Antti

Hi everyone. I have been away from the hobby and this forum or a long time, and by accident bumped into the news that Ford had passed last year. That certainly did not do my mood any favors. I've seen his Utsushi-video so many times and often watch it when I want just to chill out and see something beautiful. While downbeat from the news, I opened my cabinet and took out one of his tsuba, an early piece. I will leave it here if someone is making a catalogue of his works, and for general appreciation. The theme is a flamingo and its wing. It feels a bit out of place just lying in my inactive collection, so if you need measurements or more photos let me know.

Hi all, Just wanted to give a quick review of Tanto I acquired through NMB. The "For Sale" topic has been removed since the item was sold so I wanted to share my positive experience with you here. The seller was Thomas, who runs the site http://www.japanesesword.de/ He is known as "tom" in the Forums. The service was very quick, the price excellent. The item was posted right after the transfer was made and the item arrived nicely packaged. The item was just as advertised and just like in the photos. All in all a very pleasurable transaction with a seller that was very easy to deal with.

http://www.nihonto.us/YOSHIOKA%20TERUTSUGU%20TSUBA.htm This one?

Wonderful set! Do you have an idea what school they are from? Yoshioka? Late Goto?

Thank you for your comments. Axel, I've been thinking about papering but then again Ito Mitsuru is THE expert when it comes to Higo so I will probably give it a pass. I dont feel comfortable papering something for the sake of papering. I am sure it is the same tsuba from the book.

Hi gents, I have been watching this forum fairly closely but havent really written anything for a good while. After 9 months of scraping my pennies together I have managed to get something nice which I'd like to share with you. And I do know the pictures are not great. Shodai Kanshiro Size - 76 x 74 x 3,5mm Material - Shakudo plate with inlay in gold Theme - Design of Ivy It is unpapered but published by Ito Mitsuru, Works of Nishigaki Kanshiro, tsuba #64

The tsuba is this one? http://www.nihonto.us/SHIBUICHI%20TSUBA.htm Lovely. I wonder who was the smith behind it...

Thanks for the comments. I think it is the brown background that gives the tsuba that brown hue. In hand the patina is more grey than brown, but it's not very dark. I did not use flash and the northern lights werent there when I took the photos. And there have been spectacular northern lights on few nights this fall by the way. I took some shots with flash to bring out the detail on the carving.

Thanks for the pics Daniel. What are the dimensions of your example? It looks smaller.

That Nidai Kanshiro is to die for by the way.

There are plenty of Owari tsuba left, it is not that. It just happens to be a particularly pleasing example. The fact that it is not signed is not important. Plenty of masterpieces are unsigned and plenty of rubbish tsuba are signed. Whether a tsuba has a signature or not makes no difference. Owari tsuba in general are unsigned. A good tsuba is a good tsuba. Why the high price? Well the easy answer is because the good people in Tsuruginoya think someone will pay that sum for it. And somebody just might.

Hello gents, If anybody's wondering, I am still very active in this hobby although I have not been commenting much. I still keep reading all the topics but I've been getting great help from few experienced collectors so I havent found the need to pester you with endless questions. I've acquired a few tsuba since my last topic, and wanted to make a topic about my most recent one. Again I am looking for opinions and impressions. Also the Hozon papers only give it to Nishigaki, so if you have an idea who might be the master behind it, I would be most interested to hear. I've heard that NBTHK is very conservative when giving out Higo-attributions, and only the school is usually mentioned. And here goes: Size: 7.95 cm x 7.34 cm x 0.51 cm Weight: 98.7g Material: Steel with shakudo pillows on hitsu ana Papers: NBTHK Hozon to Nishigaki Theme: Tomoe with Kiri-Mon. The shape is irregular. I've attached a few photos and also one with a Kamiyoshi I recently acquired for comparison. The Nishigaki is on the larger size.

http://www.nihonto.com/5.10.12.html Here is a very nice Tokobetsu papered Teruhide for you. Yours for meagre 21000$.

Some more tsuba with nice Nanako:asd Yoshioka-school, famous for their Nanako. http://www.nihonto.us/YOSHIOKA%20TERUTSUGU%20TSUBA.htm http://world.choshuya.co.jp/sale/tousougu/a/a098/index.htm Yanagawa-school: http://tetsugendo.com/images/kodogu/FT-256_Yanagawa_Naoharu_Tsuba_1200a.jpg And welcome to this fine hobby.

http://www.e-sword.jp/tousougu.htm On the bottom, Tokobetsu Yagyu.