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Dont quite know what to make of this tsuba


sanjuro

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Gentlemen.

Some ten years ago I acquired a sword with a reasonable koto blade that was fitted with this tsuba. Judging by the close fit, the tsuba was originally fitted to the sword in question and gave every indication of being original, matching also the Fuchi Kashira. The sword and tosogu has been sold some time ago and the buyer for better or worse, wanted a different tsuba, so this one stayed with me.

So much for the provenance...... What puzzles me is I dont know what I have. I intend to sell this piece, but until I know what it is I dont know what value it may have. Your help is requested in identifying this piece.

 

This is what I think it is: Momoyama period approximately. Ko Shaomi (but what the hell would I know?). There seems to be a strong Christian motif in the way and manner of execution of the stem of the sukashi..... (Question mark there). I'm quite prepared to be totally wrong about this piece, because I cant be sure.

 

Dimensions are Marugata 7.4cm diameter. Thickness 4.5mm.

 

The Tachibana Mon which occupies the entire tsuba is well cut and the entire tsuba has a fine blue black patina of what appears to be magnetic oxide. where the iron shows through it seems to be of a finely forged material. There is wear on the sector of the mimi that corresponds with the ha of the blade. This most probably from the thumb of the owner as he held the blade in the saya. This kind of wear usually indicates a rather older tsuba as I understand it.

 

What do the tsuba guys think?

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Gentlemen.

 

What do the tsuba guys think?

 

Dear Keith,

 

Being a Tsuba or Tosogu guy in general I would say you need to take some good in focus photos of the tusba under normal lighting conditions. The quality of the scans that you have of the tsuba are just not that great and the color and contrast looks strange. There is a old saying that looking at a tsuba under direct sun light is the best as it will allow you to see and possible photograph a image where the true condition of patina of the tsuba can be observed. The overall color and condition of the patina can help determine age. With the current quality of the images I am not even going to try and guess.

 

 

 

Yours truly,

David S.

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Good morning all,

 

Here's something to ponder:

 

I had always assumed that a Tsuba was made for a Samurai, but in the mid Edo period, certain persons below Samurai rank were allowed to wear a single sword.

 

Furthermore certain trades & professions were also allowed to use a Kamon on their clothing, buildings and advertising materials.

 

Now, let's take the Tachibana kamon - a depiction of the mandarin orange tree.

 

A version of this Kamon was registered to Kabuki Actor & Zamoto Ichimura Takenojô I. 1654 - 1718

 

It became the crest of the Ichimura Uzaemon line of Zamoto and actors of the Tachibanaya Guild.

 

(In Edo, the Zamoto was somebody who received a license from the Shogunal authorities to produce Kabuki in his own theater.)

 

How do we know, or can we ever be sure that a tsuba from mid Edo and after was specific to a Samurai?

 

Cheers

 

Malcolm

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Hi Keith,

 

It seems Pre Edo was even more ill defined regarding who could wear a sword.

 

Prior to the sword hunt called by Oda Nobunaga towards the end of the 16th century, civilians were free to carry swords for defense or simply for decoration.

 

Nobunaga sought an end to this, and ordered the seizure of swords and a variety of other weapons from civilians, in particular the Ikkō-ikki peasant-monk leagues which sought to overthrow samurai rule.

 

Cheers

 

Malcolm

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Hi Malcolm

 

I'm familiar with the history, and I agree there has always been the possibility of tsuba not belonging to a samurai. However, the more expensive tsuba were not generally affordable by the local peasantry, and indeed many swords were held in Hyogo or armories and issued to peasant levies at need by the various Daimyo. These would have been of fairly utilitarian design usually without mon emblems and such. On the other hand, the samurai would have wanted perhaps to show their allegiances by having tsuba of various design including mon. Its an inexact science of course, and there will be exceptions on both sides of this reasoning. Theres also the aspect that many of the peasant levies and non samurai did not generally have the long sword of the samurai but rather a shorter version much like the later chiisa katana or wakizashi. The tsuba for these would predictably have been slightly smaller.

Its an interesting sidelight though.

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Hi Keith,

 

I have often equated the large number of smaller size tsuba of the Edo period to belong to one of the two possible categories:

1. Belonging to a samurai's wakazashi.

2. Belonging to a merchant's wakazashi.

 

This is due in part to the fact that merchant's were allowed to wear wakazashi. I am also aware that peasants were allowed to wear tanto in public if I am not mistaken. I do see many Edo period tanto tsuba as well ranging in quality. This social structure was finally implemented by the government of the Tokugawa Shogun but started by Oda Nobunaga.

 

 

 

Yours truly,

David Stiles

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I say this in observation only, not being a tsuba man at heart but rather a sometime student of Japanese history.

The Edo period does appear to present the collector of tsuba with some unique problems in the area of whether a given tsuba was a merchant tsuba or a samurai tsuba, moreso than in previous historical periods. By far the greater wealth lay mostly in the hands of the merchants and I guess it would be safe if not entirely accurate to say that most extant tsuba were most likely mounted on civilian swords. Many of the samurai families were no longer as wealthy as they had been in previous more warlike periods, and lets face it, the warrior class was in a period of ultimate decline from the mid Edo period onward. There were tsuba and tosogu being made solely as presentation pieces and gifts, something that in previous periods had been almost confined to the warrior class. There were also many tsuba made strictly for export. All of this potentially confuses the provenance of any given tsuba. I speak generalities here of course. It would seem on the surface at least that in particular the wakizashi and tanto tsuba from the Edo period that we see today are in the main impossible to classify as samurai or merchant pieces except where the provenance is recorded.

 

I'm not really the person to comment on this however, since my tsuba knowledge is much lacking.

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Frankly, I'm not sure it matters all that much whether, by mid-Edo, a given tsuba was made for a person of samurai class versus one of the "lower" classes. By this time, the "samurai" were merely government bureaucrats; they certainly were not warriors. By the time of the "47 Ronin," more than a century had passed since Sekigahara. There was no one alive who had fought in a battle, no one for whom the term "warrior" meant anything beyond a fanciful and romantic imagined notion of himself. Come the turn of the 18th century, few knew even which end of the sword to hold. For most of them, a tsuba was akin to a gold watch---a precious bauble by which to impress their fellow bureaucrats. This is one big reason (along with the ascent of merchant class power [and taste]) for the dominance of kinko (soft metal) tsuba by the 18th century. A tsuba certainly no longer had to withstand the stress of any sort of actual fighting, and could function merely as the male jewelry it essentially was. While the decline of the buke was precipitous by this time, those of this class who could afford pricier tsuba seem to have been as enamored of the same relatively gaudy kinko stuff that those of the "lower" classes were. But as others in this thread have observed, it's hard to tell, exactly, who such tsuba were "for." After all, nothing would have prevented a sword-wearer to outfit his wakizashi with a larger-than-usual "wakizashi tsuba," unless I'm mistaken.

 

I do believe that in times earlier than the mid-Edo, the kogai was reserved not only for bushi, but for higher-ranking bushi, so those tsuba from the early Edo Period and earlier whose kogai-ana were original may have been meant for/used by high-ranking warriors. I would imagine, however, that, even if this is an accurate understanding, by the 18th century, such divisions were no longer in play, so tsuba produced then which had kogai-ana may just as well have been meant for merchants as they were for the samurai. Then, too, many earlier tsuba could and likely did have kogai-ana added to the existing plate, again probably for a person of whatever class, as long as it could be afforded.

 

The last vestiges of tsuba as functioning fighting tsuba and/or as possessing the first aesthetic principles as presented in Torigoye and Haynes' Tsuba: An Aesthetic Study, pretty much petered out with the end of the early Edo period (pre-Genroku), and in most cases, well before this. Of course, there are exceptions. But for the most part, I believe this to be the case.

 

For me, therefore, post-Genroku tsuba are rarely of interest (again, there are a few exceptions), and honestly, very few even of post Kan-ei times. Few past this time are invested with excellence in the first aesthetic principles (see reference above), few possess or present the efforts to embody or express the more elevated aesthetic ideals that tsuba of the late Muromachi, Momoyama, and early-Edo periods did, and as just discussed, the "samurai" were no longer samurai, not, at any rate, as they had been for the years pre-Genroku.

 

As for the years pre-Edo which were much "looser" as regards who may own/wear a sword, it is true that the restrictive measures put in place in the Momoyama Period had not yet materialized. As far as the way this impacts tsuba, however, much will depend on the individual guard. Certain types of tsuba were unquestionably made strictly for the more elevated members of Japanese society, and there would have been little chance (read NO chance) for any outside of this elevated level to own such a piece. Recall what I said above, too, regarding the use of kogai. Pre-Edo, unless I am mistaken, only those bushi of higher rank could use the kogai; so any tsuba commissioned/used by such persons were more likely, then, to include a kogai-ana (I'm assuming, here, that we're not discussing tachi, of course), while those tsuba meant for lower-ranked bushi would not have a kogai-ana, but perhaps just the kozuka-ana).

 

As has been said in this thread, there is much to discuss, ponder, and research in this area. But I suppose I would want to ask these questions: of what particular interest is it to attempt to discern which mid-Edo tsuba may have been meant for those of the samurai class, and which may have been meant for those of other classes? What does one look to gain by discerning this distinction (assuming that there is one, and that, if so, such a difference can be ascertained)? I am quite genuinely curious to understand such a pursuit... :o)

 

Cheers,

 

Steve

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Steve,

 

Unwittingly, you have just justified my entire collection (small though it may be) of pre Edo tachi tsuba! :D

I note we also share the same reservations concerning Edo kinko male jewellery, and post Mid Edo samurai as a viable warrior class.

 

The point you raise concerning kogai I find most interesting..... It is in line with the obvious parallel conclusions concerning Uma Bari, which were actually only useful to a horseman and therefore a samurai. There are however some grey areas concerning the actual purpose(s) of the kogai beyond the hairdressing function. Uses such as the impaling of a severed head in the left eye in order to support it when it was being handled or displayed without getting messy. This obviously a use to which only a samurai would put the kogai, since the handling of severed heads is not common practice outside of the warrior class. :?: Is this at least part of the basis of your reasoning that the kogai was only for higher ranking samurai, at least originally when the samurai were warriors?

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Hi Keith,

 

I was trying to find my source material on the use of the kogai, but haven't been able to locate it in my library just yet. I'll keep looking...

 

What you observe concerning the use of the kogai is partly what my understanding is based on. However, the main thrust has to do more with the use of the kogai as an implement by which the warrior of elevated rank would "make himself presentable" to his superiors (i.e. as a hair-"adjusting" tool). As I said, I am trying to find my sources for this understanding of the use of the kogai, so it's quite possible I'm mis-remembering/misunderstanding something here. However, I am pretty sure the kogai occupies a higher place in the ordering of tosogu than does the kozuka, and part of the reason for this is that its use was restricted to the more "noble" men in the buke.

 

For the purposes of studying tsuba, though, the actual use of the kogai is perhaps a bit less important than simply knowing that it had a higher "rank" than the kozuka/ko-gatana, and that, therefore, early tsuba with kogai-ana (original kogai-ana, of course) had to have been meant not only for bushi (rather than other classes), but for higher-ranking bushi.

 

Having said all of what I have here, though, I must confess that the whole matter is quite muddy to me in that I not infrequently see tsuba with TWO kogai-ana or two kozuka-ana. While the latter case I could sort of understand (the warrior in the field desiring yet one more blade on his person), why would two kogai ever be necessary or desired. I am assuming here that kogai-ana actually WERE meant for kogai, incidentally. If this is not the case, and in fact either implement could be used with either type of ana, then I frankly am not sure what to make of it all! lol... ;)

 

Cheers,

 

Steve

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If we are talking about kogai, I think we can surely say it was used at one time as an ear cleaner.

 

Sasano "Tosogu no Kigen" gives a thorough rendition of what the kogai might have been used for. In TnK he basically summaries plenty of differenet theories and does not give much of an opinion on what he thinks.

 

My take is as follows which is basically what I have learnt from TnK:

 

*It appears kogai were worn on swords a long time before kozuka were.

*There appears to be a lot more old kogai in existence than there are kozuka which could be because of the point above or it could suggest that kogai were not used in a manner that made them wear out and disintegrate and ultimately become lost.

*considering that koagi (and kozuka) probably could get in the way of drawing a sword, they must have had some function that was deemed useful AND / OR they were only worn by people who would not be expecting to have to draw their sword quickly in emergency.

*There is a theory which says that kogai were worn on both sides of a sword when in camp but on campaign they were both replaced with kozuka.

 

I personally believe that they were used to clean the ears, scratch under the warriors helmet and to tidy hair.

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Hi Henry.

 

I'll make an observation here that may well be shot down by better informed members. It seems to me that kogai and kozuka are generally more often found as a pair on wakizashi than on katana. Discounting the edo period here on the basis of swords of that time being more decorative than useful, this would support your theory. Since wakizashi were worn constantly, they would be always to hand and not necessarily needed in a 'draw at a moments notice' type of situation. As you observe, the katana on the other hand needs to be less encumbered in order to be drawn swiftly and therefore the kogatana/kozuka and kogai pair may prove to be an encumbrance. But why if the kogai is the 'senior' implement, do we find only a kozuka/kogatana on the majority of Uchigatana and katana?

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From what I understand, from Muromach (Oei period) to early Edo, kogai was believed to be the main accessory for uchigatana and were accompanied frequently with another fixture (another kogai or kozuka) on the other side if anything was attached at all to the saya.

 

From the Edo period onwards when the functions of the accessories (especially the kogai) was forgot it became less popular and a kozuka became the trend.

 

Just my thoughts but I feel that there is no conclusive answer this particular question.... which is, what the heck kogai / kozuka were really for, (I think)

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As you observe, the katana on the other hand needs to be less encumbered in order to be drawn swiftly and therefore the kogatana/kozuka and kogai pair may prove to be an encumbrance. But why if the kogai is the 'senior' implement, do we find only a kozuka/kogatana on the majority of Uchigatana and katana?

 

Generally this idea of a need for quick draw of a katana from its saya is I think a incorrect assumption mostly develop by the exposure to Iaido and similar Nihonto drawing arts. In a real combat situation (think battlefields of the Pre-Edo period) trying to draw any katana with or without kogai or kozuka would spell death. A quick observation of some of the remaining kenjutsu techniques indicates this fact as well. Quick draw techniques only became important until the Edo period during a non battlefield civil situation such as self defense along the street or during a single duel for honor.

This question of having two kogai hitsu-ana I have seen some Pre-Edo tsuba with two kogai hitsu-ana or only one kogai hitsu-ana. I have recently purchased a tsuba for my collection that dates to the Momoyama period and it has two kogai hitsu-ana. A contras to this I have a late Edo tsuba that also has two kogai hitsu-ana. As for the use of a kogai I am really not sure but the use as a hair styling tool sounds reasonable. Just my two cents. I am really enjoying the discussion while waiting for better photos of the original tsuba in question. :D

 

 

 

Yours truly,

David S.

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The development of iai techniques preceeded the Edo period slightly. Here is an excerpt of an article I wrote some years ago.

 

It was during times of turmoil, revolution and war, the Rokuhara era, Kamakura, Ashikaga and Momoyama periods that the combative arts (Bujutsu, Bugei) reached their highest levels of sophistication. What had been learned on the battlefield was noted and transmitted to fellows within the group or clan. The true measure of success lay in the fact that the inventor of the technique survived to disseminate it. For the most part these Kenjutsu techniques were kept within the family or clan (O tome bujutsu {inside the clan martial art} or O shiki uchi {practice in the room}). After all one could be fighting another clan at any time and it would help if one’s methods were not already known. During the Muromachi period the sword changed from one that had hung edge down on hangers to one thrust through the obi edge up. Though ashigaru were known to have worn swords in this way during the Kamakura period it was not until the uchigatana and eventually the katana were developed that it became standard for the buke. It was also during this period that refined battojutsu techniques were added to the repertoire within the ryuha. The necessity for this was that the strategy of warfare had changed from organized engagements to surprise attacks. Previously swords would have been drawn as the enemy was engaged, this had changed to attack at any time and the sword had to be brought to bear at a moments notice. Strategy was no less a part of training than the actual weapons techniques. Kenjutsu and the techniques of battojutsu would have been taught simultaneously; they were complimentary skills and the efficient swordsman had to have proficiency in both. Some ryu that started in the 14th and 15th centuries are Nen ryu (Yoshimoto Sanashiro), Aizu-Kuge ryu (Aisu Iso 1452-1538) who taught the Yagyu clan, Itto ryu, Koto-eiri ryu among others.

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But why if the kogai is the 'senior' implement, do we find only a kozuka/kogatana on the majority of Uchigatana and katana?

 

Hi Keith,

 

Well, I would imagine that, if the kogai is an implement associated with higher-ranking bushi, there would be fewer men of this rank than there would be of the lower ranks, thus the greater numbers to be found of kogatana/kozuka on uchigatana/katana (and, one would think, greater numbers of tsuba with kozuka-ana than with kogai-ana, at least originally). However, I am still a bit perplexed by the twin kogai-ana some tsuba have. If the kogai-ana is "for" a kogai, and the kozuka-ana is "for" a kogatana/kozuka, why do we see the twin kogai-ana on some tsuba? Perhaps the shapes we associate with kogai-ana (versus) kozuka-ana are really less firmly attached to the implement in question than we (I) think they are? After all, it's not as if many kogai couldn't be drawn through a wide-ish kozuka-ana, nor would it be impossible for some kozuka to be drawn through a decent-sized kogai-ana... Hmmm... I remain in need of enlightenment here... ;o)

 

Cheers,

 

Steve

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A silly question perhaps, but why are the kogai ana and the kozuka ana different shapes? An oblong slot in a tsuba would surely serve equally well for either implement if they (the slots) were of an appropriate size. Equally, the lobed slot for the kogai would also serve in the same way. Does the kogai with its curious little hooked tab require such a large clearance that the slot must be shaped accordingly? most kogai I have examined would slip easily through a kozuka slot..... Perhaps the hooked tab was once larger or more pronounced or differently shaped? Or is this one of those traditional things that has simply lost its origins? :?

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if the kogai is an implement associated with higher-ranking bushi

I am not so sure if kogai are associated with higher-ranking bushi. I think they are more associated with uchigatana which was a weapon developed for the foot soldiers and then became a weapon of choice with the higher class.

 

why are the kogai ana and the kozuka ana different shapes?

The shape of kogai ana developed differently to the kozuka ana becasue in the early days the ear scoop (mimi kaki) was tilted more forward so there was a wider space needed for the kogai to move through the tsuba. This forward tilt decreased through time but the kogai ana shape stayed the same.

 

Also I think that through out history the use of kozuka and kogai have been over thought. I have a feeling that they might not have had an actual intended use as we find with the likes of habaki or tsuba. Possibly the kogai was developed early as an all round practical tool that could be used for what ever purpose the owner saw fit, such as scratching, pinning a tent canopy, stirring a pot of stew etc. The kogatana as well might have developed this way with no fixed intended use but as something might become useful for a "no set task" moment. Maybe because it is a mini blade attached to a sword is why it developed later as people might have thought at one time who needs two blades.

 

Just my thoughts.

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Re the mimi kaki (as found on a kogai): This may sound a little silly but I have always had some reservations about it being an ear cleaner. Have you ever tried to clean your ears with one? I have, and it is the most ill suited tool for the task. Its about as useful for that particular purpose as a flywire canoe would be for towing a water skier.

Could it be that the mimi part of the name only refers to the shape of the thing (being a small ear-like shape, and its similarity to the ear cleaning toll of the same name), and all it really represents is a handy projection by which it can be lifted out of its slot in the saya. I dont believe for one moment that samurai as a group were so afflicted with excessive ear wax that it would require a special tool to be at hand and carried around constantly. I mean how often do you really need to clean your ears out during the course of a day?

I think perhaps the theory of the kogai being a sort of general purpose handy tool makes a great deal more sense. The term Kogai has and is of course used for the long pins that Japanese women decorated their hair with, so the association with a hair dressing implement is well established.

 

Edit: Line one and four, edited for clarity.

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Thanks Guido....... The real deal as in your pic has a nice long slender stem, ideal for the purpose. The stem on the kogai version is much shorter so that it cannot function as efficiently in this capacity (unless of course you want to ram the broad end of the kogai into your aural canal....... Not recommended). Hence my observation.

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(unless of course you want to ram the broad end of the kogai into your aural canal.......).
There are quite a few people in Japan who pay good money for exactly those kinds of kinky intrusions into their orifices ... maybe you're on to something here ... :rotfl:
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Gentlemen, A very interesting thread. Glancing through the catalogue of the sword exhibition at the Tokyo Museum in 1997 I note that both the kogai and kogatana were fully evolved in their shapes, and in their customary places in the scabbards of some koshigatana, as early as the Kamakura period. The same catalogue also shows a koshigatana from the Muromachi with a kogatana in the omote face of a scabbard which suggests the positioning of these implements was not rigorously established at that stage. It has always struck me as rather odd that such a decorative item as a kozuka should be hidden away on the rear of an Edo period wakizashi, particularly for those swords whose other mounts are obviously designed to impress. In this position they were unseen unless the sword was removed from the obi, and subject to the maximum amount of rubbing against the clothes. Perhaps that is why so many kozuka are so badly worn. As for uchigatana, the story of their evolution still remains somewhat enigmatic to my mind. Certainly, common soldiers were issued with them during the later Muromachi, but they are described and named as early as the Heian. We generally accept that they were worn edge upwards through the obi, but have a look at the portrait of Honda Tadakatsu seated on his camp stool wearing his black armour. He has his tachi, with a diamond shaped tsuba, and his uchigatana with a mokko shaped tsuba but it is being worn edge downwards. He also has a tiny tanto / koshigatana that you don't notice until you look carefully. I suspect they all did what seemed right to them at the time. I suspect we are imposing the formalities of the Edo period onto more distant eras.

Ian Bottomley

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By the time of the "47 Ronin," more than a century had passed since Sekigahara. There was no one alive who had fought in a battle, no one for whom the term "warrior" meant anything beyond a fanciful and romantic imagined notion of himself. Come the turn of the 18th century, few knew even which end of the sword to hold.
You make Edo period samurai sound like a bunch of idiots who had to have their mothers spoon feed them rice! Were do get this information from anyway?

 

"By the time of the "47 Ronin," more than a century had passed since Sekigahara. There was no one alive who had fought in a battle".......

 

Did the samurai turn into HIPPIES??

 

"Come the turn of the 18th century, few knew even which end of the sword to hold." .......

 

This forum is about enlightenment not spreading misinformation. Do you really think that endlessly butchering tens of thousands of people made samurai better men then the Edo period samurai that were able to unite, control and run a country?

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This thread is quite old. Please consider starting a new thread rather than reviving this one, unless your post is really relevant and adds to the topic..

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