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Greetings! I have just received my first katana with koshirae. I had been looking for months, as I want only one, and I figured that eventually one would stand out for me, and that would be it. And that turned out to be the case. The elegant blade is fabulous, but I confess that the tiny homare kizu (on the mune) was what sealed the deal for me, as I also have a bit of an "honor flaw" of sorts (long story). As I purchased this from AOI-art, their photos are better than mine, and here's a link... https://sword-auctio...kubetsu-hozon-token/ I am intrigued by this koshirae, and I haven't ever seen another like it, but I'm not as experienced as everyone here. I love the minimalism of the textured/lacquered nerikawa throughout, even for the tsuba and instead of same for the tsuka. I wonder whether this style of koshirae is familiar to anyone here, and whether anyone could provide information about it, or could show me other examples. I searched the archives and found this apparently-early-Edo nerikawa daisho koshirae in a thread from a few years ago, but I think mine is much younger. https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/6503-literal-meaning-of-handachi-applied-to-sword-koshirae/page/2/#comment-292921 Thank you for your expertise! Paul

The only animal tsuba I have.

I think the guard is genuine with a nice stone finish surface. There is evidence of fitting to a blade, the tagane-ato [punch marks] at the top of the nakago-ana [tang hole] with copper sekigane and it looks like there may have been sekigane at the bottom at one time. A similar designed one here but not as nice as the one you are looking at. I think the design may be a cart wheel which has to do with Buddhist belief "wheel of life." https://www.ebay.com/itm/204747571320 A variation where the opposite elements are positive.

I think mid to late Edo and a real tsuba, not cast. Not a treasure and you can do better but not a fake either. Grey

A few snaps from the current Horimono exhibition at the NBTHK Hakubutsukan in Tokyo. Photography is allowed, just no Flash.

Not cast. What Grey said.

Submitted for consideration is this tsuba, which might be found interesting for a number of reasons. Please forgive my poor photographic skills. I am told the mei might read “Bungo ju Kikuhiro Masahira.” I am at a loss regarding the “grass writing” inlay but am guessing that it is a poem by Basho or Buson. The color of the metal is interesting, and looks like it might have been partially ‘cleaned.’ Any discussion would be welcome.

Koto Kanenori (NBTHK Hozon), with handachi koshirae. Fantastic sugata with wide mihaba and o-kissaki. Fine ko-itame with ji-nie and a suguha-based hamon. Ubu nakago. $5,950 (plus shipping and PayPal) Bio for the shodai courtesy of Markus Sesko - KANENORI (兼法), Kōshō (康正, 1455-1457), Mino – “Kanenori” (兼法), first name Uemonshirō (右衛門四郎), according to tradition the son of Nara Kanenaga (奈良兼永), depending on the source, Kanenori is listed either as Nara or as San´ami smith (三阿弥) but his tang finish shows the characterustuc features of the Senju´in school, i.e. kiri on the hira and sujikai on the shinogi-ji of the tang, on the basis of this it is assumed that he actually belonged to the Akasaka-Senju´in group and moved later to Seki where he joined there the Nara or the San´ami school, anyway, there were two lineages of Kanenori smiths active, one in Seki and the other one in Uruma (宇留間) which corresponds to the present-day Unuma district (鵜沼) of Gifu´s Kakamigahara City (各務原) Nagasa: 72.4cm Moto-haba: 3.3cm Saki-haba: 2.9cm Kasane: 0.7cm Sori: 1.7cm

Here are the oldest swords with horimono that I have in references, in no particular order as I cannot really say exactly how old they are but I believe all of these date to late Heian period. 三条宗近 - Sanjō Munechika 五条国永 - Gojō Kuninaga 正恒 - Ko-Bizen Masatsune 友成 - Ko-Bizen Tomonari 大原真守 - Ōhara Sanemori However there are multiple chokutō that are much older and feature carvings. I did not include those. There are swords with horimono that were made in Early Kamakura period but they are not as old as the blades from makers above. Then of course I will include 5 oldest dated swords with horimono I am currently aware of. 国綱 - Awataguchi Kunitsuna 1253 (I believe this mei might need more research) [an interesting sidenote it is an ōdachi] 守家 - Hatakeda Moriie 1280 来国俊 - Rai Kunitoshi 1292 了戒 - Ryōkai 1293 国光 - Shintōgo Kunimitsu 1294

I offer: Iron Tsuba, Design of a Yodo River Boat featuring flowing water, sailing ships, bridges , Daigoro probably, (mm): 81,2 x 80,8 x 4,5 (Ts915562). US$475,- By clicking on the attached link, you will find many high resolution photos. Shipping $15,- Thank You. https://www.flickr.c...s/72177720314047899/

Two videos of the exhibit from a good channel: Part 1: Part 2:

Wayyyyy off topic, but just finished looking through this thread. um... did anyone else notice this, or was it just me?

Hello William. Agree with John….They forgot to put a hole in the tsuka ( hilt ) for the sarute and used a Ishizuke ( chape) as the kabuto-gane ( hilt pommel )..But after all that it is a genuine sword with a mint arsenal made blade…It is a piece of history in my eyes and at the right price a nice display sword.. Regards, Paul

Ok, I'll contribute with some Wild Hogs 🐗: (F/K are not a pair...)

hello folks perhaps someone can help me to translate the depicted kanji on a navy Kyugunto it seems a prensentation inscription?

Hello Dan, Thank you very much for the link to that fascinating paper! The Namban treatment of the seppa-dai struck me as well. I am also wondering about the shape of the sotoba. I have not come across any other tsuba with both skull motifs and Namban details. Hoping to learn more! I will try posting the mei and inlay in Translation Assistance.

I don't know for sure whether that tsuba was sand cast or not, although I agree with Dan Tusba's observations. I will say that that surface texture would be a lot easier to achieve with sand casting than in any other way. But Japanese craftsmen are amazing in their ability to painstakingly achieve textures and effects. Robert S

Another crescent moon in the ocean. Posted by @Baka Gaijin, HERE.

Hi Ray, thank you for the ultra fast reply! I really appreciate the good help here in the forum.

When you see four guards selling around the same time span - which can you trust? If any? Maybe the last in iron - with some inlay and tagane-ato, a bit difficult to be sure if even it might be a copy. Seeing too many "replicas" puts you off! The "Where's Wally?" difference is

I offer: Iron Tsuba, Design of a Yodo River Boat featuring flowing water, sailing ships, bridges. Daigoro probably, 81,2 x 80,8 x 4,5 (Ts915562). Please use the link to see the full description in my dealer section. https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/50500-design-of-a-yodo-river-boat-daigoro-probably-ts915562/Have a nice day

English captions for the swords: https://www.touken.o...rontsndbackside.html

Wow, didn't see that, John! Doesn't even have the metal part that goes across the center. Rob, Take a couple minutes to read the article I wrote, that Rob posted a link to. It explains all your questions. The black color, and gold gilding, along with the blade are Navy. The metal fittings are Army style fittings. This is what puzzled collectors for decades. I believe it was intentional by the Tenshozan forge in making a sword that could not be called a war trophy, as it wasn't anything close to a regulation navy or regulation army gunto. The missing hole is seen on a few late-war swords, but this is the first one I've seen on a souvenir The stamped numbers on the fittings are quite normal for military and souvenir swords.

Hey Deanna. Welcome to the forum. This is a great forum and a wonderful place to learn. About that tsuba being sand cast. That is an insighful and relevant question. By the texture of the surface of that tsuba, it may actually be sand cast cast-iron. But who knows? The only way to know for sure is to subject the piece to non-invasive metallurgical testing. But who has the money to afford that! I like that tsuba. Whether it ever turns out to be sand cast cast-iron or not. If you win the bid, just enjoy the piece and learn from its history and motif. Although I don’t know what the motif represents. There are extremely knowledgeable members on this forum who I am sure will help you with what the motif is. Onward!

That extremely long yari with horimono was for sale at DTI

Michael, I am not familiar with that website. On some websites and auctions the seller(s) may not know the difference(s) between authentic Japanese and "other" swords. You may want to let the vendor know that this is not an authentic Japanese sword. If they actually DO know, then I would avoid this website.

Thanks a lot, the fakes were fortunately obvious even to my amateur eye. but it is fascinating what can be learned about the fakes as well anyway thanks again

Getting back to the last image in your list, it would appear the same company that made that one has a variety of patterns. They tend to have the same nakago-ana shape which is pretty obviously not "right" I wish all fakes were so easy to spot! To be fair I think these things were made as paperweights and somehow got dumped into the "old tsuba" pile by people who don't know any better. They would be impossible to mount on a sword.

Robert, The piece was made irregular intentionally. However, I’m not sure, if there are inlays missing. Needs cleaning which can be easily done with the usual means. What about the back side? Florian

Is it this one? "MASAKIYO (正清), Kyōhō (享保, 1716-1736), Satsuma – “Kiyomitsu” (清盈), “Kiyomitsu [single-leaf aoi crest] aratameru Mondo no Shō Fujiwara Masakiyo saimei” (清盈・改主水正藤原正清再銘, “Kiyomitsu – once again signed by Mondo no Shō Fujiwara Masakiyo after the change of name”), “Sasshū-jū Kageyoshi saku” (薩州住景吉作) “Sasshū-jū Fujiwara Masakiyo” (薩州住藤原正清), “Sasshū-jū Masakiyo” (薩州住正清), “[single-leaf aoi crest] Mondo no Shō Fujiwara Masakiyo” (主水正藤原正清), “[single-leaf aoi crest] Sasshū-jū Mondo no Shō Fujiwara Masakiyo” (薩州住主水正藤原正清), real name Miyahara Kiyo´emon (宮原清右衛門, the first name can also read Sei´emon), he also bore the first name Kakudayū (覚太夫), he studied under Maruta Sōzaemon Masafusa (丸太惣左衛門正房), in early years he signed with Kageyoshi (景吉) and Kiyomitsu (清盈), some sources list his early name also as Yoshikage (吉景), in the first month of Kyōhō six (1721), the eighth Tokugawa-shōgun Yoshimune (徳川吉宗, 1684-1751) invited the best smiths of the country to a sword forging contest to his Edo residence, the winners were besides of this Masakiyo Ippei Yasuyo (安代), Nobukuni Shigekane (信国重包) from Chikuzen, and the 4th generation Nanki Shigekuni (南紀重国), all of them were granted with the permission to engrave a single leaf of the Tokugawa aoi crest to their tangs, especially outstanding in this contest were Masakiyo an Yasuyo who enjoyed subsequently a veritable – 532 – program consisting of recommendations and orders, the honorary title Mondo no Shō (主水正) was granted to him on the 13th day of the seventh month of the same year (1721), he died on the sixth day of the sixth month Kyōhō 15 (1730) at the age of 61, he already focused on the Sōshū masters in his early years but the interpretations do not show the later typical ara-nie and mura-nie, the jigane is an excellently forged itame or ō-itame with ji-nie and chikei, masama appears in the shinogi-ji, the hamon is a gunome-midare, notare mixed with gunome or a notare-midare in nie-deki, in addition many sunagashi, kinsuji and ara-nie and/or mura-nie appear, also the Satsuma-typical imozuru can be seen, the yasurime are katte-sagari and later kiri, that means the angle of the file strokes gets more shallow over the years, in early years he signed with a rather irregular mei, regarding works of his later years, we are facing many daimei of Masachika (正近) or Masamori (正盛), however, there exists the accepted theory that the daimei of Masachika are executed larger than that of Masamori, jōjō-saku MASAKIYO"

Perhaps FUJIWARA MASAKIYO. The NAKAGO has been cleaned which is a bad thing.

This is a TOKEI TSUBA. They are much easier to forge and file than to make a mold and cast an iron copy that would then have to be worked over to make it look better. Casting iron is very different from casting soft metals, and in addition to that, there is no sense in producing TSUBA that weren't useful for combat. In the picture we can see that a tiny bit was broken off. There is not enough material length to bend, so iron or steel will simply break under these conditions. USAGIYA are certainly competent in their own field, but this is metallurgy.

But why would soft steel or iron break like this ? I would think it would take some bent first but the piece on the picture looks like a good fake if it is one ? I know that they have their „own“ views at Usagiya sometimes.

I am afraid it was produced in the "LANDFILL AGE" - Why do we as humans allow people to produce rubbish as a business? There really ought to be a hefty tax on deliberately producing waste as a business model! but look around at all the one-time-use junk we see for sale, knowing full well it won't last and next week will end up in the garbage. [handy having the "getting off my soapbox" emoji ]

First of all, thank you all for taking the time out of your day, to help educate me on such a difficult topic. I will be more wary where picking up such swords in the future-I'll try voice my concerns, raising the very good points made above. Worst case, I have a rather good looking Gimei and a hard lesson of doing prior research. I will let you know how I get along...

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.

Another one in my collection I had forgottten...

Solid Gold habaki from Nambokucho, Yasuyuki.

Nice owl guard Dan! You don't see many owls'. Here is my example:

I don't know! How about some ocean creatures? And then a little owl looking out of a tree. How about that lion looking tsuba!

I don’t know if it was already here, seen on many blades from Fujiyasu Masahira.

One more for the record:

Here are my only two sanmai tsuba. Thanks for the thread to see others

It's a bit difficult to see the three layer construction here, I guess

Item No. 312 Fuchi Kashira in silver with gold and shakudo. Subject of carp swimming amongst water weeds signed Yurakusai Sekibun, Edo period, 19th cent. Carp, probably Koi, with water weeds on an almost perfect nanako ground. The fish are depicted as graceful movers and stand out from the fittings in a prominent 3D. Realism and interpretation superbly combined.

And another jump to conclusions, before using the calling fake card one needs the rest of the story