Marius

You are right about the Fu (it is a shishi or kara-jishi, a Chinese guardian lion). The flower is a peony. The inlays are made of: shakudo (black colour), an alloy of copper and gold, brass (gold colour), and suaka = copper (red-brownish colour). The base is iron in both tsuba. The motif of the Soten tsuba is hard to tell. I see a samurai commander holding a fan (gunpai), a mounted samurai with a bow (yumi) and a standard bearer. What story this relates to, I cannot say. The meaning of the shishi is buddhist - it is a beast of Monju Bosatsu (http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/monju.shtml), while the peony symbolizes wealth and honour. What the Samurai scene means depends on the story behind it.

I agree with Curran. Unfortunately none of these tsuba is a masterpiece The Soten-style tsuba lacks detail, the soft metal inlays are quite messy. Signature is messy, too. The tsuba with the relief inlays of a shishi and a peony is in bad shape. I can't see any patina, only rust and dimples. The inlay work is mediocre and nothing special. Still, it is a tsuba wworth preserving. I must stress here that that both tsuba are GENUINE and worth preserving. Rust MUST be stopped, please read the following posts before you get your hands on the tsuba. It is easy to irreparably damage a tsuba: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8087 viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7868 DO NOT proceed without having read them, lest the kami of the tsuba will haunt you at night

I would say, you are right :-) It is cast, and it is best seen in this photograph: http://www.auctiva.com/hostedimages/sho ... 0&format=0

Nothing wrong with challenging opinions :-) It is always to good to hear the question "why". It makes you explain. Thanks for asking

Bob, I can't be sure, I just suppose it. Late Edo - because it is crisp wherever you look, the openwork, the nakago ana, the ryo hitsu. Factory plate - lifeless appearance, no tekkotsu, flat, featureless surface. I'll ad one more thing: Mediocre work - because the composition of the motif is somehow overcrowded. EDIT: in the example posted by Martin the composition is much better. Again, this is only an opinion (as always). However, I really don't think it will turn out to be some early Owari masterwork I would save the money for better tsuba instead spending it on a shinsa.

It is a late Edo tsuba, nothing special, factory plate. The other one, the Shoami Karigane is completelly different. It has got an interesting texture, tekkotsu in the rim and deep patina. Those two would NOT go well together, IMHO.

Well, yes, but then again, many highly stylised depictions are quite obvious. Ko-tosho tsuba with their raindrops, umbrellas, grave markers etc. Iris and bridge in Kyo-sukashi... On the other hand there are those abstract designs like pine bark (mitsukawabishi)... very interesting topic.

I tend to agree, and besides, Shoami is such a broad attribution that it is "safe" to assign anything you're not sure about to Shoami. BTW, this is an important argument against the attribution craze

Deleted.

Jim, Jason, keep in mind that there are some legal restrictions regarding the import of ivory in several countries. There has been a discussion here about this, too. Be it ivory, antlers or bone, I think what really matters is the right approach (slowly, methodically, cautiously). Do not overdo the cleaning or you will end up with bare steel, which is detrimental to the beauty and value of a tsuba.

Jim, boil the tsuba in clean water for a few minutes (this will remove oil and wax residue, if there is any). Dry it thoroughly. It might look horrible, like a very rusty plate, after that, do not worry. Take some pieces (splinters) of clean (no grease, please!) bone. Work slowly and thoroughly on the rust spots. One spot may take you hours of work. Don't try to speed things up. Work on a small surface until it is clean, Go to the next spot. Hopefully the rust is outside the gilded parts? After you are ready, you may clean the tsuba with a horse-hair brush or in clean water. If the results are satisfactory and no rust residue is left, you might want to treat the tsuba with renaissance wax. Read this thread ("Cleaning Shinu Tsuba), and follow Ford Hallam's advice: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1442&hilit=renaissance+wax hope that helps

Hi, I hate to say this, but you might be quite successful using eBay. Especially musha-e are fetching high prices, and so do prints by Yoshitoshi (100 aspects etc. in particular).

Jim, brown patina was typical for Masanori. You might want to take some close-up pics and post them here. Oil is not a good idea, as, if there is any rust, it will inevitably coat it and allow it to go about its detructive activities. I think that this tsuba might have a thin film of rust, something which would not require a bone, only a brush (horse hair is said to be the best) to take if off. Since there is gold iroe on the tsuba,you must be very careful not to damage it. Hence, the old trick with rubbing the tsuba with a piece of cotton cloth must be applied with great caution and you have to omit the gilded parts. I presume you have read this thread? viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7868 Sorry I can't help you with the age of the tsuba. It is ubu, hence it has never been mounted. Everything looks crisp in this tsuba. It is an excellent piece.

Ford, I respectfully disagree with your interpretation. The hand is an fascinating explanation, but the design is too detailed to omit several joints. If it were a schema, a model of the human hand, it would likely present all joints of the thumb and the index finger. It does not, however. But, then again... Just an opinion :-)

Very nice tsuba Kristian. Don't overclean it, it does not seem to have much rust. I can't give you any attribution, I am sorry. I'll take a chance: Kamiyoshi?

Jacques, only low quality pics (sword is not mine). It would be wasting your time. Sorry to disappoint you.

I dare say. Yours is slightly better What puzzles me in my friend's tsuba is this deep hole (see pic). It seems to go through the plate, though I am not sure. Why is it there? Was it used to fasten a soft metal ornament to the plate?

OK, I have got the dimensions: 7.6 x 7.5 x 0.3 cm I am looking forward to hearing your opinions. Many thanks for looking

Henry, I'll post the dimensions later today. I agree that "yakite shitate" is perhaps not the best description. But it has this sligthly "melted" look (as Ford said, yakite shitate has nothing to do with actual melting of the surface), and I would not describe it as marubori sukashi either. But the openwork is not exactly crisp. I haven't had this tsuba in my hands. Based on the awkward composition of the openwork and the state of the patina I would guess that this is a late Edo work by some dilettante or simply some provincial artisan. I would not dare making any attribution.

Yes, but the main question remains unanswered. What attribution?

Jason, I couldn't agree more :-) It seems like we have bamboo here, plus some unknown plant (oak leaves?) and snow flakes.

A friend of mine has a tsuba shown below. In my opinion the design is quite cramped, but the tsuba seems genuine and perhaps even early Edo/Momoyama. The yakite shitate look is also intriguing, although I cannot see great patina. What do you think about this tsuba?

We are getting frivolous here Ford, I guess it is about time

Cross-section of some weird fruit? Brain scan? Droppings? OK, I got it! Fruit, pod.... iPod?

Brian, this new site has been discussed here viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8505 Hopefully it will take off :-)