PietroParis

It’s a bull. It represents the sixth stage of Zen enlightenment. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Bulls

Tatsunao on eBay, but crazy expensive:

The "Expert's estimate" is € 2,800 - € 3,500, and knowing Catawiki the reserve must be upwards of € 2,000...

It does look like junk, but is that really a "Big name auction house"? I was expecting Christie's, Sotheby's, Bonhams...

What would you expect the price to be for shipping to the EU?

The mei reads 玉山 Gyokuzan. Both carvings appear to be modern and probably not made in Japan. The frog looks more like an ojime than a netsuke. P.S. if you are interested in learning more about netsuke, you might start with this free book from the MET.

Do I understand correctly that NTK papers such as the ones shown in these pictures are not to be trusted, since they are issued by a seller as opposed to an independent panel?

Are those greenish stains evidence of the copper base plating? I see a few of them even on the “iron” area near the rim.

I’m 100% sure that Yas knows what sekigane is, and the one in the picture doesn’t look like an insert.

As I wrote above, I've seen this old book where he is included in the Akao school, but I don't know more than that:

Just seen on Facebook:

Hard to judge from just one picture, but sometimes “bone” is the new name of ivory... As far as I understand, it is still legal to buy, sell and ship pre-1947 ivory artifacts within the EU, but you might need a CITES certificate stating that the item meets the requirements. https://ec.europa.eu/environment/cites/pdf/guidance_ivory.pdf

Unless inro, netsuke and ojime are particularly well-made modern fakes, I'd say that the package is well worth its $500-$700 estimate even if the signature is spurious.

I know next to nothing about inro but I particularly like the first one. The netsuke and ojime on the first one also look good to me, while the netsuke of the second is hard to judge from the picture. I also suspect that the price will rise quite above $500.

The registration paper and the bare nakago are in the pictures if you follow the link. Sure, sure, I was just picturing the scene of someone angry at having been duped who starts to tear and burn the paper, only to check himself and decide to sell the blade...

This is a Japanese eBay seller who usually sets up auctions for blades with a $10 starting price. Their typical end prices for Hozon-papered blades are in the ballpark of $1000 for wakizashi and $2000 for katana. However, they are now selling a tanto with Kicho certificate and a whopping $6500 price. To make things more intriguing, the certificate is torn and partially burned... Clearly there must be some funny story behind it, can anyone guess what that would be? Is it at least a famous signature? https://www.ebay.fr/itm/Authentic-Japanese-KATANA-SWORD-TANTO-SUKESADA-signed-w-NBTHK-KICHO-PAPER/254795872322

For your convenience:

I suppose you are referring to this one: https://jisho.org/search/龍 %23kanji

Right, 之 reads also "kore", and the third is indeed 美 . I'm still trying to learn...

The fourth looks like 之 (yuki/shi)

There might be all sorts of arguments against such a section of the forum – e.g. too gloomy – but "use of space" does not seem particularly compelling to me. What could be the downside of having an extra line after "Izakaya" in the members' area? Then each of the departed would get a tidy thread. The fewer per year, the better... In terms of disk space, I am sure that the whole section would be quite insignificant.

I read this book upon Piers' recommendation and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was however a bit disappointed when I got to the end of the book and realized that it covers only about a third of the original saga...

"In early June 1966, one month after arrival, Chiba Sensei was told by Mr Logan that they had arranged for him to do a demonstration at the Northumberland Police Headquarters in Newcastle, the intention being that the Police may hire him to teach a self-defense program. The event took place at a Judo dojo near the Police Headquarters, with a dozen policemen dressed in keikogi and two high-ranking officers sat in chairs observing. The two conditions of the police were that no striking or kicking, and no bloodshed were to take place due to the police's policy against inflicting injury. For the first half hour Chiba Sensei responded to requests for defense against various attacks. Towards the end of the demonstration Chiba Sensei was asked to respond to handgun threats, one position was in the surrender pose with his hands in the air and the gun behind his head. Chiba Sensei performed shihonage and the uke landed on his head which began to bleed covering the keikogi and he was carried out by his comrades after becoming unconscious. Chiba Sensei knew that the mission had therefore been unsuccessful and he never heard from the police force subsequently."

Just curious, how is this related to you being an aikidoka? P.S. nevermind, I got it. At first I thought it was something about the theme of the decoration. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazuo_Chiba