Spartancrest

I'll stick my neck out and say it is OK. The two holes do indeed look added in later - Udenuki-ana, but why? Although a very few sukashi tsuba have udenuki-ana this one would not need it in order to attach a wrist strap the sukashi would have been adequate. It reminds me of this Choshu piece or this one

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/206546802481 Tiny but expensive “Japanese Obidome Made from Sword Fitting" USD~ $135.00 I doubt very much this was ever made from a sword fitting - it is far too small even for a tanto - still a nice curiosity.

Hi Hector I agree with Jean we would need to see the overall tsuba - risky if you thinking of buying it, I know, we don't need extra competition - can only hope other members won't take advantage. You could always PM any members who you can trust won't out bid you. From what I can see it doesn't have much in the way of tagane-ato but the nakago-ana is not particularly "bottle shape".

The tagane on both these examples are not both the same either. Does anyone know for certain if the tsuba maker necessarily fitted the tsuba to the blade - it may have been fitted by entirely different people who had their own "style"? https://www.bonhams.com/auction/21861/lot/134/a-higo-hayashi-tsuba-and-a-higo-kamiyoshi-tsuba-early-and-mid-19th-century/ https://www.choshuya.co.jp/senrigan/二引両透鍔（鐔）　銘　八代甚五作（二代）/鍔/甚五

Grev there appears to be "too many" of these "Zodiac" tsuba I fear they are mass produced.

Going back to the first tsuba image - here is an utsushi selling now https://www.jauce.com/auction/f1241159855

Hi Bert, not a bad criteria to start a collection - welcome to NMB. As Tim suggests - also you can try Jauce which carries the same pieces generally - https://www.jauce.com/search/tsuba search "NEW ARRIVALS" so you have time to research. I think your tsuba is a fairly common Shoami school piece [I have a few ]

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/407196737837 US $439.99 Primary Material: Iron Original/Reproduction: Antique Original Age: 1800-1849

I think I have done the same thing - it happens a lot

Sorry this tray is "old news" see page 7 Posted July 5, 2024 Enamel tray with tsuba motifs https://www.catawiki...adorned-with-flowers

May well be off the subject here, but I have another problem with shibuiswords.com - https://shibuiswords.com/ELkarahana.html An interesting tsuba - but what are we expected to be paying for? The tsuba is in poor condition and as it represents one out of 31 that I have found - for far less money - I can only assume it is the "ambiguous" papers that are commanding the price? Ambiguous by their own summation "Although it is difficult to decide if Higo or Hizen" Perhaps papers should be an optional extra? The images show a better example [eight lobes] and the only other example with a makers name [five lobes] - if someone could translate we might get a clearer idea of just which school made these - and if we can trust the papers?

I think if we zoom in too closely on every detail we will always see a fault - the overall appeal of the piece is more important than the molecular makeup of the surface! Stand back a bit or you won't see the forest for the bark at the end of your nose. even the sharpest blade in the world is still serrated. Perfect nanako does not exist If it did it would not be handmade by any human.

https://www.jauce.com/auction/m1242167215 There are indeed ten tsuba - some are partial and one tends to blend in with the background - puzzle plate or something to give the kids something to search? I gave it a run for the money but my auction limit was 12,100 ¥ - you need a limit or you go crazy! I also had reservations on how well it would survive the shipping to Australia.

A 43 cm Imari, tsuba decorated plate - sold for 12,600 yen - Spot the ten tsuba!

It looks ubu to me - HIGO school perhaps just going on the hitsu shapes [easily could be wrong on that] The second image has papers for Shoami school. https://www.antikeo.com/en/catalog/militaria/swords-bladed-weapons/openwork-wrought-iron-tsuba-maru-gata-with-nbthk-hozon-certificate-edo-period-1603-1868-171871

I guess with 109 bids back and forth - someone thought it was worth the expense, but they could have had a very similar piece for a thousand less in price at a bonhams auction. This sold for £4,000 OR $5416.86 USD https://www.bonhams.com/auction/20555/lot/20/an-iron-tsuba-by-morikawa-masakage-tanaka-school-19th-century/ By Morikawa Masakage, Tanaka school, 19th century A close utsushi in the Metropolitan Museum https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/34937 by 壽景「花押」 Toshikage + kaō

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/27603 Ko-kinko ?

Piers, I love that guard - right up my [distorted] alley!

From Sea to Sea : Letters of Travel by Rudyard Kipling Publication date 1900 Talk to every one you meet, if they show the least disposition to talk to you, and you will gather, as I have done, a host of stories that will be of use to you hereafter. Unfortunately, they are not all fit for publication. When I tore myself away from the distractions of the outer world, and was just sitting down to write seriously on the Future of Japan, there entered a fascinating man, with heaps of money, who had collected Indian and Japanese curios all his life, and was now come to this country to get some old books which his collection lacked. Can you imagine a more pleasant life than his wanderings over the earth, with untold special knowledge to back each signature of his cheque-book ? In five minutes he had carried me far away from the clattering, fidgety folk around, to a quiet world where men meditated for three weeks over a bronze, and scoured all Japan for a sword-guard designed by a great artist and — were horribly cheated in the end. 'Who is the best artist in Japan now ' I asked. 'He died in Tokio, last Friday, poor fellow, and there is no one to take his place. His name was K.., and as a general rule he could never be persuaded to work unless he was drunk. He did his best pictures when he was drunk.' 'Ému. Artists are never drunk.' 'Quite right. I'll show you a sword-guard that he designed. All the best artists out here do a lot of designing. K... used to fritter away his time on designs for old friends. Had he stuck to pictures he could have made twice as much. But he never turned out pot-boilers. When you go to Tokio, make it your business to get two little books of his called Drunken Sketches — pictures that he did when he was — ému. There is enough dash and go in them to fill half a dozen studios. An English artist studied under him for some time. But K...'s touch was not communicable, though he might have taught his pupil something about technique. Have you ever come across one of K...'s crows ? You could tell it anywhere. He could put all the wicked thoughts that ever came into the mind of a crow — and a crow is first cousin to the Devil — on a piece of paper six inches square, with a brush of Indian ink and two turns of his wrist. Look at the sword-guard I spoke of. How is that for feeling ?' On a circular piece of iron four inches in diameter and pierced by the pole for the tang of the blade, poor K..., who died last Friday, had sketched the figure of a coolie trying to fold up a cloth which was bellying to a merry breeze — not a cold wind, but a sportive summer gust. The coolie was enjoying the performance, and so was the cloth. It would all be folded up in another minute and the coolie would go on his way with a grin. This thing had K... conceived, and the faithful workman executed, with the lightest touches of the graver, to the end that it might lie in a collector's cabinet in London. 'Wah ! wah !' I said, and returned it reverently. 'It would kill a man who could do that to live after his touch had gone. Well for him he died — but I wish I had seen him.' The "K" is likely Kawanabe Kyosai [Kyosai Suiga] who composed "Drunken Sketches" and designed several tsuba

The design is very similar to these thin African figures - if you chop the heads off they look even more closely related - these figures are 35 cm high. [approx 14 inches]

A furniture store in Melbourne https://criteriacollection.com.au/?selected For "Arty" furniture, best only to be looked at and guaranteed to be uncomfortable ! [I suggest this "donut bench" is for people with Piles]! Seating designed by a Druid?

Jason - you bet! Mid to late Edo [as a guess] Very similar to this one

I could not help myself and found these two items up for auction - they are now mine, due to no one else putting in a counter bid! Total cost was 3172 yen - or about $20 USD. Not too expensive for a couple of nice silk "dressing gowns" [Summer anyway!] A couple of others still going! https://www.jauce.com/auction/u1238960477 https://cargain.sylluvea.sbs/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=171244

https://www.lot-art.com/auction-lots/TSUBA-patinated-metal-Japan/5276567-tsuba_patinated-13.8.26-stockholm ??? Not common but not "Unique".

Hi Jason. From the seam lines halfway through the sukashi I have a strong suspicion your guard is a cast copy of an Owari original design - we would need to see the nakago-ana and seppa-dai of the tsuba to make a better judgement. [that means unmounting the tsuba] https://www.nihontocraft.com/Owari_tsuba_G.htm - I am not convinced this other example is not cast also, it has some rough spots on the inside of the rim [mimi] and there is a crack on the right near the open hitsu. http://www.nihontocraft.com/Owari_014222.jpg