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I recently found a "stash" of difficult to find tsuba linked to the Ashmolean Museum - through their ASHMOLEAN IMAGE LIBRARY - This added something in the order of 160 more tsuba to the 1,800 odd other tsuba that can be found in the museum searches https://www.ashmolean.org/collections-online#/search/simple-search/tsuba/%7B%7D/15/96/objectNumberSortedSorting1.keyword/asc/catalogue I was taken by a particularly designed piece based on an expanded "Three Karigane" sukashi pattern - which had five birds rather than the more common three - however the description stated the design was "Ginkgo Leaves" So I thought I would let the museum know they had the wrong description. I realise that the link now is corrected so the evidence no longer exists that the museum had the wrong description - how many other corrections have "gone unnoticed?" Jan 1, 2025 As a collector of Japanese tsuba I can say with certainty that the description of https://images.ashmo...searchQuery=EAX.5754 is not ginkgo leaves and should be "five wild geese" or "five Karigane". Perhaps this can be rectified? Regards Dale Today I got a reply : Dear Dale (if I may), I just wanted to mention that our eastern art colleagues have carried out the required update following your kind email! Best wishes Rosanna Rosanna van den Bogaerde Picture Library Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology University of Oxford Beaumont Street Oxford OX1 2PH

If a kinzogan mei is old it should be slightly below the surface of the nakago. When the kinzogan is applied it is even with the nakago surface but with age the iron of the nakago corrodes slightly and grows in volume. The gold doesn't corrode and doesn't gain volume. After a couple hundred years or so you can feel the difference. If there is no difference in height, maybe there is no age either. Grey

It is just sad.

This whole thread has nothing to do with TSUBA. It is Kindergarten, and I am out, too.

We need a FU button, why don't you onward yourself out of here and don't come back there's no need for that juvenile reactions.

Piers, I think you are correct in that the Japanese preference for the sun is red, much as the moon is generally seen in silver. It seems as with so many things in this hobby nothing is set in stone. Obviously there were additional colors seen in their representations of the sun, such as gold and others. Likely a variety of reasons. It is a very precise and time consuming process to produce that deep red seen on some kodogu. Viewing your tsuba, do you think the insert was once plated with gold or silver or do you think the copper was the original look? Looking at it enlarged I can't tell for certain, but it seems to show traces of a light color (silver?) at the top and bottom. Perhaps it was originally depicting the moon. ??? I think the gold plug on my kozuka was to give it a little bling. I would have preferred something a bit more subtle, but......

Jean doesn't have to state references to the above. It is basic common knowledge to anyone who studies Japanese swords and their craft. Something you take for granted that everyone knows. No need to go look for references for something that is part of the foundation of Japanese sword study. Waste of time to prove something that is already commonly accepted by the community.

Perhaps I'm biased but I believe that is part of what was behind many great achievements in history

Hi folks, I have decided to make a major reset to my book buying and selling business. Ever since I started the website I've tried to have a large selection of swords, fittings, and especially books. I'm now at an age where it doesn't make sense for me to have a ton of paper on the shelves for my wife and daughter to have to deal with if I'm gone. Consequently, I've just finished lowering prices on nearly every title on the site – the 2nd time I've done so in the last year – and I've become quite picky about which books I'm buying to replace sold stock. I currently have a great variety of specialty titles – Sendai Han Tosho Meifu for example, at what I think is a great price - but once it sells don't expect there to be another copy. The same goes for many other books on the site: available and reasonably priced, and they won't be restocked once sold. Fair warning. I just took in 3 fine tsuba and 2 of them with dragons are still here; find them at the top of my Tsuba and Kodogu page. And 2 copies of the most difficult to find book on Nobuie: Nobuie Tsuba Kanbetsu Hikkei with a translation, just came available. Thanks, Grey

Two of my tsuba have red numbers painted inside the nakago ana . I can trace their provenance back to the Sothebys sale of Dr Stevens's collection on the 25th of July 1967 . Dr Stevens had a huge collection that was sold over five sales by Sothebys from 1966 to 1968 Does anyone else have anything else from the Stevens collection or anything with similarly placed red numbers ? I would like to understand whether these numbers are peculiar to the Stevens collection or if they relate to an earlier collectors numbering system . In similar vein I have another pair signed Kikuichi Tsunekatsu . These were sold by Sothebys in their sale of the 3rd of June 1981 and the catalogue stated that they are ex Trower and Stark collections . Both tsuba have tiny stamps on the reverse about the size of a pinhead . I suspect that these may also be a collectors identification mark. Has anyone seen such a mark before ? Ian Brooks

Dear All. This has been and continues to be a wonderful thread. Thank you to all for sharing your treasures. I have to say that the gakumei kozuka that Ed shared is quite something and I think Jean has it right, the gold is simply a way of making something of the nakago ana but it certainly adds to the piece. All the best.

Kofun period Toran Kei

The sun in Japan is traditionally rendered as red, almost on an automatic subconscious level. I did a little experiment at college with a class of Japanese and some overseas students. I laid out chalks of various colo(u)rs, and called on students to come up and draw a scene (which happened to include the sun). The Japanese students all reached for the red chalk, whereas the Westerners chose yellow. In the present tsuba Jean, I am guessing that the choice of copper akagane 銅, 素銅suaka (or 山銅 yamagane) means the tsubakō was envisioning the sun. https://ameblo.jp/o-...try-12170960771.html

Piers, the KOZUKA is probably very special and rare. While the gold dot just fills in the NAKAGO-ANA, the gold dot on the TSUBA might represent sun or moon, I believe. Looks indeed close!

Occasionally during the more formal Japanese surrender ceremonies, the officers presented their swords in bags along with elaborate tags.

Most sword bags traditionally have long cords for wrapping the inner sword package fairly tightly and protectively. Tying a tag to that would be quite natural.

Yes but I have a diagnosed "handicap" - Asperger's and too much time on my hands!

Kinzogan-mei for named swords are typically not original. They are most often added to blades that are osuriage mumei like the one you shared. And the fact that they have been added later is in no way something that detracts from the value of the sword or it's kinzogan-mei.

https://www.jstor.or...table/48647105?seq=1 page 5 You asked Jean to state his references. He was referencing the article that you shared, that I linked above. On page 5. But you’re right, he can defend himself, and I’m sure he will if he chooses to. But Dan, your inability to connect the dots is flabbergasting. I think it’s time for me to retire from these fantasy and guesswork threads of yours. Goodbye Dan, best of luck finding the ghosts you’re looking for. -Sam

Ko-Katchushi

One more with Temple Bells.

One from the Birmingham museum Higo Edo circa 1800. Couldn't delete the double!

https://sword-auction.com/en/product/15489/as22593-大小：延寿宣次作保存刀剣）/

We've seen some 'hail in rain' designs before, but I thought I'd post this one, found on a late-war T98 on ebay

Hi Dale, Kara = Chinese, so Chinese flower: https://jisho.org/search/唐 %23kanji And, yes, 6th generation.

Found on a Polish Helmet - I don't think it is the same, probably just a proof mark. https://www.antiquew...met-2nd-half-17th-c/

First off I ediited my post from "Everyone else just it guessing" changing the "it" to "is". Sometimes I get excited and can't edit my own stuff!! To heck with Asperger's, you are doing fine! Dude, you are my hero and a valuable asset to this forum. Just my opinion, and I can see the downvotes for me coming in (once again)! Onward!

This has been a very interesting discussion. Thnak you Gerry and Jussi. It also makes me glad to be a collector of mere Shinto! Peter

His reference is the article that you, yourself, shared. His quote is on page 5, I think https://www.jstor.or...table/48647105?seq=1

The short text may seem interesting to some, but as far as sword forging in Japan is concerned, it is not correct in parts. I read: .....Once you had joined, then you had access to oral and practical instruction and ultimately to the manuscript texts which embodied the “secret” knowledge. All this came at a financial cost, of course: the knowledge had not been privatised and professionalised for nothing...... Well, as an interested apprentice, you could not choose a school or a master, but you had to apply for apprenticeship, hoping to be accepted. Additionally, as a young lad, you certainly had no knowledge about sword making schools or differences in techniques. And learning did not contain manuscript texts or whatever instruction, oral or practical. In the beginning, you were allowed to watch the master and to learn by copying movements and techniques. This has only changed with some smiths in modern times where real teaching is practiced. Apprentices did not have to pay (as was usual in Europe at that time), but only as an UCHI DESHI they could sleep in the house and were fed by the smith's family. For everything else, they had to rely on support from their own family. The only process that was kept secret for outsiders was the temperature of the quenching water in the trough. So no, this text part is not well researched and mostly fantasized.

Wow, another thread to pull my hair out over. Fremdschämen

You bet there are triangular tsuba https://collections..../item/O462200/tsuba/ [nice one too!]

Maybe the answer to your last question might be ‘for something valuable to the owner’? A section of wood might last longer than a piece of paper or strip of cloth, and the string looks pretty tough. In addition the writing is beautifully done in fine clear black sumi ink brushwork. Now what could be so important for an ‘ex’ soldier (perhaps upon surrender)?

It shows an address and a name. 埼玉縣入間郡福原村大字下赤坂七百参拾七番地ノ一 – Saitama-ken, Iruma-gun, Fukuhara-mura, Oaza Shimoakasaka 737-1 帝国在郷軍篠崎傳蔵 – An ex-soldier of IJA, Shinozaki Denzo

Dear Mark. While I hesitate to disagree with my two august companions I fear that I must. It would be useful to see the whole of the nakago but no habaki shi would mark the nakago to show where the habaki should finish and I think the presence of kiri yasurime above the line confirms this as there would be none beneath the habaki. Nor do I think that a loose seppa would cause wear as they are almost universally made from copper, sometimes foiled in shakudo, silver or gold. In any of these cases it would be the much softer metal of the seppa that would take the wear. Having said that I certainly own blades where the prolonged wear from an iron tsuba has caused a shallow and slightly diffuse groove but not one with the characteristics of the example that you show. Example here. Assuming that we accept that this blade has had suriage performed then I believe what you are seeing is where the shape of the nakago has been adjusted to ensure a good fit in the tsuka and for the habaki. If you are interested in exploring this more then 'Facts and Fundamentals' has some enlightening sections on the nakago though I have not found a specific name for the clear change in yasurime that you illustrate. All the best.

Paul is already on the case... Shin Gobankaji Project

I am in regular contact with Eric, I have bought my best blades from him, sometimes from a pharmacy, sometimes surprisingly cheap. He is always friendly and reliable. And yes, eBay is a junkyard.

Bought a nice big Saotome from Eric many years ago. Did me a very good deal. As mentioned, better contacting him away from ebay. Also worth mentioning that ebay reads your private mails, believe it or not. So a reply you get from a seller may not be the same reply you get through an email off ebay. Known people, me included on 2 occasions to get warnings about trying to do deals off ebay.

i have bought a tsuba from him some years back, and i believe i was a victum of shill bidding. but i also went on to sell that tsuba for a profit here, so rest a peace that he sells good items, you just didnt get a bargin. every platform i know of has this practice. bad but necssary for small busness operators to make a living. but its ebay and there are pitfalls to ebay, scams, returns and theift. im sure that after many sales and loses, hes found the middle ground to making money and losing money. look at the dealer and not what the platform forces him to do. if you want contact him off site and buy that way

Arghhhh This one puts me in a spot. Eric is both a forum supporter and also a well known and respected member of the dealer community. Do I censor criticism of forum friends and be accused of bias or do I let it play out and risk a good relationship? You don't want this job..trust me guys. I guess I can't just play favorites, so I'll let this one stand for now and take the knock. That said, I want to mention that Eric is one of the most well known and respected dealers in the US. I like him a lot. He's blunt, direct, to the point, doesn't pull any punches. But he has a very good eye for quality, and deals in excellent items. I would buy from him any day. You'll find his best stuff sells off eBay and Facebook, to a great network who appreciate knowing they will get what they pay for, no surprises and no stuff that is messed with. I've met him a few times, and have a lot of time for him. He knows value, and I guess has a certain pricing expectation. I don't know if this is shilling or not. But I don't think anything is happening that the Japanese auctions don't do routinely, and is nowadays common on eBay. Japanese dealers pull items at the last minute or cancel auctions. That doesn't make it right. But I'd rather lose an item to a higher bid (valid or not) than get something that isn't exactly as described. Not condoning anything, whether it happens or not....but personally I would buy from him anytime. eBay is a minefield anyways, no matter who your favorite dealers are...always a good idea to build a relationship with them and deal personally off eBay and FB.

Michael, sadly/happily, most of what we wear is genuine old armour, generally Momoyama to Edo period. There are some bits (small primer flasks, footwear etc.) that we sometimes make up but in our troop we pride ourselves on trying to keep it all authentic as much as possible. The kabuto that I am wearing recently has special value papers for example, and I regularly wear all of the kabuto you see in the empty room above. This means that we have to learn how to repair sympathetically as there is constant damage and degradation. (Personally speaking I have a 'good' old pair of sune-ate, which I switch around with a pair from Marutake, to slow such degradation, depending on the weather and the venue.) At the moment I am doing an armo(u)r society translation, and once again giving thanks for the years of experience wearing and repairing and the familiarity with this and that word or expression. And yet there is still so much I do not know. (There are re-enactment troops and festivals where everyone wears repros, though, as you know.) As to the swords, they are all genuine koshirae, but owing to the laws here the blades inside are substitute tsunagi/takemitsu. Once after a public display a member of the public tried to draw my sword, without permission! The guns are all real too, repros not being permitted under Japanese law. My oldest one, a Kunitomo pistol that you can see being fired in the first video, is from around 1600 -1610. She played a trick on me though. Oops...

This is one of the “alleged” momoyama period Rope Mimi tsuba in my collection.Nice and thick! 🤣

Kanayama

Hi everyone, This will be my last print order for flashcards for now. If anyone was thinking about getting these, please message or email me directly to place an order. https://swordsofjapa...supplies/flashcards/ Mei (names) - the more commonly seen kanji used in swordsmith's mei, including examples of mei containing that the featured kanji - 152 cards Kuni (provinces) - the reading of the Japanese province names, with information about the provinces and some reference information on related schools and representative smiths - 90 cards Nengo (time periods) - the kanji for time periods from the late Heian period to the present, with reference information on each time period - 144 cards My hope with these is that everyone who uses the cards can have a better understanding of the fundamentals of reading Japanese sword inscriptions and kanteisho, and this will unlock access to Japanese language sword references. These cards are now available for $25 each plus shipping and $75 plus shipping for the complete set. Please email me at raymondsinger@gmail.com if you would like to order a set. Best regards, Ray

Item No. 120 - Copper tsuba with copper , shibuichi and gold inlays 7.93 cm x 7.18 cm x 0.46 cm Subject of falling Ginko leaves by Ford Hallam 16 years ago. On the carved copper tsuba there are inlays of three different copper alloys and two alloys of shibuichi - the gold highlights applied by fire gilding.

Item No. 100 - Tsuba in Shakudo with gold , silver , copper and shakudo highlights 7.44 cm x 7.03 cm x 0.48 cm Tsuba from the Haruaki School , with Jurojin seated beside a crane and deer , crane and fledgling on reverse . Signed Hogen Haruaki with gold cartouche and seal. Fine nanako ground. Tsuba from the Masters of Detail - Haruaki School - with almost microscopic features and a nicely applied nanako field which continues over the mimi. 19th Cent. Acquired about eight years ago.

Item No. 94 - Iron Tsuba 64.0 cm x 53.5 cm x 0.45 cm Iron sukashi tsuba for tanto - evidence of being mounted on numerous occasions Has a ' feel ' of a 17th cent. piece Item No. 95 - Iron Tsuba 9.21 cm x 8.83 cm x 0.35 cm One piece iron tsuba thin plate but heavy because of large size. Signed - Yatsuhiro Third Generation Jingo Made This tsuba is made from a single piece of iron with the dimension at the centre the same as the mimi. The metal has been carved away in order to allow the mimi to stand proud , rather than forging a lip on the edge . Quality piece of work as you would expect from the adopted head of the family . Haynes 02039.0 name - Nagayoshi ( 1691 - 1777 ) NBTHK papered

Anyway , back to the work in hand - Item No. 90 Iron Tsuba in kakugata shape 7.12 cm x 7.00 cm x 0.46 cm Raimon ? Sukashi signed indistinctly Kofu ju Masatomo + kao Simple almost austere design , competently handled . Can Haynes or Wakayama throw any light on to which school / generation this Masatomo belongs to ? Purchased from Japan 9 years ago.

Item No. 89 - Kozuka in shibuichi , with gold , copper and shakudo Subject of a Nio temple guardian in typical pose , signed Katsuhira A well crafted kozuka featuring a ferocious Nio warding off evil spirits . The nanako in regular pattern and spacing , the inlays ( including the teeth ! ) all well executed. Tree engraved to rear. Bought from auction about seven years ago.

Re Item No.86 Some photos of the box as featured . This is made from over 1000 year old Japanese Cedar and still has the classic cedar fragrance. I understand that trees of this sort of age are classified in a similar way to ancient monuments. It is illegal to use any wood from them unless it is as a result of storm loss or natural death. This means that the wood is greatly sought after...