hxv

The winner of the auction is a newcomer with a deep pocket. He has been outbidding everyone on lots of tsuba that are nothing special, some with obvious forging flaws indicated in pictures as well as in the description To each his own, I guess. Hoanh

I am slowly learning about Owari and Kanayama tsuba. There are a couple of questions I have and would appreciate guidance on. 1. From pictures that I see on the internet and on dealers' websites, and from writing and pictures from Sasano's Early Japanese Sword Guards, there seems to be very little tangible difference between early Owari and early Kanayama tsuba in terms of size, tekkotsu, mimi, dished seppa dai, iron color and texture, open iron work, etc. It is said that Kanayama tsuba are abstract with difficult-to-interpret designs. Some so-called Owari tsuba (by NBTHK papers) have this same trait, too. It's also said (per Sasano) that Kanayama tsuba have "slightly more oblong seppa dai." I have a hard time understanding how one can say A is Owari and B is Kanayama when a lot of the times, it can go either way. The difference seems to be open to personal interpretation. Can someone please help me understand? 2. In Sasano's "Early Japanese Sword Guards," he was adamant that iron tsuba should not be handled with bare hands. On the other hand, it seems to be the consensus of this board that it is safe to handle iron tsuba by hand. How do I reconcile the difference? Regards, Hoanh

George, Let's just say the "prominent" collector was sufficiently lucky not to lose anything between his legs Hoanh

Alex, It's not very likely that you bent the tip of the kissaki while sheathing the sword (without any mishap). It was probably always there, unnoticed until now. Regards, Hoanh

Bill, When I ship swords to Australia via USPS, I declare them as "antique, original Japanese artwork." Your description is equally accurate. There should not be any problem. Regards, Hoanh

Mark, It's kanji alright - grass script. I only recognize the last character as saku. Can't read the rest of it. Sorry I can't be much help. Regards, Hoanh

Greger, Since you asked, I would say for me, the ensemble is not worth nearly $2500 - may be half that amount compared to similar ebay items. I would not recommend buying it, though, since there is no upside potential and nothing to learn from the sword. BTW, the tsuka is poorly (and incorrectly) wrapped. My 2-cents! Regards, Hoanh

The hamon runs awfully close to the edge at places. Is this a cause for concern? Regards, Hoanh

I suspect/hope you didn't pay too much for it. Consider it an inexpensive mistake. Spend time perusing this site and you won't make the same mistake again. Hope you will stick around and develop yourself as a collector. Regards, Hoanh

Mariusz, Your statement reminds me of what a Russian colleague of mine told me long ago: "The government pretends to pay us, and we pretend to work." Hoanh

David, You did better than 90% of us when we started out. Hoanh

Jean, I see. Capitalization and punctuation make life so ... difficult. Hoanh

Brianv, Please sign your name at the end of each post. That's a rule here. I can't see much from the pictures, but it looks like a Chinese imitation at first glance. Regards, Hoanh

Hi Bob, My gut instinct was right that it must be one of us here . Congratulations on a fine purchase! I'm happy the sword found a new custodian in one of the members. Won't you let us know how the result of shinsa when it becomes available? If you are so inclined, please post the result here or drop me a private email. About the sword not going my way, that's quite alright. There will always be another worthwhile sword. I'll drop you an email later today to catch up. Regards, Hoanh

Thank you Jacques. No wonder they look different from the rest. Regards, Hoanh

No worries, Brian! Anyhow, even though I didn't win the auction, I am happy. I just realized that I have made progress with my nihonto study in the past year and collected enough resources in my library to discuss shoshin & gimei intelligently. Hahaha... who says an old dog can't learn new tricks? (not that I'm old compared to most of you guys ). Hoanh

Brian, Actually, that was my mei comparison. I made that one up to study and ponder when I was contemplating whether or not to bid on the wakizashi. In the end, I decided it was shoshin but was too cheap with my bid. Oh well...Cheap is my middle name! Regards, Hoanh

Jacques, Yes, I see your marked up area that shows variation from the other mei. I don't understand why this variation is crucial, though, as there are enough variations in these particular strokes among the other mei as well. Will you please elaborate so I can understand more clearly? Regards, Hoanh

Jacques, The only thing that nagged me a little (and only a little) is the top kanji. Some of the strokes are a little different from the rest of the verified examples, specifically the top horizontal stroke. But, it is well chiseled, deep and confident, and there are enough variations even between the verified examples that my opinion is that it is shoshin. If one of the NMB members is the lucky winner of the auction, won't he/she be so kind as to let us know the result of shinsa when it is available? From the way the auction went, the other two guys knew exactly what they were doing. I have the feeling there is a good chance they are members here. Regards, Hoanh

Jacques, Nidai. Regards, Hoanh

I'm pretty certain it's genuine. I spent a couple of days looking at the mei and did a careful comparison with what I have in Fujishiro, Nihonto Zuikan, and papered swords on various websites. I placed a price tag on it and came out as the under bidder. I'm not heart broken, though. As Chris says, it still needs a polish & new shirasaya & shinsa. For your enjoyment, here is the mei comparison. The nakago shape, nakago jiri, and yasurime are all consistent with examples I have, too. Regards, Hoanh

Curran and Ray, I have 4 daughters, two of whom are in college. *HEADACHES* I tell you. On the upside, they are very close to me and are sweet to me (most of the times anyhow). Congrats Ray! Regards, Hoanh

Matt, I am not taking sides and am not being adversarial. In fact, I doubt anyone on the board is being adversarial. It's a scientific fact that pure iron, and 99.9% is fairly pure, is pliable. You can bend it easily. It's also widely known that any scientific instrument, spectrometers included, need to be calibrated. I would ask your jewelers if they had calibrated their instrument. Try this gedanken experiment: take a bar of pure iron and leave it out, even in the shade and in dry weather, for 70 years, would it look shiny like the tang of your sword? Regards, Hoanh

Hi J. Edward, From the pictures, with the blade in its current state, I don't think there is much conclusion we can arrive at regarding quality. The mei seems to be "Bishu Osafune .... Mitsu." If the sword is only 14" cutting edge, being as old as it seems to be, it must have been heavily cut down. Making this assumption, I don't see how the signature can fully remain on the nakago. I'll stick my neck out and say gimei - signature added some time after the sword was cut down. Regards, Hoanh

Dear Ford, Yes, what you said above *AND* the realization of my personal lack of affluence Hoanh