ROKUJURO

Perhaps TOSHIHIDE?

A 15th century sword blade with a KASANE of 9 mm might be a very rare thing.

Just think about when these "flashy" TSUBA appeared fitst in the market. If they had been made in MEIJI era, they would have appeeared in numbers long before. But exactly this type of TSUBA with very good casting and guilding technique surfaced rather recently in my observation. We have been discussing the fact that modern reproduction/copying techniques have become worringly good, and the fact that we are now troubled by such an item is the proof.

So what do you think?

Looking at the SEPPA-DAI without any traces of use, the over-abundant use of gold colour, and a few technical flaws, I am not so sure that this TSUBA is Japanese. NAGOYA MONO have some age, and most of them have been used for a while, and this left some traces. Also, NAGOYA MONO were finished by hand (not by high-class artisans!), and they often were a bit crude in the smaller details (faces...). The gilding technique of that time was different. On his type of modern TSUBA I do not see traces of hand-tools (TAGANE), and seemingly this one was never mounted. I may of course be wrong in my observation. Dale will probably be able to provide a number of images of similar TSUBA.

Much better Rodriguez, but with a DARK, NON-REFLECTING BACKGROUND and photos NOT taken at an angle, there will be some improvement. Cutting-off a part of the NAKAGO would be called SURIAGE in Japanese, in case a part of the MEI is remaining. In any case, Jusii has read the signature correctly, so now you can research the smith. And of course, we are curious to see the full blade!

Ray, if you don't mind, what kind of ORIGAMI is this, and if it was issued in 1972, how reliable is the statement?

If the nice fairy tale was true, I wonder why no one of these highly decorated BUDO masters was able to care properly for this sword, so that it ended in such a deplorable state!

That looks like very good craftsmanship! I like and admire it! But let me ask: A new SAYA for an unpolished blade?

I understand the problem and will apply for gold. But as mentioned above, what to do with these:

Mauro, thank you so much for your excellent work! Valuable research material!

Famous name, no papers, IAITO TSUBA - what do you think?

Date looks like MANJI SAN NEN ROKU GATSU ROKU HI In my opinion, translation requests without the slightest politeness formula like: Can anyone here please help me with the translation? should be charged with $ 50.--

Looks as if they wanted to "mark" a HAMON with a groove. Made by someone who has never seen an authentic sword in his life!

Jan, the second photo is out of focus and thus useless.

NEVER touch a blade with your bare fingers! It looks like a variant of a (damaged?) SANKAKU YARI.

Hi Patrick, I think you are correct with your suspicion that some of the TSUBA had been exposed to high heat. The flaking surface supports that. Generally, there is a lot of corrosion on these TSUBA so I get the impression that they could not be sold in Japan and so went into export. More details would be visible if the photos were made on a dark background (please see my PM).

A better photo (vertically tip-upwards) with a dark background would help. Light source from the side.

Jan, for a comment, we need photos correctly oriented (tip-upwards, especially the NAKAGO) and close-ups of the NAKAGO without HABAKI. At a first look, the blade does not seem to be stainless steel.

The KOGATANA (= blade) photo is upside-down. It is chiselled and read tip-upwards. These inscriptions are not those of the makers in most cases. All photos should be made on a dark, non-reflecting background for better contrast (not white).

Steve, these are probably not HIS swords, so it was a comment on the seller, not on the blades. But you can be sure the blades are considerably more expensive at this seller than in the original shop.

To prevent bleaching out in the sun, wash textiles with cold water. That is logical!

With these out of focus photos any comment is just guesswork, in my opinion.

When did these kind of TSUBA appear first? I don't remember seeing them 20 years ago, so I personally think that they are all recent copies, made with modern tools and techniques. From a craft point of view, they may appear well made as silicon molds and new casting technology yield good results. But there is no artistry behind it, in my view. They are way different from the opuilent TSUBA I used to see in the black COMPTON catalogue.

Piers, If they are cast, they are not really "hand-made", strictly speaking. Smaller differences would then mean "not the same mold", which is well possible in a shop which produced numbers of similar items with several molds. I could imagine these candle-holders to have been standard equipment in any Japanese household before they had electricity, so possibly EDO JIDAI after all?