Curran

Ayasugi hada is fairly common in the Sa school, though different in appearance to my eyes than Gassan ayasugi. Bill Miller with his many fine Sa school blades empirically taught me this last Fall as I looked at several of his blades with his assistance. Very kind of him and a good lesson I will not soon forget. The signature is more likely to be added than authentic, but at least the workmanship is in the right ballpark- I think. Take my opinion with a grain of salt, as fittings are more my wheelhouse.

Steve is that good, and it is somewhat of a common signature from a certain school.

Nicely done Kyle. I learned a bit from that. I've several times encountered noteworthy Umetada Shigeyoshi tsuba and filed it away to eventually explore the name some day. I figured there were at least 2 or 3, but didn't know there were that many.

@Brian A good Akasaka, in one of the mid generations. This is a design they did in several versions, and I owned one long ago. How thick is it? Not able to see 3 layer construction inside the sukashi?

Wow. Nice one. I sincerely wanted to make Chicago this year. At a show there will always be 1 or 2 that I buy. It has been so long. Work got immensely in the way.

He seems to shill a bit too. I like his stuff, I don't know if I have ever successfully bought from him. I think it has reached the point where I hesitate to even bother bidding on any of his listings. EDIT: Cr@p. I didn't realize the auction was still live.

Omori work + a daisho of two tsuba I haven't looked up the name. Throw in some shills by the seller, or two guys dueling for it, and I can see it getting there fairly easy. These would look great mounted.

This one is a trap. It is 'Den Nobuiye' for reasons of saving face. Being mumei BUT in the classic book as Nobuiye, you cannot call the famous scholar out as wrong- but it is not regarded as a Nobuiye these days. It sold off a dealer's website at 1,000,000 yen and somebody realized their mistake then sold it for 750,000 or so yen. Whomever bought it is now looking for a new sucker. The whole Den thing is a pain. The current NBTHK is doing it much much more than in past decades. * 1/3rd of the time it means the tsuba is [better] than what we are calling it, but we aren't confident enough to stick our necks out. (if TH, this is probably what you are dealing with....with exceptions if a very big name) ** 2/3rds of the time it means something else. Sometimes simply uncertainty between two schools, or just one very cranky dissenting judge that day. I had a tsuba that one famous scholar said was nidai Hayashi Shigemitsu (hakogaki) and another famous scholar said was nidai Kanshiro (published). When it came up for sale, the current NBTHK had just papered it 'Den Kanshiro' to split the difference. --The Den Nobuiye is the rare example of the worst kind, being a political smudge to save face. Sort of a hot potato. The name is so big that they almost have to give it TH. Now someone is looking to at least their triple their money off of the debatable 'den' usage.

All the Tsuba Sold. Higo sword-saya tosogo also sold. The Higo fuchi - kashira is still available for now.

Correct. I was never sure whether it was later Nishigaki or maybe a Tosa Myochin homage. The iron was very nice.

Tsuba #1, #2, #4 and the iron Higo fittings are all SOLD or ON HOLD to people I know and trust. Available: I. The kinko Higo f/k is off HOLD. II. Tsuba #3 (Hosokawa Mon kodai Hayashi tsuba that reminds many of a rotary phone dial) Curran

No. The museums should have taken better care of theirs. Yours is quite lovely. The best of the 3.

That looks a very good beginning. It certainly beats the snot out of my first sword.

--Higo fuchi kashira on Hold, but I haven't heard back in a while.-- If not, I will release them tomorrow and follow up with inquires.

Thanks Kyle. I took the morning off and have to get back to one or two people now. It has been a while since I listed anything. It is always interesting listing items. Consistently the item I think people would jump on first seems to be the last to go.

Adding an early large kinko Higo fuchi-kashira to the offerings. Higo Fuchi Kashira #5 This is a large set of kinko Higo Fuchi Kashira. It is early: late momoyama or very early Higo. As is typical with some of the early sets, it is a mis-matched set. The kashira is shibuichi and I feel strongly that it is of the Higo Hirata school. The fuchi is large made for a big sword and is made of some sort of brass or brass mix. The construction is unusually thin. A chance it is ko-kinko work. Comes with a box as pictured. $475 same as before: 5% discount if buying two. 10% discount if you buy all three.

#2 and #4 on hold pending payment this evening.

Tsuba #4: This is a good large one, I think around 8cm. I intended it for a koshirae project for one of my swords, but gave up the project during the Pandemic and have since sold the sword. The Nishigaki f/k, kogai, kojiri, and other parts are available to anyone seriously interested. The kogai is NTHK papered circa 2004. Attached is an image of the tsuba next to a shodai Kanshiro in the book. Is the tsuba Kanshiro? Shaaaa. If it were, it be much much more. --No. I think it either later Nishigaki (Higo) or possibly a very good Tosa Myochin. $295 This is a *very* good tsuba, but there is a hairline fracture in part of the sukashi. Look for it. I never saw it until someone showed me, and it doesn't bother me. Still, it is there and priced accordingly.

Tsuba #3 This one is a 5th gen Hayashi. Strong opinion on that. It is photographed with the 3rd gen example from Ito-san's book. His iron tends to be a bit more sandy and the patina more black than the first 3 generations. $275 I'm pricing these "to move" for what I think they are. This would be a good one for mounting.

Tsuba #2 This is one of the sakura tsuba for which the Hayashi and Kamiyoshi lines of Higo smiths are known. My gut feeling is that it is Kamiyoshi, though it could be 5th gen Hayashi. Safer to say Kamiyoshi, given the stamp marks on the seppa dai. Compare to a fancy overpriced pair here: https://ginza.choshuya.co.jp/sale/higo/067/index.htm $595 On the larger end of katana sized. I will add measurements this evening.

Tsuba #1: Katana sized Akasaka. I feel this one is Ko-Akasaka, but I cannot guarantee the NBTHK will agree. I believe the theme is the Buddhist Fire Sermon (google it). It was a favorite theme of the nidai, but I am not sure which generation on this one. It is an earlier Akasaka. $650 I know the photos are so so. It time allows, I will try for better ones this evening. Anyone interested, please PM me so I have time stamps of priority.

This is probably a foolish idea, but there is something in Japan I want to buy and don't really need. I figured to list a few tsuba and leave it to fate whether it gets finance. I will post several tsuba today. Discounts: 5% if you buy 2. 10% if you buy 3. 15% if you buy all 4. Also % Donation to the NMB.

LOvely sword. I was looking at an Omiya Morishige O-tanto (Oei 26) on Yahoo!Japan.

**** Trying to edit my error in above post, but the system freezes up any time I try to edit it.

tachi-shi ones tend to be design oriented edge down. You're dataset runs much larger than mine, but most of the ones I have seen were oriented that way. Example attached. Tachi shi tsuba NBTHK papers.pdf