zanilu

These are classified as Heianjo Zogan on Tanoshi Shinchu Zogan Tsuba by Otani. Regards Luca

Maybe my is just stupid question. Does exist an on line database of the NBTHK papers for consultation? It would be of great help to spot the "problems" of above! Luca

Very nice piece and wonderful restoration! My feeling is that this is part of the "large characters Soten". There are very few information about this school. Probably unrelated to two Soten Masters like most of the Soten tsuba we find out there. This is just my two cents feeling and I could be utterly wrong of course. Luca

I usually replace all the nail in my tsuba boxes with small section of toothpicks enlarging the holes in both post and base. The holes are made a little smaller than the toothpick diameter so I have to force them in position and with a little bit of glue the assembly is quite stable. However I use boxes only for storage. For transportation I wrap the tsuba in soft cloth. I also stared to make custom fitted internals using felt and covering it with the same green cloth you find in most of the boxes. Regards

Stephen you fooled me! My first reaction was: "Did he loose is wit?" Nice one!

Thanks Bazza Luca

Bazza do you mean Ujishige written like 氏重? Jean you are right all the references I have found for kasumi-mon are horizontal bars. But if NBTHK say so who am I to disagree ? Regards Luca

Grazie Mauro. I would stick with the mist interpretation, it sounds more poetic to me Thanks to both of you for the mei I will try to look better into it.

Dear NMB members Here is another tsuba I have recently acquired (dimension 75 mm x 75 mm, 4.2 mm thick). I have to yet to start studying it deeply, but my first guess is Early Edo Heianjo Zogan. At the moment what is puzzling me the most are the meaning of the two sukashi bars on the left of the nakago-ana and the mei. The only similar sukashi decoration I was able to find is referred to as nibiki i.e. rising mist bands. The references I found are in the A.Z. Freeman and the Phyllis Sharpe Memorial collections pieces number 11 and 33 ( The main difference is in the width of the sukashi. Thin in my case, wider with rounded ends in the references. The mei is difficult to read. The bottom strokes seems to me like the top part of saku (作) the rest I can not make out. Any help, from all of you, on both decoration motif and mei are the most welcome. Best Regards Luca

Yes Steven. It was in too sad conditions and so promising to let it languish in my junk box. Regards Luca

Some additional close-ups

During Christmas vacation rummaging through my junk box I sumbled in this tsuba that was laying there since 2015. It has been completely stripped of any patina by a well meaning "restorer": I was in doubt between two attributions, late Edo Heianjo zogan (mainly due to the silver inlays) or a Kaga Yoshiro with a generic attribution to Edo period. Whatever the attribution it was clear that it did not deserve to be in those conditions. It was not a low quality piece, the inlay looked good and well executed, also there were but a few bits missing inlay on both hira and mimi. Thus I got in touch with Mr. Ford Hallam and here is the result. He seamlessly replaced the missing silver inaly on the ura side and re-patinated it. Replacement of missing/damaged steps inlay: Beginning of patination process: and the final result (the pictures are taken with the same light settings of the first pictures): I have to say that I am extremely pleased by the result of both, the replacement of the inaly and the new patina colors. According to Ford: So it seems to be an early Edo Kaga Yoshiro. Yours considerations and impressions on piece and on the restoration results are, as always, welcome. Best Regards Luca

Yes Greg that was my feeling too but I wanted to have more support to my feeling from other NMB members! Luca

Dear all. This morning I went rummaging through my junk box and stumbled in this two tsuba. They managed to get in my possession several years ago from a friend that was not a tsuba collector. At the time I was able to find some pictures from the original sellers on ebay. They are not in my area of tsuba study so I would like to have your opinion on them before I take a decision whether to keep them or not. They are definitely low end tsuba that I know but any help on them from you is appreciated. Tsuba 1: It seems that it lost most of its patina. The nakago does not show any sign of having been mounted. Tsuba 2: Thank you in advance for your comments. Best Regards Luca

Thank you to both of you Marco and Steven! To avoid scratching as a intermediate and temporary solution I have replaced the nails holding in position the fake nakago with soft wood pegs kept in position by interference (i.e. they are a little bit larger than the hole and forced into them). Luca

Hello to all of you Just a little question since we are talking about the properties of wood related to tsuba storage. I was plannig to replace the lining of a tsuba box, I mean the part with the cloth lining and peg on which the tsuba is resting. Most of the boxes I have seen use wood that does not look like kiri at all. It generally looks like ply wood even in the most expensive boxes I have bought in Japan or from Namikawa Heibei online, the cheap boxes use even cardboard. Following you reasoning about qualities of kiri wood for tsuba storage also the wood to which the lining is attached should be kiri wood. Am I right? Or for this part plywood is ok? Regards Luca

Could not be that this tsuba was used as a keyhole cover plate as happened to some in the end of 19th century? Even though there are no nail/screw holes on the side of the "nakago ana"? Just an afterthought. Luca

Hi Cristian I was pointing toward a Early Edo dating do you concur? What is the opinion of the other NMB members? Also it seems that the general consensus is going toward delamination. Than you to all of who posted a comment here! Luca

Best wishes to all of you!

Hi Richard I didn't touch the brass, except for handling the tsuba while removing the rust. After removing the rust I washed it with cold water and a mild soap. A good part of the shine of the brass is in the lighting, seen under direct sunlight the brass color is darker but not as dark as in the original pictures (the original pictures where off a bit wit the color too). Most of that dark color was actually dirt that went away by washing. As usual you posts are full of information, you give me a lot of things to ponder upon, thank you! Luca

Yes Pete that was my first thought too. But what I have found so puzzling is that the blisters are not empty or full of rust. Upon probing their interior with bone splinters I found under a thin layer of rust the what look like the same metal of the hira-ji with what look like the same patina.

This tsuba shares with both references an almost identical design of chrysantemum petals on the mimi and with the second one the same stilyzed lightling design on the body (raimon). On the hira-ji of the omote side on the left of the kogai hitsu-ana there are two small inlayed circles On the reference of Otani the same kind of inaly is also present close to the wave thus it could be probaly interpreted as droplet. In analogy the two circles of FT-0082 could be inffered to be rain drops given the presence of the stylized lightnings of the raimon. As for the two references the hira-ji of this tsuba shows also a surface finish looks like ishime-ji to me (but I defer to your judgment on this). Close to the top part of the nakago-ana, on the omote, and on the edge of the kogai hitsu-ana, on the ura side, there seems to be traces of layering as consequence of folding and fire welding of the steel. The patina is uniform and in very good conditions except of a few spots on the mimi and on the hira-ji and have a dark brown/chocolate color with red undertones when seen under sun light. On the ura side hira-ji there are three damaged areas (or so they looked to me initially) that seems, at a first cursory analisys, to have been subject to de-layering of the iron as consequence of corrosion or damages due to blows. On this particular feature I would like to have the opinion of you NMB members, at first I mistook these regions as damages but on a deeper analysis I have start to wonder wether these can be an intentional part of the decoration. The extent of the "damage" expecially the one above of the nakago-ana tip and the one close to the kogai hitsu-ana is so great that the surface of the "burst" part protrude from the surface of the iron by an extend comparable to the thickness of the plate. Given the extent of the protrusion one would have expected to find a cavity under the protruding region that is not there. There is no cavity just iron with a patina that is identical in color and texture to the rest of the hira-ji. Damage from blows seems also unlikely in view of level of deformation of the metal on the ura and the absence of any trace of visible damage in corresponding spots on the omote side. Could it be that those "damages" are rather made on pourpose as part of the ishime-ji desing of the hira-ji? However if part of the desing why have them only to the ura side of the tsuba, visible only when the sword was drawn? I am open and grateful, to any comment from more experienced NMB member on this puzzling, to me at least, aspect.

Hi to all and a Happy Christmas to all of you. This maru gata tsuba have a chrysanthemum petals design the inner surface of the dote mimi and of scattered stylized lightling on the body of the tsuba (hira-ji). Both motives are inlayed in brass flush with the surface (shinchu hirazogan). The dimensions are 75.8 mm x 75.0 mm and a thickness of 4.2 mm at mimi. I had it cheap on Yahoo Auctions because it was not in the best of conditions with a good deal of rust. Though it cleaned up nicely, what do you think? Based on one reference found in Otani and a NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon papered tsuba I think that my tsuba can be classified as Heianjo Zogan.

IMO they can be classified as mid range Hikone bori, i.e. Soten inspired copies made in different places around Japan when there was a high demand for this kind of tsuba. One of such places was Kyoto where other tsuba school were hired by Soten to fulfill the orders received, or so the common wisdom goes. I like especially the one with the dragon. Even though not mainline nice tsuba nonetheless. Regards Luca