sanjuro

Oh joy, Oh rapture....... My avatar returneth! Thank you Brian May all your chickens turn into emu's.

I'm confused. :? Has anyone got a plan B written in english????????? I can see everyone else's avatar but my own.........

Brian. Plan A gave only a brief glimmer of success then nothing Repeating it does not give a lasting solution. In my profile when I try to reload the avatar image from the URL, The omnipotent server tells me that the file extension php is 'not allowed', whatever that may mean. Therefore I am alas avatarless, a mere phantom of my former self........ I wander aimlessly through cyberspace without identity. Perhaps this is divine retribution or some wierd karmic debt? So.... I breathlessly await plan B. C'mon somebody....... come up with a plan B already. :?

OK, now this is really serious! My avatar has disappeared. Everyone else's is there. All I get on my posts is just the silly square and a little white square with a red cross in it. Right click on 'show picture' gets me diddly squat. I shall however not have a litter of purple kittens over it..... I shall wait until his forumship 'The Brian' gets it sorted. My faith is utter........ Short note to administrator....... "Now is the time to elevate your anxiety levels."

Brian. I wasnt considering it to be a PC problem really. The servers are I understand set to accept a certain connection speed. Damn, It doesn't really matter anyhow... Who cares what I meant? I'm a neanderthal when it comes to computer problems. But, as long as I can help lower your anxiety levels, I'll consider my contribution to be worthwhile :D Guido seems to be having an entertaining time of it though. I can practically hear his arteries hardening from here.

Brian. Throughout this thread all has been normal for Western Australia. No hitches, no error messages. My system runs windows 7 and google chrome as a web browser. Can this be a connection speed prob? I know mine is at 4mb per sec on a new modem. Lower speeds gave me a load of similar connection problems a while back before I got the new modem. Maybe not..... Just a thought.

Hi Curtis. Not that this is anywhere near my area of expertise, but I have also been looking at quite a few menuki lately and this set does appear too 'new' for Edo period. They also as you have noted, seem a bit homogenous in construction with the posts bearing a 'cast in' type of look to them. I also have some doubts as to the patina. Theres a plated look to it and it is not consistent across both menuki. I share your doubts. At $42 after 3 bids, I would have expected a genuine pair to have had a higher starting price. Could these be cast reproductions I wonder ?????

OK..... I was off with the fairies. I was looking at it a completely different way, and thinking it was expressing an entirely different zen principle. I was being lazy. Thanks Koichi San.

....... I read this sukashi tsuba Kanji as meaning 'One sword, One cut, Without thought or will. As in the spirit of Asura the guardian deity of buddhism who was a berserker. Would this be correct or am I off with the fairies?

Koichi San. My gratitude for such a speedy and much appreciated reply. Thank you. :D

Assistance would be most appreciated with this kanji character. It appears on a tsuba, and to be honest I dont know if this is the right orientation. I've spent some time looking through the kanji dictionary but cannot locate a similar looking character. HELP!!!!!!!

Purely on personal experience, I have over the years bought the occasional item from this seller. A blade some time ago and tosogu more recently whilst buying on behalf of a friend. In all cases the items were accurately described and my questions were answered promptly and honestly. Extra pics were sent on request and all the transactions were most satisfactory and trouble free. :D

Yes it does get interesting..... Because this particular Ategane is concave to the seppadai it suggests that it is there to act as a cushion of softer metal on an iron tsuba where it might encounter the kozuka as it was withdrawn or replaced in the saya. I guess this then indicates that Atagane could indeed serve this purpose if only confined to the kozuka ana. One wonders however, if this is indeed its purpose, why the entire kozuka ana was not lined with the softer metal instead of merely this small part of it at the seppa dai. As Guido has pointed out, the kozuka is as likely if not more likely to be damaged by any part of the ana if improperly withdrawn or replaced. I seem to recall seeing a few tsuba that do have complete linings as opposed to atagane, to both kogai and kozuka ana. On the other hand, the pressure of the right thumb pushing the kozuka initially inward and upward would, if the ana were a close fit, be most likely to make the kozuka contact the tsuba at the seppadai. Perhaps this was the thinking behind this particular placement.

As a matter of fact I did. So what? I fail to see why that or the fact that he is a member of this board and your bosom buddy, is supposed to modify my opinion of Namban tsuba in some way???????? My statement of a purely personal view concerning Namban tsuba casts no negative shadow nor makes criticism concerning John personally, his literary effort or his knowledge of his chosen subject. Lighten up!

Not all perhaps....... The extremely intricate ones all appear to be, and those that I have seen in hand (enough to disgust me) have no apparent evidence on them that the metal was forged or folded. Lorenzo. I am not a person of note when it comes to tsuba, ergo my opinion is of no matter. I simply find the style generally repulsive and to my eye at least, uncouth and un Japanese. This opinion will probably get me ostricised and excommunicated in tsuba circles for all eternity. I can however live with that. :D

Nice if you like Namban I suppose........ I rather prefer tsuba that have been worked rather than cast. :D Yes I know a lot of tsuba buffs like this kind of work, so dont get upset. I'm a traditionalist and perhaps because I'm not an expert in the field I can be considered eccentric and/or just plain ignorant. None the less I think cast tsuba are obscene.

If its OK with you, lets take a small step backward here. In the first place, samurai did not spend a great deal of time with a naked blade in hand. Hence the greater wear does not usually occur on the tsuka face of the tsuba. The greatest area of wear on a tsuba is more likely to be on the saya side of the tsuba where the hand rested constantly. One area that sometimes shows greater wear or discolouration is the sector of the tsuba that would be to the upper left of the centre as it is viewed facing the wearer with the sword in the saya, worn in the obi. This where the thumb of the wearer would rest at all times, ready to push the sword a fraction forward prior to drawing it. The insert you refer to would be to firstly prevent wear on the tsuba itself as the kozuka is resting in situ and would be drawn through the tsuba. Or otherwise to adjust the tsuba to a certain mounting so that the kozuka ana and seppadai aligns correctly with saya on one side and the tsuka on the other. Basically you need to do a little (make that a lot) more reading as to how the sword was worn and mounted to understand this and other small but important details of wear and the use of various sekigane on a tsuba. This is not a simple subject at all and there are many factors to consider not the least of which would be the comparative age of the tsuba, and on what kind of blade it was mounted or may have been mounted. (katana, wakizashi etc.). No criticism here, but this is such an elementary question that it indicates you really should be doing some basic research for your own sake, and this is possibly why you have not received an answer much sooner. :D

An' the shief has got writting on it tooo...... That writting is called 'shiefgakky' an' it is very rare!!! :D

Isnt it always the way of it that when you think you have a perfectly good hypothesis in the making, further information comes along that shoots it all to hell? I have had it pointed out to me by someone who knows infinitely more than I ever will about tsuba, that there are quite a few examples of twin kogaibitsu on tsuba prior to the Edo period. Notably works by Sadahiro, Nobuiye and Yamakichibei all of the Momoyama period exhibit this feature. So much for twin kogaibitsu being a feature of later tsuba. :?

David. Most interesting thanks, and you confirm at least my impression that this is a feature of later tsuba rather than earlier ones. The question arose in my mind when comparing illustrations of tsuba that have hitsuana in determining how the hitsuana and the seppadai have evolved in shape and also relative positioning throughout the ages. Those illustrations I have consulted were indicative of the double kogai hitsuana being a later development. Johns observation of it being a convention plus yours confirming that it is apparently a later development as I suspected, explain it, but unfortunately do not shed light on what caused that development or created the convention. May be its one of those questions whose answer lies either in such a commonplace fact that it was never recorded, or it was simply something that just came about without a specific stimulation arising from usage.

LOL. Rather disappointingly simple.......... I dont quite know why, but given the general complexity of things nihonto, for some reason I was imagining a more complicated explanation. Thanks John.

A question if I may, and this from a comparative neophyte where tosogu are concerned. I have noted that some tsuba, particularly those of the late Edo period and Meiji period are pierced by two hitsuana that are characteristically shaped to accomodate a kogai rather than one for a kozuka and one for kogai. Is this simply a decorative thing where the two piercings are matched but not intended to be used? The question arises because I cannot think why any one sword mounting would accomodate two kogai, there being no apparent reason to carry a duplicate. I also note that this peculiarity does not seem to occur in older tsuba. Explanations would be most welcome.

Not bad on short notice............. Thanks Eric.

Eric. You must have eyes everywhere! I have been looking for reasonably priced basic katanakake like this, and havent been able to find one. Name your sources please. I will be eternally grateful. :D I also like the non-standard sageo wrap!!!