Curran

Washing iron tsuba is fine. Strip off the oils of years, it will look a little ugly in its naked state- but that is best. Work a place with ivory or bone depending on the perceived hardness and how thin you feel the true patina is under the rust. After a soap wash, and then working a spot of rust, wash the spot again, dry, and put some oil on it to float lingering rust- leave it as such overnight before washing again and continuing to work a spot. Just be cautious. At a certain point, LESS is certainly MORE.

For the first time in a while, I bid on tsuba from a seller on Yahoo!Japan. I've been avoiding it because there has been lots of hidden hook offerings and the good offerings are either overbid by a large audience or seem shilled by the seller. Anyway, the two I bid on both seemed to have a shill or an automated bid program going. I and the counter party got up to 50 bids, of which 9 were mine and probably 30 were his. No big loss losing out on that. But I did see this pop up: https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/d519528671 It should be mad fun.... Not sure why the seller has labelled it Nobuiye instead of Kaneiye. Grab some popcorn and watch this one.

I like it the way it is now. It has been a long time since I worked on a tsuba with ivory and bone, but it certainly teaches you about the tsuba.

Well, I hope the new owner is happy with it. I hope it isn't someone I know that ends up showing it to me later and asking what I think.

Gah... I got that one wrong. I thought the Kane was 'Hide'. Thank you for the practice and answers Moriyama-san.

Once I get out of my current muddy trench of things, I will. Currently in the thick of it, but more than 51% through the current wave of work and associated mayhem. I'm only rarely online at the moment. This is one where the Edo => 'shoami' Pre edo => 'tachi kanagushi' is financially rather discriminatory. By calling it Kanshiro, Ito-san certainly helped whomever owned this one. I agree that the particular one might be Higo or by a Higo dilettante, but the logic in his writing to attribute it to Kanshiro seemed a bit long armed stretch to me. Gotta go... stayed here too long this morning. 10 minutes late now.

Ah yes "Tachi-kanagushi". Basically = Ko-kinko for a tachi attribution. I'm more than fine with that. The Ko-Mino tsuba would be a more specific version of Tachi-kanagushi. I talked to a friend about the Yahoo!Japan one. Both of us thought it more likely Shoami than Higo (Kanshiro). The friend was excellent to scan in the translation of Ito-san's comments on it and it was atypically weak commentary. The Kanshiro book is the thinnest of his books, and I'd put it forth that this one was "filler". I kinda like it, but only because the Hikozo [see Nihonto.com ones for sale] ones are all Juyo and above my pay grade.

Vendor: well, yes, he does post some good papered items in a short supply world. and shilling seems to be fairly commonplace on Yahoo!Japan. This guy could get extra bids on a 1999 Lincoln penny and turn it into 2 or 3 cents. As to the Kanshiro: I see it as an homage piece to an older style. It isn't papered- or more likely the NBTHK papers aren't being shown and got shoved in a drawer. Current NBTHK probably papered it to something else. --- I am traveling and don't have my books available to me at the moment to look up what the attribution is on this design in Tsuba Kanshoki or other of the big books, BUT the point is the 'Kanshiro' (supposedly in Ito-san's Nishigaki book, yet I don't remember it) is an homage to the old style. If antique, I'd view yours as also an homage piece. The one on Yahoo!Japan doesn't strike me as Kanshiro, and I am 50/50 on the one in Ito-san's book being Kanshiro. While Ito-san is a scholar par none and certainly 7 leagues ahead of the current NBTHK when it comes to Higo works, I still sometimes doubt the attributions on a few pieces in his books. Conclusion: ignore the Kanshiro attribution on the Yahoo!Japan one and hit the old big books to understand what the originals were. I want to say that they were attributed as Mirror Maker tsuba, but the old attributions might simply be Ko-Kinko. Yours would be a later homage or utsushi of that style.

Echizen ju Kinai saku. --Fairly high level of confidence in that reading.

Ah yes. The Mino Taikan.... a book I shouldn't have sold. Been a while since I saw one.

Think 20th century...

And it is all relative. Currently $700k won't get you much where I live. We seem to be in another slight bubble period. We also lived in NYC during a boom time when 700k would get you 1 bedroom apartment with rats. And I remember c.1989 Japan at the top of the Golden Egg era. Toyota was selling pre-fab houses for $500,000 -$600,000. If you had the land, they'd plop down the sort of house that would have costed about $50,000 in Georgia at that time. I hate RE. Not my game.

SteveM = Thank you for humoring me. Choice B looks like a rather good fit. --Not joking--. In 3to5 years we may be hunting for such a home, though it would be more likely that we are in the Kyoto area instead of the Tokyo area. Still, Kamakura has always been tempting.

To Mark: I am work and family duty Undead until at least May 15th, but I really look forward to attending the Chicago show again. I may be nailed down this year, but I will make a point to attend in 2022. Thank you Mark for all that you do and have done. Curran

Well, one of my best attached. I almost was foolish enough to sell this one during a dry financial period.

I had wondered about that, given that Akita women were considered highly desirable for their "moon faces". I pondered whether this was an East vs West thing with shape, or whether a more direct issue about pale complexion. From a query into old postcards, I had thought it more a complexion issue alla, " white skin covers the seven flaws [iro no shiroi wa shichinan kakusu]" quote.

Excellent addition Mr. Helm. Thank you. How much for a house by the graveyard in Kamakura? I have no problem with the Dead, and we are still considering downsizing and relocating to Japan. --Mostly [herumscherzten], but about 15% serious.

Rather unique tsuba. On top of that: I don't know if I have seen a winged tiger before.

I inferred something along those lines. The theme pops up too much in Japanese art. George can probably lay down more of the meaning. With the korean gayageum, I've watched documentary that claimed a close study of the bridges was the quickest measure of the mastery of the maker. True? I dunno, I'm just a newbie watching a documentary that no longer believes ever documentary that claims samurai swords cut through gun barrels. But I guess a lot of meaning can also be taken from the issue of placement of the bridges on a koto or a gayageum. They certainly aren't set as they are on a western instrument, and finger tension on them can be placed on both sides of the bridge. Put another way, they have a lot of flexibility that master musician can use. So the 'flexibility' meaning is quite plausible to me.

Well, I haven't given it that much thought. I'm insanely overwhelmed with things on the personal front at the moment. Still, as someone who focuses mostly on Higo and Owari schools--- it isn't Owari. I can understand its radial (quad) symmetry mistakenly leading one to Owari, but many other kantei points say =Not Owari. Kodai Higo isn't a bad attribution, but my initial impression is that it isn't that either. The kogai anna and other points make me want to go off hitting the books to find a 3rd choice. Not a bad tsuba. Kodai Higo is a slightly lazy but respectable call. If I have time [doubtful, sorry... but life it that demanding right now], I suspect I can come up with a better classification.

No, not Owari. Not sure what it is, but it shouldn't be called Owari.

I wasn't even aware of this project. I thought I was strictly a Koto lover, but I fell in love with the work of a particular gendaito smith and researched the heck out of him at one point across several of the books mentioned. Remembering the pain and pleasure of that, I'd contribute to this project just out of respect for Markus' work. I don't need final product. I simply want to support the efforts of someone who has already helped my own knowledge beyond that which I think I have given in return. Moreover, I understand the NYC difficulties as close to my own heart and mind these days. Hell of a year or two. The Immortal American City seems to have broken. Markus- my respect for you is great. Your translations have greatly added to my tosogu knowledge, including a very recent deep dive into Ko-Nara and subsequent artists. Without your translations, I would have taken weeks more to learn as much as I did. Life being what it is, I don't know if I would have done it without your works. Communicate to us and let us know how we can help. CURRAN

I'd hazard a semi educated guess that it is 200 to 300 years old.

Style is Toppei, but the materials are later and a bit cruder. I am not sure what to think about it. It is something even I haven't seen before.

No worries! The last year has carved a pound of flesh out of me, but I survived worse in 2008 and 2015.... so I am glad to help when I have the physical & mental energy.