Leaderboard

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:

Here is a Yanagawa Naomasa Fuchi Kashira

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.

窮則独善其身達則兼濟天下 Something like: In times of plenty, the virtuous man strives to help others. In times of need, the virtuous man strives to help/improve himself.

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

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

A amazing work by Kusakari Kiyosada, a metal artist from Sendai renowned for finishing shakudo surfaces in a uniform stone-texture ground (ishime-ji), outlining the design with gold wire, and executing delicate linear decoration in flat gold inlay (hira-zogan). Kiyosada trained with the Omori family in Edo and went on to create a new aesthetic distinct from earlier Sendai inlay traditions, characterized by a beautifully composed, planar pictorial space. After returning to his home province, he served the Date family and trained many disciples. The last example is probably daisho

Here it is......

This thread unearthed a lot of interesting examples. There are no Goto ones so far. I only have one Shi-shi and it is by Goto Kenjo. My particular shi-shi seems to have the Zoomies.... Dog people will know what I mean.

Here is one of mine.

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

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.

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.

Mine....

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

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

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

Original photos of unidentified General officers:

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.

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

Closer views! and

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

Hi All, No offense at all taken regarding disagreements. After about 5 years of consistent use, with a tameshigiri session every month or so, cutting 20-30 mats each time, with say roughly 4-5 cuts per mat, let's say for argument's sake roughly 5,500 cuts or so, my sword looks very much like this, albeit with the scratches more concentrated in the monouchi area. Yes Jeff, tip cuts are a thing and are practiced specifically in certain styles and by certain practitioners. 'Notice how the scratches stop right at the shinogi — someone did this by hand with a goal in mind.' Tameshigiri scratches do this also though. The pressure from the force/action of cutting is all focused onto both sides of the ji through the path of the cut, hence why the scratches are most prevelent there. The shinogi ji barely touches the target in the cut, because by the time it gets there, ji has forced all the material away from the blade...also worth noting is that the shinogi ji is burnished so is much harder to scratch deeply than the ji, hence the shinogi ji typically does not get as many scratches from tameshigiri. In this case, there doesnt need to be any sandpaper involved - used tatami has in it ingrained many many little sharp bits of dust, dirt and SAND from peoples feet and daily use as a floor mat. This grit of all sorts stays inside the makiwara and scratches blades when they cut it. The scratches are identical. Just my casual opinion looking at the blade, as a tameshigiri practitioner. I have no hesitation to say thats what caused it, but there certainly could have been some non-standard targets used.

Just read a fascinating article in the Times... The current head of the Tokugawa family, Miki Yamagishi, has advised that when she dies so will the family line and the title of Duke/Dutchess Tokugawa will cease to be... She has made a decision to pass on the Dutchy and will give the Tokugawa archive to the Tokyo National Museum and so end the family line. So bring to an end to the story of the incredible family that led feudal Japan for 250 years. It is fascinating read. A book is apparently coming out shortly about it. Will be worth a read. https://www.thetimes.com/article/277d6e47-15aa-4585-bce7-c0d0ab37db98

Many thanks all. My Great Grandfather lived in Edo (Tokyo) at the Ministry of Public Works, he was Surveyor-in-Chief to the Emperor of Japan. He and his wife learned Japanese and had a great respect for the culture. Both were great friends with many influential Japanese officials but in particular Hirobumi Ito, Yoso Yamao, (both members of the Chosu 5 who spoke good English ) also Sano Tsunetami and General Saigo Tsugumi the brother of Saigo Takemori, 'The Last Samurai'. Saigo Tsugumi is in the picture above in military uniform.

More precisely, 埋忠重義 – Umetada Shigeyoshi 慶長十二年八月日 – Keicho 12th year (1607), 8th month

And maybe just a little more on the cleaning issue. Part of making a tsuba for the artist is how they patinate it - it's a bit of an art in its own right - and the patina is part of the total piece. Yet at the same time tsuba can deteriorate over time from corrosion, crud, etc. If a tsuba has serious issues, it takes a real expert to remove (or at least reduce) the problems while preserving/matching the original patina as much as possible. Do you have any pictures of the tsuba before polishing? That might help to understand the era and school of the maker, as well as help guide what restoration might look like. As Geraint says, over time a patina will come back.

雲州布部住弘光作 – Unshu Fube ju Hiromitsu saku 昭和十三年二月日 – Showa 13th year (1938), 2nd month

find the difference

Nosyudo, 濃州堂 One of the highest quality iaito manufacturers in Japan, they are based in Seki (Gifu Prefecture) and much-loved by Westerners. https://nosyudo.jp/ Their English catalog: https://nosyudo.jp/catalogs/EnglishCatalog2025.pdf

This sort of obfuscation is surprisingly common on Japanese dealer websites, more so than the English dealers who usually try to educate the buyer (eBay/auction sellers excepted, obviously). They'll put some verbiage about the most famous/sought after smith in the line that the blade belongs to, and leave it to the buyer to realize that the stated era the blade is from doesn't match said smith (or to read the attached papers and note the specified era or generation).

Welcome to NMB, @Harlekin2xs. If you like Soshu blades, I'm not sure that I'd be focused on the two you've identified. The Kaneuji is not the same as Shizu Kaneuji of Soshu den (Eirakudo's description is a bit confusing on that point) and its hamon looks very one-dimensional to me. Good quality Soshu has a three-dimensional hamon with lots of activity inside the hamon. What is your budget? Knowing that might help us point you toward blades that better fit your collecting interest. If you are new to this hobby, many advise to take your time before purchasing a sword. That's because many (myself included) have regretted our first sword purchase as we gained knowledge. Taking time to study swords, especially in person, and increasing your knowledge of swords is invaluable to making smart collecting decisions and finding what truly appeals to you. There are lots of swords out there, so you have plenty of time to find the right first purchase.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

This does not exclude you handling it - often! These things were meant to be touched and they often gain more beauty from hand contact. Probably the worst thing to do is just throw them in a drawer. One caveat being if you handle them with dirty/oily hands a wipe with a cotton cloth will stop the dreaded "fingerprint" etching. [After all it is no use having the fingerprint if the owner of it is unknown by the police! ]

The US Supreme Court decision invalidated the tariffs issued under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. These tariffs are separate from the 15% tariff the US and Japan negotiated in their trade agreement following the issuance of the IEEPA tariffs. For now, that trade agreement stands and should continue to dictate the tariff collected on nihonto imported from Japan. One open question is whether Japan will continue to honor this trade agreement since it was based in large part on avoiding the higher (and now invalidated) IEEPA tariff on Japanese imports. @eternal_newbie is right. The situation has been inconsistent ever since the IEEPA tariffs were first announced. Shipping companies have different processes to collect tariffs (or refused shipments altogether), some sellers under-declare the value of a shipment—leading to less tariff collected, and customs agents vary in enforcement—one reason why some have been importing swords via their airline luggage. I expect all of this to continue for the foreseeable future.

I have picked up some times that things are delayed, and then suddenly everything loads fine. Usually mornings my time. I have asked the hosts to check what is causing it, and if there are times we are overloading resources. I am monitoring it and hope to have an answer and solution in the next few days. There is no identified cause at this point.

Tom, you’re too generous - the guy didn’t even say “please”.

I think they are both 文政, its just that the top picture uses a variation (𭐠) So 文政ニ卯年 and 文政元寅年