Geraint

Dear Grev. As regards the second tsuba what is portrayed is a garden hut; thatched roof supported by wooden pillar and bamboo fence. Given time the shakudo will heal and it will look much better It hink. All the best.

Dear Jason. I agree that it's an unusual feature but not altogether unheard of. https://www.ricecrac...471_tsuba_jingo.html Enjoy the journey!

For any who do not know there is a little information about these here, https://www.Japanese...com/tsuba/sanmai.htm The basic quality point stands but one would not be looking for/expecting the level of quality that one might find in other tsuba when looking at san mai awase tsuba and as they are often early then a considerable degree of wear is accepted, I think. All the best.

Dear Colin. Are you teasing? That's an unusual san mai awase daisho, surely? Good to make us look carefully though. All the best.

Gentlemen. Without wishing to speak for Colin, which he is well able to do himself, it seems that the purpose of the exercise was simply to be able to spot Nagoya mono work and tell it from other examples. The uniformity of the punch marks around the nakago ana, while different from the tsuba in the OP, is a distinguishing feature, as is the brownish tinge to the base metal revealed on the nakago ana. So far, so good. Within the constraints of the post that should lead you to an obvious conclusion in the exercise that Colin set. The responses demonstrate that this was a useful exercise for some of our members. The larger point that I feel Franco is suggesting is that none of the three examples used to illustrate the point represent really great quality, either in design or craft. This takes the discussion to a different level, one which, with a certain degree of irony, Colin has consistently spoken to with his emphasis on training one's eye by viewing genuinely high quality examples on the sites of auction houses such as Bonhams. All who have contributed to this thread have been engaged on the same quest, developing a critical and informed ability to look at and assess tsuba, to learn to see what is good and what is truly great. Some have been teachers and some students but that is the best of NMB, is it not? All the best, (And learning every day!)

Dear Lex. Thank you for sharing this sword with us, it's a beauty! For what it is worth I would not choose to describe the hamon feature as anything to do with Mt Fuji, what are often called picturesque hamon such as kikusui and so forth are associated with Shinto swords. All the best.

Dear Jason. Really like your tsuba, research around Higo Jingo school. All the best.

Dear John. Research nunome zogan. All the best.

Can't say that I'm surprised Brian, and certainly didn't mean to recommend the seller, just illustrating the point. All the best.

Dear All. Just to be clear this is not a sanmai tsuba, or even by my definition a tsuba. It's a modern production and finding fancy ideas about the possible construction is futile. This is just a badly made reproduction. The marks are the result of poor alignment in the making. the surface finish has nothing to do with traditional Japanese techniques and isn't worth discussing unless you have an interest in low level engineering practice. A couple of people have already pointed this out but we seem to be stuck on this. John, if you are thinking of buying it then don't. If you want a few more then have a look here, at the time of writing two of the same design in this Ebay shop. https://www.ebay.co....429486.m3561.l170197 All the best.

Towards the bottom of the page here, https://shibuiswords.com/papers1.htm Jean. All the best.

Dear Mark. This is, to be charitable a reproduction. As you ask about this one it seems that you do not yet have your eye trained, fortunately there is a remedy to hand, have a scroll through this thread; All the best.

Shouldn't that be 'Ronin in the groaning'?

Dear Marcin. As you have 'pulled the trigger' on this one here are some thoughts. I can see why you like it, tsuba with those two shaped cut outs with carving inside are almost always attributed to Shoami and, as has been mentioned the paper is not problematic. It looks to me that someone has cleaned up what I would expect to be shakudo plugs in the ryohitsu, if that is the case then avoid handling these areas and you might find that over time they re patinate to black which would be much better. Hope it arrives soon, it's always fun waiting for and then opening such a parcel. All being well it will feel much better in hand than it looks in the photographs. Enjoy. All the best.

Dear Stefano. To answer what might be part of your question, the smith who made the kogtana, the blade, is almost always a different person to the one who made the kodzuka. Different crafts - different makers. Both kodzuka and kogatana are often swapped and or replaced, for example I have a wakizashi which came without either and I have added them since. It would be impossible to say when this was done or to get the period of the koshirae as a result, after all it is quite common to find a sword mounted with a much earlier tsuba or a late koshirae made with earlier pieces. If your question in bold is what I think then there are styles of mounting without menuki. If the silk ito looks original then you might see some slack if menuki have been lost or the remains of some adhesive if they were fixed outside the wrap. A photograph of the tsuka would help us. All the best

Dear both. Note what happens to the hamon at the ha machi............. All the best,

Dear Jake. Well lots of images I really don't want to see but none of your tanegashima. Why don't you add images directly to your post? All the best.

Dear Jacob. Welcome to NMB. Here is a little something to get you started. https://shibuiswords.com/tsuba.htm and when you are ready for more have a look here, https://japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/ All the best.

Clearly your 'shoddy' sketch was good enough to spark a memory for me. All the best.

Here is one. Perhaps the one you saw? https://nihontoart.c...uishinshi-masatsugu/ All the best.

Dear Raymond. Welcome to NMB! This one is signed 'Bishu Osafune junin' on one side and 'Yokoyama Kozuke daijo Fujiwara Sukesada' on the other. Forgive me if you know this already but many Japanese swords have spurious signatures added to them and I fear this is the case here. This is a big name and from a school who have a very distinctive style of chasing their signatures, not clear that this is one of them. Also I have never seen anyone run out of space and have to add the last kanji to the side of the rest. Add to that the shape of the nakago/tang is off as is the end of the tang/nakago jiri. So this is a genuine Japanese sword whose mounting has had a hard time but I do not think it is by the person it claims to be. Do have a look here for comparison. https://sword-auction.com/en/product/8753/as21118-脇差：横山上野大掾藤原祐定/ The fuchi, the metal collar around the end of the hilt is interesting, is that signed at all? Enjoy the research. All the best.

I suppose this really concerns UK collectors but it might impact some others. Courtesy of Schola Gladiatoria this petition has come up and I think it's worth taking a look. https://www.change.o...mTFmLB3h4c52Tuo3ITSg All the best.

Dear All. This has been and continues to be a wonderful thread. Thank you to all for sharing your treasures. I have to say that the gakumei kozuka that Ed shared is quite something and I think Jean has it right, the gold is simply a way of making something of the nakago ana but it certainly adds to the piece. All the best.

For those of us who have an interest in Namban guards here are a couple of videos from someone with a Chinese perspective on what would have been identified as Namban. https://www.youtube....v=Njri9wKhP5A&t=630s All the best.

Dear Grev. Forgive me if this is obvious and you have already used it but.....https://shibuiswords.com/tsuba.htm You'll have to scroll down a bit. And from, 'Tsuba:An Aesthetic Study', "The term Bushi tsuba means the Ito school. Though there were many other workers, and several other schools at Edo at this time. These other schools were, for the most part, branch schools that came to settle in Edo, whereas the Ito school was native to that area. They were the most powerful, and largest school in Edo, with influence over all the others who worked around them. The Ito school became so popular that schools as far away as Choshu felt compelled to adopt its style." All the best.