FlorianB

I just pointed out, that in Japanese culture stars have not the same significance as sun or moon. What is the sense of misinterpreting me? Why conflating this with my comments from other threads? I’m somewhat surprised by the direction this discussion is taking. At least not really surprised remembering a certain thread about cast iron tsuba. Obviously it is the intention is to silence critics.

Both. There are a lot of Edo pieces which were adapted to changing taste, but also embellished pieces for foreigners. Difficult to distinguish, but at least the quality counts. And Yours is nicely done – enjoy it!

I still can’t see any evidence, just speculation. The star constellation You show us on the Chinese chart consists out of eight stars while Your tsuba pattern show nine. Thus the connection of the stars is not identical. And is the constellation You highlighted on the chart the Great Dipper at all which You want to see on Your tsuba? That’s the problem: if the number doesn’t concur, superfluous stars have to be ignored or You talk about mysterious „ ‘dark’ stars, the existence of which astrologers and thus everyone believed in“. Where do You get this from? What actually are these „dark stars“ obviously mixing up astrology with astronomy? As far as I know, the Japanese — unlike the Chinese — were never particularly interested in astronomy and concerned themselves with the celestial bodies solely for aesthetic reasons. Thus they adopted the Chinese interpretation and that was enough for them to know. While the sun and especially the moon are ubiquitous in Japanese art, poetry etc. the stars are as far as possible ignored.

Two holes in the lower part of the plate are often named as udenuki-ana, used for pulling a ribbon through to secure the sword in the sheath. In Your case the motif is stars, so I think we have a kamon constisting out of a stellar group and three other stars on the right side. Sometimes a group of three stars are interpreted sun, moon and star. Here's an similar one:

Dan, If You want to see constellations in this rudimentary pattern, You have every right to do so. You made Your position clear but repeating Your speculation again and again doesn’t turn it into facts. At least there are no proofs, just a certain similarity to constellations and it works only if parts of the pattern are omitted. Not very convincing. I have hinted to old star maps, the way people interpreted the stars at this time without modern astronomy or telescopes. We have seen examples of how constellations are depicted in Japanese art: big dots connected with thin lines. But here are small dots connected with konvex openings, a result of overlapping circles – the real base of this particular pattern. With all due respect – I can see no sense in harping on Your theory without solid evidence.

What's this? Milky Way? https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/25699

Looks like some kind of worm with a thick belly. Maybe a marine creature as this manta ray? Or something completely different like an idea from "The Little Prince" I wonder if it is a standard kozuka-ana and the filling was continued on the plate as an overlay in this particular shape.

I never doubted that the stars in the sky are the same seen in Europe, America or Japan. But the way stargazers have connected the stars since ancient times to interpret images within them varies across different cultures as Sam pointed out. With a little research (without AI) there’s another example of traditional Chinese star map in higher resolution: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Suzhou_star_cartography.jpg Concerning the Big Dipper which seems important to some members – in a wikipedia listing of traditional Chinese star maps ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_star_maps ) there are several entries that mention the Big Dipper. So it must have been known in old Japan, too. At last.

Please note that the european constellations are not the same as those in far east! Here's an old constellation map - alas I don't know where it comes from because the picture was hidden in the depth of my data. But please refer to these constellations when talking about star motifes on Tsuba.

Although there are similarities to star constellations these seem only coincidental. At least the mentioned constellations have different intervals between the stars. The idea of this scattered (chirashi) shippo-pattern (like many other patterns) is imperfection to symbolize transience and decay.

The both holes are called hitsu-ana, openings for kogai and kozuka when the Tsuba is mouted. There are many Tsuba on which one ore both hitsu-ana are plugged with soft metal, sometimes even with gold. Shutting the inner hole of the crest is not necessary, I think it would look nicer without the copper plug. BTW: If the kamon (heraldic sign) should be the kuyo-mon of the Hososkawa clan (see below) there should be nine stars (including the inner circle), but here we have ten! That's suspicious in my eyes.

Pounding rice with kine (mallet) in a usu (trough) for mochi production

Absolutley. Many iron plates with a more or less simple design have been pimped up with soft metals. Very attractive combination, though purists will shudder. Here's another piece of a fellow collector:

Here's another cucoo https://nihontofrance.com/tosogu-2/tsuba-akao-2/?lang=en

Is it Hayashi at all? Hayashi would have made a more precise symmetry. Here I see discrepancies in the axes and askew hanabishi. I would suppose it’s Shoami. They made such kidney-shaped openings, too.

Brute force?? I can't see it in this way – on the contrary its an elegant piece with subtle variations in the lattice. Maybe strong and self confident describes it better. Not really. There are a lot of Tsuba with either rounded or suhama-shaped ana on both sides, maybe to emphasize the balance.

Yes, indeed a nice piece! I suppose the mokume-structure has been enhanced by etching. Not unusual. Not clear to see, but I presume the mokume structures continue onto the rim as well?

Maybe symbolizing a hanaguruma (flower cart)? https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/fine-Japanese-art-2/kano-eikei-1662-1702-edo-period-late-17th-century

I have to correct myself, I’ve never heard of this plant before. The Trillium plant indeed could be found in Japan (Trillium camschatcense), specifically on Hokkaido. So this seems to be the right track. Perhaps a northern clan?

Tsuruta-san offers a suigetsu-Yagyu: https://www.aoijapan.com/tsuba-mumeiunsignedyagyunbthk-tokubetsu-hozon-tosogu/

What about the smooth surface of those Yagyu-pieces? Shouldn't be there a "sandy" texture?

I can't think of any flower with three petals. The shape of the blossom reminds me most of the Kikyo flower (Chinese Bellflower or Balloon flower). However, that one has five petals, so perhaps this is a design variation. Or simply a floral shape, according to the designer's whim.

I agree the pieces by John B are etched. But I wonder how to get the smooth transition of the details in the first one. The dot like elements on the others remind me to aquatint, a special way of etching for artwork: Colophony powder is applied to the surface and heated until it starts to melt. After cooling it sticks to the surface and protects the surface in an etchant. In the result You have something like a dot matrix in which the motif is scratched in. Similar can be done with lacquer by dropping or spraying with a brush as Robert S mentioned.

The days when you could buy something cheaply at a flea market that turned out to be a treasure are, unfortunately, over. Even in Japan.

Sorry I’m a "Doubting Thomas"! The longer I'm thinking over Ford’s video it seems a very time- and labour- consuming process if You do the same on an iron tsuba even if it is not hardened. BTW: Wasn't there once a discussion if Tsuba consist of iron or steel? Thus at least I plead for my method scraping the lines (like Ford shows it) into a lacquer coating and the etchant do the rest. Quick and easy.