Steves87

Very interesting! I can see crossovers between both Jakushi and Soten for sure... Like the trees are very much Jakushi style, as with the nunome zogan on the hill/mountains. The waves carvings and the humanoid figures are a lot more Soten/Hikone style, in my opinion. A few examples showing relatable features that I can give are below. Ill be watching this thread closely!

Not saying it's Nara, but Nara also did the mei panel like that. I'd have said it is a Tanaka that has lived a very hard life at one point, if the plate background was anything to go by. The kuchi-beni have been highly deformed by multiple nakago fitments, and the extra sekigane added

Would you be the same (good) AnewAgain seller I once got an Alva museum replicas item from?

I didn't realise he had passed, sorry to hear, he had some really good posts on some of the different Japanese facebook pages.

And in case you want to see an example of this theme that isn't cast:

While it is an otherwise good looking guard and design, have you checked that the sekigane are copper or lead?

Not too dissimilar in depiction, but the well-known online dealer who I acquired it from described it as Kiri. I really like your Tanto hardware, quite rare construction on a few levels.

Dale's Utsushi book really is an important collation of Tsuba information. I realise there is no way for a published version, and this is a proper shame for the community.

Like those "shattered" lord of the rings movie swords that you see encased in a table (or something), this could make a good Tsuba version of one of those!

Haha, yes, auto correct

Museum's will keep those sorts of Tsuba if they are part of a fronds, or if they were of note to a well-enough-known individual... if this is the case, it is very unlikely they will ever be deaccessioned. Relatably, if a museum does not have a collections policy/collection direction for that type of historic item, they will not go out of their way to find better examples either. My local state museum is a prime example of this. As for removing images, there are a few-to-many reasons for doing this... not usually for any untoward reasons... cases may include: updating digitisation efforts, management software upgrades, inadequate digital storage space... the list goes on.

Yes, it was. I was in more than two minds to initiate it to be honest... I didn't want to find out any bad news, I also did not want to intrude on Dale's privacy, and I was also concious of using police resources. I was properly concerned though, so I made the call. The services acted very quickly, I hope Dale didn't feel intruded upon.

Relief!!!! All is ok, I have confirmation it is a case of severe technical issues!! @Spartancrest will be back in due course!! My mind is at ease, really been missing Dale!!

Rural and semi rural areas are tricky for internet in Aus. My area is probably a bit more rural than Dale's, but him being in Tasmania, may be in a similar situation. In my area we do not get any fibreoptic internet connections, they are impossible due to rocky terain and many hills; consequently, we access internet wirelessly via central internet towers (this is what I am on), but you have to live within a fairly small radius, and you need to have "line of sight" for it to work. Mobile networks are generally pretty good (at least telstra is) but Dale doesn't use this as far as I know. Satellite is a possibility, but it is very expensive, comparitively speaking. Hoping he is just OS... I actually believe this, but at the same time I have had conversations with him in the past about "sending out the search parties" after not hearing back from each other for much shorter durations. And now, here i am....

As Mauro says they are also known as yose-tagane; although, in some ways both are not the best description. I think yose-tegane is often more of a decorative feature (often symmetrical and consistently placed), and tagane-ato is more functional. It would be good to get this 100% confirmed. I would not be surprised if the hammer/chisel marks on your example are called something else altogether, as they are a little more extreme than the norm. But apologies, and to the question.... They are done to displace metal at the nakago-ana for a more snug fit to the blade nakago. This is also another way to do the job of the sekigane, and I still can't be sure that if a Tsuba has both, it means it has been fitted to two blades, or if it means it is done in conjunction for an extra sturdy fit. Even if the metal is displaced too much with the deformations, the positive is that it can also be filed back down for fine tolerance.