Soshin

So, newbies in the USA (Dan and Sam S.) now say Owari Tsuba are "cast". I would love to see and feel this tsuba in hand. I don't see anything as such from the limited number of photos provided. What I do see looks to be rust and corrosion damage to the plate surface. There are several iron bones along the rim typical of Owari Sukashi tsuba. If this form lacks high quality examples in excellent conditions to study, I have a few that I can offer to discuss that were once or us still in my collection.

I took some better photos of this tsuba over the weekend for update of my website (www.tsubaotaku.com) next month. Here is a low-resolution copy of one of the photos small enough to upload. I came across the previous owners notes about this tsuba. He was thinking it was a work of the Ko-Nara School. The iron bones are nice along the rim on this tsuba making me agree with the Ko-Nara School call but need more information. I have never had any Ko-Nara School tsuba before in my collection and need to read up on them in general. I did come across this webpage with information on Japanese Sword Index: Japanese KO-NARA TSUBA (japaneseswordindex.com)

All three examples basically support the point I was trying to make. Time to move on and talk about other things.

Just ideas about this tsuba that has long since left my collection. While the carving style is an old one seen sometimes in the Kamakura-bori style of tsuba the rim shape is very atypical of Kamakura-bori style tsuba as well as the other thickness of the tsuba. I now have two Kamakura-bori style tsuba in my collection and they have hugely different style rims and very thin plates. The carving and along the rim are also not seen in Kamakura-bori style tsuba. The gold inlayed eyes are also not something seen in Kamakura-bori style tsuba. The plain Higo call to that tsuba means the NBTHK was not able to put the tsuba into one of the five main schools of Higo Provience (Kamiyoshi, Hayashi, Nishigaki, and Jingo). There were other independent artists working in Higo Province both professionally and as a side hobby while being samurai during the Edo Period. Of these five main schools of Higo Provience my old tsuba shows most similarities with the Jingo School.

Thank you for your reply @Jussi Ekholm. Contacting the European branch of the NBTHK might be a good idea. Not sure as I haven't directly interacted with the group living in USA and being a member of the American branch of the NBTHK. I remember seeing many European visitors while I was there in November. While visiting Japan I always found in and around the hotel a delightful place to study while on vacation. This reminds me I need to get back to reading the new Umetada booked I picked up the NBTHK Japanese Sword Museum last November. While reading it on my vacation it made me appreciate the Umetada tsuba I have in my collection just that bit more.

Thanks everyone feedback. I will be doing much better photos this month. This was just a quick iPhone photo. I have sent the photo to the previous owner to get more information about the tsuba provenance and the person who wrote the inscription on the box. So far, I think my unsigned tsuba was likely made by the Aizu Shōami Ryu-ha (会津正阿弥流派) circa the middle to late Edo Period.

I picked this tsuba up for my collection at the 2024 Baltimore Antique Arms show last month. It is the current focus of my tsuba study. Rare musket pistol and target theme in excellent condition. Feel free to discuss it politely.

Maybe, but not likely as the Saotome School was not known for their soft metal inlay work. Post a photo of the tsuba and everyone can discuss it or just send me a photo of it via PM for a more focused private opinion.

There are many mediocre quality Japanese swords, and thus many mediocre quality tsuba and other fittings to go with them. I think at a basic level are all worthy of preservation because if they are not, they are ready for the recycling bin in Japan. Papering system by the NBTHK, NTHK, or NTHK-NPO is not the problem per say, its people not putting in much sustained study, thought, and all-around effort before purchasing to have a good well-rounded collection. With that said I need to get back to studying before work.

I would contact the NTHK at the website above. I think they have done shinsa in the UK before, if I remember correctly.

Some general rules I like to follow regarding Japanese swords and sword fittings. If you think it will pass and not a (gimei 偽銘) and you like the piece enough to keep it a while in your personal collection, then papering is fine don't be in a hurry. Don't be like @Infinite_Wisdumb and be expecting a quick flip of the item especially when the piece is unsigned and only mediocre in quality.

2024 is my last great submission year for me as a collector. I have a fair number submitted this year (all confirmed accepted by the NBTHK via broker in Kamakura) that group represent the "bread-butter" of my collection. Next year and beyond I am going to focus only on a very few higher end pieces for the NTBHK Tosogu shinsa. I am in complete agreement with the points @Gakusee had made. I deeply respect @Curran, but do not completely agree with some of his points. Look at all those old people in the photo @Gakusee posted. It is fundamentally a demographic problem. This hobby's demographic problem is not at all limited to Japan in my opinion.

It looks like a nice iron tsuba with an appealing design. A nice addition to any Japanese sword in your collection thanks for sharing. I would estimate the age ranging from mid to late Edo Period circa the 18th to mid 19th Century. From my own experience and study, it is likely an unsigned work of the prolific Shōami Ryū-ha (正阿弥流派) school after they had branched out from Kyōto (京都) into the different provinces after the Muromachi and Azuchi-Momoyama Periods. I have seen similar signed examples made by artist of Aizu Shōami Ryū-ha (会津正阿弥流派).

Unfortunately, I don't have the tsuba in hand or I would try to provide photos of inside surfaces of the nakago and hitsu-ana. I remember seeing a distinct three-layer construction to the plate. The texture you see was applied to the surface of both thinner outer most plates. All three plates (the two thinner outer and one thicker inner plate) are I think held together by the rim cover. An interesting design to what I think is an older pre–Edo Period soft metal tsuba.

Here is an early one I think, I have submitted for NBTHK shinsa this year. The surface has a nice layer of black lacquer applied to it. The design is a plain textured surface with copper and lead inlays. The plate construction is made up of three layers with rim clover holding everything together very tightly.