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経済第一部長: keizai daiichi-buchô (assistant chief of staff, economics) 愛媛縣部長: Ehime-ken buchô (head of Ehime Prefecture) 熊野徳次: Kumano Tokuji (or Yoshitsugu)

Lou, it is not a common day to day phenomenon to stumble over an inscription of chinese proverbs, so it has to be regarded as let´s say "rare". More usual are inscriptions of the sword´s nickname, and much more frequent we find the name of the owner chiselled on the nakago. I can´t say from the pictures of the nakago if your sword is unshortened, so we have basically three possibilities: 1. The owner had him chiselled these proverbs when he ordered the sword. 2. The owner had him chiselled these proverbs on an unsigned sword he owned or obtained at a certain time. 3. The owner had to shorten a blade due to whatever reason and had him chiselled these proverbs on this occasion on the new nakago. I am sure someone can jump in for more possibilties :D

Hi Lou, These are Chinese proverbs about mastering/cultivating onself. The first one reads: 有所恐懼、則不得其正。 Kyôku-suru tokoro areba, sunawachi sono sei o ezu. When you are awestrucked, this hinders you from correct decisions. And the second one reads: 有所忿懥。則不得其正。 Funchi-suru tokoro areba, sunawachi sono sei o ezu. When you are full of rage, this hinders you from correct decisions. [i´m still on holidays without my books, so please forgive any careless mistakes ]

Hi Chris, Please don´t consider this as an offence, just a tip which is dear to me, but I suggest to touch all non-ferrous tsuba and fittings with gloves. It would be a pity if the one or other pieces patina gets damaged through exhausitve touching with bare fingers.

The reading was correct: "Hidenobu" (秀宣) He was a Seki-based smith.

I will be there too. Looking forward to see interesting stuff and - of course - you guys again

I would say, YES I found another Kanenami on bidders: http://www.bidders.co.jp/item/122357332 If he is recorded or not does not matter. There is "Kanenami" written on the tang, and that´s that.

I just have to emphasize Ford´s observations with a double-underline, and I take the liberty to add something for the context. The clerical script (reisho) which was chosen by Natsuo was especially in fashion at that time (from the mid-19c into the Meiji period). It was Ichikawa Bei´an (1779-1858) who gathered and systemized rubbings from Chinese monuments and bronze. He worked for the Toyama fief as well as for the Maeda in Kaga (which is present-day Ishikawa, the neighboring prefecture of Toyama, and Toyama is where my girlfriend works, so that´s maybe brutal off-topic but the explanation why I spent some time with this subject ). So because of this "boom", we find also - frequently would be exaggregated but from time to time - Shinshinto blades with a reisho (or parts in reisho) signature on the tang. BTW: The meaning of the (nostalgic) poem is (maybe Koichi can correct me if wrong): "When I raise my head, I can see the moon from beyond the mountains - and when I then bow down my head, I can recall my home village."

Noooooooo (please imagine flying birds from my house, hearing my cry;)

Well, badly (unaesthetically) shaped kissaki does not mean always Chinese fake. Just stumbled over this one... http://www.samuraishokai.jp/sword/09127.html (This post does not criticize the sword in question nor does it bear any discussion base for authenticity or not. Just wanted to show.)

Are you referring to the one on the right? The design needs no more refining. It is a dynamic representation of the Musashino motif as its best, interpreted according to the aesthetical principles of iki as expected from the Akasaka school. BTW: I have an identical piece in my collection http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iki_(aesthetic_ideal)

Hi Ford, Here are some additional pics from the "Shinsen Kinkô-meikan". I dont want to lean too far out of the window, but I think there is the possibility that your (the very left) mei is a gimei (wow, how politely expressed;) ). My assumptions base on the character for "katsu", because it is too "straight", whereas the moon radical to the left of the shôshin mei is always a bit slanted. And also (力) radical to the very bottom right of the right radical (劵) seems too big. Well, just speculations so far...

Hi Brian, This is a poem of Takarai Kikaku, one of the best pupils of Matsuo Bashô. It was intended for praying for rain, and reads: "Yûdachi ya ta o meguri no kami naraba" (夕立や田を三めぐりの神ならば) "If I was just the god responsible for the evening shower and the fields."

Forgot to mention... In my opinion, the translator did a good job and experience had me shown that at projects of the scope of a "Tsuba, an aesthetic study", it can be hard to hit all the nuances on the head for each sentence and paragraph. But it is very interesting and informative that we are "working" now at exactly those "nuances", and it is always a good thing to leave things not untouched but revise them for an overall improvement. This reminds me of the saying "権威の謬説は一世紀を誤まる", "A wrong theory of an expert leads astray a century".

Hi Ford. For a supplementation to this thread, I checked the Japanese "Tsuba-geijutsu-ron", or rather the chapters on Ônin- and Heianjô-zôgan. In chapter 6 "Heianjô-zôgan tsuba", the corresponding passage reads: "When comparing the shinchû-zôgan of Ônin and Heianjô, we can see that at the former, the decorative elements (i.e. the mon) are produced just via casting (lit. it reads "by putting it into a mould"), whereas the latter show also some additional carvings on the mon." I think I found the corresponding passage in chapter 5 "Ônin-tsuba". Here it reads: The suemon of Ônin-tsuba is different to those of Heianjô-zôgan-tsuba, namely in the way that various casted and differently sized mon are combined and set onto the tsuba (lit. just "combined and set", suete aru 据えてある). But it was just the time when the arrangement and combination of such mon showed a considerable progress. Regarding pieces with ten-zôgan, it is said that this mostly concerns early pieces, but there is no such a chronological discrepancy. Towards the rim, a concentrical linear element is applied, and in between, rows (four at old pieces) of ten-zôgan are inlayed. These dots are small and in relative close formation on older works, but get larger and more sparse as time went on." So the Japanese text does not mention literally that the ten-zôgan elements are cast. Well, I must admit that I don´t have the English version so it is possible that I just don´t got the right passages.

The last time I bought a tsuba at Finesword, they responded as far as I remember after two days. But you can also try to contact them via the site of Choshuya, referring that you try to buy something of their Finesword section.

Hi Vaidas, Thanks for the clarification. It´s always better to know a bit of background for giving an advice. Don´t withhold, this is exactly why this sub-section "Military Swords of Japan" was opened.

On the basis of the sugata (i.e. the shallow sori, the length, and from the position of the signature on the tang I assume it is not [at least not much] suriage), I wouldn´t say Kanbun but somewhere close. This in combination with the accentuated gunome repetitions which allude with much phantasy somewhat to sanbonsugi, I would go for Shitahara, which leads finally - with incorporating the parts of the signature (namely a "Yasuyoshi" [安吉] and the remnants of a 大 which could also be a 太) - to Tôta Yasuyoshi (藤太安吉), who worked around Enpô (1673-1681). Just my 2c so far and maybe far-fetched.

Hi Vaidas, I think the question is: are you collecting military swords and naval dirks in special? The fittings or rather the condition looks quite nice, but the question above decides anything about the price. My personal opinion, for 350.000 you will find a more, let´s say "interesting" piece, even in katana length with mounting, where much more can be seen on the blade (from the point of view of a nihontô enthusiast and collector ).

I think that hits it on the nail, because the tsuba uses the character (奥) for "Oki", and Kotetsu used this from Meireki 2 (1656) to Manji 4 (1661). Afterwards, he used the character (興). So when we follow the theory that he went to Edo quite early in the Meireki period (1655-1658), this tsuba comes exactly under what I would say as "transitional period" from katchûshi to tôshô. This tsuba is also depicted in the "100 Tsuba and Sword Accessories" from where I know it, and interestingly, it is exactly depicted beside of the namako-sukashi of Musashi.

Hi Vaidas, the translation of No.492 reads as follows: "The dagger mounting (tanken-goshirae) seems to be for a naval officer of either the grade of a naval field or company officer. The saya is of a blueish samegawa, and the fittings show a cherryblossom motif, which are all in all elaborately executed. The habaki bears kebori carvings of the two characters "chû" and "kô" (loyalty and filial piety), and one might feel the spirit of the naval officer when being at the front with this dagger at the waist. The mounted blade is of a classical, old style unokubi-zukuri, and the hamon is a noble suguha. The signature reads "Yamato no Daijô Kunitake", and was probably engraved with an emphasized meaning of "the Warriors of the Land of Yamato". The condition of both the blade and the mountings is very good."

Hi Barry, The white kanji above the part John explained read as "same-seishiki" (鮫制式), which means about "for mounting in same". Probably the saya was one of the samezaya of naval swords.

I know the piece so I´m out of the race.

I fully agree with Rich, and the piece in question reminds me on this one: http://www.e-sword.jp/sale/0810_6022syousai.htm So probably a mid to late Edo tôshô...

I wouldn´t insist upon that the person in question was important.