Curran

For future reference, careful with the angle of lighting on that "salt bucket" Nishigaki. To others, in that odd angle photo -they will mistakenly see patina loss. In addition to the similar Kanshiro one in the Sasano Silver book, I also recently came across this Kamiyoshi one: https://www.aoijapan.com/tsuba-mumeiunsignedkamiyoshi/ Sasano said it referenced a famous Noh play of the 1600s. Have you been able to find out more about it? Possibly this one? https://www.the-noh.com/en/plays/data/program_043.html George on this list is quite good with such themes.

Great Kote and great information on books.

Brian, Hughes-san, Thank you for the news. Guido, " To fight with tempests anywhere, And in the grinding shipwreck stand and not despair" Please get better soon. Later you can make fun of me quoting Goethe's Faust to you.

Bathing Crows is almost always a Goto design. I have no idea why it wasn't knocked off or copied by other schools.

My pleasure. It going back to a story from China might explain the Dragon Cart kanji. Yes, Waki-Goto would show up as an attribution on papers in the past. In recent years they seem hesitant to say Waki-Goto unless signed by some specific person from the sideline school. I was looking at a f/k earlier that was signed by one of the waki-goto guys. Like all 6 or 7 generations used the same name, but the signature confirmation books only have the mei for the shodai. As you can imagine, that causes trouble for us westerners. It takes a serious library to track down which generation along one of the waki goto lines.

Waki goto. Aka. One of the other branches of the Goto family. Sometimes the waki Goto stuff is simplified versions of mainline themes, and other times it can be somewhat creative in a way that minimally breaks the rules of the mainline Goto school. I've owned two waki Goto sets over the years because of interesting designs- a set of interesting shi-shi and a kozuka that was a high grade workmanship variation on a classic Goto theme. Some of the waki Goto stuff seems to have a bit more a sense of humor than the mainline Goto stuff. 龍車 Is literally Dragon Cart, though equivalent to Imperial Cart, though I believe the Japanese use 竜車. Not knowing the mythology or fable well, I am guessing the story is old enough that they use 龍車 instead of 竜車 as more appropriate in this particular story? Interesting to me. I wish my Japanese were better, but I am starting to work on that.

Keep it simple: The tanto that started this thread was initially sold at auction. The tanto is now -consigned- at a much higher price. I could consign it for $1 Million. It doesn't mean anything until it sells anywhere near that price.

I don't think Timur has been back since before the Pandemic. I had a general email from him in the last few months, but no follow up when I replied to his questions.

Christian S. in with the win. Thank you.

Intentional texturing and snowflakes. Very frequent Ichijo ippa design. The topic of snowflakes and how the Japanese perceived them in art prior to a certain Japanese scholar studying them under a microscope is quite a more extensive discussion. I forget the man's name, but maybe someone else here will remember it. After many years in a tropical climate, I hope to actually see snow this year. Happy Holidays!

Intentional texturing.

I sold this tsuba to Jean long ago. When it came back on the market, I tried to buy it. Someone got to it quicker. Nice Hizen example of etching. *Hint* current owner, if you are on NMB--- PM me.

Cool tsuba.

Part of why I quite using them. They kept screwing up the Customs. None of the other deputy services I worked with would screw it up like Buyee.

I had a good deputy service, but they closed down at the end of 2019. I switched to the Hong Kong owned arselickers at Buyee.com , and they were bad. Didn't we have a thread on how much they sucked? They keep refusing to close my account, and keep sending me emails no matter how much I -unsubscribe-. Man, they lick the toe cheese off of goats. I eventually switched to another service that is okay. Got some quirks, but none of the BS of Buyee. I use them more to buy things like a modern potter whose work I've collected a little for 7 years, and sometimes a vintage sukajan. Sometimes a shot at a tsuba, but very rarely. Yahoo!Japan is more entertainment value these days.

Yasumitsu tachi: Though to Scotland several times, I've never been to England. When I make it back to Glasgow or finally actually set foot in sassenach grass (please, meant as joke)... I'm going to knock on Paul's door and ask to finally see this crazy homage example he has. Very rare example at one high end of what Yasumitsu could do. His mastery of jigane, hamon, and utsuri gets a little crazy in the best pieces. -- Hopefully Paul will let me in. I'll bring some American Garden Gnomes as a gift, unless Paul would prefer some American Bourbon. It isn't something I have had in many years, but I do have to admit it is one of the better things in the USA.

Monday morning and just cruising Yahoo!Japan while taking a work break.. Coffee in hand. -------------------------- There is no debating that Yahoo!Japan has become a much more dangerous place than it once was. Shilling bidding is the normal, and the ratio of fake crap to okay finds is up up up. The only good online auction find I had this year was on eBay of all places, though I did pick one decent one off of Yahoo!Japan. I'm saddened to see that a long time seller on Yahoo!Japan who often had nice lower end 'Catch, Study, Release' pieces has spent the last 6 months to 1 year increasingly listing heavily doctored or fake tsuba. He currently has an Owari up one now that is straight out of the Japan secret tobacco+tea+furniture stain dip. On the flipside, there is one of those 'dilettante' Nobuiye up. I'll have to hit the kinko Meikan later and see if it is the 'Akasaka Nobuiye' or 'Echizen Nobuiye'. I went through a phase early on in collecting when I enjoyed these. They are decent tsuba with nice iron. Anyone want to have a go at it, be my guest. Price is very fair at $100. Usually they go for several hundred. https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/h1017758356

*** Oei Bizen Wakizashi One thing to be cautious about is that for some reason the Oei Bizen smiths went through a window of production period where they made an excessively large number of dated wakizashi and some O-tanto. Whatever the reason, the ratio of their wakizashi to their tachi and some tanto is disproportionate and the sheer supply of them brings the price of the waks down a bit. The quality also varies significantly. You have high end pieces like the one attached for about 45-50k many years ago (I cannot remember the level of papers), and you have others that you can purchase for less than 10k. Do pay attention to the jigane and quality of the hamon. Yasumitsu, Morimitsu, and usually Iesuke hamon should be very vibrant.

Billionaires who don't give 2 Shlitz. This very refined corner of Art world has been blissfully untouched by the ultra wealthy while Japan slowly deflated for 30 year. Then a billionaire or two walked in. Limited supply and a few deep pockets changes the game quickly. Don't expect to add another 0 to prices quickly, but prices will escalate. I was asked about a piece at auction, and I gave my honest opinion that it was undervalued at +20k. I thought it worth more in the 30-40k. Sooo.... next think I know, the deep pockets bid it up to $200,000. This was an auction back when the uber wealthy were just starting to Google Translate their way into the market from their country of wealth. I'm just glad not too many of the Dubai and Saudi heavyweights have shown interest yet. They are too busy getting their European street credit up, but haven't ventured too heavily into Japanese, Korean, or Chinese art yet. I'd hate to see what Samsung vs Saudis would do the very limited supply of higher end Korean art.

All items Sold and Shipped. Moderators are welcome to move this out of Sales.

Post a larger picture of the papers in the translation section and some of us will take a hack at it. There are others who read faster and more precisely than I do.

#2 SOLD #1 -HOLD-

I wouldn't bother. A Hozon paper will catalog and describe the parts physically, but give you very little useful data that is new. While green papers are often frowned on or dismissed for verifying signatures on fittings, green papers that prove your koshirae was around 40+ years ago are actually good enough proof for me that it isn't a modern construct or replica. It is one of those rare instances where I think keeping the green papers actually makes sense and might be even slightly advantageous. All that mailing to Japan, agent fees, time, costs, etc... Lot of hassle for little gain on most koshirae. Grey's advice was spot on.

#2 On HOLD.

#3 and #4 SOLD. #1 and #2 still up for grabs at the moment.