Spartancrest

From a book I just purchased. "Tsuba: Japanese Sword Guards from the Ota Collection" Publisher International Christian University, Hachiro Yuasa Memorial Museum, Length 43 pages " written in 1997. It only has 65 tsuba in it and most are sukashi, written in both Japanese and English but it also has some details I had never heard of - it relates that:- "SHINCHU [brass]: alloy of copper with lead and zinc. Also called "yellow copper"(odo) due to its color. Since very little zinc was mined and no technique for its production was known in Japan, old Chinese coins were melted down to provide the material to make brass." Remembering this is a book specifically on Tsuba - Melting coins to make tosogu? - Must have been 'money' in it! Where then did they get enough Chinese coinage to meet the demand? Would it not have been cheaper to import zinc from China or brass scrap rather than coins? Fact or a myth?

Yet another example of the fans design in a current auction. https://www.jauce.com/auction/l1077595652 The 'Ji' [background] is once again decorated differently to the other examples. [Heianjo style?]

Jeremy, I would not use Antler on soft metal - it is really only good on iron. The mineral content of antler can be harder than copper based metal and will end up scratching the patina clean off. As Darrel has suggested, a soft tooth brush or even a manicure brush can be useful.

Sometimes it takes me a while - this image is from "Album of Designs for Metal Carving (Chōsen Gafu)" - - a book I resurrected in 2020 - - [ Hey I can't remember where all the images are, just that I have seen them before! ] Unfortunately the pair to the design is not shown in the book.

How about this modern sukashi [hobby piece?] https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/b1061368266 Or this double, it reminds me of a few others, as single Shachi posted earlier - They have a "killer smile" https://aucview.com/yahoo/u333724112/

These shachi menuki are starting to turn up in numbers. These are fat in the front end rather than the tail end of the previous ones. I am no judge of menuki but they look particularly rough on the underside. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/275603702956

Anyone in the market for replacement Kozuka blades? With two handles, also possible Meiji or later. Reproduction at least [possibly 'retro", more than 25 years old, from their condition?] https://www.jauce.com/auction/r1077425737 Bulk buys are a real giveaway they are not genuine, but something to fill your handles with!

The Japanese have a long tradition of "Utsushi" - which at its simplest is to make an 'emulation' [not a copy]. There is usually some little difference between the 'original' and the later model though sometimes it is darn hard to find the difference. There were also a lot of copies made but these were usually meant to deceive the uninformed [ie. Europeans!]. There are numerous examples with tsuba where the 'original' design was made over and over again by either students or even different schools. I have seen Fuchi/Kashira utsushi so it is not unlikely that many other parts were likewise made with the same designs. I don't collect Kozuka [not Kazuka ] so I can't help from that aspect. https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/unai-no-tomo As for Utsushi - this is just one example of Tiger tsuba - and my book is already 220 pages of other utsushi designs including one example of 'rain dragon' where I have 98 examples each entirely the same design but each one individual in execution. [hoping to make it 100 to round it off this year!]

Some rather fat tailed menuki - sorry the images are pretty fuzzy from the auction site, [or am I still hung-over?] https://www.jauce.com/auction/d1077275847 https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/d1077275847 length 45mm width 14mm thickness 3.5mm

Has anyone else come across Mempo themed tsuba? I have seen many Kabuto ones but very few of the Mempo design. Any images would be appreciated.

What about a one eyed pirate?

What do we make of this - some Yamakichibei look to it but not signed as far as I can tell? Maybe I am just thinking of the chiselled lines on the surface and the slightly melted look?

Evan, illegitimate Yamakichibei - born on the wrong side of the bed? https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033407/ Greer Garson would never let that insinuation get past her!

Well they are not "gone" but in decline. The tail is a better match! Never trust an auction description! [especially if it is through Google translate!] They look cute as babies! https://Japanese-weasel.com/raising-Japanese-weasel/

I hope you are right Brian - I don't like the idea of otters eating anything but fish! The 'baby' or rat has a thin tail compared to the larger ones - I am not sure the tails fit with otters? I thought an otters tail tapers thinner? Tragic news - September 6, 2012 - Japan’s Ministry of the Environment officially declared the Japanese River Otter (Lutra lutra whiteleyi) extinct this week. The river otter, which had not been seen for more than 30 years, once numbered in the millions but was decimated by hunters, habitat destruction and pollution. Locals last spotted the animal in 1979 in Kochi Prefecture on Shikoku, and a single photo exists from the event. Over the years, several thorough searches for the otters in their old river playgrounds turned up nil. I could cry!!

Jeremy. No not for me - just tsuba and tsuba related things for me. No big drama they usually "unblock" their auctions. Bought from them many times but their fees are heavy so have switched to Buyee - same auctions just a different redirecting warehouse. Try this - https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/t1077175074 I find it easier to search on Jauce but the same ending code in the web address can be put in Buyee to find it there. [ /t1077175074 ] possibly works on Yahoo as well. I am not an advocate of any particular auction site but I have noticed a huge mark-up on eBay, sometimes as much as 100% on the same object compared to the Japanese auction sites. case in point- https://www.jauce.com/auction/k1075593433 https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/325467701998 Jauce BUY IT NOW price = $305.08 USD eBay same object = $713.52 USD - even with extra fees that is a Big difference!

Check these ones out. "Otters" ? Why is that Otter eating a rat? https://www.jauce.com/auction/t1077175074

We seem to have lost the kettle! https://www.jauce.com/auction/b1077134562

Larger fans in a similar design, once again the background is different and in this case only six lobes rather than eight. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/285084071372

https://www.finarte.it/auction/rare-and-fine-antique-arms-armour-and-militaria-sarzana-2022-12-16/a-tsuba-signed-yamakichibei-89485

Hi Josh, and also welcome from me. The design is a variant of the "eight fans" design [far right] - obviously only three in this case. The one you were lucky enough to find looks to have some "Gomoku-zogan" mixed in with the swirls possibly representing 'snow banks' [Gomoku Zogan is a technique in which the iron base is largely covered with fragments of fine wires (brass, copper or rarely silver) gathered in irregular groups and brazed or welded in place, the whole being finally flat polished.] I have some examples here the one in the middle has the same gomoku-zogan pattern but is otherwise plain, the first has a crepe pattern with some pine needles. I have seen various types of these guards some having only one fan others five etc. The three fan and the eight are the most common in outline but as you can see, the backgrounds can vary. Yours is, as Piers has pointed out, not particularly valuable but still worthy of a good clean and preservation, that swirl background is very distinct and unusual. You might get some preservation/cleaning help from other threads on NMB. Good luck with it https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/29984

I think you are OK with the guard, yes it is corroded but there are several signs that it has been mounted several times in the past. The design [when oriented correctly] shows two 'rain dragons' flanking both sides in "cartouche" like fields and a 'Kaneie' style background of a village at the bottom with buildings across the water with a lone fisherman in a boat at the top. [I have not seen the same design before so IMO even if it were cast it is likely a one-off] A view of the opposite side and an angled view in the cut-outs would help to better determine it's construction method.

sabi This one looks very similar to the one you posted. From an auction - https://www.jauce.com/auction/k1076997774 It looks like a combination of a few designs thrown together.

Jeremy you may well be on the right track with Suhama-gata. One of the small, top right side images in particular. Marcus Sesko's images.

Jeremy R. That little book is getting hard to find - wonder why it is hard to get if the publisher is "Print on Demand"? Lots of sites say "out of stock." one here? : - https://www.waterstones.com/book/handbook/markus-sesko/9783842364226 published in 2011 I am not sure if the same material is included in the 2014 book? :- https://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Japanese-Swords-Markus-Sesko/dp/131256315X You could try here but I don't see "Handbook" listed? https://markussesko.com/books/