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Hey Tosogu collectors, I recently obtained my second Yanagawa Naomitsu piece, a beautiful lion and peony themed fuchigashira (possible tokubetsu hozon candidate?) In celebration of this new acquisition I felt a mega lion thread would be fitting, hoping to get the rest of the forum involved! Post your best lions, all types of Tosogu welcome! I'll start:

I edited the title to include shishi as many will know them more this way than as actual lions

Hi Joseph, If you are asking about the areas where the hamon is discontinuous, one end dives down and the other rises up and they cross over and under each other, that is koiguchigaiba. This is not a defect; it is a characteristic hataraki of the Yamato Tegai School, and probably others also. Looks good. Grey

Here is a Yanagawa Naomasa Fuchi Kashira

Here is one of mine.

Hello, Following on popular demand, show all items is now the default. If you want to hide items under 100'000 JPY, you can toggle the option in your profile. There will be issues with strange items appearing (books, flyers for museum visits, other type of objects) appearing in this price range which are misclassified. If this becomes too much of an issue, I will revert. In the meantime, this change has added about 1500 new tosogu items which are now visible to all. This brings our total items for sale to almost 7000! Happy hunting, Hoshi

I recently picked up this interesting one. @Kantaro, does this fit the description you’re looking for? With the button and double hanger? I bought this one in a lot with another saber. Priced generally as two parade sabers, but this one caught my eye with the habaki, engraving, and sharpened blade. The engraved kamon(?) on the backstrap was a nice surprise. (Note: I put the tassel there, it was found without one.)

Dear fellow sword enthousiasts, this wonderful sword by Masakiyo is for sale to make some room for other swords. Dated showa 19 (1944) star stamped in shirasaya. Nagasa 66,9 cm. Priced at €2500,- shipping not included

There are several of these old photos on Yahoo at any given time. Unfortunately, the seller normally places a ruler over the face; I guess so that the photograph can't be reproduced in its entirety on a forum like this one.

Closer views! and

Rummaging through a drawer and found this themed koshiraé. Shishi menuki Botan tsuba Shishi kozuka

More likely 大井 Ōi, Ooi, etc.

Here is one, poor photograph but nice tsuba. All the best.

I suspect this isn't a dress sword, but a proper sword meant for combat.

I am certainly no expert on Nihongo, but I do have some familiarity with the Iga Ishido school. My two favorite swordsmiths are the Fujiwara brothers, Shizumasa and Shizutada. Shizumasa was the older brother and is ranked wazamono. He used several different mei, and used both 鎮政 and 鎭正 in his mei. Shizutada used several mei as well, but he always spelled his name as 鎮忠. Of course, the kanji in question is the 鎮. I’ve seen many, many ads that call them Shigemasa and Shigetada, but they still use the familiar 鎮, not 重. From what I’ve been told, before the Fujiwara clan migrated from Bungo, their name would sometimes be pronounced Shige. But from what I’ve learned, once they were established in Iga, it was always pronounced “Shizu”. I’m certainly no scholar, so when I talk about the clan, I always use Shizu. But when doing web searches, I search for both Shizu and Shige.

Hi John, I haven't received it yet so I can't confirm the caption underneath. However, this is the photo that I felt sure was of a Yasukuni smith. It looked very similar to a shot I saw in Tom Kishida's book and Showa 8 is 1933, which is when the Yasukuni forge started up so it would make sense. i'll let you know as soon as I have the magazine in hand. Best, Hector

Totally agree. I saw this Kuniyuki last year along with a blade by his son Kunitoshi and grandson Kunimitsu. To see such high quality examples from 3 generations, all Juyo (possibly higher), in hand, was a unique experience. I believe the Kuniyuki is Juyo not Tokuju, but maybe you are referring to its quality possibly meeting Tokuju level.

Thanks again to everyone for the information! I feel this may warrant pulling out the DSLR to take some higher resolution photos. I watched Ford’s video on nunome zogan and again I’m blown away at the level of patience and detail to create patterns such as this. So with nunome zogan being a physical inlaying technique, is it likely that the gold and copper pine boughs were originally that way with copper and gold wire? As you can see there is a little bit of corrosion and wear on the ground as evident in the relief carving areas and the seppa dai with some small areas of red rust in the nooks and crannies. The dry Utah air should prevent any further corrosion hopefully.

This photograph of Vice Admiral Naomasa Sakonju was originally in a silver coloured frame and was gifted to me by an English woman friend of his.

An interesting Fudo-Myō-Ō statue, thank you for sharing photos of it on NMB. I really like all types of Japanese Buddhist Art like this. This standing pose of this wisdom king (personification of the Wisdom of Dainichi Nyorai) is not as common as the more common seated pose. To me it looks Edo Period in terms of age. I really nice find. He would have been part of a Buddhist temple alter, or part of a Buddhist home alter. It would not be part or associated with shrine because that would be Shinto and he is not a Shinto god.

There is something similar… https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5618020?ldp_breadcrumb=back

Morning, I acquired this statue from an estate sale last week which I was lucky to snag him, since he has an aura that really wanted me to possess him. I haven't seen anything like this before, would it have been a temple or shrine, or home altar where this statue could've been? overall length is 34 1/2 inches, Fudo is 25 inch without the platform w/ 27 3/8 inches, and the flames are 34 inches There is a bit of damage to the flames and repairs (not by me) are present with nails and glue, some chipping of the black paint on the statue and a missing gem on the forehead which is interesting

Gakusee is right

Hi, yes. This is a data bug. A juyo item by a unicorn smith called "Iemura" from the Oei-period has been mistakingly assigned to the Showa smith Emura. Thank you for the report, the error is now fixed. Note on the BETA: There are many data bugs currently. For obscure smiths with 1 Juyo, best assume it's an assignment error. Best, Hoshi

Hi Sam, @Scogg Your sword also seems to have the officer's name carved on it. 井大 "Idai"? (Big Well?) Best, Hector

You win!

More books to tout: For the collectors of military swords, B806 Gendaito Made at the Minatogawa Shrine. https://japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/store/book/sword-books/b806-gendaito-made-at-the-minatogawa-shrine/ And for the rest of us, B582, the 7 volumes of Nihonto Taikan. https://japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/store/book/sword-books/b582-nihonto-taikan-by-homma-sato-otsuka-others/ Thanks, Grey

Hello, May I have your opinion on this kozuka and to which school might it belong? Does anyone have any idea who the character is or which legend he is referring to ? Thanks

You can get those genetic defects fixed these days with cosmetic surgery - Devilishly clever! Sorry but all I see in that Kozuka is this The placement of that rolled up scroll is just wrong [or should that be BONG!]

Jeff, traditionally, when a sword suffered damage from use as on your blade, it was never left in that state for long! So if this happened in Japan, a TOGISHI was around the corner for a fast (and cheap) repair. We can assume this worked well until WWII. On the other hand, it is realistic (but admittedly not so romantic) to see the damage happen long after WWII simply because Japanese don't play with swords in such a way. Your TSUBA photo is upside-down.

Compare to Rai Kuniyuki, I am sure you can see the differences...

Oh this photo is quite different in my opinion. Very helpful. Perhaps Alex saw more clearly than I did from the start. I'm willing to move a bit on my point of view here — this could be from someone attempting tameshigiri, but I still harbor some doubts because the scratches appear in clumps. Regular tameshigiri practice, even by an amateur, creates a consistent area of wear. The "clean" areas we see here raise questions for me. I'm still more than 50% confident that what we see here is due to what I called "misadventures" (including whacking unorthodox targets) than traditional tameshigiri, but everything others have said is totally fair.

You beat me to it. Shinno: Chinese God or Early Founder of Medicine. Probably George can lay down the true info bomb, if the information isn't reliable on the Internet. I was just looking at a kozuka the other day that has him depicted. Still on the fence about buying it. He often seems depicted with those little horns or nobs on his head?

Just to add a little to Florian's suggestion, copper is indeed used as a base coat, or more commonly as an inlay which can then be gilded. This tsuba is in nunome zogan which, as a physical process does not require that step. The gold is applied directly to the base metal even when this is iron. The details may still be copper or indeed another alloy. Whatever the technique it is a lovely thing. All the best.

Hi All, No offense at all taken regarding disagreements. After about 5 years of consistent use, with a tameshigiri session every month or so, cutting 20-30 mats each time, with say roughly 4-5 cuts per mat, let's say for argument's sake roughly 5,500 cuts or so, my sword looks very much like this, albeit with the scratches more concentrated in the monouchi area. Yes Jeff, tip cuts are a thing and are practiced specifically in certain styles and by certain practitioners. 'Notice how the scratches stop right at the shinogi — someone did this by hand with a goal in mind.' Tameshigiri scratches do this also though. The pressure from the force/action of cutting is all focused onto both sides of the ji through the path of the cut, hence why the scratches are most prevelent there. The shinogi ji barely touches the target in the cut, because by the time it gets there, ji has forced all the material away from the blade...also worth noting is that the shinogi ji is burnished so is much harder to scratch deeply than the ji, hence the shinogi ji typically does not get as many scratches from tameshigiri. In this case, there doesnt need to be any sandpaper involved - used tatami has in it ingrained many many little sharp bits of dust, dirt and SAND from peoples feet and daily use as a floor mat. This grit of all sorts stays inside the makiwara and scratches blades when they cut it. The scratches are identical. Just my casual opinion looking at the blade, as a tameshigiri practitioner. I have no hesitation to say thats what caused it, but there certainly could have been some non-standard targets used.

There is another with the same theme in the Walters. https://art.thewalters.org/object/51.265/ Handy having done a two volume book on that museum with a few extra bits of information added, Henri Joly has him mentioned in "Legend in Japanese Art" 1908

May be… https://art.thewalters.org/object/51.369/

Middle hall, rear wall. Table 81. See you there!

Type 97 Kaigunto – Naval Officers Sword Mei: Yabushita YoshiMitsu Saku Seki Stamp Circa 1942 66.7 cm Nagasa & Good Original Polish Togari/Gunome Hamon & Muji Hada Sharkskin Saya and Clasp Hands Sarute Overall Good Original Condition Price $2500 AUD……..approx. $1800 US Plus all associated Fees

I do think all international members still get the physical magazine, to be honest that is pretty much my only reason for my NBTHK membership, as crazy as it sounds. I think I've been a member for 15 years now, and the most important thing for me is the monthly magazine. The book print runs are pretty small amounts, I was very surprised when years ago Darcy told me about the numbers. As I cannot remember the actual number he told me I cannot say exact number but it was very small in my opinion. The Financial report in magazine 8/2025 has membership numbers and lot other information. I am not sure if it would be ethical to share that on open forum as it is in member exclusive magazine. I can just state generally that number is smaller than perhaps most would think. As I have all the magazines it is easy to see the evolution and just to be curious I checked 2005 magazine to see how things were 20 years ago... I would love to have access to view all of the items that have passed Hozon & Tokubetsu Hozon as these are the unknown items that are still under radar. The problem in this is that I believe there are something like 250,000+ items in this range. I have heard that some collectors do not want to send an item to Jūyō as they want to keep it private. I can also understand that view, however for research purchases I think open share of information is extremely important. There are some "hidden" items in Japan, and I always feel excited when I find a new interesting item, however they might still be well known among Japanese circles just flying below radar. As an idea that is superb and I do feel the organization should really look into something like this.

Dear Chuck I believe that one of the problems we encounter when trying to appreciate tsuba of the Sōten school is the fact that they comprise such a mixed bag of work. For this reason I prefer to label them as ‘Hikone-bori work’, rather than to attribute them to a specific school. Hikone-bori includes work by a wide selection of artists, ranging from the rarely encountered work by the two, mainline Sōten maters; through the 20 or more artists of the school, of whom Nomura Kanenori I and Kitagawa Munehide are the outstanding ones; the Hiragiya school in Kyōto; the Tetsugendō school, also based in Kyōto; down to the numerous poor copies made by the Aizu Shōami artists in the late Edo period, as shiiremono for sale at the docks of Yokohama. The majority of the Hikone-bori work that we see is examples of the latter, and we should not allow these to cloud our judgement of the scarcely seen, better work of this group. John L.

Dear Mikolaj In your e-mail you ask is this tsuba genuine Soten?, and the answer to this question depends upon what you mean by genuine Soten. Work by the two Soten masters, Kitagawa Soten I and II, is extremely rare and this your tsuba is certainly not. The quality of work is sadly lacking and the mei (Soheishi Soten ?saku) is quite unlike any illustrated in the literature. If, however, you mean in the Soten style, yes it is. But the vast majority of such work is by innumerable members of the Soten school, many of whom signed their work with the name Soten, or by members of the Aizu-Shoami school, who made copies of this Hikone-bori type well into the C19. Many of these latter were sold to foreigners at the docks in Yokohama. The tsuba you illustrate is, I am sure, an example of such Aizu-Shoami work, and I would not personally waste my money on sending it to a shinsa. Regards, John L.