Curran

Yes, basically this and also, interests or focus changes. I've sort of maxed out Higo tsuba collecting short of getting into the Juyo ones, which is a big price jump. I've found myself focusing more on higher end pre-Momoyama tsuba from early tachi tsuba, ko-tosho, to the best ko-kinko I can find. For each one in, out must go a Higo tsuba. Sometimes I or a dealer upload old photos, rather than bother to take new photos.

It feels more like a late Edo Futogoya Norisuke school hommage to the earlier Yamakichibei style tsuba. The Futogoya largely became the restoration specialist for central Japan. Something happened to the family sword koshirae: ask them to may a piece that was in keeping with the original. The gold plug filled hitsuana are a little on the large side, but maybe that was in keeping with something else. This is a tsuba where it is hard to say with precision: it is A, or it is B. Just not enough evidence. If you sent it in for NBTHK papers 3 times, you'd probably get at least 2 different answers.

There are several by him. The "Gold" one probably late 1970s or early 1980s, then the larger "Silver" edition in the 1990s with the much better photography. There are other books too, but probably the Silver is most pertinent to your interests. Amongst the ko-tosho, this one has become decently priced as the US$ has gotten stronger: https://www.aoijapan.com/tsuba-mumeiunsignedko-tosho-2/ There are other more high brow and thus considerably more expensive ones. It sort of depends what qualities of ko-tosho and ko-katchushi interest you. I am a bit of a latecomer to them, despite having been collecting a long time.

Yes, as Tom said "Tosogu Classroom" is another favorite. It is hard to believe I forgot to mention that one. Probably I presumed Tom and mentioned it. Please remember ko-tosho and ko-katchushi were produced in a decentralized way and by artists whose primary work of swords and armor were quite different than sword guards. This is to say that the decentralized nature of production means a wide variety of material and specifications. While there are some trends in periods along the long long timeline, there is a lot of variation. Studying ko-tosho and ko-katchushi is often more about appreciating the ageing process of iron and the wear patterns developed over many centuries. Thus, it is hard to write a definitive textbook about them when there are so many exceptions. Still, Sasano did quite the job.

Aoi Arts? Tsuruta-san has been around forever. He was old even when I was young. Their physical presence has almost always been next to the NBTHK, old site and then the new location. Because of the Pandemic, I have not yet visited them in their new location. Perhaps due to their location, many or most of their items have NBTHK papers. The attributions of items with NBTHK papers is fairly accurate, but the tsuba themselves tend to be 'beater' examples with a few nice ones popping up now and then. Aoi Arts' pricing can be erratic (high and low), relative to the condition. Don't try and infer too much from their prices.

I'd agree that most museum attributions cannot be trusted. Even the Boston Museum collection has some issues and attributions that were best guesses. 2 exceptions: [1] The Tokyo National Museum Tsuba book is an exception. [2] Also, Markus Sesko is at the New York Met these days. Most anything he has reviewed will be correct or very close to it. There is also a private museum website that is good, but I am forgetting the name right now.

This tsuba was mine for many years, before I sold it in 2013 or 2014. According to the Japanese owner from whom I bought it, the character is a Tale of the Genji reference. I never verified that claim, but was told something similar by another Japanese authority.

Good to hear from you Ron. I was going to answer, but Jussi hit it out of the ballpark while I was typing. Thank you Jussi. Very well done.

Christies 2004 ? At least 2 catalogs from that sale.

I had missed that it was described as "Edo Higo". That is pretty spot on. Good description by whomever labelled it. It would have been extra cool if it had an actual date on it. A shame that we do not know the smith's year of passing/death.

I had not looked at this thread until now, and I just assumed it was an Akasaka tsuba since the name Tadamasa was in the title. No, definitely not one of the Akasaka Tadamasa tsuba smiths. It is an interesting tsuba in the Higo-Hizen-Jakushi (closely related groups of Kyushu), yet shows the artist working far away from home in Bishu (same as the Norisuke & Owari kinko artists), perhaps on the way to / or from Edo. Most of the Higo, Hizen, or Jakushi are not signed with proper names unless the person was very young (student) or very old (emeritus). This might have been one of the last or the last tsuba of a smith. What is the size in cm? Fairly large?

Hello nurse! (ref. Animaniacs)

So I bid. And I won it. Been a while since I bid on anything, and I cycled back 1 hour later to see it show up in the "you have won this auction" category. NOOOOOO. I guess the seller cancelled the auction and has since relisted it at 12x my winning bid. why bother?

Very nice synopsis. I found a teabowl from a 20th century artist that I would like to bid on, but the dealer is so obviously a shiller. He's got 20-30 items up and all of them have 5 to 95 bids. Ie. small bids all the way up, on ALL items. Sooooooo the moral of the story is BID ONLY THAT WHICH YOU WANT TO BID. Take the one shot and walk away.

Don't mistake one thing for another. Both sets of papers are to the (Higo) Kamiyoshi school, so this is an 1800s example. Some Kamiyoshi, especially those of the 3rd gen, have a significant amount of micro-tecturing. Like an OCD Salvador Dali painting- insane amount of work when you look at it up close or under magnification. Attached is a slightly magnified image of another Kamiyoshi. Using a very fine chisel, there are how many thousand strikes? in the space of one large tsuba. As if flocks of small birds ran across the sand of a wet beach.

It has been a while since I heard anyone cite that. I have one of these Musashino Memento Mori tsuba, probably a product of the Otsuki school. For the longest time, I didn't like this theme. Then I hit a certain age, call it the Point of No Return, and did like the theme as a reminder to worry less and enjoy more. I have that poem inside the hako for the tsuba.

I agree. With US$ so strong, seemingly a good time to buy. But Yahoo!Japan borders on a desert right now, with little supply. Most things tempting have a hook or quicksand about them. Watching a lot of the non Japanese flippers get scissored by the current rate spike, but it also dissuades me from listing one or two tsuba I'd thought about selling. Sort of a sit-n-wait period. Curran

Yes... I know those strange looks well. I forget who it was that taught me that it can mean spit, but it was a Japanese woman who had asked me if I had any hobbies. I guess I told her, "my favorite Japanese hobby is the [artistry] of spit". I remember a very perplexed look and wondering what part of the sentence I had butchered. Probably a language teacher I had in NYC, who relayed this information to me as politely as possible in front of other students.

It happens. If we poured a pint and raised a toast to every good NMB member we've lost here in the last 20 years, it would be a month long bender. Just smile and remember them well. They all gave us some enjoyment and some f@cking funny moments. --Save somberness for Monday.

For >$1000, must have been something interesting. I've had that experience too when something is very sparsely bid up (4 or 5 bids), I put in my max bid at maybe 2x the price at the time. Say 45,000 yen for something at 22000 yen when I bid. About 5 to 10 seconds later, the item has 25 to 30 bids more... right up to my maximum. Yeaah! I barely one?! Or did I just get stuffed by an algorithm that ping me up to my max bid? Pretty sure I got stuffed. So, other than that Miyamoto Musashi tsuba and one other, I haven't bid above 100,000 yen on anything Yahoo!Japan in a very long time. Way way way too much shilling and other games. Worse than Wall Street these days. Curran

Dan is correct. Dr. Lissenden passed. I enjoyed corresponding with him and that he had the heart to get his PhD so late in life. Now that I am back at a university, I am considering the same. Just to be clear: https://jitenon.com/word/13451 While I was half joking here, when conversing with someone in Japanese outside of this area: be careful.

"Tsuba" can mean [hand guard] or [spit] depending upon the kanji used. If not used in context, Japanese that hear you using the word tsuba probably think you mean [spit]. In that regards, a "tsubaologist", might mean an expert in the art or science of spitting. So, with a snort and a hock of a loogie, bring on the tsubaologists. Just be sure to avoid the line of fire.

*sigh* Yahoo!Japan is a shillfest these days.

They are fine. Dependable for a steady stream of fairly priced items. Having been on the other side of the equation, having listened to my fellow USA citizens sound impossibly rude in another language... stomping all over any sense of decorum... AND this was in Europe- give them a pass for their bluntness in English. After many years studying Japanese, I am still embarrassed by how (intermediate at best) is my communication level. That East-West divide is particularly tough with Japanese. Even Korean feels like a walk in the park vs trying to really communicate in Japanese.

--edited-- Had a question, but answered it myself. Nice yatsuhashi kyo-sukashi.