Tanto54

Thanks Alan, I sent him a message and will let you guys know what I find out.

Dear John, My pleasure. Yes, the "pile of gold" on your menuki is actually a hat (for example see eboshi and kanmuri) and is probably sokutai (the Japanese equivalent of white tie and tails for a royal audience). This is not the exact hat (hats and clothes differ depending upon the rank of the Samurai) but you will see the resemblance.

Dear John, While I imagine that you are more interested in the maker or school, I think that the motif is probably the story of Fujiwara no Yasumasa (from the Tales of Uji - Uji Shui Monogatari). Yasumasa is walking under the moonlight in his court clothes and a bandit is following him intending to steal his hat and clothes. It turns out that the thief is actually his brother, Kidomaru. As his brother prepares to attack, Yasumasa starts playing his flute and the beauty of the music stops Kidomaru in his tracks. This story is sometimes alluded to with the susuki (grass), moon and court hat symbols.

Dear Curran and Richard, Great ideas - Thanks!

Does anyone know where to get the very high-end tsuba boxes with silk cover bags like the one pictured? I’ve searched the Board and have found many posts on where to get other boxes or how to make them, but I can’t find this particular type anywhere. FYI (and to collect it all in one place) - Here’s are few of the others that I found from other posts here on NMB (I have not used, so I cannot personally recommend any of these... and sorry if I missed anyone): NAMIKAWA HEIBEI www.namikawa-ltd.com/product-list/20 http://sanmei.com/contents/en-us/d23_01.html http://hakoyoshi.com/company.html http://nihonto.us/BOXES.htm Tozando http://www.tokensibata.co.jp/acc/acc1.html Here’s info from a post on a custom box insert maker in Japan: Mr. Yoshiaki Iimura K.K.Token Bijutsu Kogeisha ITABASHI 4-10-2, ITABASHI-KU, TOKYO Postcode 173-0004 Japan Email: katana-iimura@apost.plala.or.jp Website: http://www16.plala.o... ... glish.html Here’s Ford’s Instructions for making custom box inserts: http://www.followingtheironbrush.org/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=736&hilit=fitted+tsuba+box Here’s some similar instructions for making your own custom inserts posted by Guido (from Martin Hellmann) http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/18459-anyone-in-the-us-making-custom-made-fittings-boxes/?hl=%2Btsuba+%2Bboxes&do=findComment&comment=190162 Other places from the web: http://www.yamatobudogu.com/category_s/277.htm http://ryujinswords.com/pawlonia.htm http://www.nuovashobudo.it/catalog/index.php?cPath=1_12

Dear Florian, My server reports that your picture hosting site is corrupt and is loading viruses (it caused my computer to crash). You should consider using another site...

Congratulations Valery!!!

Congratulations on getting it finished Teufelshunde. When you have time, I'd be interested to hear about which craftsmen worked on this project.

Here's a similar thread from 2017 with info about an almost identical tsuba to the one that Mark found - http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/23000-help-identifying-theme-please/ The composition is so similar that they must be copying a published design (FWIW - I'm not saying that these appeal to me...)

Dear Chris, In 45 years of looking at lots of tosogu, I've only seen two with sharks that I remember. One was a large set of Menuki (about 5 inches long) and the other was on a marine themed tanto. In general, sharks do not have a good reputation in early Japanese art - could be from inabano shiro usagi story or other early Japanese myths (where the shark mistreated other animals). I have seen about 40-50 tosogu with whales (fairly rare and could be confused with a shark). As you may know, shark skin is occasionally used for saya (lacquered and sanded down showing as tiny triangles) and very rarely used as "same" under the tsuka-maki or ito wrap (instead of rayskin). Regards, George

Thanks Guys (Frank & Chris) - I know its a long shot to find a good match for this Dragon Boat, but a few years ago I found THE missing Kashira for a Fuchi that I had been holding for more than 30 years (exact match - must have been the original set).

Looking for a match for this Dragon Boat Menuki. Note the fine detail - literally hundreds of inlays and the faces are about the size of a pen tip...)

John? Isn't this a cheap, repro fake?

Dear Lance, It looks like a good blade - congratulations. Please take a look at the care and handling instructions on this website. Touching the blade with your bare hands or using any kind of abrasive or many common "cleaners" can ruin your sword. Some of the care instructions from this website are reproduced below: The starting point to preserving a blade is to pick up some light machine oil, the type sold for sewing machines, or some traditional oil for Japanese blades which is called choji oil. This refers to clove oil, but is actually a light machine oil mixed with a tiny bit of clove oil just for the pleasant traditional scent. Do not use pure pharmaceutical clove oil. Many other oils such as gun oils and vegetable oil can gum up, leave stains or have other adverse effects over time. A few drops on a clean and soft cloth, lightly wiped over the blade when it has been handled should do the trick. In climates that are less humid, cleaning does not have to be done very frequently. Less is more when it comes to Nihonto. Uchiko powder and commercial sword cleaning balls containing powdered abrasive should generally be reserved for blades heavily out of polish, and even then very sparingly. They can be used occasionally on Nihonto to remove old oil, but bear in mind that they are abrasive and will dull a new polish over time. Removal of old oil can easily be done with pure alcohol, otherwise known as dehydrated alcohol or waterless ethanol. This is 99.5% pure alcohol. Be careful when cleaning the area close to the tang - try to avoid moving the tissue up from the nakago - the tissue might pick up rust particles from the nakago (tang) and scratch the blade. Move the tissue in one direction - from the tang to the tip. Never ever move your hand up and down - you could cut yourself badly some day (and blood will stain a blade.) Scented or otherwise hampered tissue paper is be avoided. Normal tissue is fine and a lot easier to get a hold of. The best cloth to use is micro fiber cloth, sold for photographic lenses. Microdear is known as the best of these brands and can be found online. These can be washed in water when they get too dirty.

Dear Curran, Very nice and excellent price - these should go very quickly.

Comment withdrawn

Off Yahoo Japan....

Not Luis, but I think he is referring to Geese...

Not positive, but it appears that the nakago (tang) has been shaved more on one side (signature side) than the other implying an altered signature ((looking at the nakago -tang- from the mune -backside- the signed side appears to have been shaved down, which could have been done to remove a different signature). P.S. Very good for a first Japanese blade.

Dear Grev, While I'm not a Japanese lock expert, I have seen hundreds of them over the years. I've never seen a pre-Meji Japanese lock with this kind of shackle. Instead, they are usually of the shape shown below (therefore, I do not think that this tsuba represents a lock).

Dear Michael, Thanks for the better pictures. I think that a page turner is a good guess especially because of the two books depicted on the back. However, Japanese page turners (see photo below) almost always have a distinctive "handle" that is a different size and shape than the "blade" of the page turner. Therefore, I think that if the Tsubashi wanted to depict a page turner, then he would have shown the handle and blade so the viewer would be able to recognize it immediately (so my guess is that it is not a page turner). As an alternative, it could be a bunchin (paperweight), but I’m just guessing too. How many toes does the Dragon have? Even with the better pictures, it's hard for me to see the toes. Many Japanese artists will follow the convention of three toes for a "Japanese" dragon and four or five toes for a dragon that represents China. As for the other unidentified element on the front (the circular object at the bottom) I have attached a few Mongolian shield pictures for you to compare (but I still do not have much faith in that interpretation either...) What do you think is behind/under the Ikebana? I appears to be a board to me with a mokume (wood grain) surface, but the perspective is very strange (Japanese often didn’t use a true or accurate perspective in their antique art). I can’t tell if it is a wood bench that the Ikebana is setting on or something that is more vertical. Sorry, more questions than answers....

Dear Robert, Can you provide a better picture of the front (this one is a little small and difficult to see the details)? I'm fairly sure that the element on the left front is Ikebana (a flower arrangement). The two elements on the back are definitely books. I'm guessing that the circular element on the right bottom front is a Mongolian shield (can you tell what was in the middle of the circle or is it too worn?). Without a better picture, I don't know if I'll be able to offer more. So far the only theme that I can come up with is the roots or history of Ikebana (with the Dragon representing China and the Mongolian Shield representing Korea - Ikebana came to Japan with Buddhism from China via Korea). I don't have much confidence in that interpretation, but it's the best I can do with these photos.

Dear Andy, No problem. I believe the owner of Collectors is named Mike Clark, and he was friends with Paul Goodman (one of the great Tosogu collectors in the 70s & 80s). Paul passed away a few years ago, and I believe that Mr. Clark got some of his collection (other parts were sold through Sotheby's or Christie's Auction Houses). Having seen Paul's collection many years ago, I have recognized a lot of his pieces on Mr. Clark's website over the past few years. I've been to Collectors and purchased items from them over the past 30 years, but I only met Mr. Clark once. I have seen very nice, high end Tosogu there, but his focus is high end guns so he may not keep all of his tosogu online or up to date. Send them a picture, and they'll let you know if they still have that piece.

Dear Andy, If it's Collector's Firearms, he's legitimate (sorry, not in Houston anymore, or I'd double check for you).

Dear Andrew, The Kukurizaru motif is a stylized monkey "doll" with its hands and feet bound together representing the control of inner mischief and desire. The Kōshin faith believes that desires prevent or get in the way of accomplishing one's goals. Therefore, one must sacrifice their desires to accomplish their goals (or have a wish granted). The ball in between the bound arms and legs represents the sacrificed desire. In some cases, people write their sacrificed desire on paper, roll it into a ball and insert it between the bound arms and legs of the cloth doll. The Kukurizaru is used as an amulet and hung from purses and cellphones or left hanging in a temple. It is a common motif on tosogu and is often misinterpreted as an apple.