Gasam

Hi, Was able to aquire this tsuba as well. Will post pics in a few weeks :-) . all the best,

Hi all, Thanks for your inputs. I was able to aquire this tsuba. I will be posting some pictures of it in a few weeks if interest. All the best,

Could very well be indeed...

Heyas again. Signature. Best I can do im afraid. Havent even tried translating. In all haste (at work),

Thank you all for replies. Yes, I think it could look like sideways distortion possibly...it is intriguing.

Hi Stephen, If my eyes will ever be half as trained as yours... Will look for some tsuba literature. Is there anything comparable to the connoisseur I have for nihonto?

Heya, Will post if successful in aquiring :-)

Heyas, Saw this iron tsuba today. Tried to google and research similar appearing tsuba, found some similar but they feature more elaborate designs, this one seems strangely crude, yet someone took the trouble to sign it. (picture a bit to small to see clearly) I mean, look at the diagonals in the weave, the other examples I have seen are really quite straight lined. This one, not so much. Also the sizing of the cut-outs are crude (to my eyes), differently shaped across the whole etc. The other examples I have seen has really had quite nice even and same sized cut outs. Could it have bee severely bent and straightened at some point? It is only speculation from me.

hi again Bruno, Interesting indeed :-) Thank you again.

How terrible! I shall keep a lookout at the largest online marketplace in Norway, www.finn.no, they have near monopoly here on selling/buying since so big. Slim chance but you never know... I do hope those swords are recovered....

Thank you for your inputs Mauro and Bruno. here is a full picture. Edit, height is 8.2 centimeters.

Hi all, Not at all a tsuba expert, but thought I might get a few to study. Might bid on this one, even if a rusty old thing. Deciphered the ura side of this tsuba, fairly certain. But the inscription to the right of the nakago-ana on the omote side eludes me a bit... I know it is my inexperience in deciphering kanji that does this, but I cannot for the life of me find matching kanji (to my eyes at least) on the tsuba kanji pages. (not to mention the time spent tearing out hair until I realised images was mirrored, haha!). At any rate: ura side has aoi mon and kanji yasu tsugu ( fairly certain about this). Omote side is a bit of a mystery for me. There were a line of sword makers named yasutsugu who also were allowed to use the aoi mon on the nakago of their swords, but signature differs quite a bit from theirs I think. Also, shouldnt the mei be besides the nakago-ana and not on towards the edge on the ura side...

Hi all, So many droolworthy donations..... hope I will win one :-)

Hi all: Apparently this dos emulator for database apps, accounting apps etc: http://sourceforge.net/projects/vdos/ Good reviews it seems. Haven´t tried it myself.

Hi again, John: how cool, I had no idea there were Same in Canada. The typical price of a handforged Same knife from Strømeng will be in the 1.000 to 1.200 Norwegian crowner range, normally about 175 USD but with todays crappy excange rate since oil price drop its about 130 USD. The exchange rate is good for export, bad for importing. Makes it near impossible to buy nihonto in USD unfortunately....

Hi, I will donate an original lapplander or same (natives of northern scandinavia) 8" knife as used by the natives for centuries and to this day. Knifesmith Strømeng out of Karasjok makes the real deal and knife will be from his workshop. Edit: see www.samekniv.no for mr strømengs website. So much quality cutlery.... Just for clarity, i have no affiliation with this smith or any business selling same blades. But they are wicked good :-)

hi all, This was the first web page I found on flaws on swords when I first started out, I still read it from time to time, and it will be familiar to many in these forums I´m sure: http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/flaws.html

Heyas all, Aoi has a wide and thick blade described as such in part: "Mmarvelous gorgeous shape and healthy blade which is called Oni no Hocyo （Demon’s kitchen knife）. The blade is huge wide and thick healthy blade and it was used by Sumo wrestler I think." So maybe they were used by Sumo wrestlers then. Also reference to Hocyo, for the sugata. Cool. link is: http://www.aoijapan.com/wakizashi-kikumon-ecchu-no-kami-masatoshi-kodai

Hi again Just quikcly, one possible (even likely) reason for images showing upside down is: Picture was taken on cellphone held upside down. ( very easy to do since often touchscreen is used to take picture). Some cellphones have extra info in the images metadata stating that the image was taken with the phone upside down, and many image apps use that info to display images the "right" way (actually the wrong way since cell was upside down). Some image apps will ignore this info and instead read only the metadata saying "this way up". Probably so this forun software. Sorry for typos and cramped text, using cellphone:-)

Hi, It has always been my understanding that this is commonly accepted and done, and that it is a basic polish to determine worthiness of restoration, learn more about the quality and features of the blade etc. I guess they would as always remove as little metal as at all possible to get this done, and that a full polish would remove a bit more metal, thereby not making the blade less healthy on account of the window opening. But others will know more about this than me... edit: to fix some typos :-)

heyas, For Norway, FedEx must be used according to Japanese online sellers, so same situation here. Strangely enough, they will carry all manner of copy and replica swords, or so I am told. It is a strange and unfortunate situation....

Heyas, Just so noone misses it Tsuruta-san has a Muramasa katana up for grabs. Its mumei but as we know tang alterations on those blades were common. http://www.aoijapan.com/katana-mumeimuramasa

Hi again, I too think the nakago was maybe "cleaned" at some point, its kind of shinier toward the back. A few more pictures... I have come to the conclusion that I know to little to buy from random guys, asking price is USD 2.000. I have no way of knowing if that is fair or not, leaning towards not I think. Blade described as shinto, minor defects, 300 yrs old, "evaluated in Japan" to be made by Kasyu Kiyomitsu, but as I said no papering.

Yesss!! I found that out also about the nakago jiri. So nice to see that studying pays off I know so little about fittings though....

Hello all, Can probably buy this Wakizashi. Ensuite with koshirae and a kogatana, without any papering. The price is not too shabby, and I have a chance to go look at it since its sold virtually on my doorstep. In my country, its rare indeed to see genuine nihonto for sale. Having a look at the nakago pic, I have come to the conclusion that mei (shoshin or gimei I cannot tell) is that of Kiyomitsu from Kaga nicknamed "Ju Ni Gatsu" Kiyomitsu. Quote from UK Sword Register no 117: Incidentally, there is a Kiyomitsu from Kaga nicknamed as "Ju Ni Gatsu" Kiyomitsu. This is because the characters Ju (ten) Ni (two) Gatsu (month) combine to form the main part of the character Kiyo. This is thought to apply mainly to Harima Daijo Kiyomitsu, a different line to that discussed above. So, although I would be buying as Gimei, it would be nice to see a signature sample of this smith if one exists. I have not been able to find a signature sample of this Kiyomitsu. Smith database just keeps saying no such smith. In fairness I could be using it wrong... Perhaps anyone has link to sample signature? Edit, this must be a total gimei, the nakago jiri of the Kiyomitsus I have found are really sharp and defined, nothing like this... Oh well...