dominnimod

I honestly have no clue what this is. I was checking african sword knives and such, and saw this,

which at first i almost discarded as a cheap souvenir thing, but the blade looked nothing as how the blades on these swords look, in fact it seemed to have the shape of

a Japanese blade? shinogi-zukuri. So i asked for more photos close up, and they look ugly.

The blade is real filthy and seems to have been used to cut fruit on a backyard. But this aside, the ura side the blade is flat?

I have heard of these blades with a flat side, but the are usually on shobu zukuri blades and on the omote side?

Seller says he bought it on belgium,

In any case its probably nothing but it bugged me a bit so i would like to share this thing and hear some thoughts

Cheers

I bought 3 tsuba on march 20 from a ebay seller in Japan, on April 4 he sent the next:

Yesterday i contacted him to know if there were updates and told me Japan Post stopped shipping on April 24

and that currently are preparing to ship with UPS and DHL,

Another purchase i had no news from the seller so i cancelled and got a refund.

Unlucky situation

Jose L. Ubaldo

  

That seppa could do with a replacement, don't you think ! 

 

 

Jean. 

 

The rabbits have been at it as well - sorry the pic is a bit grainy.

It's not a real sword, is a movie prop

Quick fact: Katsumoto's sword prop on ''The Last Samurai (2002)'' has a tsuba based on this famous motif:

Dick jokes are older than man itself, wouldn't surprise me

Umetada?

The style seems Aizu Shoami, edo period,

Some characteristics are the theme, shinmaru gata(round shape), both hitsu ana shaped as kogai-ana, foliage inlaid in shakudo and nunome gold details

Here are some examples:

On the first one mountains are out of the focus point, the rather simple carving contrast against the complex inlay of the bird on the leaves. And the nunome zogan of the water, that almost seems like reflections, seems like a fair composition to me. The second one is more subtle, more elegant imo, with the way the mountains are done in relief they get a more important role in the composition. You see the mountains raising a bit, some birds on the left, and a little fella on the right, and all this eaten by tha dark patina, that creates a huge sense of a far distance, seems like fog that cover the landscape, and makes you wonder what you can't see. The 3rd one is a different style, is not a kaneieish pictorial approach, but a floral arrangment. It's hard to judge which one has more merit, some might be more complex, others might have more work, and others might have more expression, others might have better composition, all these things must be taken in mind, and it may vary depending on who you ask, some will think that less is more and others will like complexity, i don't know subjetivity and objetive points must be taken in mind or something

Motif is classic higo, also seen in later akasaka, as utushi i don't know the age, meiji, showa?

Ok i see, im kindda relieved, seemed a bit dubious, but the sekigane fooled me, seems to have been mounted, or i guess maybe that was the idea

Someone bought this tsuba on February 5th and on may 16th was sold pretty much dead for half the price.

How does that happen? Why? Was it mounted on a iato? But then again it seems really mistreated

https://www.ebth.com/items/7924579-mounted-tsuba-with-monkey

https://www.ebth.com/items/8492563-caged-monkey-pattern-tsuba

Wow Jose! Great art work!

Thanks Jereremi!

I quite enjoy to capture some pieces in drawing format,

it's nice because while you do it you can discover small details you might have not noticed before

I saw this one with the same motif, i can't remember at all where i saw it, but at least i can show a drawing i made of it

Higo Hayashi?

In my experience the underlying patina will be the same as the rest of the nakago. Some gentle work with ivory or bone may be needed to remove lingering areas of active, accumulated rust.

Great, many thanks!

I see, Dwayne was right 

Many thanks Ray, one question, if it falls, the metal underneath has same patina as the rest of nakago? or may be lighter? Is detrimentral to leave it like that or is aesthetic only?

That could be, blade shows some fukure on the opposite side, seems like an old blade who has lost a lot of meat

Rust?

Could be just rust, but nothing on the other side

Good evening,

I have a wakizashi blade i bought from the uk with strange fragments on the nakago. My first guess was Shrapnel? But i don't know,

Thanks

1. is pricey, but you could try to talk to the seller, however i think is more on the big side

2. is subtle, nice momoyama aesthetic

Both on ebay

Following your reasoning a plain metal kashira of similar color would be the apt choice.  Horn kashira are only used with Banzashi style koshirae, use with anything else is completely inappropriate.

 

-S-

Sorry my bad, you are right

Horn would be OK but not ideal; it would be obvious to anyone who knows Nihonto that the kashira is lost/has been replaced.  Some orphan fuchi work well with horn kashira; I don't think this is one of them.  Since there is slight chance of finding an orphan kashira to match, let me suggest replacing both with a different fuchi/kashira.  I think this is the better option.

Grey

I think that's the idea, as with the technic tratteggio used on paintings, where you would complete the piece, but it would be clear the original kashira is missing, i encouraged this as an option to ''keep the sword as true as possible'', as you wouldn't use a mismatched fitting (in case of an orphan kashira) and you would conservate the original fuchi (in case of replacing both fuchi and kashira)

I would go with buffalo horn kashira as Geraint suggested, some members might say it's the lazy shortcut option, but keeping in mind the good quality of the tsuba and fuchi it would look quite nice, and at the same time, it would be a way to keep the tsuka more original than trying to find something that fits from a different maker

https://www.ebay.com/itm/392257555020

Only 60.000$ from an ebay seller with no ratings, also notice the flawless and rich description.

Pd: He knows is a national treasure no lowballing,

Seems like a neat tachi, but i wonder how he ended with that conclusion