Michael 101

Hi Florian, What a superb tsuba. When I first looked I wanted to say Yagyu but Im not sure if this is one of their designs ( I have a book somewhere and will follow this thought up ). If Yagyu then it would be a rare large size for the school. Could you confirm its thickness at the centre and at the edge as this detail could be useful to others in assistance. Given the large proportions and iron quality my guess would Owari of the early 1600,s Thanks for posting All the best Michael

Richard - so where do we order these then ? Steven, its an easy mistake to make just from pictures if you have not handled many Norisuke tsuba. I have often seen surface texture the very same as yours on their tsuba, Infact if you look on Tetsugendo facebook page there is a Norisuke pictured with the very same texture - and those guys as professional dealers no their stuff. Just seems to have been a peculiarity of their iron. In an ironic way I think both Norisukes ( father and son ) would be rather pleased if it were a copy as that is mainly how they made their living and probably see it as a complement. Kindest regards Michael

Great find Steven, and in the most unlikely of places. Looks 100% geniune to my eyes, I have seen this iron finish on may of his works. I have seen VW car badges used as pendants ( not by me I hasen to add ) but never tsuba, you might have started a new fashion craze here !! Kindest regards Michael

Hi Barrie, I certainly think its enspired by Hayashi style thats for sure but I the kogai hitsu shape is not at all what I would expect from Hayashi amoungst other points already raised. Its a very nice large size which would suggest early Hayashi period but the work suggests not - so later work styled on Hayashi may be the closest we can get for now. The late Edo period was very much a melting pot for styles and we start to see the traditional strictness of the school designs blend together making it sometimes impossible to classify further. Lets hope another member can add more guidance on this one. Many thanks Michael

Hi Barrie, I suspect you have not had any replies as I guess others like myself, are still scratching their heads on this one. It definitely falls in the “or what” category for me rather than Hayashi. Although I do see where your coming from with that thought. Hayashi tended to follow set designs and I dont recall this is being one of them, its also a little more clunky than i would expect from one of the Hayashi masters ( by clunky I mean the sukashi is work is all very thick and heavy compared with what I would expect from Hayashi especially the birds ). Very interesting tsuba and I will be interested to see what others make of it. Kind regards Michael

I dont think its a missing horse - if you look carefully the horses have a carved recess around them, so this would still be visible if one were missing. Possibly another rock - personally I would leave as it is as it certainly doesnt spoil the effect for me - however expert restoration such as offered by Ford Hallam would be able to restore to perfection if required. Thanks for sharing Best regards Michael

A real shock and a greater loss. My sincere condolences to his family, he will be sorely missed by all his NMB friends for his input and for being the gentleman that he was. Michael

Hi Rob, Now that is a nice tsuba, good carving especially for iron. The carving over the seppa dai area is also interesting. Reminds me a little of some Hizen school work but its outside of my limited knowledge base. It will help to have some measurements to help promote other comments on a possible maker - height, width and thickness at the centre and edge if your able too. I have a nishigaki kanshiro soft metal example of the same design on the for sale section of the board but have seen others from nearly every school. Kindest regards Michael

Hi Grev, I will be going - see you there, it should be an excellent day. Kind regards. Michael

Hi Gethin, Its notoriously hard to tell the generations with early Akasaka which is why most are papered "Ko Akasaka" rather than s specific generation. Also the later masters replicated the work and designs of the earlier masters. Looking at the marks around the nakago ana in your second picture I wouldnt be suprised if this was 4th master work. Lovely tsuba and yes Ford must have nailed the design - I couldnt work it out until his post Kindest regards Michael

Just sent my $47 dollars ( payment & paypal charge ) for the translation and will buy a colour copy when its ready. The is the real essence of being a NMB member - its really great seeing everyone club together and help increase our knowledge and reduce costs too !! Well done to all concerned. Kindest regards Michael

Yes please Markus - I dont have facebook but please count me in. Kind regards Michael

Pm sent for no 5 please. Kindest regards Michael

Hi Andrey, I would suggest you look at the Tosa Myochin school for the source of this tsuba. You already picked up on to key points as in its copied style and the tagane marks. Kindest regards Michael

Hi Gasam, thank you for posting these new pictures. Your tsuba looks perfectly good to me - his signature is a little weaker carved but the same is seen in several published examples - most importantly the work is very good. Its a large size, bigger than I have seen any of his tsuba before but this is most likely due to the design. I would be suprised if the thickness at the centre isnt slightly thicker than 4mm so might be worth double checking with a proper measure. Compare your tsuba with this one also by Kampei - like two peas in a pod - at first I thought it was your tsuba ! Kindest regards Michael

I tend to agree with the Sado island call for this one. They are usually very beefy examples with beautiful iron quality. Quite often mistaken for Akasaka due to the thickness. Looks a very nice example. Kindest regards Michael

Interesting tsuba - design common across the Higo schools with examples seen by the first Shimizu Jingo master, nishigaki kanshiro etc. The flat round shape ( aori ) is what instantly marks this example out as Higo - apart from the signature ! Kampei did some very good work and we sometimes see fake signature examples on the market. However, this looks good to my eyes and has his name and age on the reverse which is typical of him. It is also signed with his age (70 years). I have another example with the same age and the signature appears exactly the same. I would be interested to know the size of this tsuba - his are rarely large ( 7.5cm would be typical ) but usually pleasingly thick 0.5cm so they tend to be quite heavy. Looking forward to seeing better pictures whe it arrives - a very good purchase. Kind regards Michael

Hi Antii, Good too see some high quality Higo tsuba listed - Daniel's looks like it could be a daisho pair with yours and both look distinctly similar to my eye. The elongated round shape to both is very attractive and typical for earlier Nishigaki Kanshiro work. Interesting to note the shaping around the nakago ana of both tsuba - a feature found in a number of published 2nd master examples. Its very difficult to capture the beautiful and correct colour of iron tsuba - your second picture I think would be closer to reality. Thanks for showing Kindest regards Michael

Thanks Dirk, yes that is also a nice one it is also published in the Higo Kinko Taikan. Thank you Ludolf - another fine example - I hadnt seen that one and greatly appreciate you adding to this thread. Has anyone seen a Shodai version of this design as so far it seems a favourite of the 3rd master. Kindest regards Michael

Dear members, Does anyone have a copy of the above book that they could help me with ? I have the Haynes translation and I would like to see the original photogragh of the Jingo Crysanthemum tsuba illustrated on page 154 ( in the translation copy ) see attached picture. If someone could send a scan of the illustration and page from the original book I would be very greatful. Kindest regards Michael

Hi David, He was known to copy earlier Hayashi designs (but did also develop his own) - so it would be highly likely that he would have copied Nishigaki too. Tsuba are rarely seen by him - so its hard to confirm for certain. Kindest regards Michael

Hello James - please add me to the list. Kindest regards Michael

Did it !!

Sorry I couldnt work out how to add the picture of the 3rd master Nishigaki but I will message it to you ( you can add it to the topic if you can work it out ) Kindest regards Michael

Hi Pete, A very nice tsuba and also quite rare tsuba. Im my opinion ( from your pictures ) is that it was most likely made by Tani Seibei. Unfortunately not much is known about this Higo worker although other than he is believed to have died in 1843 in his 70's As mentioned by others the design of your tsuba is very much in the style of the Nishigaki school - in particular the third master ( 1680-1761) See picture attached as a comparison to your own. Tani was well known for his aplicaption of Kuyo mon in the style of your work and this is the main reason I think he was the maker of your tsuba ( and subtle differences in the actual tsuba - not quite as free flowing as the earlier Nishigaki masters ) Tsuba by Tani are rare, he is more well known for his fuchikashira. Kindest regards Michael