zanilu

Just a wild guess https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Smoke-visualization-of-the-cross-section-of-a-circular-jet-for-different-jet-velocities_fig3_226584600 Luca

Thanks Bruno!

Having bought a cheap USB microscope I started looking at the surface of my tsuba with higher magnification that that can be achieved buy a normal camera. I was inspired by some pictures posted by RKG. On the Heianjo tsuba I had already posted on NMB (http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/27620-heianjo-tsuba-theme/) I have seen these spots: It is not rust since they do not react to some prodding with a bone splinter as rust usually do. They are present on the ura side mainly. Could these be the remant of old urushi laquer that has oxidized over time? Regards Luca

Richard I have just found this on the net: https://blog.goo.ne.jp/onikuma1210/e/e1b885f0c440b8009341e70a3853244d Luca

Nice one Richard. I could not avoid to notice the differences in the ji... Regards Luca

Sorry ti resume such an old post but I would like to add an update. Edward the decoration of your tsuba seems to be decorated with melon flowers (take a look at http://varshavskycollection.com/collection/tsu-0324/). For my tsuba the design of aoi leaves looks a lot like a variation of the following kamon: With six aoi leaves From Hawley Mon: The Japanese Family Crest page 6. Banshū Mutsu Aoi (Banshū Province 6 wild ginger leaves) Kishū Mutsu Aoi (Kishū Domain 6 wild ginger leaves) With 5 aoi leaves Yo Ken Itsutsu Aoi (small swords 5 wild ginger leaves) This are the latest updates. Regards Luca

Guido now that you mention it seems more clear and I start to see what you mean. Maybe it is more apparent in Bruno tsuba than mine but it is definitely there! Thanks Luca

Wow Bruno! Nice piece! They are quite close! Same decoration I see some difference in the iron and its finish. The iron in yours is quite smoother while mine is tsuchime ji. There is any zogan on the mimi of yours? Regards Luca

Thank you Christian. Fortunally I spent a lot less for it! I generally do buy tsuba for their own merit. If there are papers attached the better! Luca

Dear all I know that it will sound a little heretic and pretentious from my side bur I do not find the description given by NBTHK sensei of one of the tsuba I have recenty acquired! Here it is: Dimensions: 82 mm x 78 mm x 4 mm. The tsuba is defined as scatterd mons, Monchirashi no zu (小紋散図). To me it looks more like snow on the ground and snow flakes. I have seens several examples in the past where that patched zogan is described as snow, one among other is http://varshavskycollection.com/collection/tsu-0361/. The only thing that leaves me with doubt is how to describe the zogan on the mimi and how to fit it in the snow theme. Any opinion is, as usual, welcome! Best Regards Luca

Thank you Mauro! Buon anno anche a te! Luca

Hi Steven Nice way to date Japanese stuff! You confirm my suspicion about 1643-1715 i.e. about Early Edo! Have a nice New Year. Luca

Dear all I have recently purchased this tsuba that was sold as Heianjo From the seller pictures not all particulars were clear and I had the doubt that this was a sort of a transition piece between Heianjo and Kaga Yoshiro. Having it in hand I have little doubt (but what do I know?) about a Kaga Yoshiro attribution even though lacking the usual plethora of mons. The iron is similar to that of a Yoshiro tsuba I already own and is better that the average iron found on Heianjo tsuba. Also the sea weeds are all high lined by a thin a line cut in the iron that I understand to be characteristic of Kaga Yoshiro tsuba and not found in Heianjo. As for the age I would like to have your opinion. I would put it to early Edo bu the shape of the hitsu-ana, what do you think? This is my last post of 2018 so I take the chance to wish an Happy New Year to all of you. Luca

Steve I think you nailed it! Thank you

Thank you Piers Most helpful! Luca

Dear All I have a bit of a problem identifying a couple of kanji from a NBTHK Hozon paper of a Heianjo tsuba. The first one is in the tsuba description: To me the description reads: 一小紋(?)散図 鐔 Hitotsu Komon(?) chi Zu Tsuba One Small pebbles Drawing Tsuba (?) I have problem identifying the third kanji (marked by the red arrow). The closest match I found so far is 紋. The second one is in the definition of the shape: It looks like: 堅丸形 ? Marugata Something Round Shaped or 腎丸形 Jin marugata Kidney Round Shaped (The tsuba is not kidney shaped at all I would have termed it maru gata without looking at the paper!) Any help from your side is appreciated. I attach some pictures of the tsuba and of the certificate as well. Best Regards Luca

This is from my collection. The second I bought a long time ago! Probably a copy but with the same design! Yours is definitely better! Regards Luca

Lovely piece Guido. You are still on time of course! Do you have dimensions for it? And maybe a description for the rope like thing at the left? Regards Luca

Steven good find. I have the book but totally missed it! John the picture are small, but it look like nunome zogan to me, but it is difficult to say! If really nunome zogan is not topical of Kaga zogan, or at least this is what I came to understand. Regards Luca

Thank you Peter. As I understand it Kaga Zogan was influenced by Kaga Goto but is distinct from it. Awesome pieces anyway! Luca

Hi Barry. The difference in the numbering of the pages and the appendix is due to the fact that the pages are extracted from my collection catalog. When I have generated the pdf I had also included in the Latex source file a chapter about shinchu zogan. So the numbering is different. To create a stand alone pdf require a little bit of work. I will try that for the next release. Luca

Dear All I have finally incorporated some additional examples provided by the community. I would like to thank you for your contribution. I have not included all the picture you sent me, only those with a certain and proved background. I mean those with known provenance, i.e. published on books or catalogues or papered. I would like that the pdf file I have put together ends up to be a sort of reference for Kaga zogan. Thus I avoided any opinion from my side citing all sources for the text and the pictures. In this way the reader will have a clear picture of who is considering what to be Kaga zogan without having to trust the writer (I have no authority in the field and I know what I do not know). In this way I hope that the reader would be able to form his own opinion. The pdf is not yet complete. Reading the text you will see a lot of question mark where kanji is missing. Some of the kanji is in red meaning I am not sure of it. If you want to contribute it I will gladly add it to the text. If any of you have comments or correction please let me know. Brian. If you want to move the file in the articles section feel free to do so adding the link to the thread. Regards Luca kaga_zogan-0.0.6.pdf

Ken Having pictures and information for each tsuba separately would be great to help me keep track of things. There is not need to hurry. Job is demanding at the moment and I have little time to spare so the revision of the document will take a while. Thanks to everyone. Luca

Thank you to all of you. Just to keep the document as uniform as possible it would be great together with the pictures you can add the references (the book from which you take the scan, the museum and so on...) and maybe the dimensions if available. Luca

Nice piece Curran. If you are willing can you share more pictures of your tsuba? I would love to see it omote and ura. If you agree I would add it to my summary since I have found the pictures of only another Kaga zogan tsuba papered by nbthk (I assume yours is papered given the background of your picture...). Regards Luca