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Inspired by this, I gave it some thought, and decided to try a simple acrylic ring display. I have been really struggling to find a good way to display fuchi kashira, and I don’t have the skills to craft a wooden stand, so I bought these on Amazon. It seems to have worked out quite well, I think. Anyone else have any cunning plans for this sort of thing?

The post that I linked to contains some more information, but there was a smith named Yanagawa Shōshin (or Seishin, both pronunciations are possible, and I haven't dug deep enough to figure out which one is correct, or if there is a consensus). There was speculation that the smith later added 右 to his name, thus the new name became 右正心 (Ushōshin, or Useishin). There have been a few swords with this signature on them posted to NMB. Not a great deal of info on this smith, so its all a bit murky.

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.

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

Yesterday I scored another vintage Japanese magazine about swords. Basically, I know it's from Showa 8 and I recognised one of the photographs as being from the Yasukuni Shrine but, that aside, I have very little idea what it's actually about (apart from swords). I'm including the seller's photos because I've discovered that I am absolutely awful at taking my own (of blades, books - basically anything). 🥴 Best, Hector

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

This tsuba came with a koshirae for a recent nihonto arrival. Iron base and it has some nice relief carvings on it of a chrysanthemum and leaves. For the gilding, it looks like some of the flowers might be copper or some other alloy? Maybe a later fix, oxidation, or some other phenomenon? Any thoughts on school, or period would be appreciated as I'm a complete novice with tosogu. I can get more pictures or measurements if needed as well. Thanks!

Those "flowers" are pines. Not sure about, but the base metal for the ornaments is copper which was gilded and the gold wears off.

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

Looks typical of amateur sharpening or cutting of abrasive items.

Hi Jeff, They may be caused by a bent blade having been straightened and are called shinae. https://www.japaneseswordindex.com/kizu.htm

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.

日本刀劍の研究 Nihon Token No Kenkyu Literally Research into Japanese Swords

This one is an amazing piece Viktor. Jiryuken Terumitsu appears to have been a student of both Yokoya and Omori schools... Both Ichinomiya and Yokoya emerge as "new schools" from the Goto tradition in the West and East respectively and used similar techniques so it can sometimes be hard to distinguish them... I think Yokoya school is also a distinct possibility.

Hi, I added a toggle in profile that lets you enable view on listings less than 100K. Go to profile -> activate toggle. https://nihontowatch.com/profile You'll see absolutely everything. Enjoy. Best, Hoshi

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.

Nice unusual tsuba.

Hi All, Attended a local military show this weekend and spotted this little beauty. I thought it was a clever way to display a fuchi & Kashira. It would seem a lot of time and effort has gone into this, made out of a hardwood. What do you think? All the best

Nice, but labour intensive! An awful lot of work to display one set, Mark, I agree. (I’ve just been making some ‘simple’ stands for maedate.) The acrylic one looks like a good first step, …

Those scratches look like they came from sandpaper or a tool of some kind. Like an amateur tried to repair or remove the results of some misadventures. I respectfully disagree with Alex. Scratches from tatami on wara are generally more subtle than this, so I don’t believe that’s what this is. They’re also a bit too close to the end of the blade in this case to reflect consistent use for tameshigiri. There’d be no need to do anything in the kissaki if the blade was used for actual tameshigiri practice.

Gentlemen, Thank you for your help on this one, I appreciate it!

Thank you both

Hi Tosogu enthusiasts, Over the holidays I acquired a number of new fuchigashira that appear to have come from a single collection. The acquisitions include 4 pieces in total, two signed Hamano Naoyuki and two signed (Ichinomiya) Tsunenao. The two Tsunenao pieces still have their original auction tags from a Sotheby's collection dated November 15th 2000. The other two pieces are missing their tags, but all 4 appear to have been from the same collector/owner. (This does not mean they are from the same Sotheby's collection necessarily...) These pieces are pretty high quality with some interesting motifs and I'm hopeful the mei might be authentic. If not however it's no big deal as the quality was well worth the price I paid for these. Photos taken with my less-than-spectacular phone camera and size compressed but I tried my best... Do let me know what you all think! I'll start with the Hamano pieces:

Hi, from my experience these look exactly like the results of tameshigiri, specifically cutting tatami. A single cut usually only leaves a few minor scratches, so unless the targets were particularly sandy I would guess this sword has seen a few cutting sessions.

A "steal" band would not help, even not a steel band. As I wrote above, it is called KUCHI GANE (not fuchi gane), and it is made of brass.

The Tachibana Museum have done a fantastic job of putting together a small online exhibition of some of the museum's important blades entitled: Japanese Swords in the Collection of the Tachibana Family I rather enjoyed it as they explain via audio some of their special swords. They even have an interesting "signed" Sadamune. They also have another online exhibition entitled:Higo Tsuba Sword Guard again with fantastically large images. It appears they have also gone and put most of the museum's other artefacts online, this includes 56 sword related items, including Koshirae, Tsuba, Tōsōgu, and blades by; Yoshimitsu, Sadamune, Kanemitsu, Nagamitsu Ken, Kunitsugu the Raikiririmaru and one of my favourites was their Gō Yoshihiro that I certainly have not seen before as it appears to not be papered but it does look a lovely example - I am dubbing it the Tachibana-Gō. They also have lovely examples of old Tachibana Family Armour in this exhibition, entitled Treasure of Daimyo Tachibana. One of the big advantages of uploading these images here via Google Arts and Culture is the ability to click on the images and zoom in an out which is a darn side better than most photos available elsewhere online. I certainly hope other museum's follow suit - this is was a real treat!

I do not know much about it, but I think that there is a misunderstanding. Miki Yamagishi (山岸美喜) is a descendant of Tokugawa Yoshinobu family, which is one of many branch families of Tokugawa. Ref. Tokugawa Yoshinobu family - Wikipedia The Head Family of the Tokugawa Clan will continue. Ref. 徳川宗家 - Wikipedia The current head of the family is Iehiro Tokugawa (徳川家廣). Ref. Iehiro Tokugawa - Wikipedia

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

Although I have spent much more time in Western Japan where they still carry the bitter legacy of Sekigahara, recently I began to warm to the Tokugawa, particularly after watching NHK’s Taiga Drama, “Dō Suru, Ieyasu?” Somehow it feels strange to hear the line is ending. I had heard there was a very strong family support group or society in Mito. There must have been some strong impulse behind this. I have also heard of other clans’ residual members still in existence here and there, e.g. Date, Tanegashima, Hosokawa immediately spring to mind.

Many Japanese will choose to read some names ‘wrongly’ however, in order to immediately bring up a certain unusual character in another person’s mind. Thus, if you say ‘ Shige-‘ something, the other person may immediately ask ‘Which Shige-?’ You might answer ‘Shizuka no Shige’. To shorten the Q&A back and forth it often helps in conversation.

I can understand where this confusion is coming from. It is based on the character No.4903 in Nelson's dictionary. It is translated as CHIN or shizu(maru); also used as "shizu" in given names. Doesn't mean much when it comes to given/artist names hundreds of years ago. reinhard

The reading Shigetomo is used by the 日本刀銘鑑; they do not offer 'Shizu' there for these Takada/Iga smiths.

Sorry Ray, but it is "Shigetomo" not "Shizutomo". A line of smiths with this name and title was working in Iga province during 17th and early 18th century. upper picture: The paper was handed out by the NTHK and is stating the blade is "shoshin" (genuine) and is "o-suriage mumei" (fully shortened without a signature). They attribute the blade to the school (den) of Hizen-no-Kami Shigetomo. The paper was handed out in year 14 of Heisei era (2002 in Christian calendar). lower picture: The blade is described as o-suriage mumei. Followed by specifications of hada, hamon, boshi etc. It is said to be made in Iga province during Kan-ei era (1624-1643). For whatever this "expertise" is worth. reinhard

Dear Jake. I happen to have the catalogue for that sale and can confirm that lot 669 was described thus: 'Three Fuchi - Kashira Edo period (19th century) all with iroe takazogan, the First (sic) of shakudo nanako, with sages among pine trees, signed Soheishi Niudo Soten sei, the Second is possibly associated, of shibuichi, the fuchi with Taikobo fishing, the kashira with Shoki (?) riding on his hat over water, signed Tsunenao with kao, the Third is associated, the fuchi of shibuichi, the kashira of shakudo nanako with the race over the Uji river.' The lot sold for £1,200. Lot 675. THree shibuichi fuchi kashira Edo period (19th century) the First bearing an ishime ground and inladi in gold, silver and shakudo takazogan with large peonies and foliage, signed Omori Teruhide, the Second carved and inlaid on the fuchi with a sarumawashi and on the kashira with a boy dancer, signed Tsunenao with kao, the Third bearing a basketwork ground and inlaid with a mass of flowers and foliage in iroe takazogan (3) This lot also sold for £1,200 As was common practice only one of each lot was illustrated, for lot 669 it was the Soten example and for lot 675 it was the peonies. They were part of the sale which was described as, ' The following twenty one lots were collected by a German professor of language in Japan between 1895 = 1920.' Hope that helps a little. All the best.

Hello, It must be an Awa Shoami tsuba from the Edo period

Hello, Jake! Congratulations on adding to the collection! The third set is definitely the best in terms of quality. Moreover, this theme is quite common, found in different artists. Here is an example(not my) of Nagatsune, I'm not sure if it's gimei or not, but the quality is decent: Hamano set, I think it's gimei. The quality and technique of carving are characteristic of this school, but far from perfect. I have a mumei set F/K Hamano school with the theme "The Three Kingdoms", the quality is similar, the technique and carving of the face and other parts are also similar.

Dear All. To clarify and not to contradict. Shinae are fine cracks in the blades surface, often appearing together. However mukade shinae, or giant centipede shinae, are indeed cause by straightening a bent blade, they appear generally at right angles or thereabouts, to the blade edge and sometimes resemble crackled ice. Rather like a fukure burnishing will not remove these, they are miniature delaminations. According to this link, http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/flaws.html they can sometimes be removed by polishing. You will have to scroll down a little to find this specific fault. As is so often the case applying logic to the terminology used is a waste of effort, just because shinae refers to actual cracks in one case it seems that it does not neccesarily mean cracks in the other. I cannott see well enough in the pictures of the original blade to be sure but I do suspect that they illustrate mukade shinae. All the best.

Anthony, OK…..your kozuka is a “shiremono” which is the term used (in the context of Kozuka) to describe a mass produced cheaply made item designed to look like far a more expensive mixed metal inlaid piece. Basically the whole top plate is pressed from a thin piece of copper alloy to create the high relief effect and then multi-patinated and gold plated (as opposed to true mixed metal inlay) to look like shakudo, silver etc. This is then joined to a solid base plate and finished to look like a normal kozuka. Often a thicker than normal base plate is used to create the impression of “weight in the hand”. Some even get signed but that is usually an attempt to mislead. The one you have is a well known variant and I even saw one at last weeks Arms Fair. Sometimes two pressed plates with the same subject matter are joined together and used as cutlery handles and put into sets for export to the west. However sometimes real kozuka, often of considerable quality and value got used in cutlery sets and they are can be very exciting. It is important to be able to tell the difference because….about 30 years ago at a big antiques fair I came across a set of 24 cased knives and forks with silver blades ….all were superb quality genuine kozuka. I asked “how much” he shouted to his partner “how much do you want for those Chinese knives and forks” …the answer was £65. The antique gods smiled on me that day. If you decide to stick with this interest being able to discern quality is vital…..the same applies to tsuba and all other fittings. I apologise if I disappoint you, but these things fool a great many people. Happy hunting. PS….why not come to the Birmingham Arms Fair in June, happy to show you some better pieces (you don’t have to buy anything!!🙂)

Can't say with 100% certainty but this one gives me an Ichinomiya vibe and strongly reminds me of a recent fuchigashira acquisition of mine... No idea about the theme though

Now the Tsunenao pieces with their original Sotheby's tags...

Posting the 4 pieces in 4 separate comments just for space...

A KUCHI GANE.

At the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno Park. 4/14-6/7 https://tsumugu.yomiuri.co.jp/kagamaedake2026/

A LOT

As some of you know, I spend a lot of of my retirement time In Japan looking at the auction sites like Yahoo. Everyone, except the most woefully uninformed, knows that a decent level maker without current papers will be sporting a fake signature. However, I'm starting to see a pattern where it looks like nakago are often being reworked before the blades are put on the market. The first example below clearly shows overworked yasurime but you can still see traces of the original signature under the new Kanji. On the second, the signature goes into the fuller in a way that I've never seen before. Best, Hector

Brilliant detective work as always Moriyama san

Now the auction just ended, and the tanto was sold for 180,000 JPY. The problem of the blade is much worse than gimei. Its registration paper is a forgery. That means that the blade is not registered and the blade itself is illegal. I guess that the blade was illegally made in Japan or illegally imported to Japan. The mei on its omote-side is 伯州住延秀 – Hakushu ju Nobuhide. I can read the erased signature under the date on its ura-side. The old signature is also 伯州住延秀 (Hakushu ju Nobuhide). Again I guess that the faker originally intended to make an illegal blade with the mei of 伯州住延秀 (Hakushu ju Nobuhide), but he made a mistake and chiseled the mei on its ura-side at first, and then redone the nakago.

Another common one is putting blades into shirasaya with legit sayagaki (using a file rasp to ensure the sayagaki fits the new occupant). Regarding mukansa blades - Ono Yoshimitsu swords can easily sell for the price of a Juyo, and there's no shortage of cheap-ish gendaito and shinsakuto with Bizen-style hamon that one could pass off as his work to the unwary.

I didn't realise mukansa were also being targeted but I suppose it makes sense if someone with a chisel is trying to make a quick buck. 😳 On my Yahoo travels today, I also came across a Kiyomaru and a Chikuzen no Sa. Must be my lucky day! 😬

Yes, it's become increasingly prevalent, and not just for historical smiths. I've seen a few gimei of Ningen Kokuho and Mukansa smiths as well. This sort of thing is a big factor behind the push to make the NBSK the shinsakuto equivalent of NBTHK certification, especially with some Chinese forges now at a point where they're able to produce stuff more or less on par with entry-level Japanese shinsakuto.