Curran

Dear Reinhard, I do not understand your point. Please explain more. The Hirotoshi tsuba of the cranes looks to be gimei. Did you intend to illustrate this? I have attached a tsuba by Hirotoshi (aka. Hironaga). Sorry that the image is highly reflective, so it looks poor. It was papered by NBTHK to the founder of the Uchikoshi (sp?) school.

An individual not near any sword clubs has sent me some photos of a sword that appears to be a WW2 made blade. Blade is signed Bishu ju Masatsune. A clean signature. I know very little about the WW2 smiths and don't have the Slough book. Anyone familiar with this smith or can point me to more information?

Very nice. Thank you for sharing.

A quick picture added. Apology for the self reflection in the glass, as it muddles the image a bit.

Thanks to all of you for this considerable help. This has been the 'mystery' painting in our house for years now. I have never been able to read the signature. I am much more comfortable with western painting history and technique. My wife and I both appreciate Japanisme / Art Nouveau and the echoes of its influence in places like Glasgow and the USA. We also see many works where Japanese artist studied in Europe or european modes. I think this painting is from 1870 to 1910? I am much more comfortable dating canvas and frames than I am silk. Checking the back of the frame, the wood, and the tooling of some of the fasteners, I think the frame is closer to 100 years old. The painting has been with the frame a long time. The glass is very old with micro bubbling. There are elements about the frame that make me wonder if it was not made by a turn of century furniture maker. The silk shows fine age, and could be considerably older- ....... but the painting style has some european rendering tricks such as the birds slight head turn relative to the flowers and the brushstroke pattern in the way that some of the flower buds are rendered. I have been wrong before, thinking something of nature theme shows European influence- only to find it predates most european influence. But it is a bit strong in this painting. The full scale painting is understated, but very good to excellent. Given its size, I wonder if it was not a screen panel? The dark wood drame works, but a heavy mantle for the painting. The painting seems too large for a scroll. It is likely the artist is minor or unknown. The brushwork is exception and layout is very well rendered, but there were wave after wave of exceptional art and artists during those years. Okada Oson or another late 1800s artist is more likely. Thank you again. It feels great to finally make progress with this painting. Best wishes, Curran

Moriyama-san, Thank you for posting those links. There were many interesting ones in there, and I find some of the style rendering elements interesting. My primary hobby or interest is painting, though I know little of Japanese schools and next to nothing about Japanese prints. I would like to ask a favor for help with a painting that I believe is Japanese. It was purchased from Denmark a number of years ago. It is on silk and framed. Frame age is 75 to 100 years old and been with the painting for a considerable amount of time, so the painting is no younger than that. The painting is on silk and the size is 60 cm wide by 130 cm tall. Design is vine and flowers with a sparrow in the center. Silk is old, but the rendering is somewhat of western perspective, so I have always thought the painting dates from 1850 to 1900. I enjoy this painting, but I know nothing about its age or the painter. I have tried before in other forums to learn more, but never gotten response. I can provide more pictures. I deeply appreciate any help or direction to individuals that can help me identify this painting or to learn more about the artist. Curran Campbell

Auction is over now, so those with the courage and energy to stick their necks out please feel free to speak: I choose to disagree. Think it a nice fake. Too many odd things about the signature. Filing looks a bit off. Hada looks a bit off. Stamp is a bit different in the detail from the reference ones I have for Sadakazu. Wish the best to the new owner. The seller only guaranteed it to be Japanese, which it is. No legit reasons to cancel this auction, so we shouldn't see it again? Why is it worth 10k(?) when I can buy the NBTHK papered one with koshirae and a nice gold mon habaki from a decent dealer for $7500. Counterarguement: horimono and dated would add value. Still, I don't seen is worth 10k. It is a nice looking nihonto fish knife. If legit, it is perhaps a small bargain- but I'd much rather have Jacques example.

Jacques, Thank you for the photo. Beautiful. I have looked at a few more examples recently. I agree with your opinion.

Price at the time was sub $700. I initially thought this was legit, but had a few concerns. The more I have studied it, the more I have doubts. I checked with someone smarter than me, and they also have serious doubts. It may be legit and a nice Gassan tanto is on my wish list of things I'd like to own, but I will leave this to the gamblers out there. As I've joked before- my day job is as a professional gambler of sorts. When my hobbies feel too much like work, I'm not interested. Some people have had great finds on eBay, including at least one or two that have supposedly gone Juyo. I'll keep to my nice fittings collection. If someone wants to trade a nice papered Sadakazu or Sadakatsu tanto for a fittings+cash- I'm open to negotiation. Curran

On consignment and with No Papers. There is something about the cutting of the signature that bothers me, and also an issue with the stamp being close but different to few references I have. Still, the smith had a long career. Needs further study. I've dealt with the seller twice before. Both times item was nice but with some damage. Still, price was fair both times. Both had a return policy, though this tanto seems to only have a return policy if not Japanese. As Mark said, at the current price it is worth it even if gimei. Beyond that it is a gamble. Curran

Thank you. I haven't learned much about Mon to date. Work has been seriously cutting into Nihonto time, so not sure this will be the Christmas season I put a Mon book into my own stocking. Many of the late Edo kinko seem to have multiple mon mixed and matched on them.

Dear John, Thanks for the post of the Mon book. Should pick it up. You posted the one page with Mon similar to Johannes. I cannot see the kanji of the specific mon. Attached is an image of a mon tsuba by Isso (NBTHK Hozon, student of Ichijo). Can you identify the one mon that is similar to Johannes? I've tried web search before, but did not get a good answer for that mon. Best regards,

I noticed a friend in the UK with a good collection has posted a nice tsuba signed "Yasuchika" to eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/Japanese-Sword-Shib ... dZViewItem Interesting topic of a monkey trainer. I'd heard this is an anti-shogunal sub-reference. Anyone able to share more info on that topic? Curran

Been away for awhile. Now finally back at home, after a few months. Tsuba D- Peter is right (he usually is, I just get to nod in agreement). Similar tsuba on Aoi Arts, right down to the mon. Tsuba E- Not having the wisdom of others to admit they don't know, I'll open my mouth and guess that this is some sort of Umetada 'inspired' later work. I have seen this sort of design before, usually as base work for someone claiming to be student of the Umetada school or such. Tsuba F- Ok... I don't know. I'd swear I'd seen this tsuba before in an old auction catalog or elsewhere. Interesting female monkey and gourd. Need to think and research this one, as I get my little library of books out of storage soon. C.C.C.

Waves happen... I had not seen many of these for a while, then seen 3 signed ones in the past 3 months. It happens.

Doctor, *VERY* Quick impressions- (A) Shoami Subschool- One of the better ones. (B) Shoami © Shoami or Hayashi- I've always liked the © tsuba design. I've seen two that I would call Hayashi. The others I would say mostly lean towards Higo work, but they sometimes come out of the NBTHK with Shoami papers. I've seen a few where I agree with more of a Shoami call, but seen one where I think the NBTHK made a wrong call. Aoi arts had one of these tsuba up recently. I own one w/ old lacquer on it. Yours has got some interesting mon in it. Attached should be an image from one of my books.

Having reached far and wide across the world for information on this one: One scholar says, "paper notation is Mitsuyoshi Ji ( temple). I believe it is the main decoration, or theme on the inlaid. I understand it is a shakudo ground tsuba. The NBTHK cannot be sure of the maker, or school in this case". A gentleman from Japan says, "I can't say exactly it is Kozenji or not. But I think that from the photo is like Kozenji. But I need to see it.". I'd rather believe it is "Kozenji" than that the NBTHK said "We don't know, here is Toku Hozon papers". This was also Moriyama-san and Rich Turner's recommended reading. I am hoping the Japanese gentleman will explain further. I have the highest respect for his knowledge, but communication with him can be very sporadic. Anyone know what or who is "Kozenji"? Open those books. Help the kid!

Brian, Milt, Robert, etc.- I remember the Benson article in Bushido article. Good photos. Yes, done in layers and then removed. The real stuff does command higher prices. Someone had a nice set at the Tampa show a year or two ago. The tsuba looks as Milt said- lower end dock work. Doesn't make sense. Someone mis-match a set of fittings? A sword coming out of a Christies NYC auction a few years ago had a fuchi / kashira like this, but none of the other fittings matched. Had a Goto kogai shoved in a slot too small for it. Kogai anf f/k were worth a fair bit more than the sword. Brian's little blurb contained more information than I know off the top of my head. Like Trickie, I prefer the old iron though occassionally seduced by kinko now and then. Robert- congrats.

Dear Peter, I have often revisited the logic of my choice of a hobby where I am at a great disadvantage by my western mindset and lack of avenues to learn the language better. Chalk it up to artistic passion over logic. Wish I had lived in Japan for more than a few months, or been able to visit the girlfriend (now wife) more when she was working in Tokyo. I am not sure about the Ft. Lauderdale side of FL, but on our coast there are simply no people resources for Japanese language. Back to the tsuba: No one has any ideas? I'm still inclined to think that it is simply my lack of Japanese and reference materials at the moment, but the sloppiness of the NBTHK in the past few years continues to be concerning. I Toku Hozoned another signed tsuba that I intended for Juyo shinsa. It came back after 7 months, having missed Juyo shinsa due to NBTHK backlog. There is a fair sized bit of silvery tin foil or other mystery shiny something photographed on top of the black shakudo tsuba in the photo of the tsuba.

Dear Peter, I think you to be very correct in this. Given that it is unsigned, I would expect a school attribution. But still I have no clue. As you can well imagine, I am thinking of a certain Owari book or two in my little nihonto library. I suspect the answer is there or nearby. I was hoping Mr. Moriyama or another collector would rescue me from my poor Japanese reading skills. This summer I looked into further Japanese classes (it has been a long time), only to find the local Japanese school has closed. _________________________________________________________ It is driving me a bit crazy that I cannot figure this one out!

Moriyama-san, I only have the Haynes Index and Wakayama with me. I confess I also tried Kozenji earlier. If this is a correct reading, then it is an omission from Haynes Index. The workmanship on this tsuba is very good, so I find it difficult to believe it is unrecognized by Haynes Index or Wakayama. I wonder if 'kozenji' is NBTHK code for "mystery tsuba".

Dear Rich, Still away from home, but I do have access to a copy of Haynes Index. Thank you for the pointer clues. I gave those a try and then put together other various readings. I cycled through the following variations: koyoshi, kozen, kotaru, kosa, mitsuyoshi, mitsuzen, mitsutaru, mitsusa, teruyoshi, teruzen, terutaru, terusa, hiroyoshi, hirozen, hirotaru, hirosa, akiyoshi, akizen, akitaru, akisa, ariyoshi, arizen, aritaru, arisa, kaneyoshi, kanezen, kanetaru, kanesa, yoshiji, yoshitera, zenji, zentera, taruji, tarutera, saji, satera. No real hits in Haynes that make sense. It must be something simple. My Japanese needs to be better. If anyone has a clue on this, I would appreciate the help.

List- I have been trying to make sense of some NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon papers I have seen recently. Please see photo- At first glance it would seem to be Mitsu Yoshi ? *** It is unsigned ***. It does not seem to be a match for the relatively unknown Mitsuyoshi listed in Haynes and not the correct 'Yoshi' for the alternative reading of 'Shinjo' (15th Generation Goto Master). So I am scratching my head a bit. It is also quite likely I'm being dense and just missing the obvious. All help much appreciated.

Milt, The boat design has popped up before as Yagyu, I guess largely because of the construction. This design is mostly a standard Namban design. It pops up in Shoami too. I think yours is a Shoami example.

Henry, It works to different degrees on iron tsuba. Yes, do not do with tsuba with shakudo plugs, etc. The sekigane will rub to some degree, and most will repatinate. It does work very well, but be very selective which tsubas this helps. Then it takes weeks to months in Levi 501 and being careful never to put anything else in the pocket. But sometimes it works wonders. Just remind the wife to not pat your iron derriere with her rings on. Clunk clunk.