ROKUJURO

Of course not, John! I thought of the others.

It is amazing to see what a little provocation can make with grown men! Must be great fun to Deanna to see how easily men can be manipulated...

Yes, that is bad.

I cannot get excited about an old woodblock print, one way or the other. I see it, I may grin a bit, and I forget it. In my opinion, not worth an argument. We have naked swords, that is just porn enough, at least for me.

I know Alex, there are some, I have one of my own. But what is the reason they were not signed?

Missing Ford here....again.

Brian, this is a true replica, forged with the Anglo-Saxon method I described above. Of course the blade was etched as a last process, but "artificial Damascus" etched blades look differently and are easy to spot (for an expert).... In their time period, these swords had an incredible value. They were owned only by the highest leaders and kings, and in terms of value, they can be compared with the best Japanese blades of their respective time.

Tsuka in everyday objects - the culture of Tsuka

It is a new IAITO TSUBA in my eyes, what ever it is made of and how, but I bet it is not by a traditional method.

Calabrese, concerning the MEI, I absolutely share your opinion that it is odd.

If I may correct some opinions: Bronze is a copper-tin alloy with basically a 'gold' colour, depending on the copper content. It is not much used in TOSOGU with the exception of KAGAMISHI TSUBA. Copper has a reddish colour, brass (a copper-zinc alloy) has a gold colour, especially when polished. When patinated, these alloys can have a very wide range of colours.

Robert, there are basically 3 types of so-called Damascus steel. None of them was made or used in Japan for blades. Let me explain: The oldest type of forge-welded steel was made by Celtic people after 800 BC in Europe. It was accidentally made by forge-welding iron of different production places, so the natural content of impurities (Not alloys! These need a liquid state for their production!) like phosphorus could produce a random pattern on the surface when polished and etched with plant acids (tomato juice can act like an acid on carbon-steel). Later, the Vikings became masters in deliberately combining different iron varieties to forge-weld repeatable pattern. Again, that was non-hardenable iron, so the famous Viking swords (look for Sutton Hoo) got a steel cutting edge fire-welded on for good combat performance. What many call "true" Damascus steel came from India and Persia in the early middle ages and was traded to a great content via the old town of Damascus. This steel was made by melting the components at high temperatures in crucibles. It contained a high percentage of carbon (up to almost 2%) plus some secret minerals containing element like Vanadium and Molybdenum. These were necessary to help forming crystals (dendrites) in the steel while cooling. In a difficult process, this crucible Damascus steel (called Wootz in India or Bulat in Russia) was forged out in a lengthy process and when polished and etched, showed repeatable pattern (look for "Mohamed's ladder"). Our modern (industrially or hand-made) forge-welded steel (we should not use the term 'Damascus' for it, but it is too late...) is mostly a combination of high-carbon tool-steels each of which would make for a good cutting tool because of its properties. Most of the time, we combine steels that are promising a good contrast when polished and etched (Manganese containing steel and Nickel-alloyed steel are ideal). This will result in a strong silver/black contrast which we like. In Japan, contrasting metals were used in MOKUME GANE (a soft-metal compound) for decorative purposes, but we also know layered combination (look for GURI BORI). We also know MOKUME GANE (meaning is "looking like wood") made with iron. This is just a non-homogeneous mix of different varieties of iron (again not alloys). When etched, the surface reveals an interesting random pattern, sometimes looking like wood burl.. Japanese blades are made by folding and fire-welding ONE kind of carbon-steel on itself, so you don't get a contrast. What we see as HADA are the welding seams of the many different layers. I won't forget to mention HADA types that show a more defined pattern, caused by deliberately mixing in different steels, but they are rare. For modern industrial Damascus steel, you can choose the different steel components depending on the properties you need. With actual technique and materials, it is rather easy to produce a cheap but decorative so-called Damascus steel which is what is mainly done in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and China (as far as I know, but there may be more in the meantime!). For a non-expert (to put it mildly), this looks impressive and expensive, and it serves well for just decorative purposes. But is is not Japanese. P.S. This is an abstract and not at all exhaustive

I think I understand what Patrice is saying. I was also puzzled by the appearance of the decoration on the above TSUBA as it does not look typical as punched out from the backside. Usually, SAN MAI TSUBA have a rather shallow decoration, and even repoussée technique looks a bit different. I would really like to see this TSUBA from close but as this is not possible, I again suggest to post more photos. I suspect that there is a non-traditional technique involved that I don't remember to have seen before. If so, front and backside were probably formed on a steel die-stamp and fixed on the core plate. It is a possibility, not more, and would imply that the TSUBA is a recent production.

Ah Brian, I did not even see that! Old eyes! But the MACHI do not align, and that is a solid giveaway as well.

On these photos, it does not look Japanese. Is the blade made of Damascus steel? Then that's off, as in fake.

Calabrese, as I tried to explain, it is SAN MAI. It is not san mei and has nothing to do with MEI.

Calabrese, a SAN MAI TSUBA shows three (= SAN) layers in its construction. Often, the outer layers are thin SHAKUDO sheets with impressed decoration, the core is mostly copper.

John, as far as one can look into the HITSU, it is probably a SANMAI TSUBA as Mauro stated. As you are obviously able to make some good close-ups, let's have a better look into the HITSU and the NAKAGO-Ana. That should explain it.

Rather long arms for a T-REX....

Hi AJ, welcome to the NMB forum! Please sign all posts at least with a first name and an initial, so we can address you politely. The images are not helping a lot to say much about the blade. We could speculate about the shape of the KISSAKI which has an unusual curve and looks strange to me. The NAKAGO has an "old" look, but that does not mean much; there are cases of heavy corrosion even on more recent blades. Usually, the SHIRA-SAYA keeps its shape even after a long time, so in your case, it may be indeed that the HABAKI is not original to the blade and prevents a perfect fit.

Thank you both! Very kind!

Can I please ask for help? Which organization is this? It is printed on an ORIGAMI of a TSUBA.

Grev, pictures and text got mixed up in your posts.

I sincerely hope it will show up finally! I can tell a story about what can happen in the postal world of the 21st century, quite a while after horse carriages and sail ships were in use: Some years ago, I bought an item off a NMB member in American Samoa - not a valuable object. His next bigger post station was more than 4.000 km away from his place, in Honolulu, Hawaii. Somewhere on the long way to me, the parcel was lost. After I was told that I could do nothing about it as the buyer, the seller made a claim and started a serious query. This was not successful, the package did not show up, and he got fully refunded - in addition to what I had paid him already. But he was a gentleman and sent me my money back. The story did not end there. After more than 2 months, to my surprise the parcel was brought to my door by regular post! In the end, I got it for free! S**t happens, but lucky things as well!

Unusual AKASAKA artist, at least to me. Another one: https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/46337-sekijoken-oyama-motozane-tsuba/