Spartancrest

Darn - I could have sold the stone and made a profit, also improving the look at the same time!

Rich, I like the term Trisho but what happens when you add in a nodachi 野太刀? Yon-sho or Shi-sho?

I have asked this question in another thread but it went unanswered - what is a set of 3 matching tsuba [or other fittings] called? 大小と 小さい Daishō to chīsai ? There must be a name as they certainly exist. https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/3-signed-antique-Japanese-sword-tsuba-fuchi-kashira

It must be a day for Shiachi https://www.jauce.com/auction/n1042986975 Described as Nanban

Brian, I must agree on the decoration, it is actually something that put me off, I don't like that aspect of it at all. The mokume was enough - gilding the lily does not make it more attractive.

Jeremiah I think the width of the tsuba makes it too narrow for the pegs (prongs?) to go over the hand. The sharp hooked ends would be a bit fist unfriendly. I think the designer had aspects of a Jitte (十手) in mind. The size would be consistent with a Wakizashi so it may have been used like a Main-gauche. Or may even have seen something like these Chinese weapons?

New one just listed - https://www.jauce.com/auction/m1042980375 79.2 mm x 77.7 mm x 5.2 mm Weight : Approx. 116.0 Gram

I would be interested in the opinion of whether these are Shiachi or just dragons? The image is from Louis Gonse's book "L'art Japonais" (1883) and appeared later in "The Sword of Japan and it's Ornaments" by the Countess Annie De Montaigu (1895) The guard is described as 'Silver-Bronze, Dragons Affronté: by Seidouzi' [Seidzu?]

The daikon is a remarkable plant, the entire plant is edible and used not just for food. There are even recipes where daikon is used to patinate iron. It is a popular theme on tsuba in almost all schools. If a particular design is popular many 'utsushi' will be found trying to emulate the design - not direct copies but a different take on the original as a form of homage to the design. Another one here - not as nice as your example. https://www.antiquesreporter.com.au/index.cfm/lot/241260-a-large-mid-edo-period-pierced-iron-tsuba-for-katana-18th-centur/ This one is probably Shoami - Another very fine sukashi is found here [images are copyrighted] http://nihontocraft.com/Tanshu_Sadamasa_Tsuba.htm

I do like the strange ones - but this is super strange. https://www.jauce.com/auction/f1041590625 At first glance it looks like a simple mokume with gold and silver decoration with the addition of a jewel/ red stone/ glass?[not important] But it is what is on the other side that is just plain weird! It looks like two railway spikes have been incorporated into the guard. - Just speculation but could this be a sword catcher/breaker? The two spikes would be pointing toward the blade of course or you would never be able to hold the tsuka otherwise. Has anyone ever seen anything similar before? 65 mm across by 4 cm high

Another aoi and screens https://www.jauce.com/auction/t1042781098 this one looks pretty good. What started as a fairly obscure design has blossomed into quite a few variations.

Ebay is having a run on these! https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/165381229071 Some without the eye makeup! But still ten times the price. on ebay also, there is a Katamenuki https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/255413766945 looks genuine to me.

I don't usually promote cast guards but this one is at least reasonably priced for what it is - https://www.jauce.com/auction/m1042552782

Very expensive drink coaster - that will likely spill your drink into the bargain ! https://www.jauce.com/auction/u1042220390 50,000 yen - yeah right!

Hey these are starting to come out of the woodwork! https://www.jauce.com/auction/b1042202823 This one looks cast to me, I don't like the look of the hitsu at all.

Well it is not this Katsunori = 勝則 Katsu-hō = 活法 Looks a better bet. Katsu-hō = "How to live"

Roger you might be correct but how then is it that both sides of the tsuba have identical images, wouldn't that require enormous precision indeed, much much more work than hammering into a form? Not that I am an advocate for both sides being identical, it is rather boring. Surely there are examples where each side was made as you have described and they would have the freedom of two similar designs but not identical. There must be examples out there so please show us. [meaning the members] Is it once again a story of two 'levels' of construction, custom pieces and cheaper mass [but hand] produced?

A nice one in Yamagane? Shibuichi? Looks like it was cleaned with steel wool? https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/125189054246

There is a another guard on ebay right now. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/373967970257

WOW!

Hi Jeremy there is a good thread found here: There are many thoughts on the subject, it will often depend on whether your guard is just iron or if it has inlays/overlays etc.

I have found this extract from "Sculpture on Sword-Furniture" by Captain F. Brinkley [1902] Here he is describing the work of the Goto masters. "--In short, these records show that the first six Goto masters had a very large repertoire of subjects, and that it is altogether a mistake to speak of their productions as severely classical, or of their range of decorative motives as limited. They differed, of course, in the quality of their work, the third representative, Joshiu, being notably the coarsest and roughest chiseller among them. It is a theory implicitly believed in Japan that an artist's moral nature is reflected in his productions. Joshiu was a big, stalwart soldier. He fell in battle, the end he had always desired, and there is certainly something of the bluff man-at-arms in his style of carving. His most elaborate effort is said to have been a pair of menuki in the form of a procession of golden ants carrying silver eggs. But he preferred fierce dragons and angry shishi. His son Kwojo, the fourth representative, who worked from 1550 to 1620, is distinguished for precisely the quality which his father lacked, extreme accuracy of detail and delicacy of style. Up to Kwojo's time, that is to say, during the era of the first three Goto masters, the iroye (literally, colour-picture) process, or "picking out" with metal different from that of the general design, was somewhat clumsy. The preparation of efficient solder not being understood, the expert had to pin each tiny plate of gold, silver, or copper in its place. He accomplished this with such dexterity that the rivets were not visible, but really delicate work could not be done. In Kwojo's time a solder was discovered so good that a piece of metal fixed with it could be afterwards chiselled in loco. The use of this 'ro' (literally, wax), as the Japanese called it, made an immense difference in the quality of detail chiselling, and the uttori iroye (riveted plating) of the first Goto experts was finally abandoned. It is unnecessary to enter into any further analysis of the Goto masters' work. ---" This would indicate 'ro' or solder [as we know it] appeared between 1550 to 1620 which is pretty early. The information does not detail the use of solder on Sanmai construction but does point us to a date where it could have been used from.

I found this extract from an article dating to 1889 The Portfolio; by Philip Gilbert Hamerton. published 1889 SOME Japanese SWORD-GUARDS. "More rarely we meet with the leaves of the banana or plantain ; amongst many thousands of guards which we have examined four only were decorated with the majestic foliage of this tropical plant. The best of these, the work of Naokatsu, is represented in fig. 2 ; the reverse of this piece, though equally fine and free in treatment, is quite different in the arrangement of the material." A. H. Church. I cannot explain why the article was ascribed as by Philip Hamerton then signed by A.H. Church? It was Church's tsuba used in the print [same guard as above now in the Ashmolean museum] As the article states only four examples were known, I cannot believe these are the four already seen in museum collections - surely others exist in private hands?

Roger you didn't dream it - but like you, I can't find the reference either - - yet. I will keep looking.