Curran

$20? Newbie luck or you took a really good shot after having learned from NMB a bit. I can only back up Boris' comments about the hitsu-ana. I put on my dark glasses, grab my zato cane, and stumble around in his area of expertise, always learning something from him. The similarity to ko-mino point was a good one. Please share a photo or two of the tsuba in natural sunlight, if you ever get the chance or can photograph it near a window in what is probably still cold weather in the UK. David are you in Japan, or just about to head to Japan?

Peter- PM sent

Henk-Jan, Thank you for that. I was so starved for English when a foreign exchange student in Japan in 1989. A classmate handed me a copy of 'The Dirty Pair' in both Japanese and English. I wonder now if that was some of his work.

Even if it is a moot point, I'd like to know how he died. He added both to the Nihonto and Japanese Art / Anime world. It should be given at least a moments respect here.

I agree with Peter. Leave this one alone. Maybe a light horse hair brushing now and then, and some handling. Nothing more. Its hard to age that gracefully. Curran

I'm looking for fellow friends of Toren Smith. I haven't spoken with him in years, but Darcy contacted me. Word is the former collector and well known translator has died.

Much of it doesn't come from Japan. It comes from farms in Georgia, South Carolina, and the likes. The Japanese came in the 1980s and bought up all future production for 30+ years out.

Thank you gentlemen. I thought it might read Misumi, but wasn't able to get 'Horie' that Chris provided. I knew Misumi as minor artisan or artisans in Higo. However, I have "Horie" as 3 generations working in Tokushima prefecture. Same or different?

This should be easy, however: it isn't in Rich's Kanji Base that I can find, nor in the few tosogu books I have at present. (1) What is the correct reading of the name of this school? (2) can anyone tell me anything about them? Probably the answer will be very simple, and I'll feel dumb. ->The menuki are a bit crude, but cute. I'm curious as how they came up with the attribution.

David, Thank you. I hadn't seen that one before and went through it. I didn't see the a match to the one I suspect is a modern. Interesting "Antique" section they have. All these years and still always a new site to find.

Hi Alan, Another of our listmembers was kind enough to mail me the link. http://tsubaryuken.com/main.html ~~I received PMs from you, but they seem to be truncated to only contain my original post. PM me again if necessary.

A while back someone pointed to a website listing many of the better repro tsuba we see floating around the Japanese market. Anyone know it and able to point me at it? (Here or PM). I've lost the link to it. --> I've been recently pointed at photos of what looks like a Yagyu tsuba- looks good, but a tad off to me. --> I cannot ask for more photos. I suspect it is a very good repro, and that I will find it is one from that site. --> then again, it might be simply a mid period version of the design that I know from early period version. Or kodai...

Oh my. Congrats to you Ray. But two daughters? Time to switch to collecting shotguns. Ask Pete K or Jean for advice there.

Missed you in Tampa this year. I'd like to see that Antiques Roadshow sword some day. The Baxleys asked after you, and I let them know you probably weren't there on the basis of being a new papa (Ah-bu-ji).

Junichi, If you throw me a scan of Wakayama, I can give me 5cent opinion. Looking forward to having my books again in 1 month.

Looks quite real to me. Tengu and Whatshis name? Classic story here. Last year was reading it in the NY Met Museum of Art, but I don't recall it too well. Some people (usually martial artists into the the tengu mythology) really get into collecting these pieces with Tengu, thus rare I see one on the market that is of any quality.

Ford, Its more that I just enjoy that one work. Don't think much of his other work. Have done enough scuba diving where you go from the 2-D world on land to where suddenly 3-D is much more fluid and sometimes you find yourself looking up or down on something fearsome- and you can't respond as you would on land. Altered reality, yadda aydda, you get the idea I am sure. Stuckism- boy haven't thought on that one much in the last decade. Do remember trying to buy one or two of that guy Absolon's (sp?) stuff in wealthier days. Enjoyed most of the Spalding presentation. True to his trick, I preferred the sheep in the box to be Dolly the first cloned one. Much more interesting to me, just as would the tsuba that started this thread- if it had some historical significance that we could evidence and learn from. As is, it is basically what you said- very studiable forensically. It went through a whole lot of something, but is lacking certain signs of abuse I'd expect to go with everything else that has happened to it. Back to the silver mines...

Hazama and Kunitomo tsuba: boy what a difficult topic. Here is a posted article: http://www.nihontocraft.com/Hazama_Tsuba.html Yet even in this article there is a fair bit of what I consider mis-information. It doesn't pop up on a google search, but sahari inlay was going back at least as far as koryo celadon inlay. Sahari inlay isn't universally the same. I've owned two Hazama and 1 Kunitomoto Teiei. All NBTHK papered. Hazama sahari was of one sort rather visibly different from the Kunitomo Teiei. That of Teiei is more perfect, yet much darker. Different books say different things. Ultimately they are considered very desirable, but it is another in the eye of the beholder. The Kunitomo Teiei is a near perfect condition one with Tokubetsu Hozon papers and a decent hakogaki from big name. It is one of only a few I'd consider submitting for Juyo- yet it much more to the Japanese taste than mine. I prefer the Hazama with its flaws. The one you linked is a modern copy, and sort of screams it to me. It isn't just the inlay, but also the surface finish of the better Hazama that makes them distinct. That modern Nagatsugu signed one certainly lacks the surface finish.

Bowen-san: I thought they were allowed in the USA? I knew of one deemed okay in Georgia. David: I think you saw the Kunitomo Teiei Saku in Tampa. Close, but not the same thing. The Hazama didn't make it this year. No one except Skip wanted to buy it before it was papered. Everyone doubted it was authentic and just saw a less than perfect tsuba. Yeah, I like the new copper wave one too- but am undecided. I've got 1 vote for ko-kinko and one for early Higo. I'd like to see early Higo, but that may be wishful thinking. It is a bit small and tad crude to be early Higo, but there are some aspects that are more early Nishigaki. I just wish the carving was a tad bit deeper and more rounded. This one may go into shinsa, since yen is getting weaker.

How dare they knock a Suzuki Samurai Those were the divine winds of the 1980s, whipping around. They and the Ford Fiero "Go Grasshoppa!" were the dragonflies of that season.

At first glance, it would seem to say something about me- but I think that is a bit of significant misdirection. But I don't seem to mind it, so sure. Following what Tobias said, It simply isn't for me. It is as inorganic as inorganic gets, and looks like a hand grater if mounted, no matter where your hand goes on the tsuka. Eventually it contacts with this deathstone. I appreciate artwork like "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living" , but don't want it taking a 1/4th of our great room. I also don't want to flick on the lights at 2am on the way to the kitchen for a late night snack and hafta look at that looking back at me as if I am a late night snack. We each have our own taste, and the short version is I tend to like that with some organic Fibonacci numbers to its design, as balance to the inorganic base. My most recent pick-up is attached. It is a little crude, but I've been into wave themes recently. Not sure what it is: ko-kinko or possibly early nishigaki- but works for me/ wabi-sabi or bori-bori aside. Have a go at it the wabi-sabi and/or skill or lack of skill. I've showed it to two people before now. One loved it, and the other quite did not. As long as we're in the wabi-sabi or bori-bori end of the pool, I might as well throw on a Hazama I picked up a while ago. Only Skip Holbrook seemed to appreciate it before it got papered. Was interesting to see people's like or dislike.

I said it was forensically interesting, because despite its decrepidation- it has either had removed or simply lacks some of the signs of true neglect. Looks to me like a meteor fragment. Yet this meteorite like scholar's stone of a tsuba has minimal wabi-sabi for me. It has led a disgruntled confused life, long ago having lost its purpose or ability to function. It has aged with lack of pattern or grace, with no sense of its life as it once was and how it came to be as it is now. It has simply continued to exist, without the conviction to die. It does not serve as an object with which to contemplate the accumulation of time and redistribution of life over time, but rather something that lost its way and plods towards decay without hope- yet never quite died or was buried. It has all the positive charm of a Doskeyevsky novel. For £28, perhaps such a homeless tsuba is worth it to others to contemplate of poverty, death, and dying. I've had my full share of it from cadaver class (anatomy), scraping motorcycle victims off the road, and the bagging of young suicides who decided to blow their heads off in their parents bedroom. At a certain point such death just ceases to be interesting, and how something chooses or manages to positively live with what I will only call a subconcious sense of 'grace' (whether a genetic print or learned aesthetic) becomes infinitely more fascinating.

Dear David Dude~ That is a horrible mug shot that looks like it was taken at the police station. I've seen this tsuba in person. The photo misrepresents it, or what it looks like at a distance with a flash or poor lighting. (hence why I missed it on the table in Tampa). In person, it looks much more like an early 1500s simplified version of this: http://yamabushiantiques.com/BM%20Kai%2 ... 0Tsuba.htm I've seen your other photo work, like with the kodai-Yagyu. This one deserves that, and also some scale perspective. I look forward to when you have time for the photos that really show this Warring Period heavily lacquered piece.

I believe the shinsa was in Japan, but you can ask the guy who sent it for papers. He was the founder of this board, though it has mostly grown under Brian's guidance. Lovely tsuba. I agree with the papers. I am surprised there aren't more chops on the papers. That does make me hesitate and wonder if it was an overseas shinsa, such as in Australia. The USA fittings ones usually have 3 or 4 on them for fittings. (It seems we were all writing at the same time.)

Wow.... ditto with what Boris said. Like a pool of ferrous cat barf. ~Forensically interesting, but not something I'd go remotely near.