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A glorious piece of workmanship - but the material itself is just not up to the task. The fukurin is the only element keeping this piece together. https://www.jauce.com/auction/1224137596 I have to wonder if it was altered to be used as a tsuba? The seppa-dai area does not look as you would expect.

Hi guys, Here is something interesting to show you. A set of f/k awarded to Kamiya Dōichi, by Lord Chimura Nakashige(千村仲展) in 1868. Who was Kamiya Dōichi: Kamiya Dōichi(神谷道一) Known by the courtesy name Shikan and the art name Kansai. He was a Karō (Chief Retainer) of the Chimura family(Hatamoto), Kukuri Domain of Nōshū [Mino Province], during the Restoration. During the Hokueutsu War (part of the Boshin War), he was dispatched as the Commander of the Second Unit. After the Restoration, he became a Negi (senior priest) at the Minami-gu National Shrine. Subsequently, he entered service in Gifu Prefecture, where he was tasked with the editing of historical records. In 1879, he became the first District Governor of Kani, and later served as the District Governor for Ena, Ono, Mashita, and Yoshiki. He resigned from office in 1885 and authored works such as the "Sekigahara Senki" (Chronicle of the Battle of Sekigahara). Translations made by Gemini so I'm expecting some errors, but you'll get the idea. Award for the Echigo Military Campaign. Plum Blossom Fuchi-Kashira. One Set. Meiji 1, Year of the Earth Dragon [1868], November 15th. From the village of Kukuri in Tōnō [Eastern Mino Province]. Humbly received from Lord Chimura Nakashige. [Signed] Kamiya Dōichi. At the time of the Meiji Restoration, the Kukuri Domain of Nōshū [Mino Province] joined the Imperial Army and dispatched troops to Echigo. My ancestor, Kamiya Dōichi, served as a military inspector and fought bravely. Upon his victorious return, the Lord of the Domain, Chimura Nakashige, rewarded his distinguished service by granting him this. From there, it was passed down to my late father, Yoshimichi. The writing remaining on the lid of this case was brushed by the old master Kansai Dōichi. Having escaped the war damages of the 20th year of Showa (1945), it still exists today. It should be deeply revered. Recorded by his grandson, Yasuhiko. Enjoy!

73 Yasuyo This sword is by Shumenokami Ichi no hira Yasuyo not Yasuyori . It was owned by the Miyasaka Shrine in Kagoshima Prefecture who handed it over to the Ibusuki police in December 1945. The blade is dated 1723 and is 33 .5 inches long . There are photographs of the sword and the lengthy inscription on the nakago in the documents from the American Archives that Stephen Thorpe shared with us . Attached to this is a copy of one of those pictures showing the Shirasaya, box and lacquered box that accompanied the sword . Further photos are on page 82 of Satsuma no katana no Tsuba by Fukunaga

Just came across this thread and decided to apply for a gold membership as well. While none of the upgrades impact my activity on the forum, I find 6 Euros a month more than fair for the amount of knowledge accumulated on here.

The classic quote from a Thomas Buttweiler essay: There are perhaps 500 Ko-Bizen swords left in existence today. About 200 of these have been awarded Juyo Token status or higher [ca. 1980]. The vast majority of even these recognized examples are in greatly deteriorated condition. Nearly all of these have been polished down to a point where they retain only a hint of their former elegance. In many cases, the Boshi is incomplete or missing altogether. Many of the remaining blades have been burned or re-tempered. Even so, the desirability of such blades remains undiminished. The words of one elderly Japanese connoisseur while examining a blade with all of the above faults, are classic. He held the blade at arms length for a long time and turned, smiled, and said, “But, it's Ko-Bizen.”

Being such an import auction I wondered if any NMB members wished to show what tsuba they bought and if anyone regretted not going just one more bid

皇太子殿下御誕生 奉祝會記念 昭和九年　五月三十日 　　　　　　　三十一日 財団法人 宮内省互助会 This is believed to be a commemorative gift distributed to officials of the Imperial Household Agency following the birth of Crown Prince Akihito (now the Emperor Emeritus).

Here is a higher res photo of the Ichimonji Sukeshige that was stolen. The description in the Nihonto Taikan pre-dates the theft and since this book was published in 1966, this may have been one of the last times this sword was in the hands of sword specialists who were documenting it. The Explanation for the sword reads as follows: The

Hello Jussi, Do you have the journals written by Yuichi Hiroi called Daisojin? I have most of the journals and I'd be happy to share the articles and photos of the missing swords. The Norishige was in these journals also but I sent those issues to Mr. Brooks. Here is a taste.

I once caught a similar remark from Kurokawa-san that stuck with me: the more you study swords, the more you start to appreciate the older blades. By the time your “education” is complete, you naturally find yourself drawn to Ko-Bizen. ... But that’s not the whole story. If you look closer, things get more fascinating. The very best Ko-Bizen, when observed carefully, can almost look like Soshu—just a stone’s throw from the Masamune or Sadamune...

Dear Julien, very nice piece! As little as my opinion matters... hada here seems like a mirror of yours https://togishi.com/store/p519/Soshu_Ju_Tsunahiro_3rd_Generation_.html also typical horimono and regarding kaeri I see several examples with pronounced one http://sanmei.com/contents/media/o_H113827_S3041.html Check also https://nihonto.com/tsunahiro/ where the long kaeri is indicated as a feature. In any case good luck for shinsa!. All the best Giordy

Motohaba : 26mm Motokasane : 8mm Nagasa : 48.5cm

Thanks for your replies! I appreciate this advice, thankyou Jean. I do have a few books i should definitely give the time to read. Definitely worth it to me, it isn't the most impressive blade but being so important to me, I get a bit upset seeing it dressed so poorly haha. I think I will slowly hunt for new bits and learn to wrap the ito. Definitely a decent sized shopping list haha. Not in any hurry and thoroughly enjoy browsing the web for bits and bobs anyway, I may very well give making some bone or horn pieces a go! The blade is mumei and i belive it to be edo period, but am unsure. Being sentimental to me i still think it deserves better koshirae

These are my tsuba from the auction. And, well, my only regret was not having a bigger wallet... Seeing all those tsuba together was like finding Santa's sledge parked in the backyard for a kid... The second tsuba has a paper, but it's a minus, not a plus... guess what's the attribution?

Hi Justin, By whom and when was the tanto made? If the tanto is special it deserves better koshirae. If it is mediocre or worse, you would be smart to move on and find something better to throw your money at. Grey

I think I held that one in my hands two weeks ago... I personally suspect the fukurin mimi to be quite modern (20th ? so is the nakago-ana) and also the cause of the breaks.

Agreed, and the material looks traditionally Chinese.

Hello: I can read May 30-31, 1934. But the only thing that comes up on that date is a day of mourning for Admiral Togo Heihachiro. Not sure that's what it is. Could this have been for Crown Prince Akihito's Birthday???? Looks like a medallion that someone turned into a tsuba-like netsuke-like-object. Thank you for taking a look. I appreciate your help. John C.

indeed interesting smith, from Book Markus Sesko: SUKETAKA (助隆), Kansei (寛政, 1789-1801), Settsu – “Ozaki Gengo´emon Suketaka” (尾崎源五右衛門助隆), “Ozaki Gengo´emon no Jō Suketaka” (尾崎源五右衛門尉助隆), “Ozaki Gengo´emon Fujiwara Suketaka” (尾崎源五右衛門藤原助隆), “Ozaki Nagato no Kami Fujiwara Ason Suketaka” (尾崎長門守藤原朝臣助隆), real name Ozaki Gengo´emon (尾崎源五右衛門), he was born in the third year of Hōreki (宝暦, 1753) in Harima province but moved later to Ōsaka to study under Kuroda Takanobu (黒田鷹諶), Takanobu in turn was the grandson of the 6th gen. Bungo Kai-Mihara Masaie (貝三原正家), Suketaka received the honorary title Nagato no Kami (長門守) in the twelfth month of Kansei ten (寛政, 1798), he died in the second year of Bunka (文化, 1805) at the age of 53, as Suishinshi Masahide he too tried to copy the tōran-midare of Sukehiro (助広), that means we can see how early shinshintō smiths were influenced by Kamada Natae´s (鎌田魚妙) praise of Sukehiro´s tōran in his standard work Shintō Bengi (新刀弁疑), his successor was his son Takashige (隆繁), Suketaka´s blades have a shallow sori, a thick kasane, much hira- – 1017 –niku, and a relative large chū-kissaki, they show a dense and hardly discernible ko-itame which tends to muji, we know tōran- midare, gunome-midare, and suguha hamon whereas the tōran-midare consists of rough and irregular nie, the tama don´t have an uniform size, he applied a long sugu-yakidashi and the bōshi ist ko-maru, some blades show horimono in the form of dragons, plum blossoms, or a branch of a plum tree, the tip of the tang is an iriyamagata-jiri, the yasurime are ō-sujikai with keshō, he signed also with a characteristical cursive script which tends almost to grass script whereas the date signatures of such mei are entirely executed in grass script, jō-saku

Yes, and from the flying carp streamers and 'shobu' flowers on the reverse, probably also to commemorate his first Boy's Day. (To be handed out over two days, later in the month of May?)

It’s the latter, not for Togo Heihachiro, an interesting medallion!

The JuBi Mitsutada Ken (only known by him) has a sort of Awataguchi finesse and feeing to it. Not a particularly exciting hamon for a Mitsutada but sublime jigane …

It is actually sometimes very difficult to track down info on some of the old swords that are currently missing or unknown. As I have the 16 book set Kokuhō Tōken Zufu that was complied in I believe 1936 to 1938, for many years I have thought it had all the former Kokuhō from the old designation. However I now understand that it is missing some former National Treasures. For example the above posted Hotarumaru was made National Treasure in 1931 but it is missing from this book. Likewise the Norishige that was found by Ian Brooks is not featured in this book either even though it was made National Treasure in 1918. And there might most likely be other former National Treasures that are not featured in this book set. Here are picture and measurements for the Tadayoshi tachi that Brett posted earlier with the story how it was stolen. Nagasa: 74,5 cm Sori: 2,4 cm Motohaba: 2,8 cm Sakihaba: 1,6 cm Kissaki: 2,5 cm I was trying to read the old entry from 1930's but there might be few kanji that are not commonly used anymore so I hope I got the modern versions correct. There seems to be lot of history for this sword if I understood correctly. It was dedicated to the shrine by Tokugawa Tadateru (忠輝) in 1667, and the sword has/had itomaki tachi koshirae. However during the years it seems to have been mixed as the property of 大祝 (Ōhōri) family. From wikipedia I was able to understand the Ōhōri were lineage of high priests that were connected to Suwa shrine. It is written that in Tenpō (c.1830's/40's) it changed ownership from the family to someone else, then it changed hands many times until it was returned to the shrine in 1906.

This ken is featured in one of the English Touken Bijutsu shared here on NMB 1768361006031.pdf

Looks like textbook Mishina boshi. Good pictures.

Even more:

here are some additional pictures

I figured I could include some pictures of the hamon and hada from the same session as the first boshi picture attempt. These were taken during golden hour using my phones macro focus. I personally love how the sword looks in this lighting. I also should add the sword seems to be tired.

Some great photos and video of the Mikazuki starting to appear online... the start of this video catches the tiny Mikazuki just beautifully in the light. What a wonderful sword! Mikazuki.mp4

I too bought a tsuba from Bonham's Skinners (Marlborough, MA). Pre-tariff, I think premium, expensive shipping, and USA urban sales tax added +70% to the price. Then the expense of getting it NBTHK papered was about 175% of what I would have spent pre-tariff. All in all, not the bargain I originally thought it.

I also had an unpleasant experience with shipping from Bonhams Skinner (Marlborough, MA). I paid a 28% premium on the hammer price, and shipping via UPS (the cheapest option) cost $370 (from the US to Italy). Additionally, the shipping agency failed to provide the correct fiscal code, so in the end my tsuba cost me more than double the hammer price. Previously, I purchased a tsuba from Czerny’s, and the shipping cost was only €20 (although, of course, that was within Italy).

All gucci

Well… Mona Lisa has a kind of …. Shall we say… interesting smile. And the colours are a bit faded. Ah, also there are a few other images underneath the top layer. But… It is Mona Lisa.