ZH1980

Here is a favorite in my collection - a Daiso tsuba set signed by Souju (Kao) 宗寿（花押）

Surprised at how few tsuba I have with birds! Here's one:

Thank you, Jean! Appreciate you taking the time to explain this.

Hello - hoping to get some input on this tsuba's nakago-ana. Is the shape unusual? Given the standard size/shape of a typical sword's tang, this shape seems strange. Thoughts?

Thanks very much, Steve.

Hi Steve - I wonder if you could elaborate a bit - or provide another example - on what you mean by "absence of indent in the upper sekigane." This sounds like an important "tell" for possible modern replicas, but I didn't understand your point.

Like others have said, the soul of my nihonto collection has little to do with intrinsic value and more to do with sentimentality. As such, some of the most meaningful pieces aren’t necessarily the rarest or most valuable—they’re the ones tied to memories. The tsuba I was given by my daughter as a birthday present, the wakizashi that sparked a long conversation with a fellow collector who became a friend, or the unexpected Mercari find that sent me down a research rabbit hole. These memories give the collection a kind of living thread, binding together styles and schools that might otherwise seem disparate.

True that counterfeiting has always been illegal on paper, but, in practice, Japan lacked meaningful enforcement mechanisms against counterfeit goods until legal reforms that were passed in the 1970s. Laws on paper are great, but without enforcement mechanisms, laws often meaningless. Post War Japan is a good example of this, particularly vis-a-vis counterfeit products.

For that price, one would think it would be papered, but, sadly it doesn’t appear to be.

A similar one currently for sale on Mercari in Japan (¥179,200). Same signature too.

A similar one currently for sale on Mercari in Japan (¥179,200).

On the topic of tsuba with same/similar design, here is one motif that I see a lot - the so-called “daikon” (radish) tsuba. This specific design appears to have been quite popular.

Beautiful!

Thank you for this detailed response! Very helpful.

I’ve been working with Paul on a proxy tsuba shinsa and have found him very professional and responsive thus far.

It would be most helpful to me (and perhaps others) if you could expand on this comment a bit. What are the obvious signs that this blade is a Chinese knock off? It's obviously in very bad condition, but any additional information on why the blade appears fake would be appreciated. Thank you.

Sharing a papered daisho tsuba set from my collection. I suspect later Edo daisho tsuba are more common than the daisho blades you are discussing, but wanted to share nonetheless.

Just adding another contribution or two to this thread - one sukashi kiku tsuba and one later Edo 32 petal kiku tsuba.

A mid-Edo papered Akasaka tsuba; recently purchased.

The Mercari listing is showing as “Sold” now. Did you buy it?

Great point, John!

The price on Mercari is ¥35,100 ($225).

What concerns me ever-so-slightly about this tsuba is that the original seller/owner (on Mercari) has many tsubas for sale with modern hozon origami - many of which were issued on the same day by NBTHK. I could be wrong, but this has led me to believe that the seller himself submits his tsuba for evaluation with NBTHK. As this tsuba has the (far less desirable) old origami, it begs the question - at least in my mind - why the seller didn’t get updated Hozon origami for this tsuba. Could it be because he thought the tsuba wouldn’t pass Hozon evaluation? Maybe he did submit it for Hozon and the tsuba ultimately didn’t pass evaluation? Maybe I’m overthinking it …

I’m a little late to the party, but wanted to share this (fairly beaten up) example from my collection. I’ve always enjoyed its simplicity.

Reading old posts and came across this thread. Here is a fairly typical 16-petal chrysanthemum style tsuba from my collection. Happy New Year!