DirkO

Sorry that's my mistake, normally I can follow the German explanation more easily, but I wasn't feeling 100%

The meeting was well attended as usual. Seeing I was bit under the weather - I hope my notes are correct! If not, please correct me! First of all there was a kantei-session: 1. Echizen Yasutsugu, Keicho Shinto, Shimosaka - excellent explanation by the owner how we could've arrived to this conclusion! 2. Shizu Kaneuji 3. Hizen Masahiro nidai - very flamboyant, not something you would immediately associate with Hizen. 4. Bizen Katsumitsu yoroidoshi (dated 1519) in perfect state of preservation (remnants of ubu-ha) - a rare sight After that we went on with a presentation by Herr Prof Kremers about the Tea Ceremony (chadō) and its influence on tsuba of that time. It was very interesting to see that not just some motifs but also the actual texture and colour of the different chawan and other vessles (Oribe-yaki, Raku-yaki,...) reappeared on tsuba. As always it was a very worthwhile meeting.

Yes I also used him for polishing and shinsa and I can highly recommend him.

Hmmm could it be a stylized owl? https://japanesemythology.wordpress.com/2013/09/01/owl-deity-chikap-kamui-owls-of-Japan-owl-tales-and-talismans/

Some weird coincidence - just crossed these: The openings are described as being symbols of luck?

Regarding the tsuba, its condition prohibits seeing certain features, so although it might be one of the earlier generations , kodai is a safe bet. In any case, it seems a bit worse for wear, pity for what originally was quite a nice tsuba!

Could it be he meant Yatsushiro in Jingo? Indeed, looks like a genuine Jingo - late generation is the safe call, seeing we don't have a lot to go on. The iron suggests later generations, although the ana seems a throw back to earlier work. More pictures would help to narrow it down.

Thanks! Never saw it before!

You might have bought it from a serious collector, however everything points to the same conclusion Brian reached. Sorry for not having any better news for you.

I think Aoi would have all the necessary info in their listing?

I consider myself lucky to have held Ono Yoshimitsu's version of the Yamatorige, let alone the real deal! Contrary to what one might think, this piece is not that widely published. The only decent write-up I think is in Showa Dai Meito Zufu (hugely underappreciated book) If Sato Kanzan and Junji Honma think very highly of it, that's saying a lot seeing they were very discriminate about what they liked. Sorry about the picture quality, the book is larger than my scanner I'm afraid! However, it does show the hamon nicely!

Yoshiro tsuba

I used to own nr 1 - rare and nice suguta - clean signature - and an absolute steal at this price!

Markus Sesko is a translator and he did tremendous work for our collecting field: https://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?keyWords=markus+sesko&type=

Hi Wouter, The NBTHK Tokubetsu Kicho is indeed an older paper but especially for kodogu, still quite regularly encountered. The other paper is NTK and not NTHK Please see http://www.shibuiswords.com/papers1.htm for more details about the NTK papers.

Hi Neil and welcome! There were several swordsmiths with that name - here's an extract from Markus Sesko's book:

Some additional info about him can be found here http://www.ncjsc.org/item_ichinomiya_tsunenao_FK.htm

Ichinomiya school? And taking an even wilder guess Banryuken Sadanaka, student of Ichinomiya Nagatsune.

Hi Alex - this will provide some more insight on that: http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/7699-nicks-on-tsuba-mimi/

But he's easily reachable through mail or phone. Pm me if you need his contact details.

This article might prove helpful. http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/4063-yokoyama-kzuke-daijo-fujiwara-sukesada

Just missed out on it, I had my eyes on it from day one. Dated 1762, it's not by the Hon'ami, but by someone from the Onakatomi (ancient royal family) who accompanied his master to the shogun for two years and was allowed to make a copy of the original Hon'ami scrolls. He also states this advanced his studies greatly. You can also see the water stains he faithfully copied. Not a bad study item, and I'm disappointed I didn't get it, due to being on holiday with limited connectivity. A big thank you to Marcus for helping with the translation!

Nice piece! I have a Shodai returning from Japan after papers and polish, they made some very good pieces and their best work in my opinion was in suguha.

Hi, As some of you will already know, the NBTHK is moving to a new location. This has a certain impact on NBTHK related events like shinsa. Please see below extract for more info (taken from Token Bujitsu)