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I would like to share a lovelyset of tosogu by Yokoya Tomotake featuring Shishi play fighting. It’s a great example of katakiribori workmanship, which is done to a high level. One intriguing thing I have noticed while studying the set is that the carvings of the Chinese Lions resemble the paintings from a pair of screens by Hanabusa Itcho, which is in The Met collection, I’ve attached some comparison photos. I have read that Hanabusa Itcho was a close friend of Somin Yokotani. I wonder if the screens were used by Yokoya Tomotake when composing this set of tosogu.

Similar ones to this piece in Japanese publications are labelled Satsuma or Oda school

Very well! Since many have already seen my avatar anyway… I'll add a good work on the theme of "shishi dance") The lion dance is usually performed as part of the New Year's celebrations. The dancer in front is dressed as a lion. The man behind him plays music for the dance on a flute. In addition to the man dancing as the lion's head, there are others who form the body. The second dancer in the lion costume is shown on the reverse of the kozuka. The lion dance tradition developed in China from a belief that the dance would protect villages from evil spirits. Stylized lions such as this are known as Chinese lions ("shishi") in Japan. https://art.thewalters.org/object/51.691/ Best regards!

Recently acquired this Kikuoka Mitsumasa.

Here is a Yanagawa Naomasa Fuchi Kashira

My small contribution, old nanban tsuba in ok state. Yet I love the two shishi and the little gold dot for the eyes.

Mentioned here, along with links to an English writeup of the exhibits, if you didn't manage to find it yet: Aside from the Awataguchi blades, of personal interest to me is the Yukimitsu which is the only signed work of his that is also done in hitatsura and is thus a valuable data point for Soshu. That single blade allows the NBTHK to issue non-den attributions to Yukimitsu for works that match that hitatsura style, since there's a shoshin zaimei example as a reference.

Yeahm, a Komonjo listing is considered origami to gimei at any price under market value

Has this appeared before? https://www.tessier-sarrou.com/lot/116199/15882152-koto-wakizashi-epoque-muromachi-1333-1573-signe-mei You need to search through the images.

Here is an iron set of fuchi/kashira with what I was told is a pair of lion hunters/lions. I have not researched the mei.

Mine....

Not sure if this has been posted, but I just visited the Juyo Token exhibition in Tokyo today and there were some amazing blades. Here is the list they are showing: https://www.touken.or.jp/Portals/0/pdf/english/（英語））第71回重要刀剣等新指定展目録.pdf They had a Hizen blade done in a killer hitatsura temper that was over 94cm nagasa! Absolutely stunning....but my favorite was probably the Yasumitsu. There was also an Awataguchi Kuniyoshi that belongs to Nicholas Benson that is being submitted to TokuJu, even thought its listed under Robert Benson. Also Awatguchi Hisakuni. Amazing to see 36 Juyo from all different smiths for future reference.

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:

Yes, Rohan, that is quite the fascinating blade…. A unicorn, as you can imagine, and I am glad it has now been papered up to Juyo and properly documented.

You are almost certainly correct - the general rule of thumb for Komonjo blades is, if they aren't papered, assume they won't paper, at least in their current state.

Here is one of mine.

Closer views! and

Wonderful photos Michael! @Lewis B Just a bit earlier in that same article he also mentions: "However, there are also somewhat wider pieces with hiro-suguha that are difficult to distinguish from Shintōgo Kunihiro, slender uchizori pieces with monotonous hitatsura that at first glance might be confused with late kotō but whose jigane is unmistakably that of a superior Sōshū smith and whose nakago is clearly old. This corresponds to Muromachi-period texts that record this smith's broad working range, tempering not just suguha but also notare, ko-midare, ō-midare, and even hitatsura." I'll be excited to see what the shinsa judges had to say about the sword in the zufu.

Thank you John, I find this very interesting and exciting. Likewise, Bruce; It's not every day that I encounter a Japanese Military Sword that i've never heard of! I will go home, and take some very careful measurements. If enough aspects match one of the 4 specifications of this type of sword, maybe I'll create a new thread about "Combination Swords"... If specifications do not match, I'll share those measurements here. Thanks again! These are the kinds of exciting revelations that makes collecting military swords enjoyable to me -Sam

Thanks for the pictures. Its fascinating to see how newly discovered examples are changing the zeitgeist. Take the Yukimitsu for instance. Honma Junji stated not so long ago that he felt all zaimei tanto inscriptions he had examined were suspect requiring further research. With Juyo pass the Shinsa must have felt the mei was genuine, being an even more courageous decision, given the uniqueness of the hitatsura tempuring for this smith. From the Kanzan's Nihonto Taikan (Source Touken West - Nihontō Database) "Among Yukimitsu signatures I have examined, those I believe to be authentic are all two-character mei in a gyōsho (semi-cursive) style that is austere yet dignified. As noted above, long signatures requiring further research include "Sagami-no-kuni Kamakura jūnin Yukimitsu" (Kagen 2) and "Kamakura jūnin Yukimitsu" (Genkyō 2). " Whats the full signature here? Kamakura Jūnin Yukimitsu (鎌倉住人行光)

The line that causes the Ichi to look like a "T" is simply a dent among the many dents and scratches.

Thanks for the pictures! They're going straight into my archive. Nice clean shot of the mei, too.

Hi Michael, It's absolutely genuine, you're correct that it has Tokyo 1st Army Arsenal inspection stamps. The Sakura flower with line inside is a mysterious stamp, that may or may not be associated with Kōbe Shōten, you can see the similarity in stamps below. For a deep dive into these interesting swords, I recently wrote a document that can be found in the Download section here on the forum. Also heres some great resources: http://ohmura-study.net/794.html http://ohmura-study.net/957.html 1. Legit . 2. The ring is typically on the other side; but it's pretty common to see them flipped. 3. Looks like 東 68119. (東 = TŌ = 東京第一陸軍造兵廠監督課, Tōkyō 1st Army Arsenal Supervisory Section.) 4. See above and below: Hope this helps, All the best, -Sam Sakura Ichi Sakura flower stamp with kanji for ICHI inside. May be associated with Kōbe/Kanbe Shōten. (see next). Sakura K (Kōbe) 合名会社·神戸商店, Gōmei-gaisha Kōbe/Kanbe Shōten = Kōbe/Kanbe Shop Unlimited Partnership [神戸 (Pronounced as either Kōbe or Kanbe).

For those who have an NDL account, it is accessible online here: https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/13238909/1/13 There is also this one about Akasaka tsuba, in open access. It has sketches, and it seems to be about the process and artisans: 赤坂鐔工録 https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/927286/1/1

Hi Patti, You will need to remove the wood retaining pin from the handle. The pin will only come out one way because it will be wider on one end than the other. Here is a useful video. Removing The Handle / Tsuka of a Japanese Sword - NihontoAntiques.com #1

Hi Patrice, welcome to the forum. Can you show us the tang too? If you remove the mekugi(the small stick plugged in the handle) you will be able to easily remove the tsuka. Many other experienced members here would be able to give you more detailed information.

It may qualify as a 兼用刀 - combination sword : http://ohmura-study.net/210.html

The blade is signed Kanenori and appears to be Sue-Seki (late Muromachi period Mino school). Best regards, Ray

A word of continued caution. A prominent Japanese dealer warned me that even with the proper tariff code, Japanese export documents, and antique attestation it is still up to the judgment of the customs officer reviewing the package. I have had one tsuba arrive without tariffs applied and one that did. Both arrived in the US in the past two months and shipped out well after the August change. Fingers crossed for the next one that is on the way.

Hello everyone, TLDR: Interested in Japanese swords and fittings? I made this to help the field. Open nihontowatch.com on your phone browser, and add to home screen (Share → Add to Home Screen). Thank me later. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have been thinking for quite some time about the future of our field. I have been blessed with incredible mentors and opportunities, most notably the late Darcy Brockbank, who was so generous in sharing his knowledge. Since his tragic passing, I have felt a responsibility to carry that work forward. What I am about to present, I built as an homage to his memory. Our field has problems. We operate in a field of extraordinary depth without being equipped with the knowledge and tools to understand what we're looking at when we browse the market. Refreshing dozens of dealer websites every week, most in Japanese, copy-pasting listings into translation apps, pinching to zoom on sites built twenty years ago — market awareness is just painful and you miss things constantly. You spend an hour and walk away unsure you have seen everything. And this is just the market experience. The deeper problem is access to knowledge. There are no catalogues raisonnés for artists. Yuhindo would have grown into it — it was planned. But alas, Yuhindo is no more. No way to know, with any confidence, whether a price is reasonable without decades of experience or tens of thousands of dollars invested in published references. No way to know why something costs what it does. Communication with Japanese dealers remains daunting for most. No easy way to know who is a reputable dealer. The barrier to entry is simply too high, and this friction keeps our field artificially small. Fine art has Artnet. Watches have Chrono24. Antiquarian books have AbeBooks — markets with comparable depth and comparable opacity, served by platforms that bring transparency and accessibility. These fields have benefited immensely: they have enabled new entrants in droves to collect in confidence. Our field needs more knowledge and transparency to build interest and trust.Japanese swords and fittings. Eight hundred years of collecting history at the highest levels. The category that contains the most national treasures in Japan. The indefatigable search for perfection of an entire civilization. And yet, we have nothing. This had to change. As I write this, there are 3,021 Nihonto and 1,607 Tosogu items for sale across 44 dealers, Japanese and international, in a single searchable interface. Every listing is structured with attribution, certification, measurements, and artist intelligence data. NihontoWatch is on track to follow 100% of the online market for genuine items with NBTHK papers. Refreshed 12 times a day. Everything is translated and structured, as it trickles in live. But what is this worth, if it's so hard to know what you're looking at? Especially for newcomers, it is so hard to tell what you're looking at. This is where the magic is. I am nostalgic of reading through Yuhindo's artist descriptions. It made me deeply appreciate the field. It got me in. NihontoWatch scales this experience and creates something approaching a living catalogue raisonné for every Tosogu and Nihonto artist. It matches every listing against a database combining the complete Juyo, Tokubetsu Juyo, Juyo bunkazai, Kokuho, and Gyobutsu designation data — over 23,000 items at the highest level, with rich text in classical Japanese. This data is then processed, synthesized, and presented into NihontoWatch's artist directory in a way that is respectful of the NBTHK's copyright. With this, you'll be able to discover a maker's historical reputation through quantitative analysis of exhaustive provenance records, in ways never seen before. Over time, all of these artist pages will come alive, forming an ever-expanding knowledge base. - How rare is it? - How many Tokuju? - How many designated works ranked Juyo and above? - Why is this important? - Where does it rank relative to other works? - What is for sale right now? - What was for sale recently? All the answers are in. These are questions that come up constantly in our community, and until now, answering them required years of collecting published references worth tens of thousands of dollars, and patiently indexing them with post-its or one-by-one in a spreadsheet. Only professional dealers or major collectors could afford to do this. This is a BETA, so there are errors. The more obscure the artist, the higher the error rate, and there are still basic errors I need to fix with some famous artists. A lot of algorithmic tinkering and curation ahead. It will keep getting better with your feedback. See the results for yourselves: - Soshu Masamune: https://nihontowatch.com/artists/masamune-MAS590 - Ichimonji school: https://nihontowatch.com/artists/NS-Ichimonji - Yasuchika (tosogu): https://nihontowatch.com/artists/yasuchika-TSU001 - Goto school: https://nihontowatch.com/artists/NS-Goto Click one and explore the designations, the provenance abalysis, the measurement distributions. This is just a first shot — over time this data will grow. Here is one where I have published an item I studied for my Substack article on Mitsutada: - Osafune Mitsutada: https://nihontowatch.com/artists/mitsutada-MIT281 Imagine Yuhindo, but with a page for every artist and every piece ever captured on camera. Saw a national treasure at an exhibition in Japan? Share your photos on NihontoWatch's artist catalogue. In the future, owners of particular works will be able to publish them to the artist's catalogue. Think of it as a growing, community-curated knowledge base for every artist in the field. And so much more Browse and filter: Designation, dealer, item type, school, province — all filterable, all instant. Prices display in JPY, USD, or EUR. Every filter combination is a shareable URL. The sold archive tracks thousands of items for pricing research. And it works for every budget, for collectors at every level. - All Tokubetsu Juyo Nihonto on the market - All Tsuba with Hozon or Tokubetsu Hozon, maximum price $2,000 Setsumei translations: On some items, you can press the floating book icon on any Juyo item to toggle between photos and the Juyo setsumei translated text. For most Juyo and above items, the NBTHK evaluation text from the dealer's page is identified by computer vision and translated into English. It will fail if the dealer has not posted the Juyo Zufu extract, but in the majority of cases they do, and the result is remarkably accurate. Do use responsibly — the quality is great, but not perfect. Always purchase professional translation from Markus Sesko when contemplating the purchase of a Juyo-designated piece. Search alerts: Never miss an item again. Define keywords and filters and save them. NihontoWatch will run your search every 15 minutes, and when something new appears, immediately send you an alert email. In practice, missing a listing that fits your interests becomes almost impossible. Tip: I recommend avoiding overly specific queries. "Juyo tsuba" or "Kamakura signed tachi" are safer than specific artists such as "Yozozaemon Sukesada," which would be more fickle. Broad queries give you the best market coverage. Inquiry emails: Press "Inquire" on any listing to draft a professional inquiry in Japanese. Handles etiquette and formality, and can help you request the 10% consumption tax exemption available to overseas buyers. Did you even know you could get 10% off? How many new entrants lost 10% on this, at least at the beginning? I for one did. I've seen countless high spenders neglect to request it while shopping across Japanese galleries. Glossary: The technical language of Nihonto and Tosogu is deep and specialized — needlessly so for non-Japanese speakers. Anytime a technical term comes up, you can click and see what it means. Over 1,200 terms, searchable, automatically linked from the setsumei translations. Who remembers always keeping an index open to keep track of terms when studying Juyo items? https://nihontowatch.com/glossary How best to use NihontoWatch While it works wonders on desktop, NihontoWatch works most beautifully on your phone. I use it every day — it feels like I have the market in my pocket. Open nihontowatch.com on your phone, hit Share → Add to Home Screen. And voila, you have an app. It becomes something you check with your morning coffee, the way one might check the news. A word of caution The data has errors — always verify independently. This is a tool to explore the market, not a substitute for critical thinking. If it looks too good to be true, it likely is, and this system can't easily correct online misrepresentations. Old listings where dealers have not marked items as "SOLD" will still appear as available. Listing errors will slip through, but data quality improves continuously as the system learns over time. Get involved - Missing a listing or dealer you like? PM me or post here. - Bug? PM me or post here with steps to reproduce. - Dream feature request? Reply in this thread. I will keep this thread active and share major updates when time permits. Everything is free right now, and will remain so until ready for official release. This is no trivial task, and it is expensive to operate — it will need to be covered in some way down the line. It will be tempting to keep it for yourself. But if we want our field to grow, we must share knowledge and expand market access and transparency. The single most impactful thing you can do right now is help others discover and use the tool. Share it with your study group. Share it with your collecting circle. Share it with a friend who has been curious about Nihonto and Tosogu but found the barrier to entry too high. That barrier just got a lot lower. Farewell, Darcy. This is for the teacher in you. Hoshi

You win!

No, that is a first! Symbols and even clouds on Mount Fuji.

That's interesting, John. I've managed to have never read that page on Ohmura's site. Don't know how I missed it.

I keep seeing this book show up on ebay but can't seem to find it anywhere else. Not sure if it is new or just new to me. I don't mind paying for books, but the price seems high and I am unsure if there is any new information compared to the Sasano museum book on Akasaka tsuba. Anyone have the book shown below or know where to get it for a reasonable price? Thanks, Lou

Jeremy, MUKADE SHINAE are only a special form of massive SHINAE. In this case above, we don't see cracks but ripples.

Correct . I should have said mukade shinae like in this article : http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/flaws.html

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

This is why long swords weren't allowed to be worn indoors. Show us the damaged furniture.

Glad to share a unique one of a kind (that I can find so far) of Fudō Myō-ō, been trying to find something similar to this one, but most are Heian period which would be nice if some how mines was except for one that the flames that looked a bit close to mines. I'm actually glad to hear that it's a Edo period piece David, at first I thought it was made somewhere during the Edo period, but I later thought it was made between the Meiji to Taishō. Thank you for the clarification David, somehow I manage to forget one of Japan's other biggest religion thinking they were one of the same for a minute

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

Overall the feeling I get is that the blade was repeatedly subjected to cutting some harsh materials. Bamboo seems like a fit in-part. Possibly even bent and straightened in / after the process. I have to look deeper / more thoroughly but I see evidence for at least 6 different harsh cuts. My gut says someone pushed this thing late edo timeframe and I’m looking at the fallout from that intentionally destructive endeavor. Blade is gimei Okimasa (I’ve analyzed the mei pretty thoroughly and it’s obvious gimei to me) … but it’s still pretty impressively crafted, and given the koshirae, it would have been expensive. In modern context, to me, it screams “rich person gets nice car and wants to floor it / play with it to see what it can do”. Or perhaps a WW2 soldier who was given it by a family who cared for it said “I might die here, I’m gonna cut some crazy stuff with this fancy sword before I go”. It’s almost definitely a WW2 trophy, as there’s a USN member enlistment number engraved into the habaki.

I have to agree with Alex on this one in absence of better pictures. Speaking as someone who has spent an embarrassing amount of money on tatami mats over the years, this pattern of wear can easily be the result of tameshigiri. That said, there are a number of alternative cutting mediums that could have contributed as well since tatami isnt "expensive" in the strictest sense of the word, but it sure isnt cheap, especially if you require them to be shipped. As for the placement of the wear, again, I would concur with Alex. There are two types of tameshigiri....first is to simply test the sword and its sharpness. The second is more practical where speed and placement are the focus and cutting through the mat is secondary. The fastest part of any blade is the tip.....and it also allows for maximum distance from your opponent..... there are several schools that focus on this type of training.

Oh, ok - that makes a lot of sense, it sounds like the Shogun side of the Tokugawa family will continue but the Tokugawa Yoshinobu (last Shogun) line will end? Thank you.

Suio Genro (遂翁元盧, 1717-1790) became a disciple of Hakuin Ekaku at age 30. After the death of his master, he took over the Shōinji Temple. His calligraphy and painting most frequently reflect his master's style and depictions, especially of Daruma. However, here he seems to be inspired by the work of his contemporary Jiun Onko (1718–1804, see below), who is famous for his powerful, abstract, and minimalist 3-stroke rendering of Daruma. Genro's inscription is the last line of the quatrain traditionally attributed to the First Patriarch of Ch'an: seeing original-nature, you become Buddha (kenshō jōbutsu 見性成佛). This piece was just auctioned on Yahoo Japan for $700, one of the few examples of this depiction of Daruma by Suio Genro. I'm hoping to acquire a Daruma by Jiun Onko, which is found in many Asian art museums and rarely offered for purchase. Examples of Jiun Onko's Daruma

Jeremy Sometimes we tend to oversimplify matters. Subjective preference might or might not be right for a certain sword. It becomes a matter of personal (in this case, Western) interpretation of what a traditional Japanese object should look like and is juxtaposed versus a Japanese perspective and aesthetical interpretation. Sometimes these two are misaligned and sometimes they are aligned. What I have observed is that we often tend to judge a polish as good or bad through our Western perspective and also on the basis of indeed cheaper, rushed or substandard polishes encountered in the West (and sometimes Japan). Therefore, I do not subscribe to views such as “we have seen this and that many times over an extended period of time in country X or country Z” if said country is not Japan. Indeed outside of Japan we often do not have swords in current or top polish. As mentioned in the other polish thread, older polish (even if it once was hadori) could appear as close to sashikomi if abraded with uchiko over decades. So, sometimes people think they have seen sashikomi polish when actually they have seen a sword in an older polish that has been uchiko-ed away. Also, viewing or photographing swords head-on (sword lying on its side and us viewing it directly perpendicularly from above) might not show us much if the hadori is there and blending hamon elements and I sense that characteristic is what makes some members complain about hadori and express a preference for shashikomi. But through observing the sword longitudinally and pointing to a light source, the same hadori can reveal the “hidden elements” and in addition allows full appreciation of the jigane head-on. I have also seen instances where a sword was finished in a certain way that raised some questions in my mind. Why did the polisher not bring out the hamon more or the hada even more? The polish was good but not what some in the West call “Juyo polish”. After careful discussion with the polisher it transpired that he had noticed a small sub-surface fukure (barely detectable by a polisher and invisible to the common observer). Accordingly, the polisher did not undertake further grinding and only highlighted as much as he thought would not bring up / burst the fukure (which only he noticed and many experienced people missed) and yet would allow appreciation of the sword. Such subtleties and insider insights are normally lost on most people, who would only comment on how “good” or “bad” a polish might look superficially. So, to answer your question: it is probably a mix of experience (ie, seeing older polishes or substandard polishes); preference for a specific type of viewing/ experiencing the blade (ie, head-on immediate appreciation of hamon); own interpretation of what traditional or appropriate is (ie, Western perspective on this, even though various articles and interviews have mentioned that hadori is older than what we think and that “traditionally” in the old periods swords were finished differently from sashikomi / hadori finish as we know it today) and various other personal reasons (which might include a specific belief or liking of swords that come up better in sashikomi). So, my overall advice is to research and study extensively / thoroughly before forming an extreme opinion such as this polish is better than that, so one should always go for that polish.

In my opinion, it’s a matter of opinion….and we are all entitled to ours. I have seen appalling Hadori polish that do nothing for the blade. I have never seen an appalling sashikomi. In the image below of the same blade section done in the two different styles I know which I prefer and which shows the hamon to best advantage.