Curran

ditto.

Some big cat experience from my youth too. Not hands on as much as ~crazy (& wealthy guy) who created a small game preserve in Georgia~ and tried to share a bit with local youth. He had something to do with the invention or sale of tranquilizer guns in the USA. He gained local fame after getting into an argument with someone in the parking lot of a Home Depot. Shot the jerk in the leg with a tranquilizer gun he had in his truck. Local cops knew him well and regretted having to arrest him, as he was clearly in the right and at least hadn't used a real gun. Long distant memory now. Big cats in Georgia were quite the oddity. Infinitely more interesting than say the monkey preserve in Atlanta that Emory University and the CDC maintains for research purposes. Big cats are so different from other creatures. Personal memory aside: The problem with tigers is that the Japanese seem to place a small premium on fittings with them, with some themes and artists (tiger in rain looking up> commands a bigger multiple). So just take this with a grain of salt and be not surprised. Though they come up in Buddhist themes now and then, you won't see as many tiger themed tsuba as you would expect. You see a decent one you like, be willing to pay up for it a bit and grab it.

Ron, Yes, I'd noted in Haynes how the Kao of several Yoshiharu didn't seem that different to me. Mizukage was, is, and always will be a difficult topic. Sometimes the mizukage is hard and obvious and the jigane shows all the signs of retemper. Very rarely you get a straight edge mizukage right up and over the mune, and yet it seems to have had no impact on temper.... leaving one to wonder if it was one of the smiths where it is a trait in their forging. Then there are those with questionable partial 'mizukage' where many non-Japanese and significant number of Japanese argue it was a retemper. One list member here had a Bizen that Cary Condell and others swore was a retemper. I remember looking at the jigane and thinking, "hmm, the jigane is exactly as I would expect for (that particular smith)". The blade NBTHK papered (Toku Hozon?) easily, and I regret not having purchased it. I've seen quite a barrelful of these partial 'mizukage' over the years, and most I remember have gone on to paper. Not all. Discussion of it brings out quite a heated debate, with both sides rather stubborn about their opinions.

Jeff, Isn't that they are bad as much of the stuff on ebay and elsewhere now. They just are not good either. Claws carved with some Somen derivative notes, but the tigers themselves not very well done. Nanako isn't particularly clean, deep, or well done. Shakudo is a half decent color. Rock and leave renderings are typical stylistically of several small late Edo school. Sort of a hodgepodge work to my eyes.

Moriyama-san, Interesting. I am not very good with dates. He is listed in Haynes as working in Kishu, so I would have translated it that way. Ron, If okay, I will save down an image of the example you provided for the other Yoshiharu (different Haru). Nice to see an example with the Kao.

Ah.... That 'Haru'.... not as part of a name. Thank you for the translation. I should have undertsood this is Meiji period work. So... "Meiji" "Kii (shu?)" ~I have seen it written like this before on another tsuba of a Goto artist moved to Kiishu. "Early Spring" "made this" Most Kiishu work seems very unsophisticated, but several artisans existed there in the last few years of Edo and produced some decent work. In the Haynes Index: this Yoshiharu is barely recognized and a slightly different kao is given, but it is the same artist.

Sorry David. My copy is an old and abused one, but one you must wait to buy from my heirs when I pass from this mortal coil. It is possible I give up Nihonto before I die, but I hope that I do not live so long that I lose this interest.

Translation practice and also an example of what we debated as a fox, squirrel, or other (looks a squirrel here posed with the reaching monkey): http://page18.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/w75309512 Front: Yoshiharu ? Back: Shoharu, Soharu, Motoharu? I am finding neither in the Haynes Index, which is surprising.... but possible for a very late Edo tsuba. However, the skill level is such that I think I am just not reading these correctly. Correct read? Haynes Reference? I save pictures of tsuba like this one with the Haynes reference. Maybe some day we as a community generate a Haynes Index database with a catalog of reference tsuba as examples (good project for my retirement, as the Haynes Index was for Haynes-san in his retirement).

Yes and yes in support of Christian and David's post. I prefer Owari To Mikawa No Tanko by Sugawara to the German publication "Ausgewählte Japanische Kunstschwerter" But the book is very hard to find these days. It will be one of the last books I ever sell, and it has an excellent section on Norisuke (personal favorite) that I think is better than the Nagoya NBTHK book specifically on Norisuke.

Your trip is much envied. I appreciate it 10x over for your documentation and sharing. I may follow in your footsteps next year, though not sure if to beg Piers hospitality or make my way with my own limited Japanese.

Yep... Absolutely interesting to me. Thanks for posting that Eric. I'm hell on my platinum wedding band, so switched to a simple stainless steel one that holds up better. Yet the functional steel it is plain jane. I enjoyed the meteorite rings and wonder how they'd hold up to the abuse I put on rings. I also loved their comment about magnets and the meteor ring. I admit it was fun to watch the post docs (PhDs) to turn on one of the big old MRI machines back in 1992-1993 and see things react in the clean room. Watches and rings.... bang zip right across the room.

Interesting thread revived by Ken. @ Eric, have any pictures of the ring?

F-ugly one that you linked to in Japan. However, as regards Nishigaki tsuba, the kozuka or kogai opening can be and often is worked into the design. Attached is an image of a Nishigaki Kampei. Please notice the kogai ana is partially shaped by the flower on the river. Kampei was the slightly younger brother of the Nidai Nishigaki "Kanshiro". He and is brother worked together for many years and only died a few years apart. His work is usually signed on the back, whereas his brother's work is rarely signed.

Clive, I do not know much about Bakumatsu horimono, as my horimono interest has always been in much earlier blades. In 2000 or so, I purchased the Horimono Taikan book from CHris Bowen. It is an excellent book that I do not have here at this office apartment- too large, so it is back at the house in Florida. The book is extensive and can be incredibly detailed on some subjects. If you have access to this book, it might have some rewarding information regarding Bakumatsu horimono. I purchased a sword a few years later and looked up the horimono in the book. It turned out to be one of the 4 examples in the book of that particular dedication. Excellent resource.

Ono, or close. Not Hoan.

now that is just evil. ~Dr. Evil looks over the control panel to determine which chair you are in and to find the right button.

Chris, If I find another example of the Porcini tsuba, you will laugh. I am sure they are meant to be another type of mushroom, but the design looks like an Italian contadini's dream. Marius, To see it as a squirrel makes more sense, but I have seen too many very old paintings where the rendering of a 'fox' looks too much like a squirrel. I don't have an answer. Maybe Ford is right and "Occam's Razor" = it is a squirrel. But BaZZa <-> Robert Haynes are right about confusion with this possibly being a fox or even a nine-tailed fox. I don't have the answer. I don't know enough Japanese mythology or legends to understand it. Hence why I call for Guido or someone like Morita-san to give an opinion. The only other thing to note is that the animal or 9 tailed fox is over water. Maybe this is just the design, or maybe it refers to a legend. Per the 9 tailed fox wikipedia reference; "In 1113, a samurai called Sakabe Yukitsuna (坂部行綱) with no children picked up an abandoned baby girl Mizukume (藻女, girl of algae) which was actually the nine-tailed fox transformed, and raised her for 17 years. At the age of 18 she changed her name to Tamamo-no-Mae". Girl of algae? Was she plucked from the sea like sea-weed? Or from the sea shore? Does this design refer to this? Or maybe it is just a tsuba design of a squirrel on the sea.

Squirrel was my first thought, but I came to question it. Are squirrels indigenous to Japan or were they introduced later, like corn and many other things? Though it looks like a squirrel to my eyes, I have seen earlier rendering of foxes in Korean paintings and earlier Japanese metalwork that look more like Squirrels. The Korean Gumio (Gumiho, or 9 tailed fox) often looks like a friggin squirrel to my eyes. I don't know if the Japanese also have the Gumio / Gumiho in their mythology? Guido or any other Japan guru know?

The first two I think are by the same hand. Different though. Waves are longer on one than on other. Some other differences. I don't think cast. The third is rather different. Wave crests positive out of the plate rather than into it. Also, some much more different waves. It is difficult to tell how similar the fox is on each. I see differences, but am not sure they are simply not wear on the fox. Having seen 'fox' menuki on a few occasions, I too believe this may be a fox. Is the fox inset onto or into the plate, or is it carved as part of the plate? ___________________________________ The fox being a messenger of Inari, is it too far a logic jump to wonder if these tsuba might denote messengers or messenger status? See this on the man's hip, and know right away his role / status. That is just a thought question.

Christian, There is the old old_old saying that things "happen in 3s". To my surprise, this also happens with tsuba. Maybe Mariuszk never sees another of these? He has pulled off a "hat trick" (3 goals in one game). I will continue looking for my particular Ono mushroom design tsuba. I call it the Porcini tsuba.

Late Edo tsuba: three relatively matching, is not uncommon. Three near matching 'ko-kinko'... very rare. ______________________________________________________________________ My experience over the years is that I see a design I like and see a near twin maybe a few months later. I decide that I like it and will buy the next one I see. Then I never see another.... There is an Ono tsuba design of mushrooms.... I saw 3 in 8 months. I tried to grab the 3rd one, but someone bought it before me. I am waiting 4 or 5 years to see another of these. Also, the same with a certain ko-akasaka design. Years ago saw one on a website, another at a show, and a third in a book. Never seen another.... tried to buy the one at the show...but it was expensive and by the time I came back with the cash... it was gone.

Thank you. Finer grain than most american oak I know, beautiful color with age, light weight (at least on the kake) and strong. Interesting.

Partial non sequitor here: what is the wood used in this gun stock? The sword kake I have is dated and location of manufacture on the bottom to 1753. The wood grain and color looks near identical to this gun stock.

Ease up guys.

It is a very traditional bonji. It is one of the first carved, and probably will be one of the last carved when the last Japanese sword is made some day in the distant future.