Tail Of Two Tsuba, Mei Placement *

[Stephen]

*or how i learned how good  shiitaki are in wine garlic & sauce.

 

What is the norm on side mei is signed

 

one off ebay other Aoi Art.

 

 

 

 

 

[Stephen]

32 views and not one onion as to which side the mei goes on...per school or oh well today ill do it this way...?

[jlawson]

Stephen it depends on who made the tsuba and who it was made for. Particularly with Echizen Kinai, one of the kantei points is on what side it is signed on to determine generation of smith. Additionally to complicate matters if it was made as a presentation piece then it would be signed on the ura in some cases. The Kinai book goes into great detail about the kantei points around the signature and what side it is on to determine exactly what generation produced it. If you don't have the book you should look into getting it as we see a great many Kinai tsuba in the US, often with pleasing designs of dragon etc.

[Stephen]

Thank you for taking time James....something like that was rolling around in the damaged brain pan, thanks for sorting it out.