Tim Evans

To me it looks like: Mid to Late Edo period Kinko Copper inlays on brass plate Unfortunately it has been cleaned using silver polish (these are the white deposits in the crevices) which removed the desirable oxides - the brass should be a buttery brown color and the copper should be dark brown or black There is one bit of inlay missing on the front So, yes an authentic antique tsuba, but it needs restoration. Not much value here, a project piece.

His linage is not detailed in the reference books I have. It may not be documented, since Bob Haynes would normally note that in the artist entry. The book I am referring to is this one. https://japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/store/book/fittings-books/b760-the-index-of-Japanese-sword-fittings-and-associated-artists-by-robert-haynes/ This is one of the best English to Japanese tosogu artist reference books available. I think a good purchase if interested in collecting signed kinko tosogu.

Shosankenshu has the mei as NariToshi (N209) or Seiju (S78). The Haynes list has the following: H 06956.0 Tokyo, Furukawa ju D ca. 1875 Signed in full soho kanji. Worked in many late syles. Mostly made kozuka and FK.

From the position of the dot, a soritsuno could have been removed and the dot is a patch in the lacquer.

We also need to consider when. During the Sengoku period, there were the Ikko and Ikki, which were large peasant self defense organizations that made their own edged weapons and firearms. These groups were large enough and militarized enough to challenge the authority and territory of the Daimyo. One would assume they were not too fastidious about scavenging battlefields. Oda Nobunaga destroyed many of the Ikko/Ikki, with Toyotomi Hideyoshi finishing the job. Hideyoshi issued an edict in 1587 called "the great sword hunt" to forcibly disarm all non-samurai. The excuse given that that the swords were to be used to make nails for a huge statue of the Buddha, which would bring peace in the present and salvation in the future. Most likely the real reason was to prevent reformation of the ikko/ikki organizations. A reference if you would like to know more. https://www.amazon.com/War-State-Building-Medieval-Japan/dp/0804763704 There are also a number of books by Stephen Turnbull that cover the Sengoku period. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=stephen+turnbull&i=stripbooks&crid=1F4Z0QACCP86S&sprefix=stephen+turnbull+%2Cstripbooks%2C181&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

Contextually, this a small utility knife. It was normally carried in a pocket carved into the scabbard of a short sword called a wakizashi. You can easily google some images of wakizashi mounted with kozuka. There are silly stories about them being used as throwing knives, but they were too expensive, too light and wrong balance for that. Fittings collectors seem to prefer them with the blades removed, so you will often see them sold that way. The one you have appears to be from the mid to late Edo period.

The blades (kogatana) are usually held in place with pine pitch, an early hot melt glue. The signatures on kogatana are usually fanciful attributions to important swordsmiths, not by the person who actually made it, so normally not taken seriously. The kozuka has been over cleaned. The pink coppery parts should be a black color called shakudo. It was probably polished with silver polish, this is not uncommon. If you wash off the silver polish residue, the black color oxide may eventually reform. Sometimes kozuka are signed, usually on the back. Another place to check is the butt. However, it is not unusual for it to be unsigned.

Why? No way to know for sure, but probably a sword dealer or collector playing the shinsa game with tsuba. Item submitted to shinsa, and deemed gimei Mei removed, resubmitted, and then papered as mumei shoshin to some school This is frequently done with gimei swords For example, here is a yamakichibei tsuba with the mei removed. It was papered to Umetada. This is unfortunate because it was probably not gimei.

I found one mei reference in Wakayama which states: "Eldest son of 12th Mitsumichi. Died young, left few works". Fittings collectors do not normally install blades on kozuka unless it will be mounted on koshirae. Removing and installing blades usually requires heat since glued in with pitch. There are wood boxes with silk pillows to keep kozuka. Shakudo is a copper alloy with a thin layer of black oxide. Scrub too hard and the bare metal will show so go slow and gentle. Do not use an ultrasonic cleaner, it will strip off the oxide. There is a mix of dried skin oil and dirt on the surface. One thing to try is alcohol on on a q-tip. Try an inconspicuous spot first.

What you need are some scrap pieces of same' to cut and fit. You can find old unwrapped tsuka on yahoo Japan/jauce or, try a want ad here on NMB for old tsuka or same', or, you can try a tsukamaki-shi such as montanairon.com (David McDonald) to see if he has any small pieces available. To insert a new piece, wet the silk wrap so that it will stretch a little and then slide in the replacement piece with some white glue on the back. Same' is basically leather, so it is easier to form and cut if you soak it in water a bit first.

A hidden cross example. https://www.jauce.com/auction/w1187376496

You may want to peruse this article by Markus Sesko on translating Japanese, particularly sword related material. https://markussesko.com/2018/02/26/challenges-of-translating-period-Japanese-sword-texts/ It may be possible to "fine tune" an AI with enough text examples and query-response pairs to work as an optimized Japanese translator, but there is still a lot of tricky interpretation that requires extensive experience.

This site is worth checking occasionally. http://tsubaryuken.com/ This is a modern tsuba smith who works in iron and many of them are copies right out of the Sasano books and other references. I don't think there is an intent to deceive or fake, however, second or third owners may misrepresent them as antique, after distressing them a bit. It looks like these are hand cut - drill, saw and file, as opposed to mechanically made - cast, laser cut or CNC machined. There is a "toad skin" like texture on some of them. The fact that some of them are copies of well known tsuba is a red flag to be careful if seen for sale at auction sites or dealer sites.

Comment on the hidden cross thing. I have seen a number of articles claiming basically any tsuba with a quadrilateral symmetrical design is a hidden cross. I disagree for a number of reasons: Quadrilateral symmetrical design tsuba predate Christianity in Japan The Roman Catholic missionaries used a Latin cross. The even-arm cross was used by the Greek orthodox church, and were not present in Japan Christianity was practiced openly in the Oda and Toyotomi regimes, no need to hide it. Hidden cross tsuba that I have seen that look legit have a Latin cross inlaid in the seppadai area, so it can't be seen when mounted. These probably date during the Tokugawa Shogunate If a cross form tsuba represents anything, it is more likely the character Ju (+),or, how the Japanese write the number 10 The Ju-mon was used by the Shimazu and related clans in Satsuma. They were overtly anti-Catholic

In 1993 a group of Yagyu Shinkage Ryu instructors visited New York City giving lecture-demonstrations at the United Nations, and the Japan Society and at Ken Zen Dojo. The visitors included the current (21st) headmaster of the school, Yagyu Nobuharu. The other demonstrators included Ikenaga Koichiro, Ban Yasuyuki, Hirano Yoshiaki, Suyama Yasuo, and Kitahara Masashi. This was their first time in the USA. Yagyu sensei gave a lecture before each demonstration and answered questions afterward. These were translated by Yonekawa Yoshinobu. One comment from the lecture: Yagyu Nobuharu Sensei said: "Imagine that we draw a big circle with three even dots. At the top is the first point, correct teachings. The second dot is practice and the third is invention. This circle represents infinite movements and it represents the way of practice in Yagyu Shinkage Ryu." Yagyu Sensei was not speaking specifically about tsuba, but was relating the teaching to a lecture audience. It is remarkable, however, that the image he uses is identical to the sangaku-en tsuba design. RE: the provenance of the OP's tsuba. Bob Haynes made a hand drawn copy of the the Yagyu design book while he was a student of Dr. Torigoye in Japan. I believe this was published by the NCJSC some time ago. This design is listed as number 103, but no additional notes for size or ownership.