Geraint

And from a very basic level, thank you. I had never understood quite how these tsuba were mounted. Your description of a collar at the base of the tsuka makes so much sense.

And just to add to the mix I would be very surprised if that last tsuba were anything other than brass. Like one or two others I have succumbed to the desire to own one of these and the plate is certainly brass. It has been patinated to a subdued colour but on exposed areas this has worn off to reveal brass.

They are indeed beautiful, Jim. I assume we are looking for more than the fact that they are renderings of fan paintings?

Hi Dick. I think you are right to have concerns about the quality. Do I see a seam on the lower edged of the kashira? These look like reproduction to me from the images, the nanako isn't what it wants to be and the "inlay" looks like applied paint.. On the other hand what sort of quality would you hope to get for £200? I can't imagine that you would get much pleasure from owning these. Regards

Hi, Cryptic.

Shouldn't that be, "Rust in peace"?

Hi Adrian. Just posted a reply but it seems to have vanished into the ether. I think your sword is nice, I hate to disagree with Jean but the fuchi kashira and kodzuka to my eye suggest the rival generals at the Uji river. From the photos it seems that the fuchi kashira are better quality than the kodzuka, what do you think? I also really like the close ribbed saya, I really find that an appealing technique. I suspect that most tosogu collectors would prefer their pieces off a koshirae and in boxes or on a very good koshirae. There are finer pieces than yours but also much worse and if you enjoy the whole koshirae then good for you. Enjoy.

Hi Curtis, Everyone has covered almost everything in your original enquiry. It just remains to say that dating a sword by the material of the habaki won't work too well. Habaki are obviously made in a wide variety of materials and techniques but there are no hard and fast rules that associate them with the age of the sword. All the best.

Are we missing something? We know that Shinshinto schools made copies of o suriage Nambokucho swords. Tsuruta san suggests a Yamato school sword from the Nambokucho jidai as a first glance. Where is the problem? If the second mekugi ana was added to enhance the verisimilitude of an o suriage sword or, as Brian suggests for iai reasons we are still looking at a copy of an o suriage sword. I am reminded of some of the shinsakuto we saw in an exhibition in the UK some years ago. |Smiths striving to emulate koto works did so to the inclusion of multiple mekugi ana and o suriage nakago.

Hi Janusz Mariuszk is right about the quality of the horimono, it's not good. It is often the case that horimono were carved to hide flaws though I can't imagine a flaw that would be dealt with by this one. It is also the case that horimono were sometimes cut on shingunto and sometimes not well. Your sword seems to be earlier than showato judging by the nakago, but it may have had this added when mounted for service. I must admit that I can't make much sense of the bonji however while looking for an example I came across this one, http://yakiba.com/kat_yasatsugu.htm Not only is this much better quality but it seems as close as I can get to yours, my best guess is that it is Fudo but I am sure others will be able to pin it down. All the best

Thanks for confirming that for me Chris. Do you know why it is called Satsuma age? All the best.

Intrigued by the posts in, "What do you call this shape?", I was reminded of a sword with a similar shape to the tanto illustrated. When researching it I came across an association with Satsuma. Anyone have any more information on this? The sword in question is now a wakizashi, the kissaki has almost a bowie knife shape, done very well. At first sight I imagined that someone had done something terrible to it but the more I looked the more it seemed to be a Japanese repair at least. The sword is Koto, 400mms nagasa, 24mm motohaba and 18mm sakihaba. It has a raised shinogi. Itame hada and gunome hamon with lots of activity based in nie. Any thoughts gentlemen?

Well at least if Curran decides to go with his feeling and display the tachi in the stand with the hilt up so that the sayagaki can be read then when someone tells him that tachi are always the other way up he can reply sagely, "Only when in koshirae." Whatever you decide to do Curran enjoy the event!

Peter, If you have not seen this already......http://www.tsukamaki.net/tsuka/ Cheers

And of course you don't need knowledge, training, experience or expertise to post a video on YouTube.

Three branches, could be a reference to the trinity Brian.....?

And Mino would go with the yasurime............

Hi Alan. Go to the Search button on the top toolbar and type in, "torokusho". Should put you in the picture. Cheers

Hi Grev, If you have got Hawley start looking at the smiths name, Masahide and see what you find. Cheers

All yours, George. http://www.artswords.com/highendkozuka.htm

Not to get in the way of the discussion about those three tsuba but back to the original that Uwe posted. I have heard these described as Nagoya mono, have a look at this brief link, http://www.shibuiswords.com/nagoyamono.htm I have always associated these with the very large, almost crude nanako around the hitsu and mimi and the sue of nigurome rather than shakudo. Also I note that the blade is dismissed as gimei but perhaps it too is worthy of a little more scrutiny?

Hi Rob. For what it's worth my Sendai do has six. You will probably get much better answers if you post this enquiry in the katchu section of the board. Regards

Hi Henk Jan. Never say, "Never!", where nihonto are concerned. One of the problems with the internet is that we can only see some of what a sword has to offer us. If you take a look at Aoi Art you will see that Tsuruta san almost always provides oshigata of the blades which will let you see the way the hamon behaves at the machi, as will any of the many texts that show oshigata. A brilliant starting point would be the volumes of Art and the Sword produced by the JSS-US. If we rely on photographs or scans we are at the mercy of the polisher to some extent. Simple answer is that your observations are correct, not all hamon stop at the machi, even on blades with ubu nakago. Have fun!

Hi Curtis. If the stamp is done as part of the signature for the smith then it is called kokuin. Her's an example, http://legacyswords.com/fs_ant_daito35.htm However the size you indicate seems very small and therefore this is more likely something else, if you have Fuller and Gregory have a look at page 227 item XV.

Hi Tony. Am I reading this wrong? The kasane is 1 1/16th inches?