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I have been collecting all sorts of things for most of my life and for a while, I have been throwing loose bids at local auction houses here in West Aus. Sometimes I might win a specific item, and not realising at the time, the auction lot is much larger and contains many other things. I often re-sell some of these items, but occasionally there are some I keep for myself. Somewhat recently, I returned to university study for a career change. As the study was curation based, I became very familiar with contemporary collections (especially the digital side of collection institutions) and as part of my personal professional development, I decided to make use of my new knowledge. Initially I created a personal Instagram account for fun, which I eventually converted to a professional account to test the algorithms for certain uni subjects. After completing my degree, I decided to make use of the website building subjects that I took, to form a gallery of my collections which runs alongside the Instagram account. Backstory done, this is the link to the beta website I am in the middle of creating for my ongoing professional development https://rollingbrook...rollingbrooksgallery . My main reason for posting this today, is to study some of the analytical data I will get from the visits, as such, you may also see this pop up on facebook at a later point, too. Go easy on me, I am not always one to share my babies and it is still a work in progress (with mobile optimisation ongoing but should be ok). I need to basically re-photograph everything again (for consistency), and I also need to write up a lot of the info for a lot of objects, but the Tsuba related stuff is the most complete of the lot.

Post with pictures of tsuba mounted on bokuto https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/49004-why-is-there-a-big-hole-in-this-tsuba/#comment-509896

The fake wakase saya fittings on the sword posted by @vajo are frighteningly convincing at a glance. They remind me of some dubious swords I’ve seen on Japanese auction sites that appear to be in brand new reproduction gunto koshirae. Usually rare koshiraes like wakase or Iida latch. Thankfully the rest of this sword has numerous dead giveaways — numbered habaki, kanji on blade, Damascus blade, amateur non-alternating ito, poor quality casting on the tsuba, poor quality seppa, etc.

And here's a kamakura tsuba I just came across that is apparently cut down: https://page.auction.../auction/e1156532313 And here is an image I snarfed from the auction, saved for posterity. I don't own the image (or piece) and I am presenting it for educational purposes only... And actually, if you look at the bottom of the piece you can see a little "keyway" on the bottom in the edge of the mimi that is usually an indicator that there was a fukurin on the piece at some point. Best, rkg (Richard George)

Hosokawa connections to Catholicism Hosokawa Tadaoki (Retired name is Sansai) was a patron of the famous tosogu-shi of Higo province. Although not a convert himself, according to the Historical and Geographic Dictionary of Japan by E. Papinot: Married to Akechi Tama who was baptized in 1597 as Gracia Son, Tadatoshi, who was baptized in 1597. Later made to recant at the request of the Tokugawa Bakufu Son, Tatsutaka, who was baptized in 1587 as John Brother, Okimoto, who was baptized in 1594 Tadaoki was very friendly with the Jesuits, particularly Gregorio De Cespedes Presented is a Higo tsuba that bears a strong similarity to a Catholic monstrance. I attribute this one to Hirata, although Nishigaki has been suggested. A monstrance is a Catholic ritual object, an example below. Fred Geyer has done a deep dive into Christian symbolism on 16th century and later Japanese objects. If this interests you then check out his old NMB posts or find his essay, Kirishitan Ikenie Tsuba in the 2006 Kokusa Tosugu-Kai book

Sold as original Type98 The good thing is they mark it as fake.

Looks like a good way to showcase your collection. Funnily enough, I was starting to think of doing something similar… Thank you for the inspiration.

Good looking website! I like it a lot, and it's well presented. Some good info too, I'm going to add it to the links section here. Looking forward to browsing more, thanks for your efforts.

Whoops, glanced over it when I scrolled through the pages. Thanks!

Don't know how far early one wants to go. I guess Kofun is weird copper-iron alloy, with the usual gilding, gold with a large content of tin and other elements.

Type: Tanto Ubu, Suriage or O-Suriage : O-suriage Mei : (Mumei, Signature) : Mumei Papered or not and by whom? : NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon with attribution to Yamamura Masanobu Era/Age : Nanbokucho Shirasaya, Koshirae or Bare Blade? : Shirasaya (with bag) and koshirae (with sword bag) Nagasa/Blade Length : 27.3 cm (10.75 in) Hamon Type : Nie-deki Suguha that forms with inazuma (similar to Soshu Masahiro), sunagashi, and kinsuji with deep nioiguchi. The flamboyant jihada intertwines with the Hamon’s activity. The boshi is o-maru with beautiful kaeri fukai. Jihada : Flowing itame with chikei overtop matsukawa similar to Norishige. Flaws : ware typical of early Soshu works but none are deep or fatal Sword Location : Tampa, FL Will ship to : International (seller’s discretion) Payment Methods Accepted : Wire Transfer, PayPal and Venmo Price and Currency : 5,500 USD + shipping Other Info and Full Description : Yamamura was the founder of Yamamura School and a student of Nobukuni. He was said to be the Lord of Ichijo and that his family were a long line of bushi. It is said he was beckoned from Kyoto by Nobukuni around Enbun (1356-1361). He was known for long tanto of which this is a shortened version of. It has the remains of Sanskrit (bonji), rendai (lotus flower), and suken (Fudo’s sword) horimono. )

Hi Curran, here is pdf about the Higo masters, hope it helps.. https://www.zobodat....22_BH5_0001-0062.pdf

Very nice and informative topic on a very specific point. My two cents: if we admit the reshape kissaki theory, we must consider that it would need a new temper (wich will not be an issue in war times)... And we should find some examples showing signs of retempering as "water shadow" ... isn't it? Best regards, Éric

Here's another one. I think we may have seen this one before. The seller guarantees its authenticity!! https://www.ebay.com/itm/267044004791? John C.

Hi Geraint, Thanks for the reply. Yes, it was this online resource which brought the piece to my attention. It's one of the Kozuka listed (Lot 64) but I was hoping to see the reverse of the piece that would show the mei as I am interested in examples for the artist Nakagami Mototsugu. My gut feeling is that given the limitations in print, the catalog will not offer any additional images of the piece but I thought it worth checking. All the best, Andy

Better than the average fake, but still lots of signs. It will bite plenty of the rookies, though.

Congrats Stephen, good decision for the community and for you !! Analytical data may be on our board so..? Best Peter

You're right, Bruce. But I was still hoping that experts might know more and be able to add something.

That's a date: 昭和四十七年五月吉日 = on an auspicious day in May, Shōwa 47 (1972 CE)

< From this to this > https://www.jauce.com/auction/o1159132466 - cut nakago-ana and another original Heianjo "intact" https://www.cordys.c...s/AA6/catalogue/0084 No shortage of basic "stock" if you wish to tamper with them [heaven forbid!] These "modified" tsuba could be a new area of study.

I think it might actually add a little to the value, someone treasured it enough for the "up-grade"

Because I had interest I would like to add additional pictures to the entire blade thanks Steve

Mr Tensho, posted 15 September, previous page.

I went today to the 76th edition of the Ciney Militaria show and it was fun. Met some of the sellers of Japanese arms and armor and had some nice chats. Prices were more expensive than expected, anyone agrees? Anyway, I hope they all had a good sale. https://www.liveinbe...iney-militaria-fair/ https://www.youtube..../watch?v=s9_BvIkGfoA

You already have more than Sesko lists: "AKIMARO (昭麿), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Niigata – “Akimaro” (昭麿), family name Yoneda (米田)"

No problem, you will have to excuse the poor photography, I do not have a macro lens. All of these are Ko-kinko, none of them are San-mai in construction.

Ono

That's something considerably more rare. Most continental guards are Chinese crossguard type until 12-14th century when you can start finding the early "tsuba" form. There are however exceptions - this is 10th century continental tsuba. Its obviously considerably more narrow compared to 14th century examples and bears some limited similarity to Kofun examples. Of note here the iron habaki bears the same edge decor as the tsuba and was made by the same hand, that of a swordsmith. By comparison soft metal habaki and guards would likely be a specialized trade.

Ko-Shoami

In actuality, Toyokawa Naval Arsenal 豊川海軍工廠 had nothing to do with swords. They did get involved with rifles, but that was a close as they got. The fable of Toyokawa sword production got started back in the 1980s by F&G. I have studied this arsenal via wartime Japanese language documents and no mention is made of swords. Toyokawa used an entirely different marking method on rifles, machine guns, and ammunition. Markings Used by Toyokawa Naval Arsenal 豊川海軍工廠 = stamped or printed on large items such as machine guns, nameplates, etc. 豊 = large caliber cartridge headstamps. ト = small caliber cartridge headstamps. Toyokawa anchor mark (see picture below). The encircled anchor stamp that is seen on swords is just a generic naval final inspection mark that does not indicate the location of production.

Occasionally we will see images of tsuba with the seppadai area cut out. Various speculations have been offered as to why, however, I recently came across these images showing that this was done to mount a metal tsuba on a bokuto. There is attendant documentation implying that this bokuto dates to about 1888, or 20th year of Meiji. The tsuba looks much older. Mounting old tsuba on bokuto seems to have been a martial arts fad at one time based on on the number of modified tsuba that turn up.

This is all Brian will let you say now, eh?