BjornLundin

One could almost guess that the lower one to the right of the bird is the symbol for water. If this is true is it common to put in words like this?

Close up photo, of the backside of the menuki on the middle "knob" is that gold that is centered around the knob?

Dear all,

I got this menuki bird set, they were advertised as mumei goto. They are about 40mm x 15 mm in dimensions. Gold and silver dots looks to be applied over the metal. Carving looks to be done with a round chisel which if goto points to a later generation. 

I noticed that there were markings on the waves to the left (upper menuki) and to the right of the birds (lower menuki), is that part of a signature? 

Front and back of menuki

Upper menuki and "markings" to the left of the head of the bird.

The lower menuki and markings to the right of the bird.

All the best Björn

Found one in my screen shot archive from http://www.shibuiswords.com/

Nice tsuba, from aoi? A similar one was on there auction. Would have loved to have afforded it.

HI found another one. Looks crude, modern piece? but anyway same design   No, I did not "win" it from Bonhams. There were some nice items from that auction thought.

https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/1018396620

Thank you Jean, I like the motif design also. Devil horns 😬

Two more photos with the right side up. I almost think the "corrosion" is intentional. 

Hi, so previously I asked for advice on fittings for this Hoan tsuba. During this time I noticed a similar tsuba on sale without the gold and silver inlays. Now I have got it home and I have compared it a bit to the Hoan tsuba. They are very similar in design and dimensions. The Hoan tsuba is a little thicker. They differ also in how the iron looks but its second tsuba looks to have some sort of surface treatment.

What do you all think? Both Hoan? Age? Is one older than the other? What is the coating? Any additional question or photos that is required. Does the iron tell anything, what do look for. Or just a general comment

Best Björn

I would say cherry wood, but take that advice with a grain of salt. 

I thought this one was reasonable and show that there is a window for not so much money for an ok blade. It all depends on what you want. Period, Signature, Smith etc...

https://www.aoijapan.com/katana-mumei-yokoyama-suketada/

Hi Everyone,

I found this FK set of a cute "evil" hare on Yahoo auction. Any reason to why not?

https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/c1016201473

Monthy Python killer rabbit ^^

Hi all,  I had no intention to bid on them. 

Thought it was interesting how auction houses put up stuff with questionable origins. Then I reacted to the kissaki looking way of and on the poor condition of the other one. Then I noticed the skulls and interest was sparkled a bit.

Anyway, for people with lesser knowledge (like me), it is a good reminder of what to not look for and take a chance on.

Thank you again for knowledgable response. 

Found this lurking around, first I thought the kissaki looked butchered but the skull fittings look interestingly but probably casts. 

blade nr 1. https://auctionet.com/sv/1923676-katana-Japan

Somehow, I think koto and most probably a new tourist piece.

Another one, that someone had some fun with 

blade nr 2. https://auctionet.com/sv/1927840-katana-Japan-1800-tal

Blade Nr 2.

Blade Nr 1.

1 hour ago, ROKUJURO said:

Hi Björn,

as all NAKAGO are not created equal, it can be very difficult to fit an existing TSUKA to a blade. That is work for experts and requires special tools. In some cases it does not work out at all.

The second objection I see is that the TOSOGU of the AOI  Art TSUKA are nice, but far from the TENSHO line which we all saw as good solution.

Personally I would not invest that (huge) sum in a project that might a) not look so good, and b) requires a lot of work to make it fit. 

Thank you Jean,

I was more thinking of removing the fushi and kashira and then commission a new tsuka to be made together with the saya. Alas, that might not be the correct thing to do.

 I am also inclined to agree that the tensho line is a better solution but sometimes I am wrong. 

Best Björn

On 9/14/2021 at 3:08 PM, Tanto54 said:

Dear Bjorn, very nice tsuba - I really like it.  I believe that most good koshirae were tied together in a meaningful theme that was important to the owner.  If the sword is the “soul” of the Samurai and the single most important item to him, why would he just put together a bunch of random tosogu on his sword?  I think that your tsuba is a stylized chrysanthemum which symbolizes Autumn, Purity, Longevity and Nobility, and is featured in many different legends and motifs like “the Chrysanthemum Boy,” "the Four Gentlemen," “Master of the Five Willows”, etc.  So in addition to choosing other tosogu to go with your tsuba’s color and “solemn” style, you might want to choose a matching theme that is important to you too.

 

For example, if you like the Four Gentlemen, then you would want to find tosogu that match your tsuba in color and style that have the other three flowers/plants of this grouping.  Remember that the Japanese view of flowers was very different from most Western perspectives.  The Four Gentlemen (Shikunshi) was a well known theme to Samurai that was adopted from Chinese philosophy and consisted of orchid, bamboo, chrysanthemum and plum.  The traits represented by these plants exemplified Bushido (the Warrior’s Way). 

 

Hi, I realized that I have not looked at Tsuka´s for sale, and found this one at AoiArt. Iron FK, with plum blossoms. This could be another option as suggested to go with the four gentlemen. To complete the four Gentlemen then I further need bamboo and orchid to represent the set. The quality looks ok, but it is possible a little too "much" going on comparing to the tsuba. What can be done to the iron to remove the rust? oil or painstaking cleaning with a toothpick.

What do you all think?

https://www.aoijapan.com/tsuka-2/

Thank you, sorry for the wrong side of the page.

All small things are welcome, I am like a sponge keep on learning. Iron FK it is, and where to focus will be ^^ 

Best Björn

Hi Christian, thank you for the information. For a person with limited knowledge, like mysel,f these notes and suggestion is a gold mine. I found a similar tsuba from Artur and I hope to get it home to compare the workmanship. Hopefully learning something in the process

Anyway, I cant tell from what school it is from and I got it due to that it struck a chord in me  It is very nice ^^

I agree that a iron FK set would be good and Ford work is the best option right now. Commission a new one is a bit over my budget at the moment and I need to save a bit to order it, to keep the wife happy. Maybe something will pop up in between, but so far after a few months of looking, I have not really found something that for me is a good match.

Why I refer it to Hoan is due to the paper work that came with it. I believe it is a later Hoan piece as stated in the papers?

Sorry for the large file size. 

18 hours ago, christianmalterre said:

and where is the Hoan ?

 

 

The picture of the Hoan tsuba is in the first post of this thread. 

Best Björn 

Ah, the left one. Yes I was also thinking that it fell out and some one replaced it with a silver one. 

Then I thought that when the kogai hitsu-ana was filled, they replaced the gold or it was already lost then with a silver one to be more "in balance" ...  Making a new gold one wouldnt be of much trouble, but replacing it on the tsuba is another story :| 

There is also a possible crack in the right gold infill next to kozuka hitsu-ana. Alas it has been around. 

I will contact Ford and check with him. 

Thank you again!

Best Björn

Hi, thank you for everyone advice and sorry for the absence! 

I was also thinking in the same are area and now I can put a name to it "Tensho Koshirae"  with black Same. 

I have some experience with metal work, but I think I am far away to even try to do something to this or other antiques. What do you think needs to be restored? 

Another theme, would be of the autumn. 

For the FK, a good iron would be perfect. The horse FK set I have been oogling before at touken-matsumoto but it has been unsold for a quite some time and I think it is a bit over priced, but I have a perfect menuki matching it. 

There is a Funada Ikkin Yoshimori FK set at Yohindo https://yuhindo.com/funada-ikkin-fuchigashira/ but I think that set would then shift the focus point from the tsuba. For me this is very very nice.

Alix posted a FK set of Minamoto no Yoshitsune, that might be an alternative, another he posted is of a scare crow. 

Ford, also posted of "simple/solemn" iron FK set, I took it of his facebook page https://www.facebook.com/tsubaman/posts/2271707079556643

I like Fords version, but I also like to have a story  

What do you all think!

So hard.

Dear everyone.

I need all your help. This is a tricky one for me.

I am in the process to locate and get different pieces to work together for a koshirae project for my wakizashi. 

The Tsuba is a Hoan and I find it hard to know what will work with it.  One word I think of when studying the tsuba is solemn. 

One idea is a Soten style FK set. 

SO please add your ideas  Very much appreciation from my side for any ideas!

Terrible, when this happens. I hade a tsuba sent from Japan sent early this year and got it 4-5 month later. So there is hope.

As a tip with a bit more expensive orders is the possibility to add an Apple Air tracker to the package. 29 USD for an extra eye in the sky.

Interesting cockerel tsuba. I wonder if the bonhams one have been restored. Do the artist create a master tsuba and then copy the design from that one or is it from a drawing. 

Hi Robert,

I am wondering if any clients have had problem with cracks? Different climates have different humidity and living in the North we have large variation in humidity (in Winter very low (water is snow), and in Summer a bit higher).  I very much guess our/my North is similar to that in Hokkaido. 

Best Björn

Thank you!

Your reports have clearly pointed out the minefield that is out there. Interestingly, some of the items have fetched high prices in the auctions. 

Please continue to add suspected items, so that we (me) can continue to train our (my) eyes and brain. 

Best Björn