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That's a stylized rain dragon, common in Kaga zogan pieces

I have one even earlier than Edo period, Tensho koshirae from Muromachi period, still with the original blade inside. All lacquered black, even the original seppa have traces.

Thank you for entrusting me with this restoration, at first it looked quite serious but after removing the oxidation I found that the original patina underneath was pretty much untouched by corrosion, also the zogan was rock solid in position, a testament to the quality of the work from this tsubashi. So I just had to make a new patina on the brass and stabilize the iron patina. It was a pleasure bringing back to life this excellent work.

Small groves are filed to ensure more grip and prevent it to slip towards the center of the nakago ana

Actually it is listed in Sesko's Sworsdmiths book MOTOSHIGE (元重), Genkō (元享, 1321-1324), Mino – “Motoshige” (元重), “Rokurōzaemon no Jō Motoshige” (六郎左衛門尉元重), first name Rokurōzaemon (六郎左衛門), it is said that he moved once from Kyūshū to Yamato to join there the Senju´in school, in the second year of Genkō (1322) he moved to Seki and acted their as one ancestor of the Seki smiths, kiri-yaasurime, no authentic zaimei blades are extant by him, it is also said that he was the same smith as Motoshige (基重) I followed the auction as i thought it's an interesting blade to own, but that's way above my means

I agree with paint, more than lacquer. Patina doesn't flake off. An alternative would be fire scale, but the tsuba doesn't look it's been damaged by fire so that's unlikely.

Sekigane are simply held by friction, many times an inlet is filed on the tsuba to make them hold more firmly, then filed to the exact size of the nakago. The umegane of hitsu ana are cut and filed to the precise size needed to lock in the hole and decorated, then tapped in. Usually they're not a single piece but two thin plates with pitch between them which helps to stick even more.

I tried use a Japanese AI tool, still doesn't make too much sense but maybe can help you fill some blanks

Thank you Steve, very interesting, I'll try dig more on that

During my last trip in Japan I found this nice nozarashi themed painting, but the translation is way too hard for me, can someone be of assistance?

I think i remember seeing that bust at old NBTHK museum, before they moved to the new location, so i think most likely it's in the new museum https://maps.app.goo.gl/NmUZRNhaapaCiXHt7

If anyone of you guys is going DTI this year and wish to say hi and see this tsuba and another one of mine in hand just drop me a message

No, there's no kozuka slot. The saya Is plain with horn koiguchi, kurikata and kaerizuno, kojiri Is missing

Yes, everything is lacquered, there's also traces on the seppa. Probably that's why it preserved so well

Bushū-jū Masatsune (武州住正恒)

Here's some more pics, also one of the blade inside, from the sugata it's most likely a late Kamakura tachi. It has a very unique and interesting utsuri as well, still under study

I should post most of my collection, but i selected a few pieces: Ko-tosho, big, early and unaltered Onin, big and unaltered without much loss of zogan And my pride, tensho koshirae from late Muromachi with its original blade still inside. All lacquered black, simple iron tsuba with most of urushi still in place

From Venice's Museum of Oriental Art

Do you have a specific blade you're looking for or any good nihonto will do? I have a papered hirazukuri wakizashi well in that range

They look like small tekkotsu to me

I think that's the area with rust

The Naohiro of this topic is actually 5th generation, the one of your link his predecessor NAOHIRO (直弘), 4th gen., Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Saitama – “Minamoto Naohiro saku” (源直弘作), “Musashi no Kuni Ōmiya-jū Minamoto Naohiro saku” (武蔵国大宮住源直弘作), real name Matsubara Eiichi (松原英一), born May 5th 1924, student of Juō Naohiro (寿王直弘) NAOHIRO (直弘), 5th gen., Heisei (平成, 1989- ), Saitama – “Kei´un Naohiro” (慶雲直弘) “Hiroshi tsukuru” (寛造), “Hiroshi kore o tsukuru” (寛造之), real name Kojima Hiroshi (小島寛), born January 22nd 1957, he studied under his father, the 3rd gen. Juō Naohiro (寿王直弘), and under the 4th gen. Naohiro, his older brother, by becoming independent in 1981 he received the name Naohiro from his senior fellow students, he uses the gō Kei´un (慶雲) and signs sometimes also just with his first name Hiroshi (寛) which is read “Kan” by its Sino-Japanese reading

Here's the publication that shows that Yoshihara Kuniie was ranked best of the East (highlighted), best of the West was Gassan Sadamitsu, that later changed his name in Gassan Sadaichi and became Living National Treasure. I also want to spend a word about Chris, despite being new on the forum i know him personally and he's reliable, helped me many times purchasing and exporting blades from Japan.

Thank you, being an amateur tsubashi is not a big deal for me to make also the plates 😄

NBTHK published the results and with my surprise i'm the only foreigner in the category. To be just one step from a prize as a foreigner and amateur is at the same time making me proud and pushes me to improve even more! Results in Japanese: 2024年度現代刀職展「研磨・刀身彫・彫金・外装の部」審査結果一覧.pdf Results translated in english with Google Translate: ENG2024年度現代刀職展「研磨・刀身彫・彫金・外装の部」審査結果一覧 .pdf