Tanto54

Dear Russ, Always liked this one from the Boston MFA:

Nice!

Dear Chris, Don't know if someone has already suggested it or not, but you should search this site for a few of the excellent threads done by accomplished photographers on exactly how to beautifully photograph swords and fittings to artistically show the aspects that are important (no reason to reinvent the wheel).

Whatever you do, don't "give them to a local jeweler". Based on your papers, it sounds like the menuki are good, and a jeweler without specific knowledge about how to restore Japanese togosu will almost surely ruin or significantly decrease their value. The jeweler will use chemicals or abrasives that will destroy valuable patina and details. As Geraint said, are you sure that they are not shakudo? Just in case you don't already know this, Shakudo is a metal that when fresh will look like gold to some people (coperish gold color). The maker then adds a black patina that is very important in tosogu. If you scratch or abrade the surface it will show a golden color through the patina, but you would never want to remove that patina. Alternatively, as Steven said, occasionally very nice old gold tosogu were lacquered black and removing that lacquer would also destroy much of the value. I highly recommend that you do not do anything until you can find out for sure what the material and the "black patina" are. Once you know that, then you can figure out the best and safest way to clean. As others have said, post a picture of the menuki and papers here, and you will probably get the answers you need.

Dear Jeremiah, Congratulations! Will you tell us a little more about the commissioning process? Beyond the parameters and the Motoharu model, how did the back-and-forth of the design process unfold? I assume sketches, etc., but how much input did you have in the final composition? How long did the whole process take? Do you plan on pairing this with other kodogu? Will there be a film???

Hi Tony, Can you show us a closeup of the wolf's face and eyes - they look unusual.

Dear Peter, It sounds like you are no longer Righteous and that "You've lost that Lovin' Feelin'" (based on some of your previous posts, I know how you like really cryptic allusions). Honestly, I'd have to say yes. I can't think of anyone who really lusted for kodogu, lost the yearnings and later regained the serious urge. However, frankly I've always thought that way about Namban... If looking at a great Natsuo doesn't move you anymore, then you are probably over kodogu....

Hi Piers, Looks like the same Netsuke-Shi that Meinertzhagen has listed as "Takaharu (?)" (he also mentions that the signature was misread at Yamanaka's as "Takatsugu"). Here's the entry no. 1212A from the Meinertzhagen Card Index .

Dear John, Would you mind expanding on the motif side-light? I don't see a "missing eye" - it just looks like a typical profile where you can see one eye and not the other. The dragon's left eye is there (it's just carved instead of being inlayed, which is not uncommon). Are you saying that Marcus (or whoever) is saying that any dragon done in profile where you can't see one of the eyes is supposed to be Date Masamune?

Everyone has a favorite (bone, antler, ivory, etc.) but I like old ivory the best (don't want to kill any Elephants, but I think it's OK to use antique discarded ivory). If you can find someone who tunes pianos, they may have some old ivory keys available.

Dear Krystian, I can tell that you worked hard on this, but you asked for our honest thoughts.... In my personal opinion (so feel free to ignore it), I think that it looked much better before you cleaned it. One of the primary goals of cleaning this tsuba should have been to stop the active rust, but it appears that the tsuba still has active rust on the plate. I would have just boned the active rust, lightly cleaned it with a soft brush, water and a very mild soap, waxed it lightly (using Renaissance Wax) and left the rest alone. I imagine that there will be as many different opinions as commentators.

Greg, Is this a commercial request? (Are you going to use the information to sell it, or are you just asking about it for your own private collection?)

Dear Piers, The Japanese readings for the two characters in the story are Choryo and Kosekiko (and the manuscript on strategy is reputed to have been passed to Kiichi Hogen, Yoshitsune, and Kusunoki Masashige in Japan).

Dear Chen Chen, Outstanding menuki and great writeup! Hope you are enjoying Japan.

Dear Robert, It looks like the ha end of the nakago-ana was shifted significantly upward in a later mounting. If you measure from the mune end to the center line and double that measurement, would it be long enough for a standard sword from that era? In other words, I think the later mounting was for a much wider sword than the original (in terms of a mune to ha measurement), and most of the additional width was added at the top of the nakago-ana (and thereby causing the new seppa to encroach into the sukashi).

Dear Tony, From your other posts I understand that you are looking to purchase a great tsuba by a well known maker. I wish you the very best of luck with that. However, if you believe that this work is "pretty good" as you say, you really need to hit the books and study much harder before spending any money on tosogu. These are simply horrible and could never be true Shomin or any decent artist....

Dear Alex, Are you joking?

Why do you ask?

Hi Kevin, I can confirm that the theme is Mount Hōrai (Mount Penglai) based on the shape of the gate at the base of the stairs.

Sorry Steven - I couldn't resist...

Steven, While I generally agree with your statement about gold "outside the lines", I believe that what you are seeing as an "encroachment" on that Terumitsu Dragon is really part of the design (one of the claws of the back right leg...)

Nice menuki - Great writeup!

Markus! You should inform the docents/attendants posted in the Genji Exhibit (where some of the nihonto and tosogu used to be) because they gave me the information provided above (about the items being in storage) when I visited last week....

Dear BaZZa, I'm not a woodworker (but I hope to be one day...), so this is a complete guess. It looks like palm that has been cut on a curve showing both the end and side grains of the wood.

In the "Other Japanese Arts" Section, BaZZa posted about the current Tale of Genji exhibition at the Met in NY. Unfortunately, the exhibition has displaced all the regular nihonto and related items (now with the other 95% of their nihonto collection that is in storage and is never displayed...) However, there was a Koto with fittings by Goto Teijo that might interest you.