Ruslan T.

Dear Bob, I'll be where. Mostly for general amusement Look forward to meet some one from NMB in person. Regards, Ruslan T.

Hi John, Thank you very much. You are a great help as always! Very best regards, Ruslan

Hi John, Thank you again! Would you say that a kozuka-ana on the tsuba is a later addition? Thank you in advance. Best Regards, Ruslan

Dear John, Thank you for your opinion. Sorry for taking so long to write this . I hoped, that someone else will also write something to the topic. It looks like, that everybody agrees with you. The main point for the attribution to late Edo from my fellow collector was quite thick tsuba plate. What is your opinion about that? Is it usual for Jingo school to use “so thick†plates? Thank you again. Best regards, Ruslan

Hi all, I am a beginner in world of kodugo and nihonto. From my personal (and already quite painful experience) I can say: first research – than buy. This time I have broke the rule. Again. Short time ago I have bought a tsuba. I was (am ) so fascinated by design… One good thing about the tsuba I can say already. It is definitely not a gimei The tsuba is 7.777cm or 3.062inches × 7.69cm or 3.03 inches. It is 0.54 cm or 0.21 inch thick. The front of the tsuba presents Ni-o. More about Ni-o you can find here http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/nio.shtml The backside of the tsuba presents the fence of the shrine. I personally believe, that separating the Ni-o figures and the fence on different sides of the tsuba makes an interesting and powerful artistic impression. The design looks quite archaic to me. Also a dealer told me, that the tsuba should be produced in early Edo. From the other side, the plate is quite thick. One of collectors, I was showing the tsuba to, told me that from the weight it should be shin-shinto. Could someone help in identification of the school (please do not tell me this is Soami ) and the time period of the tsuba? I read that early (at least until the end of the Muromachi period) tsubas were quite thin (about 3mm). Is this correct? From the other side this one supposed to be from early Edo… Can/should one make a conclusion about the age of a tsuba based on its thickness? Thank you very much in advance. Regards, Ruslan

Hi all, It is true, that one usually see the low-end staff. I just remember a few beautiful kozukas with table knifes attached (on eBay of course ). I promise to send a link if I’ll see one again. I have one kozuka with table knife – letter opener. It is low-end cheap piece form begin of the 20th century. I have used the heat on the knife and then again on the kozuka itself. It worked out perfectly and I was able to separate them. I suppose the heat will also work on the real ones . Thank you all for the support. It is a great pleasure to read (and post ) the forum! Regards, Ruslan

Dear John, Thank you very much! You are a great help, as always Best Regards, Ruslan

Hi John, :-) It is not mine I have ogled with the piece, but someone was faster. I wonder is there an “usual†way to remove the knife, or it is different pain every time? Ruslan

Hi all, I am a beginner in world of Nihonto and Kodogo. I have some questions of the kind “you always wanted, but afraid to ask†:-). As far as I know in Meiji period quite a lot sword fittings (for instance menuki) was converted to jewellery (like brooches or cufflinks). I have seen some fuchi-kashiras converted to match-boxes. And quite often you can see kozukas as a handle of a table knifes. Sometimes these kozukas have quite a high quality. Here is a link to an eBay auction (hopefully this should not be a reason to move this thread to eBay-discussion ) where you can see one of the samples. http://cgi.ebay.com/GENUINE-Japanese-KOZUKA-SAMURAI-SWORD-PAPER-KNIFE_W0QQitemZ300065264843QQihZ020QQcategoryZ66841QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem I wonder, have someone tried to remove the knife blade and restore the kozuka? Is there any possibility of the success? How one can do this? Thank you in advance. Best Regards, Ruslan

Dear Rich, Ders Mr. Ludolf, Thank you very much for your help and your knowledge! Not very nice news, but that is still better than not to be aware of them. I believe one lesson I have learnt. Could one recommend a good book in English about soft metal tsubas? Thank you very much. Cheers, Ruslan

Hello Rich, Hello Mr. Moriyama! Thank you very much for the prompt answers. Here is one more picture of the mei. May be you can see it better in it. I wonder, could this tsuba be from Edo? I am just a beginner, but I have spent some time in studying (better say “looking atâ€) tsubas. OK, these were mostly at eBay and at sites of the Nihonto and Tosogu scholars and collectors, still I have never seen anything like this Tsuba from Edo period. Thank you again. Cheers, Ruslan

To All Greetings. My name is Ruslan. I'm new on the board and in collecting Nihonto. Can anyone help with the definition of the age and mei translation for this tsuba? I suppose, that the material of the tsuba is copper. I have bough it recently from one German dealer. This is the dealer information to this tsuba. Form: Hakkakugata Mei: Otsuryuken Hamano Kaneyuki Mito School around 1850 Would this be a correct description for the tsuba? Thank you very much for your kind help. Cheers Ruslan Tarasenko