Marius

Mauro, Good examples, thank you! The Kanayama in your picture is actually pretty restrained - except for one section where the tekkotsu are very pronounced (I would liken this to an imperfection in a piece of pottery, reflecting the "tea taste" typical for Kanayama) the guard is rather quiet. Those pronounced tekkotsu provide a focal point, while in Chris' tsuba a very dramatic hammer work is visible all over the plate, giving it a somewhat unbalanced look ("overdone", if you will). I know, such a description is as "helpful" as the usual write-up BS The Myochin tsuba - yes, it is papered as genuine, but it does look like a revival piece, trying to give us too much tekkotsu as if to ensure us that it reflects the aesthetics of a Kanayama tsuba. I think it would be nice to submit Chris' tsuba to shinsa, but even their verdict would be an opinion, albeit an educated one, and of course one decisive in terms of market value.

@Chris, As for being wrong - this happens to all of us. I don't say I am right here. I just gave some points to discuss and I gave you my opinion, which may well be nonsense. In Sasano's Tosogu no Kigen there are a few early sukashi tsuba. Look at # 33, 34 and 37 (Kamakura and Nambokucho/early Muromachi yo-sukashi). You can also analyse #31 and 32 (kage-sukashi) . All of these guard are utterly different from yours. In my humble opinion your tsuba is a failed attempt to look like an early Owari. But that is my opinion and I am not shinsa.

OK, to keep some balance here. I am in the camp of doubters. 1. Collection provenance says only that the item came from a particular collection. Many a collection had duds (I can think e.g. of an awful Yamakichibei fake in Rosin's collection) 2. There has been a revival period in Japanese tosogu (and swords). Many a "Yamakichibei" has beed more or less well faked. Many were great pieces (like the ones made by the Futagoyama) but combined just too many features of several generations of Yamakichibei masters. This applies to other Owari/Kanayama tsuba. 3. Your tsuba looks like if someone said "let's go for wabi here" and then went full Monty. It is overdone, with no restraint - this is very unlike old tsuba. Please compare it with Owari examples from Sasano. There is a huge difference. 4. Seppa dai is odd. To sum up - I believe this is a "revival" piece, made in the late Edo period, or even a younger piece. It does not strike me as particularly well done, although it is not quite amateurish.

Fred has got three for sale, the two small ones are charming: https://www.nihonto.com/category/for-sale/tsuba/

Grev, You are right. Such items must have a connection to the person. Not necessarily expensive. If someone loves his Yaguu tsuba... OK. They can be very good, although - very unfortunately - the appellation "Yagyu" alone makes such a tsuba expensive, even if it is mediocre or worse. Just my utterly unnecessary musings.

That is the joy of starting with fittings and then diving deeper and deeper into Japanese history, art and culture. To answer your question - yes, pine trees are a common motif. Look up Hasegawa Tohaku Shōrin-zu byōbu (a masterpiece). As for tsuba, here are a few examples from Aoi Art: https://www.aoijapan.com/daisho-tsuba-mumeiunsigned-matsu-tree/ https://www.aoijapan.com/tsuba-mumei-pine-tree/ https://www.aoijapan.com/kozukaogawa-yoshitunekao-pine-tree/ https://www.aoijapan.com/tsuba-mumei-aizu-shoami-raptor-on-the-pine-tree/ https://www.aoijapan.com/tsuba-mumei-unsigned-pine-tree-and-the-moon/ https://www.aoijapan.com/kozuka-mumeiunsigned-pine-tree-and-crane/

Chris, Thanks for the information. It would be nice if Darcy could join the discussion. He will have forgotten more Rai blades than I have seen

Sources? Highly interesting and contrarian post. But it lacks sources.

Luis, Can you explain what you mean here? A hamon is visible even under very exaggerated hadori if you point the blade towards a light source - something that you know, of course. BTW, I cannot see hamon in your pics, which is not to say it is not there.

The seller is a member here. Look for Krystian.

Frank, nice catch. I would rather say it is made of yamagane. I like those lacquer remnants. Then again, I a a sucker for old soft metal kodogu (especially if they still have lacquer)

Even with those data it is still a lottery.

Start with a few websites: http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/information.html Loads of knowledge from a Japanese sword smith and sword connoisseur Hirsohi Kojima (4th Naohiro) http://www.sho-shin.com Not easy to navigate, but a good resource on the 8 roads (a system much older than the gokaden) and sword schools. Search our forum for anything that you want to research - great posts here and also some good articles: http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/forum/17-articles/ As for books, let me start with a great shop run by Grey Doffin, our long time member and one of the nicest and most helpful guys around http://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com Grey will get you any book, even if he hasn't it in stock. I will restrict my short list to sword books: Facts & Fundamentals of Japanese Swords by Nobuo Nakahara Take the statements with a grain of salt. Nakahara is a contrarian, which makes for a fun reading but some of his statements seem unfounded. As a resource when studying swords in hand: The Connoisseur's Book of Japanese Swords by Kokan Nagayama Get Markus Sesko's books on Lulu.com: https://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?keyWords=Markus+sesko&type= You cannot live without his Index and I recommend his Koto-kantei Zenshu and Shinto & Shinshinto-kantei Zenshu. Excellent to study great swords. Two large positions for serious studying of traditions and schools: Yamanaka Newsletters ( the reformatted version): http://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/store/books/b550-nihonto-newsletter-yamanaka Nihonto Koza translated by Harry Afu Watson's (Grey will find you a set, I am sure) That should be enough for a while Others here will have more excellent recommendations, I am sure Have fun!

Stephan, Ken's advice is worth gold Welkom bij de forum! Je kunt hier altijd waardevolle informatie krijgen, maar je moet het ook gebruiken kunnen

Welcome to the NMB Chris Here is an article about sashikomi and hadori (kesho) polish: http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/togi.html and: http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/togistyles.html BTW, Kojima san's site is a treasure trove and you should read all articles in the "Information" section: http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/ Attached is a photo of a sword in sashikomi. Please note that the shinogi ji has not been burnished (it is a very good sword, BTW, a Takada Tadayuki with excellent blueish steel and utsuri - sorry about the quality of the photo) Below is another example of sashikomi polish.

Excellent work, Jussi. Duly saved in my nihonto information folder.

Jean, Here is an excellent ariticle about tekkotsu by Boris Markhasin and Andy Mancabelli. tekkotsu very good article.pdf

My mistake, I thought you were a total "newbie", apologies. That sounds great, Eric. You study the good pieces and you seem to like Japanese swords as artefacts of the samurai times. A valid approach, too. Good luck and have fun

Eric, I understand you are unhappy with the statement that this blade is likely gimei. If so, submit it to shinsa (just joking). If you are happy with it, good, just enjoy it. That is what this hobby is for Before you comment my statement as an exaggeration, please read it: "99% of signed blades AND coming out of Japan AND via eBay or other online sites. That narrows it down, no? Of course you are free to think you have a shoshin blade (one with real signature) but if you want to collect and study nihonto, deluding yourself is probably not the best way to go. BTW, do you now the saying: mumei cannot be mumei? This means that ANY genuine nihonto that has no fatal flaws and is in an acceptable state of polish, will get an NBTHK Hozon. And yes, there are masterworks which are mumei. Nobody has made the suggestion here to remove the signature, or am I missing something? Again, just enjoy it for what it is. And a word of advice, as you seem to be rather new to this wonderful hobby. You might want to: 1. spend the money to buy books 2. study good swords in hand (going to Japan, to shows, et) 3. learn from other collectors (many good and knowledgeable people out there) After a while you will move up in your purchases, if money allows (this is not a cheap hobby). Oh, and please avoid statements like "forged almost perfect". You are not at the stage yet to say anything more than that you like a sword (neither am I, for that matter, after 15 years of collecting). Please accept it as friendly advice even if it sounds a bit patronising and harsh. Humility goes a long way when you are a "newbie".

Grey, The Masahiro on your site is a bargain. One of the top Hizen smiths and a TokuHo for that price? Someone should snap it up.

And an excellent resource on "namban" tsuba (regrettably, on Facebook): https://www.facebook.com/Asian-Export-sword-guards-and-Nanban-tsuba-564035753684007/

And old thread regarding casting: http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/7939-the-last-word-on-cast-iron-tsuba/

Here: http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/shaping.html

Chris, a short and succinct description of the nihonto market. Thank you

Eric, It was a good buy, no doubt. You have a real Japanese sword which has't cost you arm and leg Keep in mind though that you have bought this wakizashi on eBay, from a Japanese seller ("katana-boutique"), who sells tons of low end swords. You have to assume that for those $500-600 that you have apparently paid it is gimei (fake signature). Your sword has a signature of a rated smith but no NBTHK papers so it is almost certain it is gimei. This is not tragic as 99% signatures on unpapered nihonto are fake (correction: og unpapered nihonto coming from Japan through eBay and other online sites). But you haven't hit the jackpot and you should be aware of that.