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Hello everyone, i made a bid on a shakudo tsuba at an auction in Vienna today: https://www.zacke.at/auction/lot/1648-a-soten-school-gempei-wars-shakudo-tsuba/?lot=95268&sd=1# I thought it looked quite nice, but did not actually expect to win it. Before I make a payment however, I want to make sure the discription is accurate and it is not a cheaply made copy/ cast. The condition looks suspiciously good and The price estimate is also a bit low. any help is greatly appreciated

Unsigned Soten - very unusual - I think I agree with Piers. Hikone-bori.

Hello! I honestly do not share the opinion that many people have about the Soten school. Since I once purchased a shakudo Soten tsuba myself, I spent a considerable amount of time researching the subject and made a huge number of comparisons (1000+) in order to understand it properly. I am always surprised when I see statements of this kind… What exactly do you expect to see in these papers? Practically all tsuba signed “Soten” are identified in the papers as belonging to the Soten school. And what does “copy” even mean here? This is unquestionably an original 19-century piece. The fact that it was not made by Soten himself does not make it a copy. There were many craftsmen working within this school, and there was a tradition of signing tsuba with the same signature, and almost all of them receive NBTHK papers. Only a small number of Soten school tsuba have distinctive signatures like these: https://nihonto.com/1-01-23/ https://nihonto.com/juyo-tsuba-by-nomura-kanenori-野村包教/ I can also say that this is normal not only for the Soten school, but generally for other schools as well, especially when it comes to gilding. In almost any work you can find inaccuracies, and with gilding this happens much more often. Many people, I’m sure, know these Ishiguro Masaaki menuki - there’s a nuance there too, yet everyone is perfectly calm about it) As for this tsuba, I believe it was made in the Soten style. Geraint provided a good example.

Dear Max. I don't see a problem with your tsuba. The auction house were optimistic likening it to lot 81 in the Goodman sale as that one is larger, signed and of better execution than yours, they would have been more truthful to compare it to this one, https://www.bonhams.com/auction/22472/lot/79/a-soten-style-tsuba-edo-period-19th-century/ Yours seems to have been mounted with consequent wear on the seppa dai but I can't see any red flags. Enjoy. All the best.

Can anyone say if this is Yoshida Kaneyoshi please? I can see no evidence he had a kokuin Any input gratefully received

About 20 years ago I purchased this sword at a gun shop, that also carried some militaria. The gun shop owner said that he purchased it from a US WWII Veteran, who took it home from the war. I knew the gun shop owner well, and he regularly sought to purchase militaria from WW 2 vets, so I believed his story. He never divulged his sources, so it was impossible for me to trace the Veteran's history further. The sword came in old shirasaya. Its Nagasa is 27.25". I always wanted to know more about it, but it is mumei; and I haven't personally known any Nihonto experts. I will not be selling this sword, so no comments will be used to aid in marketing it. My principal question is whether or not this sword is worthy of polishing? My other interest is possible makers, schools, age, etc... Finally, the sword appears to have temper (like on a hamon) that extends down from its mune in a couple of places. Is that common? Why is it there? I will be grateful for any and all comments, J Ambrose

That is actually a different Kaneyoshi 包義.

Mark, Another Kaneyoshi, same mei, posted here (also has the registration stamp, faintly seen at bottom) Kaigunto mounts.

I only have one 兼重 Kaneshige recorded. The same sword on three different occasions. NMB James 2008-0411 NMB Chriso 2010-0724 NMB Chriso 2022-1002

The following swordsmiths used this combination of patent & 眞金入 stamps. 正房 Masafusa [by far the the most common] 兼重 Kaneshige

Yes, that Masafusa has the "Shingane Iri" or Genuine Core Steel stamp on the other side. A bit unusual to see them on opposite side, but I think I've seen it done that way before. I'm starting a file for these to get the variations and smiths using them. I think you are right about someone destroying that stamp.

I would think both of the blades are by the same smith, 高橋長信 Takahashi Naganobu. The tachi blade is signed and dated 長信造 / 弘化三年八月吉日, Naganobu tsukuru, 1846 Wakizashi is signed 於東都雲州住長信造, Tōto ni oite Unshū jū Naganobu tsukuru I haven't used Hawley in very long time so I am not sure what is written there. However I would think never signed same way twice is just an absurd exaggeration. There are plenty of his known signature variants. Nihontō Meikan seems to have 17 various signatures listed, so he did a lot of variations but it is obvious that he did use the same signature variation multiple times. Here you can see the same signature variation on a katana that is on your wakizashi: https://iidakoendo.com/1572/ Unfortunately Shinshintō swords are not really on my scope of interest so I can't offer much help, other than saying that both of your blades look nice based on the last picture.

Is this sword currently in Japan or did it recently come from Japan? Bruce is correct that this is a patent marking and I think it was removed for some reason.

I do not dispute that the works differ in quality. However, there is also some inaccuracy in the application of the gilding here. And I will repeat myself: this is quite common even in works of the very highest level - it is simply a characteristic of the technique. It is genuinely difficult to apply exactly the right amount of gold amalgam so that, after heating, it does not flow beyond the intended contour, especially at such a small scale. If we are talking about “inlay,” then it is indeed precise even at the smallest sizes. However, inlay is a more labor-intensive process, which is why amalgam gilding is more commonly used, as in the author’s example. You, on the other hand, have shown examples where most of the gold elements are inlay (nunome zogan), and therefore the margin for error is smaller, however, where amalgam gilding is used, inaccuracies are present. Below is an example of my tsuba with different types of gilding. I have outlined the amalgam gilding in red, the other elements are inlay, whereas the author’s tsuba uses only amalgam gilding.

The large book is Tosogu Gokecho Meihin Shusei by Shigeo Fukuchi. And sometimes you can find Tokujo for a small price...

Viktor, I have not compared 1.000 SOTEN TSUBA, but I have seen images of really good ones and less good ones. I think there is no doubt that many TSUBA were made in the SOTEN (or HIKONE BORI) style when they were in fashion, that had nothing to do with SOTEN or their school directly. I posted my comment mainly because the auction house Zacke compared this TSUBA to one that was sold 10 years ago at Bonham's for an equivalent of € 5.800.--, and I don't think the above TSUBA is in that range.

Just for comparison…….

Man, they made a mess of that stamp, but it's this one, the top one. Not a kokuin at all, but a registration number and statement about using the kobuse method: I haven't made an effort to track how many smiths used the stamp, but there are more than a couple with it. Can't tell you if the Kaneyoshi is who you are speaking of. Though, after checking the 4 of his I have on file, there seem to be a variety of mei - 3 and 5 kanji.

It looks legit to me. I have no idea what you paid for it. The auction was a bit of a stretch to equate it with the Bonhams one. Nearly 30 years in, I still make a mistake from time to time. I made one last year when I got a tsuba a bit too cheap. Not a travesty, but the condition was not as expected. Curran

Actually as it's unsigned I think the 'Soten-style' wording is better than outright 'Soten school'. Strictly speaking these were made within the *Hikone Han, the Soten being a line of smiths within that area, the earliest ones signing their work. Becoming popular, later they were apparently emulated elsewhere in Japan. I have a smilar one, papered by the NBTHK as 'Hikone'. *Think of Hikone Castle, home of the Ii Daimyo family.

SOLD

To confuse the matter, even when the tagane-ato have been punched and spread the metal into the nakago-ana in order to fit a particular blade, it is also possible that the metal could be filed back in order to fit a THICKER blade. This will result in heavy tagane-ato marks but little to no metal spread into the hole. Fitting a tsuba to a new blade therefore works both ways.

One rare example where You can see the punched down iron (from E. Kremers book)

The upper part of the omote side is not taken in the pictures. I guessed the untaken characters in blue font. 能登守 – Noto no kami 帝室技藝員菅原包則八十四歳作 – Made by an Imperial Household Artist Sugawara Kanenori, 84 years old. 飯野吉三郎君 – Mr. Iino Kichisaburo 君万歳 – Long live you. 大正二年十二月吉日 – Taisho 2nd year (1913), a day in 12th month FYI: 飯野吉三郎 - Wikipedia

Closeup of very faint file marks

Could use some help on this one, another cursive (sorry don't have that down yet!). Has the patented "Genuine Core Steel" steel stamp. Posted by 1osten at this Wehrmacht-awards thread. Tried enhancing in the 2nd photo.