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Hello, Which school for this Tsuba ? It looks like Ko kinko style but ... Any opinion welcome Thanks Sebastien

Hi, I recently purchased this Kashira & was surprised to see this on the side! I instantly knew it was special! Looks exactly the same as an earlier post & pic of a Tsuba. In all the years I've been collecting & studying Japanese Swords I've never seen anything like it before. If looked at in detail it has Christ on the cross which has been etched in gold with the cross outline etched in silver. The etching is very detailed & you can even make out the eye's ? The Kashira appears to be made of iron for the banding & copper/brass for the face. It appears to be Edo period?? When positioned on the handle the hand definitely covers the symbol hidden at all times. It may have been etched on after the ban on Christianity was lifted at the end of the Edo Period??? But I still think it's Special & is a welcome addition to my collection & a great conversation piece!? Any information would be appreciated. Cheers. Shawn.

I got informed that the tsuba i submitted to the 2026 NBSK tsuba contest ranked Nyusen. It was my first time attending this competition so overall it's a positive result. Let me introduce my work: The omote depicts plum blossoms, traditional symbols of resilience and elegant beauty, as they are the first to emerge at winter’s end, often pushing through the lingering snow. On the ura, I have engraved the haiku: 見らわても 見らわなくとも 花は咲く Mirawetemo / Mirawanakutomo / Hana wa saku (Whether seen or unseen, the flowers bloom) This serves as a gentle reminder to the bearer: one should act with integrity not for the sake of recognition, but because it is one’s nature—just as a flower blooms to fulfill its purpose, regardless of an audience. The intentionally naive, almost childlike rendering of the blossoms and calligraphy creates a deliberate juxtaposition against the raw strength of the iron and the tsuba's martial function.

Oh man... I hope the old man was better at his main line than he was in his trades! Thanks for your time guys.

Kyō-kinkō?

Same elongated habaki guys. Same ware. It sold for 950$. Bruce You killed it right away.

Love it. Congratulations!

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/137238358374 looks like top of the range!

I didn't really dig into the lore behind this inscription. I'm not sure who it is intended for, and why there seems to be multiple items with this same inscription. Maybe they are a kind of commemorative item from the master to his disciples or colleagues as he was winding down production?

Do you have any examples of oil quenched showato that look similar to this? I have owned one before and it quite literally looked nothing like this.

Hizen (no) kuni Tadaaki saku kore, dated 1943.

Hi Markus, Don't try to fix the sword yourself; leave it be until you can show it to someone. Never clean rust from the nakago; never. Are you certain there is a bottom of the nakago stuck in the handle? If you can lower a small magnet into the handle, if it doesn't stick to anything there probably isn't a piece of the nakago inside. Any case, don't be in a hurry for anything with the sword. It will be fine as is until you can get help (it isn't going to fall apart tomorrow). Grey

Faustus, I am willing to hold another TSUBA forging seminar this summer in case there was interest.

The sword was part of the Tsukamoto Sozan museum collection and had an historical attribution to Go. The excerpt you highlighted gives some credence to that possibility. The more I study the few early Go pieces with Yamato (Senjuin) and Soshu influence, the more I think it has a chance.

I find it interesting when Tanobe sensei deviates from his normal format. For example, his kao is normally at the end of his commentary. In some cases, his commentary takes up the entire omote of the shirasaya and continues to ura, so his kao is on the ura. On this Yukimitsu sayagaki, it first appears that everything is on the omote since it includes his kao. But the bulk of the commentary is actually on the ura. I suspect he did it this way because the blade and the koshirae are together on the same NBTHK origami, so he used the omote to reference both and then he used the ura to describe the blade.

Hi @Lukrez, your post put this book on my radar, and after reading the other reviews here on the forum as well, I decided to buy it too. Since I’m based in Europe, the easiest option for me was to contact Dmitry directly and get a copy from him that way. He was very kind, and the whole process was a pleasant experience. And what can I say — this book really is one of a kind. I’m already looking forward to diving into it properly. Best regards, Faustus

The mei is Mitsunaga

NMB Cross-Reference Shinogi ji inscription Gunto

Suya shoten with marked seppa. Blade [Emura :/] looks like cleaned with acid. https://www.ebay.com/itm/135090391434

@xiaopangshizi i found the story of your tsuba. It's from nihon shoki poem "Agatamori battling mizuchi in the pool" Here a passage of wikipedia "The ancient chronicle Nihongi contains references to mizuchi. Under the 67th year of the reign of Emperor Nintoku (conventionally dated 379 AD), it is mentioned that in central Kibi Province, at a fork on Kawashima River (川嶋河, old name of Takahashi River in Okayama Prefecture), a great water serpent or dragon (大虬) dwelt and would breathe or spew out its venom, poisoning and killing many passersby. This mizuchi was exterminated by a man named Agatamori (県守), ancestor of the Kasa-no-omi (笠臣) clan. He approached the pool of the river, cast three calabashes which floated to the surface of the water and challenged the beast to make these gourds sink, threatening to slay it should it fail. The beast transformed into a deer and tried unsuccessfully to sink them, whereby the man slew the monster. The record goes on to say: "...He further sought out the water-dragon's fellows. Now the tribe of all the water-dragons filled a cave in the bottom of the pool. He slew them every one and the water of the river became changed to blood. Therefore that water was called the pool of Agatamori"." Could you make 2 good pictures of the tsuba front and back for my archive? I like that motif and story very much.