Curran

Attribution to the supposed maker. He was known for his renderings of animals, crabs, etc.. I have a nice kozuka by him that is a homage to Yasuchika and signed as such. I've owned a tsuba or two by him. The attribution is spurious, or at least I am fairly sure the NBTHK wouldn't paper it that way unless there is a signature somewhere.

Heianjo. Onin tend to be better work. More close to katchushi work. Heianjo tend to be flashier, but the iron usually a little bit cruder. Hence the marked price difference between Onin and Heianjo in Japan. Onin are not always better. There are some low end ones and ones where the tsuba has taken quite a beating. And sometimes a Heianjo will be off awesome design and workmanship.

Basically little connection other than location. "Washington slept here". So did I. Connected?

I've seen several types of attributions for these basket weave and clematis themed tsuba. This is the one I got on mine. With the cloissone, I expected something else. It was confusing to me as a younger collector. Basically- with the basket weave ones it seems they just toss it into whichever category most fits a particular tsuba. No particular school associated with the lobed basketweave design. The concentration seems to be largely in Choshu, Bushu, and various Shoami schools.

The basketweave in iron is difficult. If you live in a humid environment like Florida or Hawaii, it seems determined want to rust. Attached should be one I sold like 15 years ago. I was a bit surprised with the way the NBTHK papered it.

Mauro said it better than me. I didn't know if it was later Nishigaki or Tosa Myochin. Kamiyoshi makes sense too, though I often let the patina and surface feel of the tsuba convince me in that direction. On this one, I thought it a coin toss between mid to later gen Nishigaki or Tosa Myochin.

The workmanship looks very late Meiji to early Taisho.

After checking my notes, I lean towards it being an added signature but a Hamano tsuba. The signature is outside what the NBTHK or I would accept, but not egregiously so. Maybe another organization would paper it. That is my opinion.

Hi George, Bob M., NMB: --- I currently have location limited ability to post on NMB. Mid response, the power cut out. Lest it do so again, I'mma gonna keep this short. #41 Gimei Shozui where someone tried to remove the signature. #45 Ko-Goto. I'm not sure I would have said Ko-Goto vs Ko-Kinko, but NBTHK is stronger than me in looking a the construction, measurements, nanako and the rest. Nice piece. #49 D@mn nice Choshu. One of the two best I have ever owned. That one is also ex. Arnold Frenzel. I don't collect Choshu, but that one and another are the two I regret selling if I permitted myself a larger collection. I'm surprised the Choshu expert on the board hasn't ripped that one from your grasp. #53 Shozui that the current heavily Wakayama dependent NBTHK would not pass. I'm not sure of my own opinion. George is right that I have owned a few papered ones and I did get into a phase where I went through all resources and did an extensive study of kantei points culminating in a long write up primer. I do think Wakayama is too limited in its review of Shozui, but often the deciding point is how close it is to their accepted footprint of his signatures and whether the design or the ratios on the design fit what I know of his work. There is a f/k for sale right now that I am surprised the NBTHK was willing to paper the signature not being spot on with Wakayama, but it was one of Shozui's favorite designs. This one I'd have to study before putting my own final opinion down. Gonna go before I lose this post again.

Mmm. Ding! That is a good book. I think some people know Waves are my favorite theme. Wave themed tosogu are about 20% of what I own. Now a book that compliments them perfectly.

Excellent. I learned something about tosogu today. Thank you Luca and Mauro. Yes, that one was the Compton one. Nice tsuba. Thin too. Onin are much more ko-katchushi in feel than the Heianjo. I find the thin Onin, especially the sukashi ones, a side pleasure outside of my usual Owari and Higo interests. I have owned three of them and on/off regret having sold two of them. If I ever permit myself a larger less focused collection, one of theses thinner sukashi Onin will be on the short list of what I want to have.

I'd say I totally struck out on that one.

I'm guessing Nara San Saku. Initial reaction was to go with a Hamano student, but there is something maybe earlier about the Pine Needle rendering that feels Shozui or earlier? That is my best guess in 30 seconds. So, Big J. -What does the back say?

Onin tsuba. ie. a grade or two above Heianjo. It looks to me one of the thicker later sukashi ones of the 1500s. For similar, see the Compton Onin that sold off Andy Quirt's site: [hmmm... image seems to be gone now. I guess you have to pop open Vol 2 of the Compton Auctions. It was a very nice piece. Andy has 2 other nice ones up.] Torigoye-Haynes publication by the Northern California Tokenkai has a very good multi page discussion of Onin.

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...