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Strange blurry shot! It’s Mumei Lewis, with Sairen attribution, 13th C Kamakura. (See info sheet at the thread start.)

https://spencerartapps.ku.edu/collection-search#/search/works/1928.2426 It is a Museum ! - another that doesn't go out of it's way to give any information, not even a rough size! I have a feeling I saw another like it in the V&A they sometimes have a little information [not much] but as they have around 3,300 guards to search through it might take me an hour to find it.

Arsenal stamp

Very interesting Dale! Any idea how old that iron one with the oval hole from the Kansas City museum is? Is it also an altered existing tsuba or was it originaly made for bokken?

Jean, We shall see more in depth when I get both the blades in hand and use a digital calliper to get even more of the exact reading of both specifications of mass distribution to compare. (In greater detail than what is provided on their respective webpage descriptions). I shall post them here or send you a DM if you are interested. Forest, Thank you for the recommendation and video link. I did pick up an electronic scale though shall keep this in mind for the future.

It was Dale who posted this original vs fake comparison, still hilarious:

Who chose the design of a tsuba? The manufacturer or the buyer? I am talking about the case of tsubas illustrating various subjects. Is there any concrete Information in this regard?

No apology needed. Its the best way to appreciate each piece. btw Do you remember the maker of the blade in the last photo? The info sheet is too blurred to make out the attribution.

Nice tsuba and good mountings, are you sure this is a "bring back"? Looks quite modern to me ...

Very nice. The left one reminds me a Mito ushikoshi tsuba I have: same shape, shakudo and delicate composition.

Hi Mecox Thank you very much for your help. I don’t know if there are any stamps on it, I asked seller about it. I’ll post here again when he gives me an answer. Thanks. Pav

https://codh.rois.ac.jp/char-shape/unicode/U+5E02/ Having looked at this page, however, Ichi/Shi 市 does seem to fit in some cases... hmm...

Greetings, good planet people. This single Kanji was stamped there by a hinawajū locksmith, probably recognized at the time by those around. How many readings can we get from it? So far I can maybe see ネ、令、or maybe the ‘hen’ 示、or 衣? Surely not 吉,市 or 京? The matchlock is not signed but I know the school of gunnery, so my suspicions fall upon Kunitomo. None of the listed locksmiths there have a likely candidate character in their name though. This character might… help narrow down the place of manufacture. 😊

Thomas (Sabiji), Thank you for the correction. I checked with Danny Massey. He confirms…

Whilst I find the first two "masks" cringeworthy, I am very much taken by the two mempo designs - Eye of the beholder - define cringeworthy? There would be plenty of cringeworthy subjects depicted on tsuba - I like this "Freddy Krueger" Daruma rendition. [The tsuba image is poor but I found a drawing of it, which is much clearer] I can find a great many truly ugly "tsuba looking things" - ie. cast fakes for unwary tourists, but as Hamfish has made clear these would not really count as they are not really tsuba. [JMHO]

Thank you! I'd love to see what can be discovered with these photos about the blade, especially since most things can be seen clearly now (utsuri and boshi are still a bit hard to capture, but tried my best).

It paid off, those pictures are much better and show off the hamon quite nicely.

Bruce: Thought this was interesting. While researching the above kanna blade, found this kanna plane that may have been used to make koshirae at Nakano Shoten. John C.

A lost and unanswered thread here /\ I think Jean is correct there are likely two variations in these large hole nakago-ana depending on the practice sport they were used in. This example from the Kansas City Museum has the oval hole. The symetrical hitsu on this and the one shown by Paris would make great anchor points for a thread of tape/string to secure the tsuba to the shinai/boken - - as you may notice in the thread from Tim Evans, that tsuba is rather loosely held in place and as it is partly sukashi and has a [battered] hitsu it could easily be missing a string that would have held the tsuba more securely. All speculation on my part as I know next to nothing about shinai or boken [at least not what was used in the 19th century or earlier].

@Lareon Tony as you noted the Takeyasu sword is stainless steel and made for the Navy at Tenshozan Tanrenjo (factory). Often they had a stamp of anchor in circle. There were three "Take" smiths: Takeyasu, Takeyoshi and Takeyuki. See paper in NMB Downloads which gives the background and context (also table in page 120):

Thanks. I've been spending my evenings after college practicing!

That is a massive improvement in photograph quality, well done!

they arnt tsuba, its not a tsuba, its a paperweight commemorating a event of something. do your homework, it was never made to fit on a sword so its not a tsuba.

The Bonham's auction today painted a picture of a pretty strange market. The nihonto on offer had estimate ranges that I felt were at the higher end, but not outrageous, and mostly they either didn't sell, or sold at the low end Meanwhile the Tosogu were attracting crazy money, often multiples of the high end of the estimate. The pair of tsuba pictured - beautiful work, but no origami - went for US$ 32,000!

Sadly, I no longer have the most cringeworthy tsuba I've ever seen. It was unbelievably UGHHH and looked like a beginner's first attempt at an iron tsuba with a high relief blob that resembled a person. This was very pre-Message Board and I almost wish I still had it to show here... BaZZa.