (from some of the Ford Hallam post here on NMB I come to understand that shakudo could show brown patina depending on its composition)? What lead me to question the shakudo option, for the base material, is the color of two of the books covers that is definetly black and I assume to be shakudo. Am I seening here two different different types of shakudo or shibuichi for the base and shakudo for the books? I have also tryed to take some close up shots with a USB microscope to see if there is the mottled structure of shibuichi decribed by Ford Hallam many times. I do not see it! Your opinions are welcome. Best Regards Luca

Jean. Your thesis looks very interesting. It will be available for the public when finished? As for the function of tsuba, in certain Japanese sword schools the tsuba is specifically used for parring sword slashes. This require resilience not hardness... This school dates back to Toyotomi Hideyoshi times, the founder of the school was his sword master. Just my two cents thoughts... Luca

Nice hypothesis George I like it...

Ford I can not express my appreciation for your explanation in better terms than those used by Brian!

Nice reference John. Thank you. Luca

Steve Thank for the references you posted... They look spot on. Luca