Ford Hallam

Oh and as for references about 8 pieces that I made were bought by and are displayed in the Seishu Netsuke museum in Kyoto, just though I'd mention that

The acid test will be to post it on the International Netsuke society forum pages. See what they say? Opinions as to what constitutes a real netsuke are pretty harsh...

Perhaps you should have a look for a photograph that shows how netsuke are actually worn.

I think it's a brilliant description Satire at its best. I'd like to think I'd do the same if I had a s**t job having to describe dross like this

I'm afraid I'd have to agree with Mark on the mei, it's very thin and sharply cut, as well as being poorly 'written'. Very obviously an ambitious very recent addition. The blade itself has seen better days but is a decent shape and hasn't, despite lots of polishes in its life the proportions are still fairly clear. It's probably an arsenal blade issued to a few generations of lower ranking warriors and seen a lot of 'carry service'. It's what we'd call, 'very tired', or somewhat over-polished, to the point where we can see very coarse shin-gane showing through the outer, more refined skin. The hamon looks to be intact, and although the yokote has been lost the curve of the kissaki reassures me it's not been reshaped so the boshi is likely also still ok. BUT, and it's a huge BUT, I doubt that it'd be worth it at all financially to spend any more money on the blade, a window perhaps just to satisfy curiosity but there's little to recover to be brutally honest with you. The wrap in new though, and passable Fuchi/kashira hurt my eyes. Tsuba pretty low on the quality ladder too, and seen better days, sorry.

Well apart from the ugly carving technique the himotoshi bother me. This piece will evidently hang upside down on the obi I'd call that a netsuke fail.

Like Ray I've seen many examples of the more usual nakago in a circle arrangement over the years, but this squarish form is really an excellent interpretation of the concept. I particularly appreciate the irregularly shape nakago ana, elegant and subtle touch. The big problem with nakago tsuba, of course, it that I cant see the point , I'll get my coat.

Actually, Yves no matter how you define it the whole world today is absolutely not fake. You insult a huge swathe of hard working people who have sacrificed money and security in the pursuit of their craft and art. Their integrity and their pursuit of real meaning in their work often being all that sustains them. And here I include crafts-people, artists, musicians, poets, writers, dancers.......chefs, film makers.....where to end, the world is brimming with the awesome energy of individual people's truth. If all you perceive is fake perhaps the problem lies closer to home. If a person is completely ignorant of a subject, and is in some cases further handicapped by a false sense of expertise or 'experience' , and they then learn latterly that they've been taken advantage of in buying worthless rubbish, the fault lies with them. As the old saying goes, "a fool and his money are soon parted." There have always been fakes. If you're looking for bargains on-line, before buying books and at least trying to gain a little education then, you'll be soon parted from your money.

Like Jean I was immediately thrown off by the shishi. It seems likely a later addition to jazz the piece up a bit and thereby make the reverse the front. The bush clover, hare and mist composition, especially the form the hare takes, gives me a feeling of Ogata Kōrin's (1658 – 1716) work. I don't mean that this is a copy of his work or something like that merely that his aesthetic seems to be informing the tsuba's design. For that reason I'd say early Edo (17th century) with a later shishi addition.

Thanks for the recommendation Jean but I'm I'm afraid I'm no longer available to do any commission work for anyone anymore. Besides, even if I was able to accept commission work I'd be faaaar too expensive for the Japanese tosogu collector market , the sad reality of economics vs the investment required to attain the ability to do the basic work. It looks like a simple enough piece but I'd be very impressed indeed to see a passable copy made by hand in iron today.

I have to say that I feel very conflicted now. I saw this thread last night before bed and went to sleep worried I'd opened Pandora's box. I tentatively offered to help/guide in the restoration of the previous kata-kiri piece after some careful thought on the matter. But now, before the next step has even been considered on that piece here's another completely different beastie that requires a completely different approach to restore. To write out and guide just the next relatively simple step in recovering the katakiri piece will probably take an hour or so of my time but to be blunt I'm not going to be spending time on what is starting to look like an over enthusiastic jolly/folly. I foolishly thought I could guide the recovery of the katakiri tsuba given that it had already been irreversibly 'cleaned' but i fear now that I may have created the illusion that restoration is straightforward and predictable. I must echo Colin's sentiment and say that inexperienced hands and eyes should leave these things well alone.

Pity, one of my favourite expressive mei, Seiryuken Eiju, but this is merely a poor cast copy. Google the name to see some much finer examples.

Thanks for putting this pdf Luca. It looks to be a good breakdown of the various style of woven guards. Their construction has intrigued me for many years and I hope to do a tutorial project of them sometime. I'll reference your paper If I may.

Nice to see our project tutorial being put to good use. And timely give the recent discussion about yasuri-me and amida-yasuri etc. If you're interested to see just how these particular 'yasuri-me' were created this episode of the series reveals all.

The typical method employed to apply a veneer of any reasonable thickness, like this, on a copper core would be to simply solder a frame/ring to the mimi and then similarly sweat solder the facing plates on. Sometimes we can see clear evidence of rivets too, usually on the seppa-dai area. There may in fact be at least one such rivet visible on the example under discussion ( upper left ura ). Edo period work was usually assembled with a simple silver solder made by adding different percentages of brass to silver, just as was the case in Europe et al. We sometime see evidence of the use of tin based solders but these tend either to be quite late or repairs. the use of lead solders has to be avoided if patination is planned. Source: repairing a few dozen such pieces over the past 25 years.

Oops, there we have it, the veritable Pandora's box of questions surrounding patination The reason I haven't made my 1 hour rokusho patination tutorial publicly available is precisely because non of this is a simple matter of just following steps, and all the more so when dealing with old metal that has suffered unknown conditions. The art of refinishing and recolouring older pieces lies in being able to anticipate typical or common issues and adjusting your approach and method to best deliver an age appropriate finish. In impatient or insensitive hands I shudder to think of the damage that might be unleashed by the well meaning but over confidant DIY squad . The various additions that can be added to the basic or standard solutions are in fact added for very specific reasons, it's really not just a matter of popping in a bit of whatever is to hand. The additional tweaks perform specific actions as and when required. As to construction of the tsuba, if you doubt my eyes ( poor mortals ) perhaps just wait until its properly brought back to life and all will be clear. Vitaly, if you send me your postal address via PM I'll send you a couple of suitable pieces of stone to complete the next step. I won't post a DIY patination tutorial publicly but if you join Patreon you can watch the film and I and few of the other active makers there can guide you to the Promised Land. Btw, Jim Kelso spent a week in my studio in Chippenham over 25 years ago, I shared with him at that time my processes as I'd leaned them in Japan. Much of my approach to working on antique material is quite different today.

Hi Bazza I wouldn't have said gimei as such, more likely Ato-mei (the mei added much later ). And yes, Mototada's mei do tend to look a little 'stiff' and clunky the ends of his strokes never the less still exhibit an understanding of the correct brushwork stroke. I dont get a sense of that in this example, it feel a bit too contrived to me. But that's just my opinion. As regards the sandwich construction, shakudo was a pricy material, but labour to perform basic workshop tasks on the other hand was not. Would a celebrated artist be using veneered material to save costs?

Hi Vitaly Given the poor condition of the piece when you received it you've not stepped wrong, yet My first observation, and surprise bonus for you, is that while the core of your tsuba is copper the outer faces are in fact shakudo. The trace of black patina before cleaning is a good clue but if you examine the inside of the kozuka hitsu in the first image the sandwich construction is clear. Judging from the present surface colour and condition I'm assuming you used a mild pickle of tarnish removing solution to clean off the old discolouration. This surface will not repatinate as it is, either naturally or in a traditional patination solution. This is because there is now a fine deposit of dissolved copper oxides bound to the crystal structure of the shakudo. But as the surface is somewhat pitted and scratched a light re-polish would really be called for and would resolve those issues and allow for the original patina appearance to be re-developed. If you do proceed don't use any synthetic abrasives as the finish will be too bright and wont allow for the patina to grow properly. I'd suggest a fine black nagura stone or, if you can find one, water of ayr stone, followed by magnolia charcoal. To finish up in this case I'd use a very fine pumice powder and water paste gently used with a soft or worn toothbrush. The next step would be actual patination but that's a whole other cooking class if you really want to get it spot on. Btw, don't be tempted to use emery paper of the like as that will only soften the edges of the kata-kiri and completely kill the whole effect. I wouldn't pay too much attention to the mei, whoever cut it could barely use the chisel . Having said that the tsuba was decently constructed and the kata-kiri, while not exactly a masterpiece, is a fair enough example of late work.

I'm flattered and gratified to read that the content of the films we put out are so well grasped, thank you. Just a quick point of terms used in the tsuba collecting world for techniques and effects....for the most part they have been invented by collectors and not the makers themselves. So I'd be cautious in always trusting the imagination of an expert who may never even seen a tsuba being made. I'm still not convinced that the melted cheese /yakite finish on iron guards was really created by melting the surface, as though iron looks that calm and gentle as it approaches 1500 degrees C And I'm almost certain that the application of chidori-ishime-ji involves no small shore birds . Sorry, losing it now, I blame the meds A linear pattern/texture can be called Yasuri (file) for convenience and by convention but could have been created by means of a file, a riffler( a bent file ) a scraper/kisage, a chisel or even a tracing punch.

To be honest it never occurred to me that Hokusai copied the tsuba The tsuba's own form suggest a very late manufacture in itself. The shape and exact position of the kozuka hitsu makes me feel whoever cut that opening never fitted a tsuba into a koshirae and had to align a hitsu with the saya etc. The nakago-ana seems a bit contrived and just a bit over the top with frippery, eye candy! No sign of use at all, but very pretty, if you like that sort of thing. The position of the actual design also is off to my eyes, it seems top heavy or unbalanced. I think that classically speaking the body of the figure ought to be positioned much lower and the little figures more sympathetically arranged around the top edge and flowing onto the back. It's as though someone forced Hokusai's design onto a tsuba shaped disc but without fully understanding the subtleties of a few hundred years of craft rules and design sensibilities. Another consideration for me would be the usual source material that Furukawa Genchin seems to have used in his kata-kiri work. While his actual cutting style is quite distinctive from that of his master he would without doubt be well versed in the paintings of Hanabusa Itcho and the like, who's brush work far better suits the bold expressiveness I'd expect of Genchin's chiselling. I'd have to agree with Colin and say that my take on the tsuba is that it's probably a Meiji, or later, piece intended to appeal with its charming illustration. The mei would possibly have been meaningless to the envisioned tourist but as period guidebooks advised "...better works are invariably signed" , so signed they shall be

Brilliant call Mr Big Hokusai 1760 - 1849 Furukawa Genchin active 1716 - 1736 but the clues were already clear.

I hesitate to get involved but I do have a little bit of museum based experience in this area... Firstly it's really important to remember that a big part of silk's strength and beauty lies in the oils inherent in the structure of the fibres. Therefore solvents should ideally be avoided as they tend to strip off these important oils. Once lost the fibre becomes brittle and very friable. The safest way to clean off localised stains and soil would be to use very lightly dampened cotton buds, in a gentle rolling motion over the fabric/tape etc. No rubbing at all on old fabric as the risk of breaking fine threads is too high. I'd suggest just luke warm water initially because the vegetable dye on old silk may no longer be fixed and may be too quickly removed. As you roll the clean white bud you can periodically check to see what's coming off, dirt and grime or silk dye colour Personally I'd never try to do it all in one go but rather aim at a number of very gentle passes, and perhaps just one small test area first, and allow everything to dry in between treatments to better see what progress/effect has been achieved.

This is Toshinaga's tsuba, with the gold mei. The one below is an unsigned utsushi, I think by one of the early 20th cent professors at Geidai Art School in Tokyo, Shimizu Nanzan (1875 - 1948). He was himself a student of Kano natsuo at the Geidai. Both Hagia Katsuhira and Unno Shomin produced remarkable utsushi of the piece too. It remains an aim of my own.

For what it's worth... To my eyes the work is of middling quality. Nothing particularly 'artistic' or individual in the way the figures are carved and rendered. Standard commercial workshop output, I would suggest. A single Kao and no mei on an average piece is rarely convincing I feel. I'd suggest it was added later to reassure a foreign souvenir collector perhaps. As to the theme, the warrior is Ōmori Hikohichi, a 14th cent legendary character, who offered to give a young woman a lift over a stream. He sees 'her' real reflection in the water, as that of a demon. Depending on the tale version, she either runs away or he cuts her arm off. In one version as a theatre play she isn't a demon at all but is merely wearing a mask and has mistaken the warrior as her father's killer and she is after revenge. The subject was evidently very popular on tosogu after Nara Toshinaga I (1667-1736) made his version, it's now a National Treasure. Okakua Kakuzo (The Book of Tea and student of Kano Natsuo) described Toshinaga's tsuba as probably the most famous tsuba in Japan.

As Grey points out Yasuchika is a BIG name so the usual caveats apply. Having said that they're pretty tidy work and in fact there do exist a couple, at least, that I am aware of, of solid flat backed menuki bearing his name and papered highly. There were two pairs in fact in the old Tosogu museum, illustrated in the catalogue.