Exclus1ve

Beautiful work! One of my favorite works on this topic is by Omori Teruhide.

Something beautiful. Is there a way to take a better quality photo?

I think it doesn’t really matter where an item is located. Museums often contain works of very different levels anyway, since many of them were assembled from donations from all over the world. Over the past couple of years I’ve become something of a Tosogu maniac - having read through half of the Tosogu forum and studied thousands of different works wherever possible) I find it almost like an addiction or an illness. For me it has become not just a hobby but a form of stress relief in any free moment. And the most pleasant thing is that there is still so much more ahead. As Colin already told you, only visual familiarity will eventually give you understanding - you will start to see the differences yourself. I also insist on studying and understanding the technical processes involved - many thanks to Ford Hallam. As for this particular piece, it is a really good Nara work, and compositionally I find it very appealing. However, when we talk about a master of the level of Sigiura Joi, the standards for the work are somewhat higher. Please understand me correctly - I simply do see differences in the carving, the inlay, and the signature, and in my opinion they are significant. To be honest, I’m a bit surprised by the reaction of many people, so let’s examine it in a bit more detail. As I like to say, everything is understood through comparison, so let’s take two works as a basis - pieces whose authenticity, I hope, does not raise any questions. First of all, all the elements are perfectly inlaid, the boundaries are crisp and carefully finished. Next, look at the treatment and polishing of all the fine elements - Joi truly managed to give them life. Just consider the frozen expression of Benten: the eyelids are perfectly polished and emphasize the smooth contours of the eyes with their inlaid pupils. As for the katakiribori carving - it is almost perfect. All the lines are straight, of ideal thickness, the edges are not collapsed, they have the same depth and are cut at the correct angle, which allows us to see the play of light so clearly - for example, in the hair of Benten’s hairstyle. Pay attention to the elegantly raised shoulder guards of Bishamonten - they truly have volume and a cloud-like feeling. Look at his helmet: all the details are carefully inlaid, and the surrounding surface is perfectly even. Consider the face for at least a minute—through different strokes and careful polishing the author managed to convey such a realistic appearance. The play of light from such polishing is visible even in these photos. And here is our recent mysterious friend In my opinion, one of the best portraits in Tosogu. Look at the palm and the fingers. The reed is inlaid so delicately that it seems to float in the air, this effect is achieved through additional cuts underneath that create a shadow effect - it's fantastic. (It’s a pity the reed is broken at the end, but we can clearly see the taper toward the tip) The forehead deserves special attention. The depth of the hair has been worked out, the hair of different lengths is directed at its own specific angle. Look at the ears of these characters - they are also carefully worked and polished. Also pay attention to all the small katakiribori elements: they are confidently carved, even with the same carving rhythm (those very eyelashes), again to properly convey the play of light. The signatures on those works are also carved with a confident hand, whereas in this example that feeling is absent - especially in the seal. I once held an authentic Joi kozuka with papers in hand, it was a work of similar quality to the examples above. I hope this helps a little with understanding. However, the most amusing thing is that in the end we may never know the truth - we are left only to guess and discuss Best regards! Viktor

Everything is possible However, I still see a relatively simple carving style that is characteristic of many works from the Nara school. A good example, Liang! I have books by this author; this kozuka is very similar in carving technique and execution - a good school work. Everything is understood through comparison; when looking at these works, there are fewer questions… https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O465406/tsuba-sugiura-issando-nagaharu/

These are indeed good kozuka, however I would like to draw attention to a few points. This is indeed a deer hide on the belt, which is often seen in paintings depicting these characters. The spots do resemble inlay, I agree. However, the quality of the inlay in the hair and the golden bows on the head is not perfect, and the surrounding field is also not ideally finished. This is the first thing I always pay attention to: whether there is a gap between the ground and the inlay itself. After that, it is important to level and polish the ground perfectly using different stones and charcoal so that it becomes flush with the rest of the surface and hides the traces of the inlay. This is quite a labor-intensive process, so truly perfect execution is usually found in high-level works. The carving, in my opinion, is rather ordinary; there are irregularities both in the work itself and in the signature on the seal. This is simply the carving technique - almost all Soten signatures are carved in this manner. The Joi signature, in fact, was very frequently copied, and I am inclined to think that this is gimei, although I do like the overall composition and execution! Best regards!

Let's add this for completeness https://world-seiyudo.com/product/ko-050819/

This is a good, similar example. Could you please tell me where you found the pair? I’d like to take a look at the paper.

Very well! Since many have already seen my avatar anyway… I'll add a good work on the theme of "shishi dance") The lion dance is usually performed as part of the New Year's celebrations. The dancer in front is dressed as a lion. The man behind him plays music for the dance on a flute. In addition to the man dancing as the lion's head, there are others who form the body. The second dancer in the lion costume is shown on the reverse of the kozuka. The lion dance tradition developed in China from a belief that the dance would protect villages from evil spirits. Stylized lions such as this are known as Chinese lions ("shishi") in Japan. https://art.thewalters.org/object/51.691/ Best regards!

There is something similar… https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5618020?ldp_breadcrumb=back

This is my buddy Actually, over the past year I’ve browsed many online museums more than once - one way or another, you start to remember things. I’ve seen this somewhere before…

May be… https://art.thewalters.org/object/51.369/

Hello, Jake! Congratulations on adding to the collection! The third set is definitely the best in terms of quality. Moreover, this theme is quite common, found in different artists. Here is an example(not my) of Nagatsune, I'm not sure if it's gimei or not, but the quality is decent: Hamano set, I think it's gimei. The quality and technique of carving are characteristic of this school, but far from perfect. I have a mumei set F/K Hamano school with the theme "The Three Kingdoms", the quality is similar, the technique and carving of the face and other parts are also similar.

Once again, I agree with Colin. This is a silver plating, the inlay looks like this: I think it's just an amateur work from the late Edo period. The inlay of birds, like themselves, is sloppy, and the edge near the tree after the chisel was raised and not processed, not a complicated technique.

A amazing work by Kusakari Kiyosada, a metal artist from Sendai renowned for finishing shakudo surfaces in a uniform stone-texture ground (ishime-ji), outlining the design with gold wire, and executing delicate linear decoration in flat gold inlay (hira-zogan). Kiyosada trained with the Omori family in Edo and went on to create a new aesthetic distinct from earlier Sendai inlay traditions, characterized by a beautifully composed, planar pictorial space. After returning to his home province, he served the Date family and trained many disciples. The last example is probably daisho

I agree)

I don't see any issues with the sekigane; everything looks good here. But the work itself differs from most of Ikkin's works, in my opinion, it lacks refinement. It's very interesting that kao is written in the sekigane. So, it seems the master was fitting the tsuba to the sword…

Very beautiful! I like this set better in terms of quality. Very interesting point. So it turns out this was a joint work done at the same time?

I’ve already thought about this more than once. I agree that at the present time we have very favorable conditions for purchasing tosogu. https://nihonto.com/nakai-koshirae/ I’ve already cited this article as an example before - it shows very clearly that for each option, such as nanako, inlay with specific metals, additional carving - there was a substantial surcharge for every request. Now, however, the work can cost less than the price of the metal itself, simply because demand for these items is low. But if we ask someone to recreate something comparable to the work of a great master, as Ford Hallam did, the price would really surprise us and would most likely be higher than that of an Edo-period piece.

I absolutely agree with Colin. I should also add that the Ford Hallam videos helped me a lot. This allowed us to understand how these things were made and what the difference is between them. Everything is always learned by comparison. For this money, I think it's a good tsuba.

I do not dispute that the works differ in quality. However, there is also some inaccuracy in the application of the gilding here. And I will repeat myself: this is quite common even in works of the very highest level - it is simply a characteristic of the technique. It is genuinely difficult to apply exactly the right amount of gold amalgam so that, after heating, it does not flow beyond the intended contour, especially at such a small scale. If we are talking about “inlay,” then it is indeed precise even at the smallest sizes. However, inlay is a more labor-intensive process, which is why amalgam gilding is more commonly used, as in the author’s example. You, on the other hand, have shown examples where most of the gold elements are inlay (nunome zogan), and therefore the margin for error is smaller, however, where amalgam gilding is used, inaccuracies are present. Below is an example of my tsuba with different types of gilding. I have outlined the amalgam gilding in red, the other elements are inlay, whereas the author’s tsuba uses only amalgam gilding.

Hello! I honestly do not share the opinion that many people have about the Soten school. Since I once purchased a shakudo Soten tsuba myself, I spent a considerable amount of time researching the subject and made a huge number of comparisons (1000+) in order to understand it properly. I am always surprised when I see statements of this kind… What exactly do you expect to see in these papers? Practically all tsuba signed “Soten” are identified in the papers as belonging to the Soten school. And what does “copy” even mean here? This is unquestionably an original 19-century piece. The fact that it was not made by Soten himself does not make it a copy. There were many craftsmen working within this school, and there was a tradition of signing tsuba with the same signature, and almost all of them receive NBTHK papers. Only a small number of Soten school tsuba have distinctive signatures like these: https://nihonto.com/1-01-23/ https://nihonto.com/juyo-tsuba-by-nomura-kanenori-野村包教/ I can also say that this is normal not only for the Soten school, but generally for other schools as well, especially when it comes to gilding. In almost any work you can find inaccuracies, and with gilding this happens much more often. Many people, I’m sure, know these Ishiguro Masaaki menuki - there’s a nuance there too, yet everyone is perfectly calm about it) As for this tsuba, I believe it was made in the Soten style. Geraint provided a good example.

I like the quality of the craftsmanship. And once again, it seems to me that it is the Mito school or its influence…

Hello! I would assume Mito school The shape, the non-standard holes of the hitsu-ana, and, of course, one of the favorite themes of the Mito school - dragons and tigers.

Congratulations on the acquisition! You can look at it for a long time, like a painting. I really like that works of the Soten school look great as standalone pieces.

It really is. After reading this article, I became curious about the approximate cost of a piece of tosogu during the Edo period. https://nihonto.com/nakai-koshirae/ Must-see We can see that the prices of high-quality works were truly impressive. These prices were justified not only by demand and popularity at the time, but also by the amount of work involved. How much would you estimate a piece that took about three to six months to complete? Today, such a price would not be much lower. For example, prices for top-end tsuba by Ford Hallam start at around $5,000. Obviously, producing such work requires a great deal of time and skill, making it inaccessible to many people. Looking at examples related to this topic, it seems likely that someone simply wanted to quickly create something similar and sell it to an inexperienced collector, which, judging by the auction results, was successful. However, I still think it could have been made in Japan, but with a different goal - purely for profit. During the Edo period, there were also many rather “simple” or even crude works by novice and inexperienced artists. The difference is that in those days the primary purpose was practical use, whereas today the context is completely different.