Shirogitsune

Here’s the comparison piece.

Hi Marcin,

Yes, I have that one too.  Signed Nagaharu which may or may not be an early signature of Joi (there is a comparison example in the same style in the Ashmolean collection).

I recently acquired a tsuba with a similar ura by this artist.  I’d be interested in any additional details anyone else has.  So far it seems he worked in Bushu, late Edo.

In Bengal there are tigers that haunt the shorelines and they are well known for being able to leap from the shore to a skiff fifty feet offshore.  I imagine that this is generally true for all Southeast Asia, or was true wherever they still had tigers.  But I do agree, this is the first tsuba I have seen depicting a tiger in the waves and I still hope to find a record of it in the literature somewhere.

Even when they are putatively real they are still not worth collecting.  I was looking at one in the Minneapolis show in 2016 and Bill Rannow wisely pointed out that at best they were mass produced, hardly better than Hamamono, just flashier.

And if we’re going to talk about the tsuba we pine for, then the one I want is the deer and moon tsuba by Natsuo in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, even though the moon is on the Ura.

A soft metal piece I picked up at the Minneapolis show in 2016.  The seller thought it was Mito but I believe it will eventually prove to be an Ono Kinko piece.

Another Mito piece, Moon and Crane above the waves, which I posted here a few years ago in a different discussion thread.

This Mito piece with the moon just peeking down on the rabbit in the garden is something I picked up a few years ago in lieu of being able to attend the San Francisco show.

I’ve actually put this Kaneiye tribute piece up on eBay but probably priced it out of treasure hunters’ interest range.

In both Mito and Den Kaneiye the moon is a prominent subject. I have a few.  My favorite came back from Japan via Dick Dodge through Elliott and Bob Haynes.

It’s a superb piece.  I particularly like the way in which it combines traditional Bushi and Kinko aesthetics. In a world full of dragon tsuba this one really stands out!

Thanks.  Any comparison images would be appreciated as there really aren’t enough out there.

I recently acquired a very fine tsuba from Japan signed Sekijoken Oyama Motozane.  I was wondering if anyone had seen this piece before or if it had been published anywhere.

Shirogitsune

This is absolutely devastating news.  It was only a short time ago that I was emailing Darcy congratulations on his fiftieth birthday and we were reminiscing about when he was the “kid” that most dealers didn’t yet know and were wary of showing their Juyo to.  His knowledge and taste were impeccable and his loss is irreplaceable.  I’m fortunate enough to have gotten my wife’s engagement ring stone from him and his memory will always be cherished in our hearts.

Inconceivable!

Very similar indeed.  Have you discovered any provenance on your piece?

Does anyone recognize this Tsuba? I believe I saw it in a catalog in the 1980’s. I’m trying to track down provenance on the piece, which I believe to be first half of Edo period, Mito School.  (It posted twice without pictures because I lost my connection.  I finally had to pull out my computer and stop trying to post from my phone).

So far I haven’t been able to get a good photo of the silver residue. Finding this is a trick I learned from Skip Holbrook and Steve Strauch. Sometimes you need a jeweler’s loupe or a magnifying glass. In this case it is very visible on the plate all around the kozuka ana of you hold the tsuba at a 20-30 degree angle. It’s just a very thin film which makes me think it was just some part of the finishing process and not an actual decoration ever meant to be seen. The silver on Andy’s Kaga Nobuiye is a solid thick coating.

Hi All,

I was the winning bidder here. It’s actually quite a nice little piece. My sense is Kaga Nobuiye.

If you follow Ford Hallam’s argument that the “yakite shitate” process is one of effect and

absolutely NOT done through heating (sensible because iron does not have a molecular

composition like wax and doesn’t behave like wax as it nears a phase transition (any of you

ever observe wax sparks?), then my best guess is that the “molten” look is the process of

some kind of complex acid etching process. I feel that this is Kaga work, based on what remains

of the mei and on the size, density and substantial presence of silver residue which appears to be

left over after (you guessed it) an acid etching process. Here’s the link toAndy Quirt’s Kaga example:

http://www.nihonto.us/NOBUIYE%20TSUBA.htm

Attached are some additional photos. It’s not easy to catch the faint silver residue.

Cheers,

Phil

Does anyone remember seeing this actual Tsuba? I seem to remember seeing it on a catalog or at an exhibition. Trying to narrow down the provenance.

Thanks,

Phil

Hi Ford and all,

I believe this is an Otsuki school tsuba. Has anyone seen a reference image or an image published in a book? Opinions please.

Hi Barry,

I also read it as "Nobuiye" and think that it's consistent with the later revival pieces. I have had and traded a number of these. They are sometimes not sufficiently valued in the West (there's an unsigned one on eBay now for $150). I have another interesting Kaneie style piece which I will put up later in the week, seems to be Aizu Shoami. And I do still own the Ko-Uda, it's with David being mounted as a Dai-Sho with a similarly early chisagatana as the sho.

Hi All,

Yes, some idiot appears to have punched a face on the moon.  Probably a GI who had it before it went back to Japan.  Nobody who put the effort necessary to do the super-fine inlays would have done anything as gauche as punch a face on the moon.  What I was curious about was first, whether the reference example was also a Saga piece, and then if there are any original   Kaneie pieces in this particular shape.  I'm also a bit puzzled by the mixed metal inlay, which is reminiscent of Nara or Mito.  It seems that it might have been better to do everything but the moon in iron.  It's also quite a bit thinner at the nakago ana, getting wider by almost 100% at the mimi, something I haven't seen in Saga Kaneie before.  It's certainly a Kaneie design but in many respects it resembles mid-Edo mito work.

Cheers,

Phil