Jake6500

I would probably dismiss Hamano as a possibility. Hamano work often tends to curve over the rim/edge and Hamano figures are known to generally have distinctive, mostly gold eyes which does not seem to match the Guan Yu in your tsuba. Whilst iron is not out of the question, Shibuichi also seems to have been more popular for the Hamano school as a base metal. Tetsugendo or Shoami seem a lot more likely.

Tetsugendo definitely seems possible also. The background of the tsuba almost gives me Choshu or Bushu Ito vibes but I don't think the foreground style matches those.

I've taken a couple weeks off the forum so I'm super late to this one... I'm yet to delve into menuki in my own collection (they sort of scare me risk wise, unless they have a signed attribution like this one!) but this one is beautiful and a great pickup!!!! Yanagawa school as has already been said! I just picked up a kozuka signed Yanagawa Naomitsu which I believe is authentic and I hope to share with the forum once it arrives from Japan! Makes me wish I had found this menuki as well! Great find!

Agree that the image is almost certainly Guan Gong. This was a pretty prevalent design in the culture of the later Edo Period and there are many other Tosogu from many different schools depicting Guan Yu... I myself have a Tsuba as well as a Fuchi depicting Guan Yu. The design is typically identifiable by the long beard, crescent blade and reddish face. The deign of Guan Yu sitting at a table as in the case of this piece is also common. As for the school it is difficult for me to say and there are plenty of others better equipped to make a judgement. I would guess maybe Shoami? The combination of metals, depicted scene and style are not dissimilar from one of my own Tsuba... Link to a thread about that one below: That said there are some marked differences in style as well, so take my attribution with a grain of salt!

Looks authentic, I think probably late Edo circa 1850. Not great quality but having an entire matching set is nice.

This is something I was wondering about but didn't have the confidence in my knowledge to raise in the thread... Every Higo school spider tsuba I have ever seen has had an iron base and usually gold adornment. For example: https://varshavskyco...collection/tsu-0206/ I've seen several of these of varying quality, but never one with a different base or a wood grain effect.

Uneven, off-angled hexagonal shape... Guess there's a first time for everything in the knock-off market, that's why it was labelled as "original"

One way is Google reverse image search if you want to find the origins of a particular image on the internet, but Dale's real superpower is being able to see a new photo of a tsuba and connect it in his mind to a similar and/or identical example in some abstract catalogue book somewhere! https://sites.google.../reverse-images/home

Higo school seem to have been big on the spider designs. I've seen quite a few different Higo school tsuba with similar (but never identical) spider and web designs.

My main piece of advice, to build upon Collin's comment is: BUY. FROM. THE. SOURCE. Something I learned through this forum and some of the collectors I've interacted with is that Japan has its own auction services which see more traffic by domestic Japanese users than Ebay does. What that means is a lot of great pieces don't ever make their way onto Ebay. Prices on good pieces through Ebay are also often a lot higher than on Japanese Yahoo auctions. Services like Jauce or Remambo allow you access to these auctions, so if you are serious about collecting Tsuba you should probably make an account on one of them. The majority of my best pieces have come through these services and only my first one or two pieces came through Ebay. Other than that it is largely a repeat of what has already been said, the more examples you study the better your eye for quality will become.

This image is a lot more compelling to me.

I can see where the fish drying on lines comes from but where/what are our fishing nets?

Admittedly, this is the one aspect of the design I am most puzzled by! But I think the tower with the four ropes is the strongest indicator that we are looking at an Obon Matsuri. Festival towers often have 4 ropes, one from each corner and I don't know what that part of the design could otherwise be. The boat shape from the 1930 depiction of a seaside Obon Matsuri can also be seen on the tsuba motif...

I think the stiffness of the design on this tsuba is particularly apparent in the design of Hotei. The linework just doesn't feel very natural. Often times human outlines or faces can be a good indicator of overall quality when you are trying to judge the craftmanship of a piece. The mei is also a bit of a giveaway here. There is too much deviation from the confirmed examples. My profile picture is of a kashira signed "Hamano Shozui". Whilst it is also likely gimei, I think the qualitative difference in the linework between your Hotei tsuba and this Tengu piece should give you an idea of what I'm referring to. Here are some other examples, this tsuba is signed "Toshinao" and is authentic: This next one is Hamano Noriyuki: Still, you got a tsuba with a nice cultural design to enjoy which is always a plus!

This is one possible answer, but I have an alternate hypothesis. I think the tsuba is showing people travelling along major roads into a city/town for the Bon Odori Matsuri. ^ Picture from a modern Bon Odori Festival in Yokohama Note these boats? We can see these in our tsuba design as well, near the festival tower.

This is 100% Benkei, cut and dry! I was watching this tsuba myself but the auction was not at an opportune time for me unfortunately. Great pickup!

Interesting... I know some collectors have reservations about green papers but personally I think they are still reliable 95% of the time. If the paper makes an attribution to a particular artist or school, I'd be of the view that it is probably correct. Given the added context I think the text probably is referring to the first generation. Have you translated the certification to see exactly what it says?

The weird blobby lookin' thing is probably an octopus (I think)! The bird is most likely a phoenix. I agree about the elephant head. It's probably of no relevance but I did find this neat story about an elephant during the Edo Period: https://www.morethan...et-Japanese-emperor/

Could be assorted mythical beasts, that is the other direction my mind went with the dragon and what looks like a phoenix... But I definitely don't think that's a Tengu Colin! That thing looks to have whiskers and a tail and little to nothing indicating human traits... Then again it is upright and holding an object. I can also see where you interpreted the long nose so maybe you're right. Your idea also has the merit of being simpler to interpret, Occam's Razor and all. The dragon and bird also wouldn't fit in any obvious way into my proposed theme either.

I'm not sure I'm following but assuming I am understanding the question correctly, I don't see why there would be any generational implication from the use of the clan name alone. The Akechi clan name became significant after 1540 but was in use even before then... What exactly is meant by "first-generation" here? Do you mean the first "Nobuie Akechi"? If so that makes sense to me and I think it would be a reasonable assumption, simply because there is no use of a qualifier like "second" "third" "younger" etc. Do you mean the first generation of "Akechi clan" retainers? If so, that does not make sense to me at all and I see no reason to make such an assumption. Providing a bit more context such as the specific passage you've come across might also help others interpret your question or give better answers than this one...

Not a bad purchase, I saw this exact item and passed on it just because the design didn't speak to me on first glance but it is a solid pickup. The nanako are pretty good as you have rightfully identified. As for the theme, I had a bit of a look into the piece. It's a tricky one to pin down definitively but I believe it depicts a rat holding some treasure. Rats were a common depiction in the Edo period, however I did find the following which seems to link the rat and its treasure together: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nezumi_Kozō TLDR; There was a bandit in the late Edo Period nicknamed "Nezumi" (Rat) Kozo who famously burglarised samurai estates and made off with their treasure. He was portrayed in a number of Kabuki plays as a Japanese Robin Hood type character and bandits such as he, or the infamous Goemon Ishikawa were often the subject of theatre or Japanese arts. Had I known this possible backstory for the theme I might have considered bidding on this piece myself as it makes the design a bit more appealing to me. That said, I'm not a huge fan of the dragon and the linework is not of a very high quality in my opinion. It's a very nice and affordable piece for a beginner (unless the price of the auction went up since I last looked), with a possible connection to Japanese folklore or theatre. Looking at something made circa 1850 at the very end of the Edo period. Personally, I think whilst it isn't the highest quality I wouldn't mind a piece like this in my collection for the right price. Of course, this information is still speculative. You should try to see if the mei can be tracked to pre-existing examples from a particular artist or to the school of craftmanship (Mori?) so that the piece can be more accurately dated!

I do think the quality/condition of this one appears to be a touch better than the one currently on Jauce, yet the Jauce listing is at a similar price! (Well, not quite given the currency conversion, but it's still a lot!) The price point is the main reason I decided I'm passing it up... Also, I believe these tsuba may depict the use of European hunting dogs by Tatar or Russian nobles... The dog would be a Borzoi for small to medium game.

Only twice? I recently bought a Muromachi Period tsuba for about 1/3 the price of the Ebay listing.

Interesting design, seems like a mix between Daikoku's mallet and the Karmic Wheel design!

Good start for a beginner, a couple of these pieces you have posted I had been keeping my own eye on, particularly the one of the Tatar noble. As Colin and John have said, the Crane tsuba is the highest quality out of those you have identified in your post. A few general things to try and watch for include quality of base metals, intricacy of linework, and signs of mold casting (often a sign of a later production). As you learn more about different styles/schools of craftmanship you'll get a sense of what is lower and higher quality, what styles you like and what you want to collect.