Soshin Posted May 16, 2013 Report Posted May 16, 2013 Hi Jean, a very similiar (signed) tsuba has been sold some weeks ago at Klefisch auction house: http://www.klefisch.com/index.php?page_ ... emid=20037 Therefore your tsuba could be classified as a Owari Bishu tsuba . Beautiful tsuba and sword, by the way... Kind regards, Chris Hi Chris, Bishu is Owari they are just different name for the same province. The different names come from different ways of reading the same Kanji characters. P.S. Jean very nice sword. Yours truly, David Stiles Quote
Alex A Posted May 16, 2013 Report Posted May 16, 2013 Your a lucky man Jean. A juyo sword with original koshirae Alex. Quote
christianmalterre Posted May 16, 2013 Report Posted May 16, 2013 The Tsuba from auction was an Futagoyama Norisuke Shodai. The Tsuba attached on this Koshirae is equally Norisuke school-i even tend to say it´s an Shodai equally(referencing me just from pictures-for definite attribution i had to see this Tsuba in live,which jet,was not possible for me) I but did inform Jean already some days before the auction took place regarding this spoken auctionhouse Lot.... Yes-Nice Tsuba! Christian Quote
Higo-san Posted May 16, 2013 Report Posted May 16, 2013 Hi David, thank you very much for the hint! Actually I did not want to call it either Bishu or Owari and therefore I called it both ! Because: on the one hand, there are Tsuba traditionally classified as Owari tsuba. But - only judging from pictures - I cannot detect the classical Owari tsuba criteria, e.g. tekkotsu, etc. On the other hand, the signature on the reference tsuba clearly indicates that this tsuba was made in Owari 尾張 (or Bishu 尾州). Therefore I could have either called it a Bishu tsuba (which I have never heard of, especially in terms of Yagyu producing schools) or a Bishu Owari tsuba (what I did). Of course, that might sound a little bit overdone... Best wishes, Chris Quote
Jean Posted May 16, 2013 Author Report Posted May 16, 2013 Denis, It has not been posted. The owner sold the sword to an American collector who throws it in a deal to upgrade his collection and I bought it. Four years later, the initial owner seems to have rediscovered the Koshirae and contacted the American Collector to see if he was interested in buying it. Then the American collector sent amessage to several contacts to know who was the French man who bought it and if he was interested in buying it. The message was forwarded to me by two different top collector friends. This is how I went to buy it. I don't know how it was stored during these years but the lacquer has totally dried out and is flaking away. The koshirae is original to the blade (meaning it is the last one which was made for the blade). It is very basic with no outstanding fittings. If I had to rate the Koshirae compare to the blade with a maximum of 10, I'll say the koshirae=3 and the blade=8 :D Quote
Dr Fox Posted May 16, 2013 Report Posted May 16, 2013 Jean a delightful story! What a stroke of luck, to think of all the saya’s and fittings out there, that have been separated from the blades they were made for, never to be re matched. You must have been over the moon, I would have been! The faults you have pointed out, pale into insignificance when all above is considered. Original fittings for such a blade, it doesn't get better than that. Thanks for sharing. Denis. Quote
Soshin Posted May 16, 2013 Report Posted May 16, 2013 Hi Chris, Was trying to think from memory but failed. Different readings and different second Kanji. Both names refer to the same Provice that I am sure of. Check out my website link below I have Noritsuke likely made tsuba with a Yagyu design. This school is refered to as the Futagoyama school. I agree to have a koshirae put back with its original nihonto is a very rare and wonderful thing. Yours truly, David Stiles Quote
Jean Posted December 29, 2013 Author Report Posted December 29, 2013 Back from restoration, the saya was beyond repair totally roten inside (it was the original one), Had a new one made, the lacquer was redone at the identical. The tsuka was not the original one neither the tsunagi (close but not the blade tsunagi). Tsuka was unbinded, nakago split, recarved (small adjustment to adapt the Tametsugu) and rewrapped and rebinded, new mekugi ana drilled in the tsuka, same adapted, unvisible. Quote
John A Stuart Posted December 29, 2013 Report Posted December 29, 2013 Turned out real good, Jean. Maybe I missed it, but, who did the work? John Quote
Jean Posted December 29, 2013 Author Report Posted December 29, 2013 A friend of mine, John, he is very good for shirasaya, koshirae, tsuka binding and has learnt lacquer at the University with a Japanese teacher. He is the one who has made the koshirae for my Naoe Shizu Quote
Curran Posted December 29, 2013 Report Posted December 29, 2013 Almost always this shape of tsuba is Norisuke (Bishu Owari). Before people think that Owari tsuba = iron tsuba ..... please remember that also ko-Mino, Mino, and Kozenji workers were all there. Very skilled kinko workers. Now.... to create further headache.... see this tsuba. It has NTHK papers to Hirado Kunishige. Occam's Razor call says Kunishige. I can argue Norisuke, but cannot convince myself 100% and probably most tsuba collectors only 50%. It is a bit known that I am a Norisuke fan, therefore may just be seeing what I want to see. Conclusion: if NTHK opinion is to be upheld here, we infer that this size/shape isn't specifically Norisuke. Quote
Darcy Posted December 29, 2013 Report Posted December 29, 2013 Well I will raise a hand and admit to be one of the people in the middle here. This item was traded to me as part of a package to acquire something very important and in the Years of Despair after the market crash Jean picked it up for me for a nice price. That the koshirae were located completely is due to the diligence of the original owner who was under no obligation to make it known, other than doing the right thing. I put the two together and away it has gone into one of these rare instances where information is increased vs. brought down by entropy. I hope further enjoyment and learning is the result. The photo is not my best. I think the gamma is off there due to the computer I was using at the time the blade was photographed. Jigane is coming out too black and hadori too white. When I have completely retired I can fix stuff like this. But at least it's there. Probably half of you recognized it anyway so there's no secret when I'm involved heh. Quote
Darcy Posted January 19, 2014 Report Posted January 19, 2014 Gamma adjusted on the photo so you can see the jihada now. I did a poor job lighting the horimono on it though, nothing to be done now. I shot a lot of swords when I did that one in SF, the previous owner was kind enough to bring it in for my (much delayed) Soshu volume. The side note is that I have been able to line up the rest of the necessary Soshu suspects to complete the volume maybe this summer, with the exception sadly of Masamune. I know of two in the USA, one gone missing and the other at the Truman museum and I can probably get permission to shoot it. Unsure if it is legit though. Maybe I will do the Tokugawa style solution to not having enough Masamune... High res here: http://www.nihonto.ca/tametsugu-l.jpg Quote
Jean Posted January 19, 2014 Author Report Posted January 19, 2014 Thanks a lot Darcy, I am very grateful (so must be John ). Main problem is always the hadori polish. It is impossible to see the hamon activities, sunagashi, kinsuji .... Here it is a bit more visible but still hardly. http://www.aoijapan.com/img/sword/2013/13501-3.jpg Now, a question, why this Aoi-Art Tametsugu should not be juyo (see the sayagaki)? Quote
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