Bazza

More hmmmmm - I once saw an impressive Bizen sword in suguha - maybe Osafune Bizen??? BaZZa.

Hmmmm - I once saw a blade very similar to this with the chikei. Mutsu no Kami Tadayoshi, Hizen sandai, though the tateware in the hi seems atypical for the meticulous workmanship of this smith. BaZZa.

Nice yari, Good to see all the bits present. A 3-character name can be a bit of a stumbling block in a mostly 2-character world of names. Thanks again to Moriyama san for a quick response. BaZZa.

Hi Chuck, Nice looking hamon in the first pic. What's the length now after suriage?? And could we please see on overall clean shot (no habaki) straight down on the blade. There are hints of good stuff... BaZZa.

I am really no one to say anything, but... I think it is truly better that the "whole thing" is out in public. I deeply appreciate the explanations given by our learned and steadfast friends above and the Good Ship NMB is in safe and strong hands to chart our course through rough waters. I truly believe we all know 'who is who' in our little Ocean Cruiser. I have been 'here' since 2008 and marvel at the 12 years passed. I have learnt much and continue to do so, but more than that I have another group of good, honest people whom I can call good friends. Good to clear the fronts indeed Peter and I'm sure Paul is not in a seppuku frame of mind... With warmest and sincerest regards, Barry Thomas aka BaZZa.

And yet, looking again at your photo Steven, it seems to me that the koshinogi extends further back toward the nakago. This would be the prime determinant of where the yokote should be if the polisher was up to the job. And without the sword in hand to see the subtleties that is where i will rest my case. BaZZa.

Steven, your yokote is definitely not cosmetic. The mitsugashira clearly shows this - mitsugashira is the place where the yokote, koshinogi and yokote meet. Your koshinogi is well defined where it meets the shinogi and the yokote also originates at that place (I have purposely not used "point"!!). Can we see the nakago and perhaps you have an overall sugata picture?? BaZZa.

I'm about to have a chat with my wife over the dinner table.after doing some rare work outside, to wit, cleaning gutters. I'm encouraged by Guido's example and will open a bottle of Shiraz as dinner cries out for it. I've even been know to walk into the house at dinner time, sniff what's cooking and say "That meal cries out for wine", turn on my heel and drive to the bottle shop to get a Shiraz. My wife is really a nice person - she lets me collect... Another daisho story. This one goes back some 40 years when Alan Harvie used to visit Sydney in Australia as Chief Engineer on the "Monterey" cruise liner. He always had stuff to show us as we did him. On one visit he found in a shop (our local shop!) a wakizashi IDENTICAL in mei and nenki to a katana he had found in San Fran. Were we all green with envy!! Still, green in Japanese connotes first class, as in Green (railway) Car, does it not?? First Class find by Alan. Sniff sniff - dinner is near. Time for the Shraz, a case of which is at my feet... BaZZa.

Where's an AAAAAAGH!! button when you need one!! BaZZa.

I have always known the Musashi tsuba as namako - sea slug, or sea cucumber, and totally Musashi's design in his time. This blog bears particularly and germanely on this thread as it also addresses the fish and gourd tsuba above as a Musashi design: http://ichijoji.blogspot.com/2011/01/musashi-tsuba-and-koshirae.html BaZZa

Roger mate, if you use the Search window at the top rhs of the screen and type in heianjo and press the magnifying glass symbol you will have TONS of information and discussions on such tsuba. Best regards, BaZZa.

Somewhere, maybe on NMB, I read where a collector replaced the steel pins with small diameter bamboo rods glued in place... BaZZa.

Gee Jean C, if I ever knew of Ken's HEIANJO TSUBA link I had forgotten all about it. I enjoyed the read/re-read and I think I can truly say that NMB is the place where there is more "forgotten knowledge" than many of us know about... Sadly, I can't spend all of my waking hours here, though I think my Better Half wishes I would surface for a breath of "outside" life more often... BaZZa.

It's a very big club!! My Darling Son has forbidden his Mother and I to leave our property in the present crisis, preferring instead to leave stuff for us at the front gate. He rang not 10 minutes ago to say there was a case of wine and beer at the front gate. What a thoughtful lad... BaZZa (hic)

Ah haaaaaa!!! I shall watch the replies with interest... I have a glimmer of an idea... Just a glimmer. BaZZa.

IMHO not Hizento. BaZZa.

Gentle Ffolke, I offer the attached tsuba for comment and discussion. It is a "sleeper" never before seen and found in an old deceased estate collection. It was mounted on an Edo period handachi of very mediocre quality, yet an "honest" sword in good condition. The koshirae was fine with some interesting features, however the blade is signed yamashiro kuni nishijin ju umetada myoju (山城國西陣住埋忠明壽)and is so blatantly gimei that I'll pass over it immediately... The tsuba, however, to my eye stands head and shoulders over the rest of the sword for interest. Although clearly Namban I believe, I have no idea of the meaning of any of the figures, neither the creature portrayed top and bottom nor what is going on in the bi-lobed areas, except to say that in the latter a dragon's head can be seen. These photos of the tsuba are "as found" taken off the sword in the owner's presence. It could certainly need a gentle clean. EDIT: I have been gazing at the photos and the "figures" at 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock seem to be a tama in a dragon's claw. A most unusual perspective??? Best regards, BaZZa,.

Roger, To start this off I would speculate that the first tsuba (on the left) has a ground that is not ishime?? It reminds me more of a simulated lacquer surface (toad skin?)?? I have no knowledge to comment on the next tsuba. Best regards, BaZZa.

A very interesting tsuba. Perhaps this is Nitta Yoshisada before he attacked Kyoto in 1331 by moving his army along a beach in a surprise attack. He is said to have prayed on the beach for "the Gods" to open the waters so his troops could pass. There is a monument to the moment on the beach. I have a small tsuba with a similar theme sold to me with this information. EDIT: It is the piercing gold eyes that also made me think of the similarity to my tsuba. EDIT 2: See http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/28282-help-with-tsuba-theme-please BaZZa.

The following NMB thread presents an interesting finding during an internet search for something else: http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/31578-fascinating-informative-fb-site-on-namban-tsuba-etc/ Here is the text in that thread: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted 22 March 2020 - 12:13 PM Gentle folk, Whilst reading the following thread: http://www.militaria...alphabet-tsuba/ I went looking for a similar tsuba I had seen elsewhere and found this link I hadn't seen before: https://www.facebook...6199600/?type=3 I'll report my tsuba findings in the first thread above, but on the Facebook page I see Ray Singer, Peter Bleed and Peter Dekker names mentioned as people who have been there, but I've put it here for interest of those who aren't aware of it. The first item is a photo of CR Boxer. Clicking on it brings up a slide view of some very, very interesting tosogu amongst other items. Best regards, BaZZa. EDIT: Just above Boxer's photo is some text I meant to point out, concluding with a link to a free download of CR Boxer's publication "European Influence on Japanese Sword-fittings 1543 - 1853": https://ia800708.us.....R. 1931pdf.pdf ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BaZZa.

Ahhhhh, plaudits to Steve. I've been studying this and was going to come here and say I absolutely do not see HARU 春 in the nakago character. Agreed for 治. However, Nihonto club does not give a YOSHIHARU 吉治 and neither does google. I tried an amateur sleuth stunt by switching my google search to Japanese and put in 尾州住吉治, but that drew a blank too. Back to Square 1 Marius!! Bestests, BaZZa. EDIT: It might be a very ordinary sword, but I like it.

Oh I have!! Only one, but it was a horrormono. I called it the Chicken Leg Dragon horrormono. I showed it to a Japanese collector/dealer one day and he said "Oh, its not so bad!!" I took this to mean that horimono were difficult to do at the best (worst?) of times. BaZZa. LATE EDIT: I forgot to add that there was indeed a dreadful kizu that ran through the dragon.

Um, um, er... Posts #2 and #4 suggested to me that some wanted to see varieties of pistol, so, voila, I put it here. Never mind that I've been "gunner" put it up in a separate thread since I got it 1 1/2 years ago, but that's why my middle name is "Gunnadoo".. I also thought without thinking that Gary G might like to see another and also to add to the variety Gary showed in one place. Thus endeth the defence, though the Jury might say guilty as charged. Might an acquittal be the surprise outcome?? BaZZa.

Firefox brought it straight up first time... BaZZa.

How did I miss this thread??? Or did I simply forget?? Or was it a case of Gunnadoo??? Whatever, here is a pic of my bajou zutsu as a starter/teaser. I'll put up more details when I have time from tasks at hand. EDIT: I do have a translation "somewhere"... Bestests, BaZZa.