Repair/restoration for an important Momoyama Period Owari tsuba?

[Iaido dude]

This Owari tsuba is rare and well-known from Sasano’s gold book and other references. Sadly, the Kozuka hitsu-ana is missing (which explains the relatively low price), and which begs the question of whether it can be repaired/restored. Anyone have any experience with this kind of scenario?

 

https://www.jauce.com/auction/c1183203600

 

[Ray Singer]

Hi Steve, just to clarify this seems to be a different one from the example published. The same design, albeit with a thicker heaver execution. I would be inclined to leave as it is. Just my personal take, but I don't see it as being a detractor, and it am not sure that it would be easy to find someone to properly replicate the outer frame of the kozuka-ana as seen in the published example.

[Iaido dude]

Hi Ray. I don’t have Sasano in front of me, but recalled something similar. The listing shows the identical tsuba composition attributed to Sasano’s Japanese 1st edition, although the walls of the central diamonds are indeed a bit heavier as you noted. I am not so much a purist as to think all antiques should be restored for aesthetic value. Indeed, vintage watches lose value if the dial is redone. There is a beauty to the history of an old object, especially when looking at products that purposefully express wabi and sabi. Important chawan with crack repairs may increase with value, both aesthetically and in terms of monetary value. 

 

Rather, I am always interested in how excellent restoration in the right hands may bring objects back to a former glory. The absent hitsu-ana throws off the balance visually, which is a distraction for me. I know there are metal workers out there who create contemporary tsuba in a traditional style. I wonder…

[ROKUJURO]

Quite a while ago, I communicated with Ford Hallam about this subject. He was willing to repatinate a repaired TSUBA for me (a crack had to be micro-welded) but he would not weld it himself. In addition to that, he saw a problem with the added metal. He was not sure it would patinate the same way, so there was a risk that the repair could remain obvious.

Steve, so you would have to find a welder (some goldsmiths might have the micro-welding equipment) and a TSUBAKO to possibly make the repair invisible.

[Iaido dude]

I know there is a tsubako either in the US or Europe who has been winnning competitions in Japan. I'll have to dig around. I recently purchased a saya chisel made by the swordsmith Walter Sorrells on the west coast. He produces swords on commission. I'm pretty sure he makes his own tsuba. Jean, you've got me thinking now about the whole patination issue.

[Spartancrest]

https://soryu.pl/products/iron-sukashi-kanayama-school-tsuba-with-nbthk-hozon-tosogu-takeda-clan-kamon   no kozuka hitsu-ana either.

  tiny image but with both hitsu-ana 

Christies had one for  GBP 562  https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-5679423

 

https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/c1183203600   the image from Sasano is not the same guard.  Sasano's dimensions are 70.5 mm diam.  x 4.8 mm > 4.5 mm [rim to seppa-dai] The auction piece is 75 mm  x 74 mm  x 5.2 mm so a little larger - possibly a daisho to Sasano's?  Page 139 of the gold book. 

 

No relevance but they are still making copies - https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1664523308/samurai-sword-iron-tsuba-and-fuchi

 

I think the guard can stand on its own merits - the cut hitsu is part of its history, don't try to make it a copy of a guard just because someone in an advert is try to sell it as something it is not. JMHO

[lonely panet]

Price i getting up there. Dont forget your needing to add 10% paypal  and 10% winning fees and there other s**t taxes

[C0D]

11 hours ago, Iaido dude said:

This Owari tsuba is rare and well-known from Sasano’s gold book and other references. Sadly, the Kozuka hitsu-ana is missing (which explains the relatively low price), and which begs the question of whether it can be repaired/restored. Anyone have any experience with this kind of scenario?

 

https://www.jauce.com/auction/c1183203600

 

It would be possible to have it done, but there's the serious risk that the patina of the new piece won't really match perfectly the original one, i'd personally leave it as it is.
Especially considering that the papers won't match the tsuba anymore, making them useless.

[DKR]

1 hour ago, C0D said:

Especially considering that the papers won't match the tsuba anymore, making them useless.

Leave it like it is.

And what Manuel write is absolutely correct. 

 

I have several tsuba with fine damage like a crack or some impacts at the rim...........it is part of the history. 

[Iaido dude]

Thanks for your comments, gentlemen. I remember seeing a tsuba that was being sold as in excellent condition when it was clear that one of the hitsu-ana had been repaired and was still slightly deformed. It would also have been better left alone with its well earned battle scar.

[Iaido dude]

13 hours ago, Spartancrest said:

https://soryu.pl/products/iron-sukashi-kanayama-school-tsuba-with-nbthk-hozon-tosogu-takeda-clan-kamon   no kozuka hitsu-ana either.

  tiny image but with both hitsu-ana 

Christies had one for  GBP 562  https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-5679423

 

https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/c1183203600   the image from Sasano is not the same guard.  Sasano's dimensions are 70.5 mm diam.  x 4.8 mm > 4.5 mm [rim to seppa-dai] The auction piece is 75 mm  x 74 mm  x 5.2 mm so a little larger - possibly a daisho to Sasano's?  Page 139 of the gold book. 

 

No relevance but they are still making copies - https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1664523308/samurai-sword-iron-tsuba-and-fuchi

 

I think the guard can stand on its own merits - the cut hitsu is part of its history, don't try to make it a copy of a guard just because someone in an advert is try to sell it as something it is not. JMHO

 

The Soryu one pretty clearly never had a kogai hitsu-ana because the walls of the diamond are solid when they attach to the seppa-dai. So, there are some variations. 

[GRC]

I would recommend doing a shakudo insert to recreated the kozuka-hitsu-ana.

It would look just as good and you wouldn't be tampering with the patina or be adding modern steel to the Momoyama period tsuba.

That's my two cents...

[GRC]

On 5/16/2025 at 3:20 AM, DKR said:

Especially considering that the papers won't match the tsuba anymore, making them useless.

The papers are useless anyway... anyone who knows anything about tsuba from this time period would recognize it for what it is.

And if the buyer can't see that the tsuba (even after adding the hitsu-ana outline) is exactly the same as what is photographed in the papers... then their eyes (and their brain) need a checkup.  

The tsuba is always more important than the papers.

Papers are only for people who don't know what they are looking at...

 

Sorry, just me on my soap box again 

[Spartancrest]

8 hours ago, GRC said:

The papers are useless anyway.

Well let's not forget the great toilet paper shortage of 2020!  

 

https://www.jauce.com/auction/e1185881189 - Papers anyone? Buy in bulk regret at your leisure. 

[Iaido dude]

Completely agree with you, Glen. I'm not concerned with papers in the least. Using a shakudo insert would give it the same effect as kintsugi used to repair cracks in chawan. Not pretending to be any more than a loving repair that acknowledges the history of the object.

[GRC]

Found another example, also with the kozuka-hitsu-ana broken.

That's the best image I could get, sorry.

[Spartancrest]

https://www.slam.org/collection/objects/37829/  a bit more "dressed up"  - 

 

[Soshin]

On 5/15/2025 at 2:35 PM, Ray Singer said:

I would be inclined to leave as it is. Just my personal take, but I don't see it as being a detractor, and it am not sure that it would be easy to find someone to properly replicate the outer frame of the kozuka-ana as seen in the published example.

 

Here is my one hundred yen on this topic. I completely agree with @Ray Singer on this. The tsbua is nice and it reminds me of an early Edo Period Owari tsuba I once had with hakogaki by Sasano with a similar sukashi design that later traded away to the tsuba expert of Baltimore. The tsuba is fine and should be left as is. The NBTHK papers are not irrelevant, but that comment is more than a bit off topic and therefore not worth discussing in my opinion and hints at other members' ulterior motives.   

[GRC]

Wow, someone's still in a bad mood I see... 

...and still showing a penchant for dogmatic conservatism in the sense of "don't change anything", "accept everything as is".

 

Stagnation or progress...to each their own.