Spartancrest

True for all nationalities - there are plenty in English, French you name it. It is fun trying to work out some subjects even when you know a little about them - the early guys were shooting in the dark. [Oktoberfest is wasted on me, I can't stand Beer! Unless it is Ginger Beer! ] Cheers! [Próst!]

I found some more 'Octoberfest' translations. Once again grainy images but Vampires? Fist fight with a Tiger? Just how long were these writers on a bender? 1052. Browned iron, oval. Finely carved relief: insects below, vampire above. An early piece. 16th century. 60 mm x 50 mm. [Bat obviously] 1127. Brown iron, oval. Raised and openwork relief on both sides with copper and brass inlay: Half-naked man in a fist fight with a tiger, 17th century. 90 mm x 80 mm. [The Taoist Immortal Bukan and his Tiger] Who knew tsuba translations could be so funny?

Swords are a special subject, some countries block their import or at least make you go through a long process to import them. Buyee and Jauce both have a policy where they put swords in the "too hard basket" at times - many so called blocked auctions can be 'opened' by a review of the seller. There is a blocked auction feature on Jauce [I am not on top of what buyee does] you can click on this button and they will get back to you in 24 hrs to say "yes the auction is now unblocked" or not. I have only been turned down once in seven years so it is rare. I don't collect swords myself so I have never had the problem of importing them from Japan. As far as trust goes, I have never been disappointed with any purchase, they always arrive and are packaged beyond belief! [over the top packaging, bubble wrap, cardboard box the size of your head with a single tsuba inside wrapped in three layers of just about everything - you could drop the package from the edge of space no worries about the content!]

Pure stubborn determination - start with image recognition, but this often only links to European or American sites, so not much use for Japan. Try asking Google by using relevant Kanji rather than English [use google translate - it sometimes gets it correct! ] and then do an image search on the results. However I am also checking some of the bigger auction sites like Jauce.com [same as buyee] every day. Checking "New Arrivals" and also "Time ending soonest" - if you do this each day you know what is going on. [besides I have a packrat mind and always remember a 'face' - just not always where I saw it last ] Start with what you can find eg. Ebay then if the seller is from Japan or one of the proxy sellers is, then there is a really good chance it is listed either on Jauce, buyee or Yahoo JP. I hate to say it but ebay is for the unwitting "foreigners" who will pay much higher prices, as far as most Japanese sellers are concerned. [Some very good exceptions to this rule.]

https://www.jauce.com/auction/f1108873810 or https://buyee.jp/ite.../auction/f1108873810 You can save a lot of money by finding the original sale on the Japanese auction sites. In this case buying direct from Japan at 50000 yen it would equal $320.64 USD. Why pay some third party an extra $250 for just changing a delivery address on an item they don't even have? [I really really dislike "Proxy sellers"!]

I mentioned recently how some French translations describing tsuba images were a little WIDE of the mark [eg. Deer standing on a coffee table!] - well some in German are equally way off. These two guards from an auction catalogue 1922. The translation from the original German read: 1001. Browned iron. Openwork rosettes : bottom right lobster in cut out, with shakudo. Inscribed. Oval, 17th century. 70 mm x 66 mm. WRONG 1002. Black iron. Bottom right Sennin figure with fish. Relief with shibuichi and shakudo. Oval. 17th century. Inscribed 75 mm x 68 mm. WRONG Yes the images are very grainy but the entries should read : 1001. Browned iron. Openwork Wheels: bottom right a Praying mantis in cut out, with shakudo. Inscribed. Oval, 17th century. 70 mm x 66 mm. 1002. Black iron. Bottom right Sennin figure with a Stork/Crane. Relief with shibuichi and shakudo. Oval. 17th century. Inscribed 75 mm x 68 mm. These entries are only numbers 5 & 6 in a total of 72 that need translating - I can't wait to see what comes along next!

https://www.agsa.sa....trailing-vine/27428/ https://www.giuseppe...uba-tansuishi-sankei image copyright https://www.pinteres.../464855992764804281/ https://art.thewalte...des-5112271-5112275/ http://jameelcentre....nd/1797/object/21509

https://www.jauce.com/auction/d1139047993

https://www.sanmei.c...nts/en-us/p1651.html Inoue Shouzaemon, the 1st artisan of Inoue school. He went for work in ordinary to the Choshu clan since Kansei 2 (1790). https://www.christie...m/en/lot/lot-1475365 A TSUBA BY INOUE MASATAKA AND EIGHT OTHERS rounded square, yo-sukashi of a warrior fighting a tiger, details in gilt nunome and copper, signed Choshu Hagi junin Inoue Shosaemon Masataka saku, 19th century

Goo, I am working on that collection right now, here is a much clearer image. I am laboriously translating the French text to English [and getting a few chuckles from it]. I think the top right guard may represent a Ho-ou / Ho-ho bird but it also looks very much like a Javanese 'Garuda' a close comparison to this Kris handle. There are lots of unusual tsuba from the Poncetton collection, many originating from earlier collections, I am compiling a tome [a word no longer used but often found in these old texts ] on these auctions limiting them to those with good images. It amazes me just how many were written in French - Far more than were available in English. It also astounds me that the French 'scans' are far clearer than you can find on other sites - - why can't the others do their jobs? What are we preserving if you can't see the images or they are out of focus? [No quality control! ] Also found in the Berens catalogue. Sometimes this works to our advantage when one auction displays only one face, another auction may show the other. An example of funny translation Number 72. in the above Poncetton page is described as - 72 — Tsuba in mokumé, circled with shakudo [fukurin], inlaid in relief with gold, silver and shakudo: 72mm x 68mm. "Deer standing on a coffee table." Now I don't know too many deer that do that, so I have changed it to "Deer statue standing on a display table." which I think reflects the true description .

I don't have an image of the other side, I would love to see how the wire was held in place - (very curious)

Taken from the François Poncetton Collection sale of June 12th 1929 12. Tsuba in Iron, oval, in positive openwork. It is later fortified with a red copper plate surrounded by sentoku [fukurin] , internally gilded and decorated with a bronze wire mesh: 88 mm x 86 mm. Bamboo and stylized birds. Work of a “Tsubako”. Ashikaga period. 16th century. From the Hawkshaw sale, 1910, no. 3159. Now this is one of the oddest forms of "decoration" I have ever seen, is it unique? Or is it just very rare?

From Sweden

Boy oh boy they could write so well : Japanese sword guards. Raphaël Collin Collection: [sale on May 12 and 13, 1922] PREFACE "It is not without some melancholy that we will witness, today, the sale of this admirable collection of Japanese saber guards, brought together by Raphaël Collin. Thus, one after the other, these precious treasures that the first admirers of Japan were able to bring together in Europe are scattered, like the Goncourt's, like Burty, Garié, Gillot, Rouart, Dr Mène, and still others, Raphaël Collin did not want the wonders he had loved to go to sleep in the cold necropolis of some museum. He wanted them to remain living symbols of beauty, which gain a power of feeling by passing from hand to hand, witnesses at the same time of the most glorious hours of a noble race among all and confidants of our pious and refined curiosity. It is this scrupulousness which will enable us to share with these relics to which remains attached the memory of the great honest man and the beautiful artist who caressed them..." François Poncetton.

Could the design be based on the "Three vinegar tasters" with the three [Confucius, Buddha, and Laozi] being replaced by three Japanese representatives rather than Chinese/Indian? Perhaps it is poking fun at the normal convention?

A shoami pattern type [ but may be signed with various names] - they made these over a very long time span. One of mine. Not very different to the second example. Another here https://www.reddit.c...pk/mount_fuji_tsuba/ And from an earlier thread https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/10570-tsuba-translation/

Newspaper article from 1894 - [much abbreviated and translated from French] Le Gaulois Wednesday February 7, 1894 page 2 : JAPONISANTS Extract: "......... There are now fanatics of Japan, men who have found the signatures of the great artists, have learned from the Japanese to distinguish the ancient from the modern, (because these Orientals excel in imitation), they can, on a saber guard, from nothing, find the name of the artist, the name of the warrior and sometimes that of the prince under whose reign the artist lived. Where we only see a finely crafted object, the connoisseur discovers a whole world of things." Well from morbid to slightly insulting? Fanatics! - well perhaps some of us take it a bit too seriously. Not to mention the backhanded compliment to the 'Orientals'! Even 'X' or Facebook might not allow these comments today [small hope!] Whilst doing more research on old tsuba catalogues I have noticed many instances where a guard will reappear from time to time in someone else's estate sale. - [Yes back to morbid!] The interval between each reappearance seems to be about ten years [I will need to examine a few more to get a more accurate estimate] so let us hope the interval like the life expectancy has increased since the 1900s [How come a jar of jam can have an expiry date on it but we don't get one? ]

https://www.catawiki...edo-period-1600-1868 Please be careful where you go searching.

Totally silly Andi, but for a moment there I thought I was seeing a SpongeBob SquarePants box being made - it nearly freaked me out! Really a great job with the finished box!

Hi Jake you might find some info on this guard here https://new.uniqueja...o-Branch-ujka159.pdf I think the gold tendrils are actually nunome [overlay technique] not inlay [I am possibly wrong - it is not uncommon ] This one states the 'inlay' is brass - https://www.samuraim...u-hozon-certificate/ This iron Tsuba has an irregular shape. The motif that forms the outline of this work is the Aoi (葵) leaves. In addition, the Karakusa (唐草, arabesque) pattern is inlaid with brass. This brass inlay remains in relatively good condition and adds decorativeness to this work. Since Aoi leaves have a habit of always facing the sun, and the word “Aoi” is taken as “Aogu (仰ぐ, looking up)” for the sun, people thought the Aoi pattern would bring good fortune. Also, the Karakusa design has auspicious meanings. It is a pattern in which vine stems and leaves are twined and make curves. Since ivy has a strong vitality and grows without interruption, people regarded this design as a symbol of prosperity and longevity. In this way, these auspicious motifs were incorporated into the design of this Tsuba. If you focus on the center part of this Tsuba, you will find the Mei (銘, engraved inscription). It is engraved as follows: 越前住 記内作 (Echizen-Ju, Kinai Saku). It means Kinai, who lived in Echizen, made this Tsuba. Echizen is today’s Fukui prefecture. Please note that no proof appraises this signature. Kinai Tsuba was established in Echizen, and Kinai school flourished very much. Their creations were called Kinai Bori (記内彫) or Echizen Bori (越前彫) and were highly valued. The first Kinai was especially good at dragon motif depiction. The Myochin (明珍) school and the Akao (赤尾) school were also well-known in Echizen. Kinai family was connected to these families by marriage, and three of them prospered together until the last days of the Tokugawa Shogunate.

Welcome to NMB Jake. Perhaps someone can give a translation to the hakogaki on the box lid? Have you tried giving Matsukaze a message to see what the seller knows? All the best. [nice guard]

I sometimes think we are all eventually [dare I say it?] . . Landfill

I have not meant to be depressive, but perhaps as I have gotten older I start to worry what will happen to my own collection and how little of a say I may have in where it all goes. I have realised that ALL of my collection was once owned by someone else [many others] and I am just another port of call to each piece. If there is one thing I have learnt, it is as Piers has said, "give thanks for written records and knowledge databases". I have said this before but please try to preserve your own part in the history of your collection it is just as important as any other aspect. Nothing wrong with leaving a catalogue of your collection, either in book form [even just a single copy] or some digital reference site for those that come after. - Some nut a hundred years or more in the future might just find it and bring it back into the light. [Now back to my "Swedish Death Cleaning" ]

Words I am afraid that echo down the ages - "It is with a double sadness that I come to preface this catalogue: Sadness to have seen the premature disappearance of the perfectly good man, gifted with such delicate taste, that was Mr. [ INSERT YOUR NAME HERE ] ; Sadness to witness the dispersion of the excellent ensemble [collection] that he had been able to bring together. Only one consolation remains for me, that of glorifying one last time the collection which tomorrow will no longer be - - and whose scattered lots will contribute to the construction of new temples erected in honor of Japanese art." [Translated from the original French.] Taken from the Preface of "Catalogue: Saber guards, sabers, kozukas, arrowheads, inros. Composing the Collection of the late Mr. Alexis ROUART" 6th of May 1911 Perhaps even more poignant is the fact that the preface was written by another great collector, the Marquis de Tressan who was killed just three years later in 1914, just a few months into WWI. Image is of the tsuba illustrations in the catalogue [Images are enhanced and arranged in numerical order unlike the original 7 plates]

Does your koshirae have the tsuba? https://www.jauce.com/auction/g1091518766 A nice set of fittings.