Geraint

Hi Ford, Great to hear from you. Can't believe that Kyle is 19 though Miriam is a Mum herself now. Anyway, back to tsuba... Thanks for your wisdom, if it is a Bakumatsu piece that would account for me not having come across it's like all these years and would also fit well with the rest of the koshirae which would seem to date from the blade's production date; 1864 according to the papers. You might even remember the sword, strong koshzsori and o kissaki with a waisted tsuka. Yes, I still look longingly at the Tomotsune tsuba from time to time, fancy you remembering that. Always thrilled to see your work, you remind me of a poem which I will try to track down for you. All the best.

Thanks for the thoughts so far, the reverse is very similar to the front and yes, some of the inlay is missing though the losses do not seem to be recent.

And before anyone says it, I am sorry, I unticked the signature box. Geraint

Gentlemen, I would appreciate your thoughts on this tsuba. It is part of the koshirae on a late shinshinto katana and although whoever made the koshirae went to some pains to integrate the tsuba by plugging the kogai hitsu with nekke gake gold to match the foiled habaki in other respects it seems to be an earlier piece. I have owned the sword for years but have yet to come across a similar tsuba. The plate is iron, 3mms thick at the seppa dai, 4mms where the lobes of the tsuba have been formed, two sukashi mon, one with a detail inlaid in a similar fashion to the rest of the tsuba in what appears to be silver. The decoration is a series of curved sloping lines and some dots with scattered circles. Some of the inlay is now missing. Size overall is 77mms wide by 81 mms tall. Mounted as it is as a katana tsuba I can make little sense of the decoration, however in one image I have inverted it and I am wondering if this is a representation of falling rain on what was originally a tachi tsuba. I am way out of my depth here, anyone care to add their thoughts?

Dear Joe, Why not have a go at oshigata yourself? The necessary Japanese materials are available or failing that you can do what I have attempted which is to use very basic western materials. Some of the results|I have found pleasing enough to want to frame and there is no better way of studying a sword. The close scrutiny required to make anything like a fair attempt is much more detailed than most of us do when viewing blades normally. Give it a go!

And the lower tachi hanger is on the wrong way around. If I was going down this route I would be tempted by the Phoenix head tachi koshirae on Aoi Art for considerably less, no blade admittedly. http://www.aoi-art.com/fittings/koshirae/05129.html

So we are back to the thread about unpolished swords without papers. One can't help feeling that there might be something interesting in all that "junk". I'll go halves with you on the posatage Ian.

Hi All, Another newish member, it has taken me a while to get around to this introduction. I have been collecting/studying for a while and have enjoyed good times with one or two of the board members over the years. I collect mainly swords though I find it hard to resist the urge to rescue almost anything Japanese that I come across, hence the clutter in my sword room. I will try to post a couple of pictures on the relevant thread. Geraint