Henry Wilson

Hi Jean No school as far as I can tell. Only the workmanship seems to be described in detail. I think the tsuba has black lacquered but I am viewing from my phone which is making cross referencing hard. I am sure others who can help more roll be along. Extremely nice by the way

The small writing seems to describe the tosogu. The tsuba theme is described as pine 松 plum 梅 bamboo 竹 grass 草 theme. Hope this helps.

Just saw your post. Thanks Philip for the lovely bowl

Comparing the shots above with the ones below, it would seem that Kasen Goshirae are intended to encapsulate the essence of tea ceremony. Sorry about the separate pics, but the scanner is too small for that big bad boy!! Post from iPhone.

Here is the tea bowl that Philip sold me with some tea in it, along with some pics of my Ido bowl. Posted from iPhone.

Hi Philip Do you mean the three partially visible characters on the scroll? If so they might be variations on the kanji KOTOBUKI 壽. (posted from iPhone so forgive any errors)

I sincerely apologise for being the catalyst for all this trouble. My posts above were intended to contribute and I hope were not condescending or in any other way derogatory.

You are welcome.

No need to get sarcastic David. I thought I was contributing to an otherwise dead thread. I also found this on prunus which might have relevance to the Japanese cherry blossom (Prunus serrulata). Delete at will....

I was digging through my library and found these references to the symbolism of rice, 9 and 10 in Chinese art. It might be some interesting food for thought on the rationale behind why 粋 was constructed the way that it was.

Looks nice. Any more details?

Cheers. That would be great. Do you know how old it is?

Is the bowl still available? I can't work out how to use pm so can't message privately.

One of my favourites. An Ido style tea bowl made last spring.

There does not appear to be one, but send them a message and you never know.

Hi Brian It is just a plain wooden standard size box. I have reduced my collection a lot and a sword tansu takes up too much space, so I sold mine and got a box instead, just like the one below: http://www.katanatansu.jp/katanahako%E6%9C%83%E6%B4%A5%E6%A1%90%E5%88%80%E7%AE%B1/

I recently bought a box for one of my koshirae. I was very impressed with the service and would hearty recommend the following company. Everything is modern made and of great quality. http://www.katanatansu.jp/ Henry Wilson

Junichi お疲れさま。 The fold might not be there. I could be getting mixed up with another tsuba

Hi David Yes, I think it is originally a Holbrook tsuba from Grey. It has a nice chocolate brown patina and feels silky in hand.

Hi Junichi That tsuba looks familiar. Either I owned it once or I owned something very similar to it. The motif is of possibly stylised pine trees and water drops (rain or dew) and there seems to be quite a few of them floating around. I think conventional wisdom would say that it is not a "mainline Yamakichibei" (wouldn't get papers from NBTHK) but could be one of those Edo period workshop jobs. Out of curiosity is there a fold seem in the nakago ana? I am sure there are much more knowledge people lurking who will contact you possibly via PM to either confirm or contradict what I have written. Anyway I hope the information is of interest. It looks very nice and hope that the San Fran show is going well.

Maybe a jar of vinegar, a dipper and daikon? Pickles anyone?

A favourite of mine. It is Ko Tosho and the position of the sukashi to me suggests that they are in fact decorative as opposed to functional udenuki.

Ahh the Ramones! Absolutely love them! What a way to spend New Years Eve!

Hi Junichi I have seen tsuba like yours in Tokyo. The same sort of squat rugged look and the same kind of metal with an unusual motif. I imagine it is quite thick, about 4 mm maybe? It seems that the motif is of winged insects possibly. The person who I was with dated them to Muromachi period, I think based on the naive feel that they have and the fact that he says they came off old period Edo koshirae. They remind me a bit of Kanayama tsuba and Owari sukashi for some reason. The nakago ana shape reminds of one from my collection. Bear in mind there is shadow in the nakagoana. It is papered as Ko Shoami. I hope this is of interest.

Hi David I think your analyses makes perfect sense. As you point out, the 金 radical has been highly stylized in the two kaniji you refer to making it hard to decipher. I have asked my wife (who is Japanese) and she agrees it is probably 銘 as opposed to 後.