Katana tosogu

[Rawa]

Give me some helping hand about schools of those parts of koshirae.

And about menuki -what material are those made from? Would say silver but they look like modern creation.

[Lewis B]

Thats doesn't look like genuine ray skin.

[Rawa]

Im asking about tosogu.

[Spartancrest]

Can you tell what the menuki represent? Part looks like conventionalized 'pine' and other part like crab? I know it is difficult to see under the braiding. 

      The colour doesn't look like silver to me, sentoku? The colour is often the result of the "pickling" process and could be any number of copper alloys. 

 

Going only on the style of rim with its banded decoration, the tsuba could be Higo? like this example from David Stiles [2015]  but that is just a guess.

[Rawa]

Definitely higo. About menuki yes you spotted right motives. What is special here menuki have empty spaces under. Its not typical "flat" design where you see empty when menuki are upside-down.

[Matsunoki]

Crab and either seaweed or coral fronds is perhaps more likely than pine trees?

[ROKUJURO]

1 hour ago, Rawa said:

.....What is special here MENUKI have empty spaces under. Its not typical "flat" design where you see empty when MENUKI are upside-down.....

Marcin,

I am not sure that I understand you correctly. Usually, traditional hand-made MENUKI are hollow underneath. They are made fron sheet metal, processed in UCHIDASHI (repoussée) technique. Yours look fine at first glance but one has to see them in-hand to be sure.

[Rawa]

Their shape isnt that of dome-like. You see gaps now. They are more like sculpture not a plain relief with inlaid.

[Matsunoki]

I think Marcin is trying to explain undercutting and sukashi work? ie it’s not a “solid block”

It isn’t unusual to see that on menuki.
 

[Curran]

A bit of a mix.

"Edo Higo" type tsuba.  Ie. Edo version of what they consider Higo design.

 

Menuki:  crab + [I forget the name of this plant].   It is an early Goto design, but this feels like a knockoff.  1700s, or 1800s?  I don't know. They look decent, but not early Goto grade.

 

F/K:   More of the same. An earlier design of a more ko-kinko theme, but the execution is not at the same level.

 

 

In many ways, this is what I would consider a decent Revival piece of older styles.