Curran

"Tsuba" can mean [hand guard] or [spit] depending upon the kanji used. If not used in context, Japanese that hear you using the word tsuba probably think you mean [spit]. In that regards, a "tsubaologist", might mean an expert in the art or science of spitting. So, with a snort and a hock of a loogie, bring on the tsubaologists. Just be sure to avoid the line of fire.

*sigh* Yahoo!Japan is a shillfest these days.

They are fine. Dependable for a steady stream of fairly priced items. Having been on the other side of the equation, having listened to my fellow USA citizens sound impossibly rude in another language... stomping all over any sense of decorum... AND this was in Europe- give them a pass for their bluntness in English. After many years studying Japanese, I am still embarrassed by how (intermediate at best) is my communication level. That East-West divide is particularly tough with Japanese. Even Korean feels like a walk in the park vs trying to really communicate in Japanese.

Kubikiri ? http://www.shoubudou.co.jp/products/detail.php?product_id=216 花押 ---> A hananata. Flower cutter / chopper. My wife uses a smaller one of these. Kept wicked sharp. She doesn't want me to shave with a straight edge razor, but she flings here hananata around quick enough that she could cut the testicles off a gnat while it is mid-air.

Most likely that it was added later.

Thank you Mark and Raymond for handling these inquiries with the depth and honesty that you do. The amount of information you and others provide might be hard for outsiders to grok. Significant background knowledge required in this particular corner of the art world, most often given for free simply to help.

Yes, it was an interesting one with very clean asayugi hada. Very rare I would try and buy something like it, but it was too interesting to me.

Oh yes: The theme: 12 Kens, right? The magical #12 for the Buddhists. Theme comes up as the "12 Generals" or the "12 Stars" or the "12 Swords". I will have go go digging in my notes. I ran into the explanation within the last year, thanks to a dealer's website in Japan.

The one you bought from Steve is probably mid Hoan. Maybe kodai Hoan. I thought about buying it. Very good bargain compared the last two of that design that I saw. --I had to slap my hand away, and only bought one of Steve's listings. There is another very wallet friendly Higo Kamiyoshi up that someone should do me the favor and buy. I'm really trying to save up for something and have to pass up a loud (maybe not screaming, but loud) bargain.

Start with several books. See the list Marius gave, --> or a more economical start would be the Translation of TOrigoye by Bob Haynes. It is printed n sold by the Northern Carifornia Sword Club and incredible bang for the buck. Text heavy and light on pictures, but you will use it for years. Also, Markus Sesko's translations of TOSOGU CLASSROOM #1 and #2. Worth every penny to me.

An interesting one for the books: https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/k1064432519 Full disclosure- I bid on this one. The seller pulled the auction, and seems to like to do it. Sometime of these dealers seem nuttier than squirrel poop. Anyway, a Sadaichi (or Sadakazu #2 if you want to read the second kanji that way). Nice gendaito.

Shaaaa.. Here, a shotgun reply and the cops understand. Especially in Kennesaw.

That is a very good list. After selling off our old house and many of the possessions in it, I also sold down many of my Nihonto books. Your list above is a list of many I chose to keep and enjoy. Some like the one you pictured are full of best examples, for a sub $100 pricetag. I pop that one open at least once a month.

I was going to say, those Florida Token Kai represent a LOT of good reading from the NBTHK and other sources. Lots of value for $50. I'd been re-reading my set recently.

HI Steve- Email sent. Curran

As Jean said, my opinion is that most are Nata romanticized as kubikiri. As Reid said, cutting of a head isn't like cutting through SPAM. It is a lot harder than it looks. Sometimes you make a muck of it catching a bone wrong. Knackering a pig or cow can be done with a fairly modest knife. Personally, I would prefer a non forward curved blade. --- Wife was taught to use a small similar knife in florist and ikebana studies, usually reversed in a way that was more of a pulling action and required only slight forward hook with the blade slightly larger near the tip than from where the pulling action starts low on the blade.

Kamakura-bori style tsuba have little to do with the Kamakura period. The "wood carving style of the Kamakura period" tsubas do not => tsubas from Kamakura period. Careful with that. RKG's tsuba is actual Kamakura<->Nambokuchu.

Just for you: https://www.samuraishokai.jp/sword/22309.html Like the blade. Hate the koshirae.

Very hard to get Ko-Mino papers these days. I'd dare say they are more rare than Ko-Goto. Nice.

Great reply by BaZZa, and great older thread by Steve W.

https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/q1060519593 You'd have to knock out the kozuka plug. Love that kozuka.

Last comment: For Onin vs Heianjo, I relied heavily upon the Torigoye + Haynes Translation that is a brilliant bargain buy from the Northern California Sword Society. Google it and publications they have available. Peter Bleeds comment reminded me that I believe Torigoye or another scholar talked significantly about the "brass" (there being more than one type, so I am using a catch all word). My eye can see a shift in some of the stuff that is generally attributed around 1550 Late Muromachi, but for me it is something I personally find unreliable. I look more at other aspects.

I've never much worked metal in any fashion. This is really more of a question for Ford or Markus Chambers. What little I know is from my mother's years as a bench jeweler with a small lab in the house. That doesn't hold a candle to their many many years of experience. This is to say that I think my own opinions are largely derived from that which I have read in various books + just the basics of bench jeweler knowledge. I see in #1 that which I interpret as being constructed one way. In #3, I see it differently in a way which I interpret as how I have read Heianjo to be constructed. To my eyes, it has to do with the edges of the inlay and the way the iron around it is worked. If I go any deeper than that, I'm going to get tripped up in terminology that I will probably use incorrectly. Then Ford will tell me I am all wrong. Just in recent years have I gotten good at saying what is "Onin" vs "Heianjo" before I see the NBTHK papers. It is still an area where I take my own opinion with a pinch of salt (phrase I used recently in the Saotome thread). In terms of metal movement, I don't have the terminology. I only can

I tried to form my opinions before looking at what you wrote: [1] The first one, I would have said "Onin" partially because the mon (circle with 2 or 3 lines). Also the iron looks slightly better to me. The "brass" looks extensively hammered in and carved from there. In my head, "Onin" [2]The second one, honestly... I wasn't sure. It has some of the Onin worked feel to the inlay, but some pieces look pre-cut. That would have been a tough one for me, and I suspect a papering organization would just go to the more cautious Heinajo attribution? [3] I can see what I believe to be pre-cut to the "brass", pieced together and done up not too different from the way you do a stained glass window. Yet it has a large amount of inlay. In some ways, it looks like more work than the Onin tsuba. Still, I'd go Heianjo on it. I admit to thinking it a very pretty example. While the price difference between Onin and Heianjo can be fairly large, sometimes the Heianjo ones are just as pretty or prettier. I semi-admitted I had one that was published in three books. Two books said Onin, but one by a very respected authority said Heianjo.

I don't think the website is his. As happens with the grapevine, Mr. Haynes' opinions might get scaled up or blown out of proportion from time to time. I know I have been guilty of taking something Torigoye-san wrote and interpreting it in grander fashion than he intended. That is a mistake we younger students make. Remember to take things with a pinch of salt. Probably that saying is the same in Australia as here in SE part of USA.