Iekatsu

Hello Peter, thanks for the additional photos. As I suspected, I don't think your Tsuba or David's Tsuba are San-mai, both are nice Ko-kinko Tsuba though. The area you have highlighted at the back of the Nakago-ana appears to just be minor delamination.

For the last two, do you have an images from an angle showing the plates in the Nakago or Hitsu-ana?

Hello Henny,

This is a modern set, sorry.

Hello Dale,

With all due respect to Vashavsky, he collates information that has been published in various books, on websites and information given on items purchased, and he does a very good job of it, but a citable source it is not, and there is no information on how the material attribution was reached. I am happy to share a single example, but this is part of active research I am conducting and when I am I ready to release the full results I will. I am not here to convince you or anyone else of anything, I just have knowledge in the area and thought it was worth mentioning. Below is a classic Kagami-shi Tsuba, I actually have two in this style, likely from the same workshop and you can see a similar example published in the Sasano's Kagamishi Tsuba book.

The composition is:
Copper 83% 
Tin 12.88%
Iron 0.88% 
Silver 0.37%
The remaining being made of trace elements of various things.


 

Hello Arthur,

I think you are on the right track now, Nara and the surrounding area was well known for armour production in this period and with its central location in the trade networks the reach of the styles influence makes more sense.

Hello Dale,

Many people just make subjective assumptions based on the the look, feel and colour of the metal (refer to the quote you posted above), this is even true in well known publications and books by well meaning experts. Many of these assumptions are wrong because most people do not have access to equipment to test the material composition, once published it is taken as fact, I have done the tests and formed my own conclusions.

(Also only the second example posted is a Kagamishi, the other has been misidentified.)

Hello Dale,

I study Kagamishi tsuba, I have an extensive collection and have had them tested using an XRF machine, all the examples I have tested are bronze in composition. Yamagane is not really a suitable material for casting and this is reflected in the extant examples.

Hello Dan,

My opinion of course, but there has been quite a bit of push back from various members over the life of this thread, I think that fundamentally it comes down to the quality of the supporting evidence and the fact that a rigorous research methodology has not been applied.

I am sorry to hear that you are done with research into this topic, I for one will keep an open mind and look forward to seeing if any new evidence/research surfaces.

Jean,

Bronze is used in Kagamishi tsuba.

Dan,

You have not provided suffcient evidence to convince most people following this thread.

The hunt continues.

Hello Dan,

There is no mention of cast iron in the above standards, it is well established that there are cast bronze Tsuba that pre-date the Meiji period and that they pass for papers at all levels.

I don't think they are Jingasa, just objects that share a similar shape.

It is a showa period replica, appears to be missing the Haidate and Suneate.

Price drop $120 USD

Age: Early Edo period
Material: Iron
Height: 7.8cm
Width: 7.6cm
Thinckness at Nakago-ana: 0.4cm
Thickness at Mimi: 0.4cm
Weight: 67.7g
Nakago-ana height: 3.0cm
Nakago-ana width bottom: 0.7cm
Nakago-ana width top: 0.1cm

No box or stand.

$150 USD + Shipping (Standard postage Worldwide $20USD)

The second character is Masa 方
 

Brian,

It is a modern reproduction, not a period piece.

Number 2 is now also sold, thanks for everyone's interest.

Totally agree with the above.

Number 1 is now SOLD.

Number 2 on HOLD.

Unfortunately not Arthur, further research will have to be conducted to see if there are records that relate to the donation of each of the examples above. Ōyamazumi-jinja has a long history of sword and armour donation dating back to the Heian period.

1. Ko-Kinko Tsuba with Fukurin, decorated with a stone ground. The plate is slightly warped around the Seppa-dai, wear commensurate with age, stand and box not included.

Age: Late Muromachi - Momoyama period
Material: Yamagane (copper)
Height: 7.35cm
Width: 6.9cm
Thinckness at Nakago-ana: 0.2cm
Thickness at Mimi: 0.35cm
Weight: 87.6g
Nakago-ana height: 2.75cm
Nakago-ana width bottom: 0.8cm
Nakago-ana width top: 0.15cm

$150 USD + Shipping (Standard postage Worldwide $20USD)



 

2. Ko-Kinko Tsuba, with a motif of ginger and waves on a stone ground. Some minor rust incursions around the Nakago-ana, wear commensurate with age, stand and box not included.

Age: Momoyama period
Material: Yamagane (copper)
Height: 6.6cm
Width: 5.75cm
Thinckness at Nakago-ana: 0.35cm
Thickness at Mimi: 0.35cm
Weight: 82.3g
Nakago-ana height: 2.55cm
Nakago-ana width bottom: 0.5cm
Nakago-ana width top: 0.15cm

$135 USD + Shipping (Standard postage Worldwide $20USD)

  
 

Please get in contact if you have any questions.

More examples, again from Ōyamazumi-jinja.

  

Here we can see some examples from Ōyamazumi shrine. Sorry about the poor quality of the images.

   
 

Looks like they made a correction, it is now listed as Meiji period, late 19th - early 20th century, still not accurate, but an improvement I guess.