Rodenbacher

To answer your second question, Promo: these are good and honest Tsuba, as Mauro said - but nothing special. Rather middle-class. In my eyes these are good Tsuba to start a collection. The first one is an interesting and dynamic composition, hard to say which school. The smallest one shows the work of a good craftsman, I like that one.

Thank you, Bruno. The "Japonisme" - book is also available in English. I will buy that! The tobacco pouch is really amazing, Tonkotsu!

Bruno/ Kurikata has mentioned a very interesting point: it is of high interest how Tosogu Artists adopted to other articles like pipes, walking sticks, cigarette boxes, and so on in the Meiji-era. We all stick very much to Tosogu but the artists worked in a complex of different arts, adopted a lot from painters, lacquer artists, Netsuke makers - it would be very interesting to know more about these relations. Can anybody recommend a good book about this topic?

Babu, it's because you literally never can be sure about a signature. Even experts can't. There are a lot of artworks out there which had the best certificates for years and one day a new technology arises which proves all the certificates as wrong. That's very common in the world of paintings etc. A lot of Rubens, Rembrandts, Caravaggio etc. have been proved as copies or fakes in the last 20 years because new technologies made it possible to prove them. And also in Tosogu. You have to judge by yourself if you want to spend 800 USD for an artwork. That means: if you want to spent 800 USD even if it is gimei. Sometimes you will. I totally would and I have done it several times. There are a lot of Tosogu which are brillant and are unsigned or gimei. Japanese craftsmen had a totally different concept of "original" then westerners had - and have today. A good copy of a masterpiece had its own worth and often was admired like the original. Signatures where and are important for westerners, they where not for the Samurai. So the salesmen would add a few signatures here and there to get a better price. That's all. It doesn't mean the artwork is not good. So please forget all that, Nikanoru is totally right when he says that you buy the artwork, not the signature or paper or certificate. And that's why everybody should decide for himself.

That's not the point, don't take it personally. I just think that it doesn't make sense to add a personal opinion in a SALES thread. Maybe you don't misuse that (I even don't know what you are posting here) but others do obviously, so it should be banned in general to avoid misuse.

Please let us come back to the main topic! I think we should ban comments on sales topics that only serve to push a sale. Ray's main concern is that there are some networks of people here on the board who try to push each other's offers with comments like "What a nice sword, I wish I had the money" or "What a big deal, anyone should grab that fast" and so on. These comments are very obviously only friendship services, they are always made by the same members - and they are really annoying. I really want them to be banned from the board. It's obvious that there are a lot of fine Swords and Tosogu are offered here which never get comments like that, because the seller has no friends who push him. In my opinion that's misleading buyers in a very serious way. Please, Brian, ban comments like that in the future! They are empty, without serious information, so we should avoid them in the future. I don't like the way how Ray is insulting people here, but I think it's necessary to speak out a truth that's obvious.

Your Fuchi Kashira show ornated roof tiles of a temple or a castle. Just search on Google for "Old Japanese roof tiles" and you will get an idea of their construction.

The thickness of the plate, the eclectic composition and the inconsistent artistic quality points to Oda school, Satsuma. They made Tsuba like that in the late Edo period. They often had some typical Namban features and the odd Hitsu-Ana on this Tsuba could be a hint to that school. The Tsuba in the photo here has a Namban Seppa-Dai, but shows no other Namban features.

I got Tsuba Nr. 8 and 12 and they are much better than in the photos. Thank you very much, Jean!

PM sent!

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Is the cute little sunflower included in the auction? ????

In most cases Tsuba where made to be fitted later. The Nakago-Ana was worked in a standard shape so it could be adapted when fitted to a blade - and a lot of Tsuba show later adaptations, have been widened by filing or chiseling or have been made smaller with sekigane, often two or three times, this has been a normal procedure. So in my opinion it is not a crime to adjust a Tsuba to a blade, the Tsuba in your picture was obviously made to be adjusted later. In the 19th century western collectors sometimes drilled holes into a Tsuba to fix them to a display or even engraved collection numbers into the seppa-dai. This is a completely different thing as adjustments like that have never been intended by Tsubako and destryoed the compostion of the inlay etc. As long as you are going with the intentions of the Tsubako you won't fail in my opinion - I know I will be stoned to death by a shitstorm of picky collectors, but it's worth that! Peter

I bought this Shibuichi Tsuba some weeks ago from a small Swordshop at Ginza, Tokyo.The owner told me that this is Oda School from Satsuma. The previous owner of the Tsuba was an expert in Satsuma Tsuba and attributed it to Oda. This is a school we do not have a lot of Information, but they worked in an eclectical and very individual style in 19th century, so the possibility is high. But who am I? Just heard it and give it to you.

Hamfish... according to Forum rules we do not discuss items in the For Sale And Trade Board. But as you started, I will try to answer. Japanese Heraldry is a really complex topic. This F/K was made long after the incident you mentioned and some crests have been used by various families over the years. Otherwise may several branches of a family (understanding themselves as an own Single family) use the same crest. I am currently in Morioka, Iwate and the former ruling Fujiwara family here used their own crest (two herons) combined with the Hosokawa crest. Sometimes they used the crest of Takeda Shingen because long ago they had been related to the Takeda. But one family members became powerful an started his own dinasty. Combination of crests could result from various reasons: marriage, adoption, making peace between two families... All I want to say is that the combination of crests is rather a normal thing in Japanese History. And by the way: it is a very nice Set and very well done.

The Design shows hats which where worn by nobles when they appeared at court.

I studied Philosophy in Heidelberg when I was young and so we both know that sometimes it is very important to just ask the right question... The Tsuba is very good and so at least our fellow board members may enjoy the pictures.

Kyle! I really appreciated your help and did not want to disdain what you said in the translation post. Just tried to gain some aditional information from the other guys. But now I see that it was maybe in vain...

Dear fellow Board members. I have recently purchased a Tsuba and asked here for translation assitance: http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/24595-shoki-and-oni-tsuba-late-edo-please-help-with-mei/which led to the translation of the Mei as Naogo Kanemasa (see detailed pictures of the Mei in the translation topic). I couldn't find any reference altough this is a well-made Shibuichi plate and a well-carved motif. So this wasn't a very bad artist, I suppose and obviously this is late Edo. Does anyone of you know this artist, school or can help me further? I find it very interseting that the trees, the clouds and all of the background are carved very sketchy and rather like a painting with hasty brush-strokes while the figure of Shoki is an extremely detailed carved one and the Oni also sculpted very exactly. Such a concept would be considered very modern in western art, while it has of course deep roots in asian pictorial art, esp. chinese. So this artist must have had a good knowledge of art history.

Bump again!

Thank you very much for your help with the mei! But otherwise you are not right: this is a solide Shibuichi-plate, it's not a Sanmai-Tsuba.

Dear fellow board members, I recently purchased this Tsuba and cannot read the Signature. Maybe some of you might be able to help me? Regards Peter

Bump!

Number 2 is sold.

No Tsuba