Marius

Lee, Could you please show me where ? I can't see any... Just one tanto being sold out of Japan. Did you mean eBay? That would be an all time high

Yup. And the signature is sloppy, too.

I was referring to nihonto. It would be rather surprising to see nihonto being sold out of China As for reproductions, China is a good source. BTW, nice site, I'll keep my fingers crossed

Ford, Well, I knew it would end this way Whenever I say "genuine", Ford says "cast", whenever I say "cast", Ford says "genuine". Thanks for the lesson Ford :D Steve, thanks for sharing this stunning Owari tsuba with us I love the composition of the crab, the texture and colour. WOW! Grey, interesting depiction of a crab and a nice tsuba. Thank you :-)

I would recommend an interesting article on nihontocraft.com about extreme tameshigiri: http://www.nihontocraft.com/Aratameshi_Nihonto.html Hagire is mentioned several times.

Dear Jacques, is hagire a forging flaw? I don't think so. Even the best forged sword WILL develop hagire under extreme stress. You cannot use a sword with hagire, lest it breaks, but should this be a reason to disqualify it as an art sword?

I have once bought a sword which has turned out to have hagire. It was beautiful, a sue-Soshu sword, I believe (or a Bungo takada, ha ha ha :-) ) The seller has offered full refund or a 50% price reduction. I went for the second option, and I have subsequently resold the sword clearly marked as one with hagire. I have thus managed to retrieve the purchasing price with no further hassle. It was not a masterpiece, but a beautiful sword. I sometimes think that I should have kept it.... Pictures of the blade are attached. The hagire was hardly visible, it is very prominent, however, in the photographs.... Now, my problem is the following - many masterpieces have never been used in combat. It is possible that they would develop hagire if they were... We will never learn.

Thank you Moriyama-san :-) A lovely Higo tsuba. I love this cute little crab :-) Here is the picture of the kani tsuba in question. Not a great piece, it looks like cast iron to me However, it is most likely based on an original tsuba, and I would appreciate any information about the original design.

Sorry for this unusual request, but googling yielded only one result for a kani tsuba (http://www.to-ken.com/tsuba/Legendsands ... ntsuba.htm). I need a few pictures of sukashi tsuba with a crab and possibly leaves of some water plant. I would be grateful for examples of tsuba with attributions, if possible The reason for all this is that I need to pinpoint the school of a certain tsuba. I will post its picture later. Thank you for your help

Paul, splendid example of... well, exactly of what? A tempering crack? Or just an open layer? The first would be a very serious flaw. And I presume you would see it on both sides of the blade....

Darcy, in general, I hate the "me too" attitude, but in this case I have one thing to say... me too :-)

Roy, protected it is, as was Japanese armour, always lacquered against corrosion. As to my collection, I will post pictures with great pleasure, but only one tsuba has enough lacquer to be of importance in this dicussion. Pity that the picture does not reflect ist beauty. Hang on, the pic will follow soon :-)

John, the tsuba looks dull. Soft-metal is easy to work, compared to iron and the result is invariably crisp and detailed. This one, however, does look cast. It looks dull, that is why people are suspicious. Shall we make a compromise? It is a late Edo Kagamishi piece, hahahahaha

Hi Roy, covering tsuba with urushi is an old technique used to: a. protect the tsuba b. adorn the tsuba It has been used on kinko tsuba and old lacquer on a ko-kinko tsuba is very desirable now. I have several pieces which have old lacquer largely intact and believe me, it is beautiful to behold. Please look at some tsuba sold by Boris Markhasin from Yamabushi Antiques: http://yamabushiantiques.com/YBA2_CONSIGNMENT.htm (I have bought several, including one with a vast amount of lacquer). Disclaimer: I am not affiliated or in any way associated with Yamabushi Antiques. I happen to be a very happy buyer of their tsuba, and I believe that the consignment tsuba they have constitute a very nice collection of ko-kinko and are sold at very attractive prices.

Count me as a subscriber, too :-)

We all know that there are many Yamakichibei forgeries/copies/hommage pieces. Rarely is a genuine Yamakichibei to be found. The most successful producers of Yamakichibei fakes were the two generations of Iwata Norisuke. Question: how to tell a genuine Yamakichibei from a late Edo copy? And how to tell it from a good copy by Norisuke? One might say that we should see it by the quality, but this is not specific enough. I have seen pictures of Yamakichibei signed tsuba owned by forum members and they seem to have a very lustrous, dark and wet patina, which seems beautiful, but otherwise... What to look for, what are the tell-tale signs of a forgery? (sorry, put that in the wrong section, any of the Admins, help, please?)

Thanks Jamie The exhibition hasn't suffered :D It will be open in June. I'll keep everybody posted.

Eric, cast iron tsuba have been produced in the Meiji period, as tourist souvenirs, or so they say. You should be perfectly able to distinguish them from forged tsuba - they are awfully crude, thick and sometimes you might see a seem from the casting process. Tons of these on eBay.

Casting has been used by the mirror-makers (kagamishi) who have been producing tsuba too.

Sorry to be a bore, but the museum that hosts the exhibition is closed. It has been flooded, but the nihonto exhibition seems to be safe (hopefully).

Short question - how many years does a smith have to work as an apprentice in Japan to get an official sword smithlicence? And how many years of apprenticeship is required to become a polisher?

Yes, his items are mostly genuine, but low grade. Do not expect to buy something valuable. Whatever you pay, you will pay a full price at least. There are no bargains on eBay. Also, you might end up with a fake or with a hidden fatal flaw (been there, done that, it still hurts) If you want some good tsuba, save some money, buy something decent. It will give you years of pleasure. Grey Doffin is selling some very nice tsuba here on the board. Good quality, not expensive: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7474 Or go to any of the reputable dealers. My favourite picka are: Craig Harris' ko-kinko collection: http://yamabushiantiques.com/YBA2_CONSIGNMENT.htm and the tsuba that Boris Markhasin sells on the same site: http://yamabushiantiques.com/YBA2_TSUBA.htm Please note: I am not in any way associated with those sellers, I have just bought a few tsuba from them and I am extremely happy with my purchase. But there are many others who sell good stuff. I wouldn't look for them on eBay, although there might be some exceptions. As far as eBay is concerned... beware. Have a look at this, a fake tsuba, easy to be taken for genuine: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7588

Ford, it does :-) I must admit that I had no doubt about my hyoutan sukashi tsuba being genuine - I have bought it from Skip Holbrook's collection offered here by Grey Doffin. However, your remarks on the finish made me look at it very carefully once again - always a valueable experience BTW, the hitsu ana is a later addition, it seems. It does interfere with the design. And the openings (except for the hitsu ana) are rounded, which reminds me of Higo style tsuba. In some openings I see evidence of folding. The nakago ana is smooth inside, and its lower bottom has been possibly hit with a small hammer when fitting a blade - as a result a small section of it is protruding slightly - a very crisp fold. Nothing of that sort would ever happen with cast iron. The seppa dai has the same surface finish as the rest. It is slightly concave. Cast tsuba have invariably very dull-looking seppa-dai - sometimes this is the first thing that jumps into your eyes. Having said this, and being an armchair expert, I would have bought the first of the cast tsuba as genuine. That is why it is so important to discuss fakes. Thanks again

Joe, maybe it is time to look into your sword collection? Ford, I I think the idea to post modern fakes here is brilliant. What better source than eBay? On the other hand, you have made me nervously browse through my collection :lol: One question: how to determine if a tsuba is genuine or a fake for tsuba which have been designed not to be particularly crisp? Let me shwo you one of these (sorry for the quality of the pic, I can take a few closeups if you want...