C0D Posted June 18 Report Posted June 18 I'm proud to announce that my Kirishitan tsuba got awarded the 4th Effort Award in this year's NBTHK contest! This is an incredible reward for my hard work on improving my skills. To my knowledge i'm the only foreigner to win an award in this category for NBTHK competitions ( Ford Hallam only achieved Nyusen before moving to NBSK). My work will be featured in the catalogue and the exhibition, so please take a look if you have the chance. Following there are the pictures and a link to a video that shows the special feature of the mimi Link to the video https://drive.google.com/file/d/15HyBoEufhpyEx98n4Y9BETWOtrMtt5o6/view?usp=drive_link 8 16 1 3 Quote
Brian Posted June 18 Report Posted June 18 Bravo Manuel, well deserved. What a stunning tsuba. Congrats and all the best going forward. 1 Quote
Matsunoki Posted June 18 Report Posted June 18 Lovely to see such skill. You should be very proud. Congrats. 1 Quote
zanilu Posted June 18 Report Posted June 18 Ben fatto Manuel, complimenti (well done Manuel, congratulations)! 1 Quote
MauroP Posted June 18 Report Posted June 18 Complimenti, Manuel, the surface textures are really astonishing, both ishime-ji and Amida-yasurime. 1 Quote
Curran Posted June 19 Report Posted June 19 Manuel, 'e veramente un piacere di vederla. It is a powerful work with conviction. I love the fine yasurimei on the front. The prayer along the mimi must have been very difficult? 1 Quote
C0D Posted June 19 Author Report Posted June 19 3 hours ago, Curran said: Manuel, 'e veramente un piacere di vederla. It is a powerful work with conviction. I love the fine yasurimei on the front. The prayer along the mimi must have been very difficult? Thank you everyone! The writing on the mimi wasn't actually engraved, but it was written in lacquer by a friend of mine, she's a calligrapher specialized in medieval writing, then etched. All the tsuba elements were studied to carry a meaning and to be plausible to find on a Momoyama period tsuba, so also the style of calligraphy is the one used in late 16th century. 4 3 Quote
Iaido dude Posted June 21 Report Posted June 21 Astonishingly beautiful. The hitsu-ana are a wonderful touch. 2 Quote
Curran Posted June 21 Report Posted June 21 2 hours ago, Iaido dude said: Astonishingly beautiful. The hitsu-ana are a wonderful touch. I thought so too. Quote
C0D Posted June 21 Author Report Posted June 21 Thanks, let me explain more about the design I chose. Maybe it's hard to see from the pictures, but the plate is concave, that and the shape of the cross with the amida yasuri makes it feel like the cross is embracing the viewer when seeing it in hand. The raised mimi gives a more powerful look overall. On the back the bold "INRI" (traditionally found in representations of the crucifixion) engraving is meant to be seen mainly by the wearer. The hitsu ana are filled with brass and shaped as the globus cruciger (cross-bearing orb) which represents the power of Christianity over the world. The etching on the mimi has the sentence "in nomine patris et filii et spiritus sancti" (In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) and the placement of the cross on the mimi Is exactly where the wearer would rest his thumb when ready to unsheat the blade. I hope this explanation will make you appreciate it a little more 😄 2 5 Quote
C0D Posted June 23 Author Report Posted June 23 Today NBTHK published all the results for the contest 2025年度現代刀職展「研磨・刀身彫・彫金・外装の部」審査結果一覧.pdf Jeff Broderick won the 1st Effort Award and there were 7 Nyusen ranked after me. I should also adjust my statement, Jeff won at least another award in 2020 so, unfotunately for me, i'm not the first foreigner to win an award. But maybe i'm the first non-Japan resident to win It will be interesting to go the ceremony and compare my work with all these great artists! 2 1 Quote
Hoshi Posted June 23 Report Posted June 23 This is insanely good work. Well done, the piece exalts power and faith. 1 Quote
Steve Waszak Posted June 24 Report Posted June 24 Bravo, Manuel, bravo! Outstanding, both the work itself(!) and your result from the NBTHK. Extremely impressive. 2 Quote
Maurice_lmb Posted June 24 Report Posted June 24 Hello Manuel What a great job. Really amazing. Maurice 1 Quote
francois2605 Posted June 24 Report Posted June 24 Excellent tsuba, the end result is really amazing. Hats off, Manuel 1 Quote
Curran Posted June 25 Report Posted June 25 On 6/23/2025 at 1:41 PM, C0D said: Today NBTHK published all the results for the contest 2025年度現代刀職展「研磨・刀身彫・彫金・外装の部」審査結果一覧.pdf Jeff Broderick won the 1st Effort Award and there were 7 Nyusen ranked after me. I should also adjust my statement, Jeff won at least another award in 2020 so, unfotunately for me, i'm not the first foreigner to win an award. But maybe i'm the first non-Japan resident to win It will be interesting to go the ceremony and compare my work with all these great artists! It would be Italy's loss, but maybe you consider Japan a bit more long term? Heaven knows I wish I had tried harder in some of my academic pursuits that would have taken me there in 2021. Personally, I'm stoked by the level of works coming from non Japanese. We see Issei Naruki pieces in many books, and now they get NBTHK Hozon papers. I've owned one or two and seen many Issei Naruki. I'm more impressed by your tsuba. Quote
C0D Posted June 25 Author Report Posted June 25 1 hour ago, Curran said: It would be Italy's loss, but maybe you consider Japan a bit more long term? Heaven knows I wish I had tried harder in some of my academic pursuits that would have taken me there in 2021. Personally, I'm stoked by the level of works coming from non Japanese. We see Issei Naruki pieces in many books, and now they get NBTHK Hozon papers. I've owned one or two and seen many Issei Naruki. I'm more impressed by your tsuba. I did gave it a thought, but there are several reasons why I don't do that. First and foremost I'm a father of a 2 years old, so my presence here is very much needed. Another reason is that for me this is an hobby, and actually I'd like to keep it that way. There's basically no professional tsubashi even in Japan, they all do side jobs (mostly jewelry), that's because nowadays is very hard to make a living out of it. So I rather work on my spare time, doing the occasional commission and my experiments. Also even in Japan nowadays nobody is working in this style, as you said there was Issei which was a Mukansa, but he left no student and his books didn't provide any information that I didn't knew already. So there won't be much help in going there to study as nobody can actually teach me. I've got so far with my own means, so I think I can keep doing it. Of course I go almost every year to Japan to study tosogu (and nihonto), so I think I'll keep this way, at least for some years 🙂 3 1 Quote
Curran Posted June 25 Report Posted June 25 16 hours ago, C0D said: Of course I go almost every year to Japan to study tosogu (and nihonto), so I think I'll keep this way, at least for some years 🙂 Then travel well. Most here certainly wish you the best. --(Enjoy the kid. We wanted and never got them. My college fencing team captain and Lowell House roommate just wrote me today to say his son graduated HS. ____. ) Quote
C0D Posted June 26 Author Report Posted June 26 7 hours ago, Curran said: Then travel well. Most here certainly wish you the best. --(Enjoy the kid. We wanted and never got them. My college fencing team captain and Lowell House roommate just wrote me today to say his son graduated HS. ____. ) Thank you, i will sure do both I will update the post after the ceremony to tell how it went Quote
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