Tsuba by Naoaki, student of Jirotaro Naokatsu

[Ron STL]

Thought I'd share this with the group. While looking at an article on Naokatsu and his students who made tsuba - Token Bijutsu #656, p.25 -one of the tsuba looked terribly familiar. To my (pleasant) surprise, the tsuba illustrated as #8 (Naoaki - moon, waves, pine) is the identical tsuba recently purchased at the San Francisco show. What a nice surprise! Always nice to discover something that has been published, especially in something like Token Bijutsu. Again, just sharing.

Ron STL

[Ron STL]

Thought I'd add some (hopefully) better photos...having trouble with capturing true color. Also showing the page from Token Bijutsu 656 p.27 (corrected page number...p.27 is correct. Again, just sharing. Ron STL

[Soshin]

Hi Ron,

 

Nice to see the school did more then just make Nobuie utsushi. I agree with Arnold F. they look the same to me. I also have a nice one from this school on my website. The weblink is below. I will check out my NBTHK magazine collection for the issue you reference.

[Guido]

Very nice tsuba, Ron! I'm partial to Naoaki as well, here's mine (although only a Nobuie utsushimono , it has tokubetsu hozon papers):

[Soshin]

Hi Guido,

 

Very nice thanks for sharing! :D

[Antti]

Loving that tsuba mr. Schiller!

[Ron STL]

My birthday comes up in December, Guido. :D Maybe just "copies"...but some of these works are terribly good! I'll show one that was passed on to me at the last Chicago show after he saw my Naokatsu display. Nice to have friends like that!

Ron STL

[gbeals]

Hi all,

 

I'm new to the forum and found this thread while researching this Tsuba by Naoaki

 

Thanks for looking and comments appreciated.

 

Jay

 

[GRC]

Awesome find Ron!

Those are all really nice tsuba, so thanks for sharing 

And what does it matter if the Naikatsu group worked "in the style of" Nobuiye, they're all really great pieces.

 

Jay, I don't know if there's any signifcance to this observation, but that mei looks pretty "heavy". 

[Spartancrest]

Welcome Jay.

I think I would agree with Glen, that is a wide deep mei - I think it would fit in the "In the manner of"  Naokatsu/Naoaki. The lighting is a bit harsh. I don't mind the overall design of the piece. The mei may have been added much later. Judge the tsuba foremost, then the signature.

 

This is why. [Taken from another thread https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/38416-tsuba-casting-molds/page/2/#comments]

 

 

Terry's Japanese Empire, including Korea and Formosa - 1919 
[COPYRIGHT 1914]
...Terry, T. Philip (Thomas Philip), 1864-1945.

"The latest art objects to attract the attention of the maker of antiquities are sword-fittings. Kozuka handles have been counterfeited for some years past, but it is only recently, we believe, that the forgery of tsuba (sword-guards) has taken place on really commercial lines. Until two or three years ago the only forgeries met with were those tsuba originally unsigned, but on which an enterprising dealer had chiseled the name of a famous chiseler or inlayer, often disregarding the fact that the work on the tsuba was quite foreign to that of the master whose name had been used."