OK -- Tosogu meets Nihonto:

[Pete Klein]

http://iidakoendo.com/info/item/b026.htm

[cabowen]

$15K? Wow....While his skill at kodogu is hard to fault, he wasn't a smith so I think the 15K would better be spent on a professional's work....

[Brian]

Odd. I wonder if this one would appeal more to sword or fittings collectors?

I can't see the tosogu collectors falling over themselves for it. But.....

Kinda like buying the very well done woodwork project that Picasso built :lol:

 

Brian

[Ford Hallam]

It's not about the kokuza fellas...it's about a piece of carved calligraphy by possibly the most skilled and artistic metal artist ever. I very much doubt Natsuo himself would have stooped to make a trifling Kozuka blade.

[cabowen]

I agree with Ford....$15K is still a lot for an autograph, albeit in steel....

[Gabriel L]

Now I've seen everything.

 

I get both sides of this, but from my own humble perspective, I have to wonder – is it folded & hardened? And if so, why is it not polished on the ura at least?

 

I agree with you Ford that you can't doubt it's well made (and anyone can see that it's beautifully shaped and filed and carved)... I'm just not seeing if there's any more intrinsic quality to this piece, as opposed to "just" value by artist.

 

I mean, I'd love to have it, but not for $15k, even if I had that kind of money to spend.

[Jean]

- Picasso went to a restaurant a day and paid by check form. It was never cashed but put in a Frame by the restaurant owner.

 

- same as the famous artist justifying the sky rocketting price of an unimpressive artefact, answering the price can be split as follows:

 

- making: 5 minutes: 5%

 

- studies: 30 years: 95%

[Markus]

piece of carved calligraphy

 

Yes, also the rarity comes into play here. The kozuka is namely one of the rare examples of a

reisho-script interpretation of Natsuo. The kozuka shows by the way the last two lines of the

famous "Quiet Night Thoughts" by Li Bai (701-762):

 

擧頭望山月 I lift my head to look up at the mountain and the moon,

低頭思故郷 Lowering my head to think about my hometown.

[Jacques]

hi,

 

The story about the restaurant is a little bit different.

Picasso went to a restaurant with a friend, the owner of the restaurant has said to him, if you make to me a little drawing, i offer you the meals. Picasso made a little drawing on the paper tablecloth. At the end of the meal, the owner of the restaurant asked Picasso to sign the drawing. Picasso answered : " I have bought two meals, not the restaurant".

[Gabriel L]

The irony is that Picasso actually produced massive numbers of prints and drawings, many of which are thoroughly unremarkable (to put it gently) and go for relatively little money nowadays... pretty much anyone gainfully employed who wants to can own a genuine Picasso.

[Pete Klein]

Well, you can take your pick. A case of Chateaux Lafite Rothschild 2005 - or - this kogatana. Either will easily fit into the boot of your Bentley...

[Guido]

Two Kogatana by Natsuo I saw yesterday, made of silver. The interesting thing about them is the use of Katakiri with both a left and right angle, and especially the smoothness of the cuts - you would need very strong magnification to see the hammer strokes.

[raiden]

As Guido said, there were 2 Natsuo kogatana made of solid silver. I have sen a few of these made by Mito kino artist as well. However the solid gold ones were used for Daimyo, such as the ones that Fukushi sensei has from the Ogasawara Daimyo with all Goto mainline kozuka handles. When you think about it the solid silver ones do make sense.