Curran

I thought "Revival Piece". Nice effort, with proportions a bit more modern in cutting. What is the size? The larger Revival ones enjoy a good degree of popularity, as the ko-kinko ones are often smaller and sometimes harder to appreciate in their relatively diminutive state.

Moderating comment: keep it clean I like the Echizen Thunder n Rain n Buddhist Wheels tsuba. I think I have seen a similar example published in one or two places.

Darcy would have loved this. He liked turtles and used one as his avatar for a long time. That f/k is pretty exceptional. Is the fuchi signed?

Wow. That is friggin lovely. Incredible looking fuchi. I'm glad I checked back in on this thread.

This photo helps a lot. I admit that I initially thought it cast. Now I think it is not cast, but rather has been coated with something akin to clear lacquer or varnish. It would both make the tsuba look "wet" AND mute the appearance of the tsuba in a way that looks like many of the cast tsuba we have seen. If as heavy as some of the varnishes that I have used in painting, it might even fill (cement) in the signature enough to explain some of the odd look of the signature. The extra photo helped a lot.

Depends on your point of view When the sword is drawn and you are facing it, they are upright and say to me "let's play".

I suspect it is a bit thicker at the seppa dai than his 4.4mm. 4.4mm would be more in keeping with a Norisuke utsushi, though the [note*] Norisuke Yagyu go for a fair premium over your average Norisuke. Also, this just doesn't feel like a Norisuke utsushi to me. Another relatively silent NMB member and I both specialize in Norisuke tsuba.

Wow, that is an incredible story and writeup by Fred W.. I knew he had a lot of top level stuff, but sometimes I have to wonder how large is his Aladdin's Cave ??? He's pulled out many incredible things over the last 25 years that I have been in contact with him.

I wasn't sure either. Distant Pines vs Kukurizaru ???? Mushrooms makes more sense, but that had not occurred to me until @Bugyotsuji Piers spoke up.

That one is not too similar. That is my personal opinion. Okan may have snagged a Yagyu from somewhere. I suspect the patina has been browned up, but it should clean up fairly well.

Interesting thread. I fear verdigris on copper or shakudo >much more> than I fear rust on iron tsuba . [That partially depends on the school's iron and time in history. Some schools, if they get rust... it is a long long time to heal them.] Sometimes verdigris does a real doozy on otherwise very good ko-kinko tsuba. Ford H. and others gave good advice on verdigris. I'm glad to see someone sharing their struggle with chemistry and copper based tsuba.

I'm very surprised by the Omori School papers. Personally, I thought this was high grade Kaga Kinko up there with some of the examples in the Kaga Kinko Taikan.

Hi Stephen, Let it go. He'd want you to let it go. As recently as 5 weeks ago, JL was feeling good and upbeat. He'd just bought a masame tanto that he didn't live to actually see. His passing takes some of the wind out of my own sails, as I've lost a parent and JL to cancer in the past 6 months. JL had hard odds stacked against him. He had his moments of doubt, but 5 weeks ago he was standing brave in a fight he knew that he probably couldn't win. He worked in biochemistry and knew the odds. May I face death half as honorably as he did. Not that the world cares, but he faced it head on. I will miss him. I will remember his death when I face my own.

Yes. I wanted that Tegai/Hosho when it was available, but it wasn't an feasible when you were listing it. I was glad Jeremiah got it. We discussed it every now and then, and I always thought it would go to Hosho if repapered. Heaven knows I do that with tsuba now and then, when I see something that is better than whatever the NBTHK labeled it at one point. Last I knew, that sword was still with Mike. Y.. Still processing J.'s death. This is a photo of J.' during his youth as a boxer.

Our friend Jeremiah Lilly has passed. Jeremiah Lilly Obituary - Chelmsford, MA | Blake Chelmsford Funeral Home & Cremation Service He almost always sent us chocolates each Christmas. He'd been fighting cancer, but [last month] he convinced me that recent prognosis was looking much better. JL had just bought one of his favored masame tanto about 5 weeks ago, which would imply to me that he wasn't just putting on a good face. We agreed to disagree about various books and works of science fiction. Angry and sad at the moment, I will miss him.

Depending on the Japanese scholar or writer, there are some areas specifically associated with Kanayama smith. BUT, take them with a grain of salt. My memory says they don't quite agree on where, but it may also be in part to the evolution of villages, towns, cities, to large cities. The amount of yakite on Kanayama (and some Ono) does seem to have hit a crescendo in earliest Edo. How that popularity tracts with the popularity of wabi tea and Buke culture, the our tea guys would better be able to say.

Hmm. I only own one Kanayama. It is a longtime favorite ex. Jim Gilbert. For me, one of my desired "One n Done". I will need to pull it from the tansu tomorrow and give it a serious look. Were it not my love for Ono tsuba, I probably would own a few more Kanayama. 1 Kanayama vs 3 Ono.

Ah yes. I help moderate one of those groups. When asked to do so, the head mod had warned me we would have see a lot of the "what did I buy?" posts. Most aren't that bad, but there are some... that I know will get the poster flamed out of the group if I approve it to the group.

This was a popular fake back in the day. Lots of these floating around, but they slowly floated away to be banished to many a closet or mistake drawer. It seems someone found one. Maybe someone tarting it up a bit more than the average one. https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/v1178415852 Never the less, AVOID. If you have been hitting the Jim Bean and find it pretty, bring it home to your own mistake drawer.

My personal opinion is that the Kanayama tsuba had a longer period of production. At least 75 years, but not more than 150 years. With the 25-30 year period, are you referencing a specific text or teacher. I admit that I don't know the texts very well when it comes to Kanayama.

I agree with Shonai, though @kyushukairu nailed it a lot harder than I could. I was very tempted to bid on this tsuba. *Had* to resist, but I did cave and buy another Shonai work recently. For me, the differences Shonai vs Higo are most visible in: (a) the copper [I'm avoiding the yamagane vs suaka topic] (b) patina recipe (c) design and carving style I totally get the Shonai vs Higo (mostly 3rd gen and later Nishigaki) on this sort of tsuba. Without checking the books, memory either the 2nd or 3rd gen Nishigaki had some Shonai training or a teacher who was Shonai trained ? I think that came from Markus Sesko's works.

Yes, probably one of the Mito school or many subschools. Interesting theme. I know of dragonflies on a line being used to hunt other insects, but I don't recall having seen it on fittings before.

a long time ago...

I also suspect that I saw this tsuba before. There is also something about the Issei Naruiki seppa dai that seems consistently his work to me.

For many years, I owned one of his Nobuiye utsushi before trading it to Prof. Arnold Frenzel for a different tsuba. The high sheen yet matted 'almost yakite' patina really stuck with me. For a while, a lot of his tsuba came to market. That has since dried up and price on them going up a bit. I've often debated owning another one. I wasn't that crazy about my former Nobuiye utsushi, but some of his utsushi are very pleasing.