Gunome

What about an Umetada school influence ?

Neither 2000 dollars nor 2000 yen

Many thanks Moriyama san !

Hello, I need your help to decipher this mei on a tanto tsuba. I can read Toryusai 東竜斎 Hide ? 秀 XX ? Do you confirm 東竜斎 toryusai ? I don't success to read the 2 last kanji, (not sure for the Hide 秀) Thanks Sébastien

Hello Maybe a butterfly or dragonfly as you suggested https://varshavskyco...collection/tsu-0353/ What about lotus root ?

Some of mine

3 nice tsuba. I really like the Fuji san on the Yoshioka one

Piers, unfortunately I didn't bought it too. No funds at this time. Robert, indeed, you could find some tosogu with better carving quality. But here you need to consider the sliding screen workmanship. Not sure it is easy to do. I never see another example since. Nive to know there may be another one like this one ?!

I also see such kozuka. Here is a photo (sorry for its quality, it has been taken around 15 years ago...)

Hello, Not Ishiguro. Maybe kinko Soten ?

Hello Manuel Congrats for you work and for your award ! Best regards Sebastien

Hello, It is a Choshu tsuba

Hello, I noticed this tsuba is for sale at Zacke. A shame it has been split of the rest of its sword to be sold alone. https://www.zacke.at...&sd=0&pp=48&pn=6&g=1

Mine:

Hello Giordy, Many thanks for all these information and for the blade in example

Hello, The blade has a little high mune and a deep iori mune. Hamon is suguha, not a notare. Hada is dense ko itame but not really able to see the ji nie due to bad polish condition.

Hello, Yes, kesho yarusime at the top of the nakago, on both side. Thanks for your opinion Giordy. Don't worry, all opinions are welcome. Usually ana are filled with soft metal : brass, copper or lead. Quitte strange that some are filled with iron. I saw only few, should be more complexe to implement ?! I assume it is not from swordswmith but done later when the owner change its koshirae. You are right, suguha is not its more desirable work and then not the more valued. For the moment I do not expect to have it polished in a near future, neither papered. Just wanted opinion about what it could be or not. Best Sébastien

Hello, Detailled photos of the mei has been done with my smartphone ! Luckily, there was a sunshine at this moment. Please find below few more pics. Very hard to do good pics of a sword, moreover with a bad polish. Hope you can see something. The hamon is suguha with nice nie. The hada is a tight itame. We can see it at the ha machi area that what more or less protected by the habaki. Unfortunately this area is very small. Giordy, you are right for the mei position in relation to the ana. When we look closely at this part, I am not sure the present mekugi ana is the original one. We can see another one that has been filled (red arrow on the pic). I guess it is the original ana. If we consider it as the original, then the 1st kanji start at the right place. If you like Sukehiro work, please also have a look at Sukenao, and Suketaka in shinshinto that make utsushi Thanks

Some additionnal photos that allow to better see the kanji. Giordy, the blade is from an old french collection. So not coming from Japan without papers. I don't contemplate to send to shinsa. I won't hassel with the shipping and export documentations, and as you said, before a shinsa it means polish. John, some sword are obviously gimei, on other we can have a doubt. For me this mei looks closely to the oshigata. They are not 100% same as oshigata, but you also have difference between 2 oshigata. Looking at the oshigata as a whole, I think this one is close. And I confess that both the state of the nagako with rust and the quality of photo don't' help for an opinion.

Hello Jacques, Many thanks for pointing out the detail to look on the nakago. I need to double check on the blade itself. the nakago is rusty and I wonder if some strokes are not hiden by the rust. I appology for the poor quality of my photos, not helped with the cloudy weather. I check and come back to you. Thanks

Here are the oshigata I have in Nihonto Zuikan (not in sosho style). To support my opinion, when I look at these oshigata and compare, I see that Sukehiro did suguha. The yasurime, nakago jiri, place of the mei on the nakago, the style of the mei style and kanji itselves matches. Howerver, when it come to big names like Tadayoshi or others, we need to be cautious. That's why any opinions are welcome.

Hello, Thanks for your replies. Indeed it was his early work, when it didn't write in sosho style yet. The blade is in suguha I will post photos of the oshigata I have. Jacques, for me your oshigata matchs the mei of my nakago, and also yasurime and nakago jiri.

Hello, The mei of this wakizashi is Tsuda Echizen no kami Sukehiro. For me, when I compare with books, the mei looks good with nidai oshigata. As it is a big name with lot of gimei, I would like to have your opinion on this one. Thanks Sébastien

Hello, I also think the mimi is in shakudo. I would exclude Kinai due to the style of this tsuba, but also because of the hitsu ana shape that don't match Kinai production. indeed, maybe a Choshu or Bushu tsuba ?

Hello, This is a nice tsuba. It is a genuine Japanese and not a chinese fake. I cannot tell if mei is good or not but I like it.