Curran

Thanks Guido. That is very 'Neigh'borly of you.

If you say so. I couldn't tell whether there were horns or not. If so, they be a bit on the anorexic side. I've got insomnia, but it is too late to wake the wife banging around pulling the books off the closet shelves. Ie. I will look tomorrow. Bob Benson did a good writeup of the Mitsuhiro line in one of the Bushido magazines. Going from memory, the signatures could be slightly big and crude at times. I'm not certain that yours is authentic. I just give it the benefit of the doubt for the moment. For what it is worth, Oxen designs are rather rare. While they do pop up in some forms, including the 4th gen onwards Akasaka designs, the earlier ones are rare. Good luck finding a shodai Shimizu Oxen. I know Ito-san has two or three in his books, but they are the Holy Grail for some Higo collectors.

Ah... ah Ha.... ah Ha Ha Ha... Well then. My immediate thought is that it looks like the Yagami sort of work. Aka... the prolific Mitsuhiro boys. And wait for it.... It is signed "Mitsuhiro saku". Bugger. They were prolific, but desirable when you find one in very good condition- Be it the 1000 Monkeys, the 1000 Horses, 1000 Dolphins, etc. I've also seen what top work they can do when they want: Two phenomenally beautiful carp in this facing each other mirror style. That one now belongs to a good collector in the Eastern Hemisphere. I couldn't bag it. So what do you have here? Well- Yagami signature and looks like Yagami work. *Sigh* now I have to go get out the bigger heavier books from the shelves. I don't like horsies very much, having ridden too many of them in my countryside youth, but some find them desirable and this is the first of this design I have seen. Gut instinct is you are looking a "Gift Horse in the Mouth". I'm guessing 3rd gen.....The bigger books will sort it out. Tomorrow then, if someone else doesn't buy it first. Curran

John A. S. I have no idea why it would be listed as 'unsigned'. The smith is rated as 'jo saku'. I don't think it would be a likely target for gimei signature. It looks like a nice, and possibly Kambun from the shape. That also happens to be when the smith worked.

Yep. Even using the correct kanji, there are a dozen of them. It is not quite asking, "Anyone know Shoji Watanabe?" but more information is needed.

I understand them to be Court Hats, though yours looks to have a bit more dash or flair to it. Given time, you can probably track down the specific style. It is easiest just to throw up a korean example, so you get the idea. http://koreanhistoricaldramas.com/jang-youngsil/ Similar hats, [eboshi (?)] in Japan. Guido or one of the more culturally immersed can correct my quick stab at an answer.

Hypothetical or real?: Museum curator oversees a museum liquidating a number of the Japanese swords they have in storage. They are keeping the good ones. The blades are mostly no-names, mass-produced Seki works, or otherwise f'ugly. They go off to auction via an auction house. Blades are in the catalog, but the koshirae is only described- if even described. At the viewing of the blades at the auction house, it is noticeable that many of them have exceptional kozuka, kogai, tsuba, and even taped on menuki- many that don't seem to or clearly don't fit the koshirae. For example, say the kozuka or kogai barely fill the saya slot, or overfill it such that it is poking past the tsuba and overlapping the tsuka by a good inch. Some of us think of museums as where good swords and fittings often go to be punished. In the above, is it a net-net good or bad thing that these fittings are escaping the black hole of a museum storage space?

Hey, someone else said it this time. -Not me-. I'm not pulling the St. Sebastion archery target routine any time soon. Maybe I was thinking *exactly* as the fine European above, and noted the papers dated to 2015, but others can argue that and deal with the dogmatics.

I don't know if I would have gone with ko-kinko, but otherwise absolutely agree with Jean. Should Jean be on vacation or unable to dispose of them for you, then I will do so.

As Jean said- It is *NOT* Darcy.

Yes, one of the three 'sacred' mountains- if my memory is correct. To be more direct: I don't know if the NBTHK would paper to 'Haguro' any more. Many of the 1980s, 1990s, and 00s attributions are not seen by me on recent year papers. This isn't to say they won't. Periods of certain attributions evolve and devolve. On old green NBTHK papers you would see 'Tochibata' school attributions, but I don't know if I have seen any modern era NBTHK Hozon or Tokubetsu Hozon papers with that attributions post 1982. While I think of Tochibata as a small separate school as per the older books, I don't know if the NBTHK supports that idea any longer. It might be the same with Haguro.

Shonai= Shodai Yasuchika, Sekibun, shodai and nidai Ikkin, and also Juzu tsuba and Shonai Shoami. Those are some of my favorite artists. We tend to tut-tut those things subcategoried under Shoami, but not all Shoami are equal. See Shonai in Haynes-Torigoye translations available from the Northern California Token Club (Group). Once again, one of the best bang for the buck books. I think it is around page 231 or 232? ______________________________________ Stephen my older brother, you lost me with the ninja gloves thing. I don't get that one, but I might be too straight of an arrow [as evidenced in my avatar- A+ to anyone that can translate the death poem]

These once papered specifically "Haguro". example: http://www.kusanaginosya.com/SHOP/400.html I cannot recall if I have seen a 'Haguro' paper in recent years, and I don't know if the NBTHK has quit with this specific attribution. At the 2015 DTI there was one that had gone Juyo some time in the more distant past. They also get called or referred to as -Shonai Shoami-. Copy paste from a text: "Shonai corresponds to the present city of Tsuruoka in Yamagata Prefecture. It was the castle town of the Sakai family and home to many kinko and tanko craftsmen. The transmission sais that in olden times there were juzu-tsuba in nikubori-ji-sukashi made (107) by priests/monks of Mt. Haguro. The latter was an important center of pilgrimage for shugendo mountain ascets." Look up Mt. Haguro--

Thanks Barry. That top mokko gata signed one really nails what I think of as Sado.

Hi John, Please see Grev's October 9th post and download the .PDF at the end. Mr. Long is largely just posting the translations of the Torigoye book by Bob Haynes. It is an excellent bargain buy book from the Northern California Club, though a little dated from current thought. Also, the Sado story is a bit broader than just the mid Edo period gold mine related bubble. I would say Grev's writeup renovates and extends the original Torigoye writing. The Torigoye section on Sado Island tsuba is _confined_ to certain limitations as a small part of a much larger book. The Torigoye book is one of the best general primers for those interested in learning about tsuba. Yet the numbers of pictured examples are very limited. I've meant to do a writeup of Grev's Birmingham Museum book because I was surprised and a bit overwhelmed by the work when I bought it and read it. It is very much like the Baur Collection Book, but the tsuba are much more a cross selection of the ones a collector will come across available on the market- instead of the deep pockets ones Baur accumulated with aide. With Torigoye book and Grev's Birmingham book as a very good indexed guide, a new collector can build a fast mental database of what-is-what and visualize some of that which Prof. Torigoye describes mostly in words and more limited early 1960s black n white photography. The two books would set most people back a whopping $75 combined and be a good foundation as we wait for the Tosogu Classroom #2, 3, 4, and 5 to be published in the next two or three years. Less than 10 books for less that the price of a decent tsuba will be an extensive guide to most kodogu. Ps. [nice Sado Island example you posted].

Not knowing Osafune Yoshimitsu, I google searched and came up with Markus' article on a related sword. Also this Christies sale: A Bizen School Katana SIGNED BISHU OSAFUNE YOSHIMITSU AND estimate $12,000 - $18,000 price realized $36,000 Kinda surprised by that.

Yep. When he got stateside, I was back arse up against professional exams and other concerns. I too wish he were back in the mix.

And the other side- not so easy. Maybe Guido or one of our more fluent readers will save us on this one.

As Stefan said: Nara Shigemitsu A surprisingly easy one.

Point to Brian. I wish I'd thought of that one myself.

For Geraint: http://nihontocraft.com/Sado_Toshisada.htm Another of the mid-Edo goldmine boom years Myochin clones.

Hi Grev, Referencing our previous side discussion and crossing with Grey's good link: #1: This is one of the Tochibata vs Sado Island shipwright iron twisted mimi ones I mentioned. 50/50 either way. #2: On of the more "Choshu" inspired ones mid Edo ones. Tsuba from Sado Island started long before "Sado Island" Tsuba. #3: A good example of the Edo goldmine boom years Sado Island tsuba that would have been called Myochin Mokume if it had been unsigned. See our previous discussion.

Osafune Iesuke naginata belonging to friend and mentor John Prough. He asked me to get a sword off his storage shelf. I pulled the wrong one, and out came the most beautiful naginata w/ horimono that I had ever seen: with two ugly fans points of rust from the mune side. According to John, a Chinese doctor living in Manhattan had purchased it and put it up on the wall of his library resting on two iron nails or pins. The rust grew from there. John let me quietly drink it in. I didn't have money and time for such a project, living between FL and NYC and didn't want to push John for it.

D, It would greatly diminish the community. Do not go. Losing central pillars is usually very bad for a structure.

The tsuba is savable. The signature less so. I would have bought it around 80,000 - which is where it ended when originally an auction. Then it might have been worth it in time value and academic interest to clean it up, Hozon it, and sell it around $2000 In its current Stepped On state, maybe 40,000 to 50,000 and the time/energy/ etc... Just maybe- now that a lower probability the NBTHK would even Hozon it. Seller thinks he has helped it, when he has largely defaced it.