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Single opening hamidashi https://www.bonhams.com/auction/30726/lot/109/two-shakudo-goto-school-hamidashi-tanto-tsuba-edo-period-18th-century-2/ Double opening hamidashi https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/28556 - museum that has very little information [doesn't even describe the type] https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/24987- a little more information but wrong style given [tanto] An example of a Hamidashi Hamidashi tsuba can come in almost any style and school - they are not as common as other forms, I guess they were not replaced as often as larger types [How often did people swap out their favourite personal weapon?] As I have found [and others agree] tanto/hamidashi size tsuba tend to be cheaper to collect - so a good area to start a collection? Probably there is not a lot of information on this subject currently available - but maybe you can become the next "expert" on this niche line of research? Welcome to NMB André Nice pieces at auction now https://www.jauce.com/auction/o1225373964 https://www.jauce.com/auction/g1225319208 https://www.jauce.com/auction/t1225136036 and a more "normal" tanto https://www.jauce.com/auction/s1225314995

Many visitors and members of NMB have questions but are not aware of the substantial amount of information provided by members in the DOWNLOADS (link is in bar at top of main page). To assist awareness here is a list of papers I have submitted. MEC sword papers NMB.pdf

Antiques don't have a well defined price, or liquidity. Every auction generates stories how this item was for sale for 50k for a year with not a lot of interest, now it sold for 300k. It found the right buyer. Even if we just consider some abstract "value", people collect for different reasons. For myself its probably 40% interest in solving mysteries, which swords generate a plenty, 20% militarism, and 40% aesthetics. But there is a considerable number of people whose collecting is guided by specific historic or ethnic interest, or (a very considerable portion) because they believe it marks them as part of the elite, or because they believe they'll make money on it. Accordingly to some the fact that this maker was collected by a Daimyo, or that he was generally well regarded - is important. Knowing its Juyo - is important. Its "elite" by definition, in the very least. For me Juyo is like you took a perfectly good blade, added spoilers and now want a lot more money... Hm.... From purely aesthetic prospective many very high ranking smiths are not only associate with great blades. They also have a lot of bad blades. Plus condition. Plus intrinsic ambiguity with attribution. You end up with something that is very attractive to those who want to be the elite (big name), but aesthetically is so-so. Which is one of the reasons I tend to be allergic to any approach where a maker is "scored" by some formula or table, or the emphasis is made on how many Juyo he has. Plenty of high class early Kamakura smiths for whom there are couple of known blades. What's the pass ratio? How many were published-Meibutsu-whatever? Is it even in Fujishiro? By default I would take signed Mogusa over Kanemitsu anytime of the day, but that's just highlights my mystery-historical and aesthetic based preferences. Others will think very differently - and their price strategy will also be different.

Hello everyone, I recently acquired a small iron mokkō-gata tsuba and noticed an unusual feature: the kozuka-hitsu-ana on the omote side is not the typical oval opening but appears unusually open and almost merges with the outline of the guard. Some details: iron mokkō-gata tsuba motif appears to show a bird with autumn vegetation (possibly maple leaves and berries) traces of gold inlay remain dimensions approx. 57 × 44 mm thickness approx. 2.5 mm weight approx. 41 g My main question concerns the large, open kozuka-hitsu-ana. It seems much more open than what I usually see and visually becomes part of the design rather than a clearly separated aperture. I would be very interested in your thoughts: Is this type of very open or integrated kozuka-hitsu-ana known on certain tsuba? Could this indicate a specific school or regional tradition (for example Mito, Nara, or a provincial Shoami workshop)? Is there any functional explanation, perhaps related to a particular mounting style (e.g. horizontal carrying of a tantō)? Are there documented examples in the literature (e.g. Haynes Index, Wakayama, or Token Bijutsu) showing similar pieces? Many thanks for any insight or comparable examples!

Since I will be selling a large part of my collection, here is the first piece. This Naginatanaoshi-zukuri/shaped wakizashi is mumei, but has been attributed to "Kanenobu belonged to the Naoe-Shiz I school. The hamon of this wakizashi shows gunome-midare consists of similar to Yahazu-ha and sunagashi which can be said to be "Den-Naoe Shizu," demonstrating the characteristics of Naoe Shizu. There are signs of repairs that appear to be umegane, but the work more than makes up for this. Tokubetsu Hozon sayagakı by Tanobe san. Length. 44.3cm Sori. 0.9cm Motohaba. 2.9cm Munekasane. 0.3 cm Shinogikasane. 0.7cm 3300€ +PP +shipping many pictures in the link https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1quHMHSl_W1t5hfjPdAb50gYNybmHZGY7 Currently, DHL is not shipping from Germany to the USA (thanks, Trump). The shipping value must not exceed €100.

There are three close-up photos

Saturday morning, 10 I think, some old guy will demonstrate care and handling. Free to all. Grey

Thank you both very, very much for your helpful replies and for the warm welcome. The hamidashi/tanto context makes a lot of sense, and the comparison examples are especially useful! I had not realised this was a more normal hamidashi form rather than an unusual kozuka-hitsu-ana issue. (The condition is indeed quite rough, so if I do anything at all, it will only be very careful and conservative rust removal.) Many thanks again — I learned a lot from your comments. 👍

Tsuba in tsuba. A friend tells me this was the first tsuba he ever bought as a Junior High student on a trip to Kobe about 40 years ago. He uses it as a (large) Netsuke. And

This explains why I have never really bothered about Mei but instead tried to concentrate on quality!!🙂 This is the Haynes entry that I found……just a couple above yours John. All too confusing for my ageing brain🙂

Well...suzuri-bako is finally finished. Refreshing the old door with a new box. The project was quite challenging in one respect - trying to match the color, grain, finish, and most of all the age of the original door. My wife is not a fan of the "distressed" aesthetic so trying to match the age (tone, damage, repairs, finish, etc) without it looking like it fell off of the back of a truck was challenging. In addition, the original door was not square so the box had to be slightly out of square. It's way easier to make something perfect than to make it look legitimately old. To match the color and grain I used cherry veneer with solid cherry facings. The drawers are a complimentary birdseye maple veneer with solid maple edging. Maple ply for the sides and bottom. All of the hardware was made from patinated copper, embossed with "flowers" with the single exception of the top handle (an original cast iron handle purveyed from ebay). I think I matched the iron look fairly well. The construction was traditional with large lapped tenons and dowel pins on the "ears." The whole box was sealed with shellac followed by a thin coat of satin lacquer, sanded to take some of the shine off. John C. p.s. the color of the box matches the door much better in person than in the pics.

Yesterday the blades (and the assembled guests) were blessed at Imamura Gu shrine by the Priestess, before they started their new journey to the Osafuné Sword Museum where they are on temporary display. The TV crew were there to cover it. And

Adam. despite the mismatched numbers (not uncommon its a very nice example.

and V@A visit :

Happy Easter a3.mp4

Described as geese (karigane). Regards Luca

A good example is a Bushu that Grey had on his site very briefly before it was snapped up. When I saw it, the first thing that came to mind was, that looks like like a lot of mind numbing finishing work to get the curves smoothed out so that iron can have the appearance of looking “soft”. Then the transition angles from the elements to the rim.

The sword is most likely fake, however can we get a picture of the kozuka (small knife with handle). John C.

According to one "Mogusa theory", this Jubi is actually gimei. Pro-Mogusa thinking goes like: a. There should be a common school/progenitor which unites all Yamato offshoots, Hoki, Naminohira, Houju, Bizen Tomonari etc. b. Mogusa is well documented in historical sources and there are records suggesting it was his descendants who came to Bizen etc., but there are no signed blades. c. It is because he did not sign with his name! What did he use? One of the possibilities he used a "title". d. "Northern sword" collectors are weird, they keep most signed ones at TH without submitting higher. e. The earliest generations signed (1070-1170) probably do not exist, the earliest one that exists is likely early-mid Kamakura. They are not dated.

👍🙂 Either way …..I’m enjoying going back through those nice pieces that came from you John. You don’t see many of this quality nowadays except maybe Bonhams ….and they have relocated to Paris. UK is a bit of a wasteland, sadly.

It looks like you're picking a unicorn Kirill My databases aren't 100% accurate, but out of almost 30,000 records, the only Mogusa I have is a JuBi blade (this one is a zaimei) Apart from this one, nothing - not just a zaimei nothing - simply zero

The show is about 2 months away. Perfect time to make plans to attend. More swords, tsuba, kodogu etc in one place than you could see otherwise. Great hand on opportunity to learn. Saturday there will be educational presentations, more details to follow Basic show information here: http://www.chicagoswordshow.com/ If you want to stay at the Hyatt here is a link. Rooms are filling up, if you have trouble booking let me know https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/group-booking/CHIRW/G-TOK1 If you want a table let me know, i usually have a few people who can't make it due to illness/emergency. You can contact me regarding the show at chicagoswordshow@gmail.com Thanks for looking Mark Jones

Very fake.

Fake.

Look closer.......picture 1963 (in the link)show the "repair" clearly. This is one of those blades that you have to see live in good lighting conditions to get a opinion. It's always very easy to only see the bad points

The info in there currently is truly amazing, sometimes even I forget to browse there and see how much info we have. Thanks for your considerable efforts Mal.

田龍斎義随, Markus has him as Denryūsai in his Meikan, but it might be a typo?!

Hi Colin, Yes, it's the same one that Jean posted - for some reason I couldn't get that picture on my phone last night. I had it down as "Taryusai Yoshiyuki" Haynes reference H 12344.0

Hi…、 It might be written in this way. Hiro(Ghost）

The mei is 相州伊勢大掾源綱廣 - Sōshū Ise Daijō Minamoto Tsunahiro. This is the inscription of a Shinto (early Edo period) swordsmith. Best regards, Ray

Charles, I hope you can get a refund unless you just want to use this as a decorative wall hanger piece. Everything is wrong about this. But I will list some things: The handle is brass, but the Japanese used copper and aluminum, never brass. The stamps on the handle are horribly wrong. The Japanese did not put flags and other marks on the copper collar call a habaki. The Fuller groove starts too far down the blade. And the screw and nut through the handle are the wrong style.

Kiril, I wouldn't say "arbitrary drawing," as it implies whimsy and serendipity. I think the attempt to recreate the hamon is more of artistic interpretation or impression, which can be arbitrary but I wouldn't say that Cezanne's still life's were arbitrary. That said no two artists will see and interpret the same subject in the same way, pretty much the same way no two people see all the activity in the same way.

Good catch! I left glue residue on the surface of the black eel skin during my first wrapping attempt that was not covered well when I switched to a different wrapping style, so I had to reverse the menuki placement to cover this up. Some right-handed swordsman actually prefer this configuration. It potentially changes the feel of the grip (menuki against fingers vs. palms) that may be advantageous for specific ryu that are practiced, but I'm not sure if it will make much difference for me. There are traditional wrapping styles such as gyu kawa kumiage maki that don't even use menuki, substituting woven strips for the middle 2/3 of the tsuka. Ditto for the shonai zuka style that utilizes vertical wrap (not diamonds) in the middle 2/3 to provide a firm grip. Kojidai asaito makiage zuka uses a hemp wrap to completely cover the entire tsuka and is devoid of menuki. This blade and tsuka were intended to be slightly shorter than what I use for iaido because I wante to do tameshigiri with a less wieldy and somewhat lighter katana for speed and safety during noto. My sense is that master swordsman prefer slightly shorter shinken for the same reason. I wear a leather glove on my left hand when the blade is quite long and the noto is more challenging. I value my fingers! Here is the menpuki moyo iri style for tsukamaki that I used. Tying the knot is the most challenging step because of the thickness of the leather tsukaito.

Shibayama Zenkei (1894-1974) was appointed the abbott of Nanzen-ji of the Rinzai sect in 1959 and was one of the most important Zen masters and scholars of the 20th century. He taught at Hanazono University, published the influential commentaries on the Ten Oxherding Pictures and the collection of classic koans called the Mumonkan (Gateless Gate), and taught in America starting 1965 when he was an active Kansho (abbott) at the persuasive invitation of the Zen scholar D.T. Suzuki. Shibayama had a personal appreciation for art, befriending haiga and literati artists and creating his own works. In particular, he had a special admiration for the paintings and calligraphy of Zen Master Hakuin Ekaku. This particular work shows his interest in depicting not only traditional Zen and Buddhist subject matter, but also Japanese folk themes and aspects of everyday life with which he believe he could reach a general audience with his Zen teaching: 渓邊霜葉紅 (keiben sōyō kō) By the mountain stream, the frost-covered leaves are red In Zen, nature is not viewed as a metaphor for something else; it is viewed as the direct manifestation of the Dharma (Buddhist truth). This phrase captures the essence of "thusness" (tathātā). Unlike Western poetry, which might use the red leaf to symbolize sadness, passing time, or romantic longing, in Zen this line is considered a direct presentation. The stream is just the stream. The frost is just the frost. The red is just the red. Zen emphasizes that enlightenment is not found by escaping the world but by seeing the world clearly, without the overlay of conceptual thought. The brilliance of the red leaves against the cold stream is a moment of reality fully revealed. In Zen, 渓邊霜葉紅 does not carry a symbolic "meaning" to be decoded. It is an expression of non-dual reality. It points to the fact that the natural world—in its stark contrast of cold water and bright leaves—is already the complete expression of enlightenment, requiring no addition, subtraction, or interpretation. Like his contemporary Chuho Sou, his calligraphic style was most influenced by the works of Jiun Onko, whose terse, blunt style of brushwork he highly admired. This is most evident in the dynamic use of "flying white" and the almost agitated energy of the brush as it dances across the composition, leaving the surface with gestural energy resulting in broad open tips of the brush strokes. He had an early seminal experience while attending a lecture by the Zen Master Mamiya Eishu during a time when he was exploring Christianity and other spiritual paths. Eishu saild that it would be nice to be able to cover the whole world in leather and be able to walk anywhere without dirtying or hurting one's feet, but it was better to cover the soles of one's own feet with leather and to live an authentic life dedicated to Zen training rather than idealistically trying to change the whole world. Shibayama would later write that about 600 years ago, in Japan, a famous Zen Master Sanko was a teacher of the emperor of the time. A monk asked Master Sanko one day: "Please show me the essence of Zen." Sanko at once replied and said, "Look under your feet (shokokyakka)!"1 Shibayama continues, "Look under your feet!" means "Where are you standing now?" This tells us that Zen does not exist apart from the very spot where we now stand. For Sanko, there was no place where Zen was not present. He actualized satori (sudden enlightenment) by way of occupied space. Shibayama's life was interrupted by the war. He believed that defeat was inevitable, that only Zen and Japanese culture could survive, and that their study could restore his country. Following the death of his wife and child in 1945, he took vows of celibacy and became the Zen Master of Nanzen-ji. In a lecture in the early 1960s at the Society for International Cultural Relations (Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai) in Kyoto, he discussed the differences between Eastern and Western religion: "I am told that the word 'religion' etymologically comes from a Latin word which means 'to bind together' and implies that religion consists in the relegation between God who is the Creator and hman beings who are the created...In Buddhism the word kiye is used as a term corresponding to 'faith' in the West. Kiye means 'to return to the fundamental truth and trust wholeheartedly in it.' This shows that the character of self-reliance forms the main current in Buddhism, and the ultimate goal or purpose of 'shukyo' (religion) is to reach 'gedatsu' (deliverance from worldly passions) or 'satori' (spiritual awakening) rather than 'salvation.'" He died on August 29, 1974 shortly after the publication of Zen Comments on the Mumonkan." His final poem utilizes the same motif of filling the well with snow that Mukurai used in his death poem: Carrying snow and filling the well, I have lived for eighty-one years. Truly there is nothing special-- I sleep with limbs outstretched. 1Shibayama, Z. A Flower Does Not Talk--Zen Essays. Charles E. Tuttle Company, Inc. Rutland, Vermont & Tokyo, Japan (1970), pg. 98.

André, welcome to the NMB forum! What you have there is a 'normal' HAMIDASHI TSUBA. The size suggests it was for a TANTO (or a KO-WAKIZASHI). Unfortunately, the condition does not seem good, but with a pointed (cut-off or ground-to-size) piece of antler or bone, you could perhaps remove some of the red rust.

Hello, After discussing with experienced friends in the business, generating credible and professional .pdf brochure is basically equipping scam sellers with nuclear-grade fraud material. My north star is to create a more trustworthy and reliable market for the field. So, can't have that, at least not in its current form. Shortest lived feature on NW, it will be accessible in a gated form at some point in the future. Cheers, Hoshi

I thought this was an exceptionally rare early koshirae and fittings that the NMB might like to see. Posted by Keisuke san of the katana_case_shi shop. The blade is a Heian period Ko-Naminohira tachi. https://www.instagram.com/p/DWfMwIpGO3G/?img_index=1

Hello Nihonto community. This is Mauro Gimenez, a Nihonto collector from Houston, TX. I tend to fly under the radar so many of you have likely never heard of me. After several months hoping USPS would find the package that was sent by Nick Benson in Hawaii to Japan for shinsa, we are likely coming to the unfortunate conclusion that the sword (along with 3 others) have been stolen by a USPS employee who targeted the type of package. The last reported scan was mid December in the LA area and the tracking goes silent after that. We were told the package was rejected by US Customs for export and was put back in the USPS system to send back to Hawaii but that never happened. Unfortunately, they did not include an AirTag on the box like most people do, so there is no way to follow the package en route or know its current whereabouts… This is a zaimei Sanjo Chikamura with a June 2024 NBTHK Hozon certificate. It was sent to the Bensons in Hawaii for polishing and subsequent submission to shinsa but the package never made its way to Japan. Would not be surprised if it ended up at some pawn shop in the LA area, where it was likely stolen by a USPS employee. There’s only 5 known signed blades by Sanjo Chikamura, folks, so although it’s Hozon level, this was still a high-value rarity that will be irreplaceable if permanently lost… if anyone offers you this blade for sale or you happen to see it a a shop for sale or you hear a fellow Nihonto collector speak about it, please BE AWARE THIS IS A STOLEN ITEM and report it immediately to me and to the police. Any help this community can provide in tracking it down and returning it to its rightful owner (me!), would be immensely appreciated. i am including some photos of the blade for reference. Please no snarky commentary or expert opinions on the authenticity of the signature, quality of the blade and stuff. This blog is being initiated to track down a stolen item and not to open the forum for discussion about the technical merits of this specific blade. Thanks everyone for your attention. I know you would all seek the help from this awesome community were you to find yourself in a similar unfortunate situation. if anyone has any information, please don’t hesitate to reach me at +1 (713) 504-7629 or via email at maurohgimenez@gmail.com Mauro

I knoww where it comes from a picture showing the site of the "Umegane Repair" is apperenttly missing !

Yeah, that hand drawing of the Hiro stamp is pretty bad. Hard to say what they were actually seeing when they did it.

Dale, these look like political KARI birds as they are right wing and left wing.....

in my opinion, achieving a Toku Bestsu Hozon certificate, can't be a bad thing. The shinsa experts will have assessed it correctly, without any question! Therefore a close up pictute of the swords Umegane in the decription would have been disireable.