Ed

Kanayama

Had a Noriaki with a similar vibe.

Well when given those choices, your tsuba looks more like the clematis. The clematis in your photo looks different from the one in my yard. Not seeing the entire flower on the tsuba does make it difficult.

I would guess lotus if those are the only choices. They don't look like Clematis to me. ??

Late to the party, but here are a couple of pines.

Being more specific in regards to what you want will help. Your request is very vague. They are not that hard to find, I have many that meet your general criteria. Specifics such as any absolute requests for Katana only, or are wakizashi & tanto ok? Is Koshirae a must or is shirasaya ok? Are papers an absolute? Any absolute preferences on who issued the certificate, NBTHK, NTHK, NTHK-NPO, Kajihara, etc.?

I have a couple of additional copies if anyone else would like one.

I have both the hard bound and semi-hard bound. Contact me via my email below.

If you don't own any of these books, you should! Markus has done an outstanding job putting these together. Collectors and enthusiast today are so lucky to have so much information available in English. It hasn't been that long ago that there were only a few basic beginners books in English by Robinson, Yumoto, and Hawley. Then AFU, Harry Watson translated and published a few welcomed titles such as the Nihonto Koza 6 volumes, and the Translations of Fujishiro's. Then Nagayamas Connoisseurs Book of Japanese Sword hit the stands and was a welcome addition. Markus has made many titles available in English, both hard copies and e-versions. E-books are great once you start using them. I was a hold out, a die-hard who believed in only having real books, hard copies. And I still like the hard copies, however the ease of use with the e-books will convince the hardest of hard asses of their value. As pointed out above using the search function makes thumbing through pages much reduced. With 99% of research, I start with Markus's e-books, and while I may still follow up with hard copy references such as the many Taikans, I find the e-books invaluable.

You should probably be more specific. There were early fittings of iron and soft metal pieces as well as various schools and motifs. Knowing more about your preferences might help. Additionally, it is difficult to know exact dates of fittings manufacture. Very few that I have seen have had papers with dates or period attributions. Some fittings will be attributed to schools such as "ko-mino", "ko-kinko", but that generally indicates "pre-Edo".

https://yakiba.com/yasunori-kajiyama/

As Mark pointed out one of the main means of support for the show is booking a room and staying there. There have been rumors of this being the last SF Show. While that is not true, what is true is that if the show doesn't receive more support, like booking a room, it may come to an end. These next two years attendance/support will be monitored closely to determine the future of this long standing show.

Dale was a great guy and great friend for 30 years. We had many good times in Houston and at the sword shows. Sad to see him go.

Orlando 2024 Florida Token Kai.MOV

Both are very nice.

I agree this mei looks stamped, but it could be the lighting or something. But forget whether it is stamped or carved. More importantly there is no Yoshiharu in the Meikan which the "Yoshi" character that even remotely resembles the one on your tsuba. In fact, there is no Yoshi character of any mei in the meikan which remotely resembles that. Same with the Kao, not good. If you are thinking of buying this, don't. If you already did, sorry.

Photos might help.

Looks like a nice sword. Thanks for sharing. Ed

You mean for shinsa submission for others?

Can you show us your sword?

You will likely be fine if your budget is excluding fittings. Best of luck with your project. Ed

Like I said, depending on the style and the level of quality, your budget may be insufficient. I never said a koshirae could not be made for that if you want bare bones. But I do know that you can spend much, much more than that as well. Which is why I said depending on style and quality. Of course, I am referring to the entire finished koshirae, which includes fittings. A decent quality tsuba can cost 1-2K alone. But everyone has their own opinions on things.