Marius

Dear All, I have a tsuba, described by Sasano as Kyo-sukashi from middle Muromachi. I don't think mine is that old, although it matches the Sasano example in almost every respect. Nevertheless, it is a nice tsuba, deserving to be rstored. While I have had good experience with removing loose rust (washing in soap water, drying, working with pieces of bone, going slowly and methodically), I have no idea what to do with fire-scale. Any ideas? Thank you :-)

Ted, thanks a lot for pointing this out. Too bad that pictures do not show colours as they really are... I find it very difficult to describe the color - it is definitely not red and different from the other two suaka tsuba I have in my collection. Rather like something "light brownish"? A very pleasant color to my eyes... Anyway, what is your advice: should the tsuba be properly repatinated or rather left alone? I am inclined to leave it as it is, but that's me, the humble beginner...

Ford, thank you, the information about "kabure" is very interesting and adds to my limited knowledge.

No, this is not the dreaded question - "should I clean a copper tsuba?". It is just that I have recently bought a suaka tsuba in very good condition (BTW, it has been identified as a gimei Miboku here http://www.nihontomessageboard.com/nmb/ ... w=previous). While researching Miboku a bit I have stumbled upon an older (2007) picture of the same tsuba: http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/0 ... tsuba-with Guess what - the tsuba is undoubtedly the same, but the condition seems worse - it looks like it suffers from oxidation and/or dirt... The tsuba I have got is perfect - same small dent in the upper part, but no dirt or oxidation, and the color is beautiful, rather yellowish... Could it have been cleaned, if so, how? Below pictures of BEFORE and AFTER (and I assure that AFTER looks better in reality than on the picture)

Thanks, Guido, I appreciate your time

Dear NMB members, would you be so kind as to look at the origami and tell me if there is a period this tsuba has been attributed to? I know it is an Akasaka with seashells, nothing about the time it was made. I would presume late Edo... Curious to know. Thank you for your help :-)

As long as you let the gimei stay and will not put it to Shinsa, it's just a blade, neither Kamakura nor anything else, for your judgement just doesn't matter. Not MY judgement, Reinhard. You have particpated in the discussion about this particular sword, but the opinions are Ted's and Darcy's (who were not a shinsa of course and who have judged by pictures only). Here is the post: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2392&hilit=kuniyuki+rai Sorry for this intermission. One more word about gimei: I would disagree that gimei precludes a sword from study. I agree that gimei is a bad thing in itself I understand why the NBTHK and NTHK policies exclude gimei blades from certfication And I would love to see a gimei removed by a specialist, so if you have pics showing the effects, I shall be grateful.

I agree with Gabriel, just look at my signature However, just to brief you on a long-lasting debate: gimei is bad for the sword's value, some will a gimei sword as something as bad as a fake work of art. In fact most of great-name signature are gimei. If a sword has a great mei and no reliable papers attributing it to the signature author, it is almost certainly gimei. See a signed sword with a good mei? Assume it is gimei. Buy it if you like it, not because of the mei, but because of the blade. Japanese collectors dislike gimei blades, they sell them yo us, the less discriminating gaijin. Some really good swords which have been gimei, had their signature removed (tricky, expensive, to be done by a specialist only). I own a gimei Kamakura tanto, I like it for what it is, and will not spend $$$$ to remove the false mei. Just my tuppence. Hope that encourages you to research the problem.

Dear Curran, many thanks for that info. Such a pity the menuki are gone. If you come up with the artisan's name, I will be grateful.

Mike, congratulations on your purchase :-) It seems to be a real tsuba - judging by the overall looks and the patina, it is not very old, late Edo perhaps. Still, a nice piece, I would like to have such a guard. There is active rust, which you might want to remove. Be very careful, as it is easy to ruin a perfectly decent tsuba if you don't know what you are doing. Please read this article very carefully, the advice there is priceless: http://www.geocities.com/alchemyst/tsuba/tsubacln.htm It will take you weeks of repeated work to clean the tsuba, but you will enjoy the result. I have worked on late Edo katchushi tsubas like this and I must say, that there was a huge difference between "before" and "after". As far as fitting it on a katana is concerned - that is a matter of taste. It should look good on a small (60cm) katana, and rather not on a 70cm+ sword. Whatever you do, do not change the nakago ana in any way, should the nakago prove to be too large to fit the tsuba. No drilling, filing, etc... Better to look for another, better fitting tsuba than ruin a perfectly good one. Hope that helps

Dear John, the tsuba description has been adjusted accordingly. I have also changed the description of the sukashi tsuba with the rice plant to "Choshu", as indicated by you. Thank you very much for your contribution and your willingness to share your knowledge with a beginner BTW, I have another tsuba with the rice flower motif. I wonder what you think of it? Sorry for the abysmal quality of my pics, I had only a kiddie camera at hand...

here you go The texture of the suaka is different on each side - on the front it is mikagiji, on the back it is smooth but not as a mirror. You cannot see this in the pics, but the mikagiji is wonderful. It is really very nicely polished surface with a wonderful color to it. The dimensons are as follows: 7.6cm x7.6 x 0.3cm Nakago ana: 2.9cm x 0.9cm Enjoy :-)

Thank you for your kind words I am very happy that you seem to like some of my tsubas Oh, and many thanks for the information about the Choshu tsuba. It seems that the rice motif was very popular. Reinhard, as to the Owari tsuba, whose twin you have - it is not papered, and the dimensons of mine are as follows: Diameter: 69.1mm; Nakago ana: 25mm; Thickness: 3mm The tsuba has tekkotsu in the mimi, said to be a feature of earlier Owari works. Should you like to see the tekkotsu, I can take pictures and post them here or send by PM. Just let me know please. PS: you won't see it in the pics, but the Higo sukashi with the aubergine (or gourd) motif has an absolutely wonderful patina. It is one of my top favourites, I won't part with. The least interesting of all these is (IMHO) the brass tsuba with the dragon motif. The Owari (?) with the bamboo motif is nice, but condition is only so so...

Dear All, I thought I might publish pictures of what I regard as the best tsubas in my small newbie collection... I wouldn't assume that you can be really interested as this is mostly low-grade stuff... But I thought some of you might still want to have a look. Some of the tsubas I have no idea about, and so I have marked them with a "?" And, if you have really nothing to do at the moment, any comments or pics that you would like to post would be greatly appreciated Here they are: http://web.me.com/mariuszk/mariusz/Tsuba.html Thanks for looking

I couln't agree more with your opinion, Brian. I have actually grabbed a nice and inexpensive Akasaka tsuba right upon my first visit to Fred's excellent website. I will probably stop buying tusbas from eBay. Fred, congratulations, and many thanks

sorry, I have sotped it Pity I ahven't seen tihs tpyo earlier.

You might want to have a look at this: http://cgi.ebay.com/SAMURAI-Katana-swor ... |294%3A100 Pity. This has been a rather flamboyant sword, what do you think?

I am answering myself, but this information may be interesting for some of the Forum Members here: This is possibly a sword for the Genpuku coming-of-age ceremony. I have found a similar sword on eBay, described a wakizashi sized katana given to boys. http://cgi.ebay.pl/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... 0437949377

The hada is itame with the pattern flowing into the hamon, which is nie-deki. I can take close-up pics if someone is really interested... The puzzle remains - why is it so tiny? I am not sure if the nakago has been cleaned since the yasurime seem original to the blade. Who knows...

I have recently acquired a (very inexpensive) diminutive wakizashi. I am sure, some of you have seen it on eBay, nobody bought it, but me, against my own rules to buy only gimei blades, so it serves me right Measurements are: Nagasa 39 cm Motohaba 2.3 cm Sakihaba 1.8 cm Motogasane: 0.48 cm The blade has fumbari and a pronounced sori. Hada is itame, the rest can be seen in the pics. Its proportions make it look like a toy sword, although it is a real nihonto. It rests in an old, carefully crafted tiger-striped honoki shirasaya. The nakago loks like it has been artificially patinated, so this sword may be gendai, though it tries to appear older. What do you think of it? Was it a boy's wakizashi or something like this?

IMHO, on the contrary - the description assures that there is NO hagire or other serious kizu: "And there is not HAKOBORE(nicked part of an edge) and HAGIRE." Oh, BTW, yes, I thought about muneyaki while writing "hitatsura". The choji are quite visible in the hadori polish. I think, I can discern the hada as well, lloks like ko-itame to me...

I may be wrong but I see o-choji and hitatsura, which, to my amateur eyes, looks rather awkward. What do you think of this sword? Might this be an interesting sword for a newbie? I am pretty sure that there are some bidders lurking and waiting to put in their last-minute bids as such a hamon is invariably attractive to beginner-collectors... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0423766428

Actually, it seems like it really has been machi okuri... But the patina is so awful.. Why would anybody do such a thing? This waki would probably be sold were not for the fake patina.

...that simply won't do! ...We expect buffalo horn Ford, I wouldn't expect you to bother with the description given the pics :D However, I am puzzled as to poplar replacing magnolia. I hate those ebony elements, too. I have a nice Shitahara school wakizashi in an American(?)-made shirasaya with ebony inserts. I don't like it but it does the job credibly

The seller says in his description: Comes in a poplar shirasaya with an ebony reinforcement that is well made and attractive.