Soshin

Hi Peter F., Nice tanto. Can you please post full length photos if you can. Thank you.

Hi Ben M., While I can't make any informed critique of the tanto itself I fully recommend buying from Mariusz K. He has purchased things from my collection of tosogu and vice versa and all transactions where smooth and professional. I hope you find this little bit of information helpful.

Hi Grey, Dr. Sato was much more of a nihonto expert then a tosogu expert so the attribution may not be so accurate. The first column from the far right side says top to bottom: tate maru-gata (竪丸形), tetsu-ji (鉄地). The second column from the far right side says from top to bottom: ko-sukashi (小透), shinchu zogan (真鍮象嵌). The third column from the far right side says: mumei (無銘), Onin (応仁). The fourth column from the far right side says: Kanzan plus hanko. The front of the box says: kiku sukashi (菊透), zogan tsuba (象嵌鐔). I only had to ask my wife twice. :lol: From looking at the front and back of lid they look like they were written by the same hand.

Hi Grey, Can you post a photo of the Hakogaki that cane with this tsuba? Thank you.

Hi Chris O., I think your tsuba dates to the later part of Edo Period about the late 18th to early to mid 19th century. In terms of school or group I would say your tsuba was likely made by a late Edo Period Tosho (swordsmith). This is just my interpretation of the information provided.

Hi Adrian and Curran, The funniest eBay bug as of late was them blocking my sale of a Kenjo tsuba to collectors in Europe including the UK. Most of my tsuba go to European collectors so this is a big deal in the end it didn't sell and I canceled the sale but still had to pay the eBay listing fees. I am thinking about this more as of late as I will be list two to three more tsuba at auction in the coming weeks one per week to focus my collection help pay for my recent purchase on NMB.

Hi Curren, I think the issue with me not seeing your auctions where a technical one that I notice affecting me seeing other sellers items as well. I don't live not far from I-95 but I think the whole state of Maryland is democrat.

Hi Chriso, The overall design is referred to as mu-mon (無紋) "no design". The small holes are not part of a design they are called udenuki-ana. It is where a leather wrist cord (udenuki 腕抜) was used. I have the same thing on my tsuba of my Budo training katana. I generally notice that one hole is larger than the other.

Hi Everyone, I did some more research and think my tsuba was likely made by a student of the 5th generation Shimizu. I updated my website information to Jingo but at shinsa it might also just go to Kodai Jingo.

Hi Patrick R., I would say "Kodai Higo" as an attribution which means the work of a nonspecific later generation of tsubako from Higo Province. I hope you find it helpful.

Hi Barry, Putting all of the jokes aside. That was Skip's impression on the tsuba as well when I was making the trade for it at the Tampa show. Currently I have Ko-Kinko on my website but I really don't know. It takes seeing many of these type of tsuba in hand to make accurate judgments and my collection focus is not Ko-Kinko or Ko-Mino tsuba. My focus is the tsuba of Owari and Higo Provinces. Regardless it is nice tsuba and I also like the example Ken W. linked to start this topic off which does display similar nanako-ji running from top to bottom. The NBTHK Tokubetsu Kicho paper says "Mumei (Mino)". P.S. Even with it not being the focus of my collection it made the #1 spot on my top ten tsuba album on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3142478739312.108270.1785290453&type=1&l=cce609bb7c

Hi Ford, Very nice work. Keep up the good work in you new home! :D

Hi Ken W., I like your reasoning but my current working theory is evil graden gnomes of the Ironbrush clan in Cape Town, South Aferica made it.

Hi Ken W., I had different people offer different opinions on my tsuba a the Tampa show. Some people said Ko-Kinko and some said Ko-Mino while others said it was of the "I like that" group. The tsuba shows a fair bit of wear on the nanako-ji and the kozuka hitsu-ana is not original which makes me think it has some age and character to it. :lol:

Hi Ken W. , Your talking about my tsuba that I posted after the Tampa show. The tsuba you linked to is top to bottom as it is on my tsuba. Most Mino tsuba have nanako running in a circular pattern up to and including the Edo Period. I am not a Kinko person but I like my tsuba and it shows good quaily workmenship and age so I will keep it. :D

Hi Steven, I am aware that Florida is a red state and Maryland is a blue state but I think there still part of the same country. Let me check Fox News and get back to you about that... P.S. The above joke is intended for US members of the NMB The problem looks like it fixed itself on my home computer this evening. My bid have been placed.

Hi Curran, For some strange reason eBay says you are not listing anything when I use a saved search of your user ID. But when I use the links I see the item. This is very strange. :?

Hi Denis, Not sure what link you are referring to. The early Shinto era swordsmith Guido is talking about never made any tsuba that to the best of my knowledge. I seen a few of these late Edo Period tsuba signed "Kunihiro" received NBTHK Hozon level papers so I don't think they are considered gimei.

Hi Denis, Yes the maker of the tsuba is Kunihiro (國廣) a shinshinto era swordsmith located in Bushu Province during the late Edo Period who also made tsuba as a hobby. Haynes states in his index that there might have been four or five swordsmiths using the "Kunihiro" artist name during this time period. I once had one of his tsuba in my collection similar to yours.

Hi Terry Mc, Good to see that you made it onto NMB. Thanks for contacting me via my website. Since I can see the tsuba in question I can start to do some research but having some high resolution photos would be very helpful along with a full set of measurements as I discussed via email. P.S. I think Junichi is correct. The design doesn't look like Raijin in my opinion.

Hi John S., Thanks for the reply. The iron of this tsuba is truly remarkable and is best felt in hand. I also love the iron bones along the rim as well. The sound of a horagai is remarkable in my opinion. Here is a Youtube video of a horagai in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6FZXoIU4Q0. Enjoy...

Hi Everyone, Just wanted to share my last new tsuba of the Tampa show this year. I made photos today that turned out nice in my opinion. This iron tsuba is likely an early example of the Saotome school circa the Azuchi-Momoyama Period and measures 7.8 cm wide by 8.1 cm high. The negative silhouetted openwork design (kage-sukashi 影透) is of the conch shell trumpet called a (horagai 法螺貝) in Japanese. It has a strong association with the ascetic warrior-monks of the Shugendo sect of Japanese Buddhism referred to as (yamabushi 山伏). The yamabushi used the trumpet to signal their presence (or movements) to one another across mountains and to accompany the chanting of sutras. Here is more information about the Japanese conch shell trumpet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horagai. Enjoy and feel free to discuss.

Hi Curran, I have separate insurance for my whole collection which covers theft, shipping, and transport to and from trade shows. It isn't very expensive per year. I was shipping over $1,000 worth of tosogu to France and the limit was $650 insurance which I used but the postal employee said that was just the limit to France. To other places like UK, Germany, and other places in US the limit is different and in some cases much higher.

Hi JDromm, I came across this website with information about these papers in Japanese: http://www.musasiya.co.jp/token.htm. The website is for the shop located in Osaka that issues all of the NTKK papers for tosogu. Hope you find the information helpful. Always buy the item and not the paper or the box. :lol:

Hi John S. and Curran, Thank you so much for the information. I have updated my website. I found some helpful information on Haynes Index page 1312. Naoaki (H 06591.0) was a swordsmith that lived in Edo and had a working period between 1850 and 1875 and was a student of Naokatsu (H 06661). Was my tsuba made by Naoaki? These three examples posted all look very similar to my tsuba in my opinion. P.S. If anyone has a nihonto made by Naoaki or Naokatsu circa the late Edo Period please post photos of the nakago as if would be helpful to my research. Thank you in advance.