sabi

Dimensions? I'm familiar with the "pines in the distance" sukashi seen on this design. My question is, did yagyu smiths make solid plate tsuba?

I second this. There is an eBay seller that lists stuff like this all the time. Most are labeled dai tsuba.

Just lovely, thank you very much for sharing. It kills me that I'm fortunate enough to be very close to where you run the class, but don't have the financial means to attend. I'm sure there are plenty here who have the opposite problem! Maybe next year...

Great thread, hopefully it keeps going. I'll add mine, I only have a couple pieces, but this one, my first tsuba is my favorite. Momoyama period Owari sukashi in the design of a spider web. Note the spider carved on the shakudo plug. These shots best display it's true patina.

I now have a copy in the mail. :D Is there a tsuba anonymous or smiliar program that I can check myself into?

Thank you very much, David. That covers all of my interests and then some! As I planto stick to old iron for the forseeable future, I'm sure it'll keep me busy for awhile!

Very helpful gentleman, thank you. David, I know exactly what you're trying to say, much appreciated. I think the second book may be more useful for my area of study. Just to make sure I'm not missing anything, would you mind giving a quick rundown of which schools are covered in the silver book?

Is there a lot of repitition between the two? If I picked one up now would it still be worth the price tag to grab the other?

Hey Marius! Hope you're having a good one dude! I'm completely OK with that. I didn't purchase it because of the Owari tag, that would be silly. I only posted it with that attribution because it's from a collector that knows a lot more than I do. Would you mind specifying why you hold that opinion? I plan on sticking to old iron and I'm always eager to hear what others have to say. So far, you haven't gone past the seppa dai and hitsu ana, which don't throw up any flags based on what I have read. I'd love to know what you see in this, spread the love, brotha! From my research, I think it ticks a lot of the boxes. The purplish patina, thickness, rim shape, surface, boldness and tekkotsu are all characteristics of Owari from what I know, but who the hell am I, right? Again, I'm not concerned about the "reputation" regarding its origin. Either way it's a fantastic piece in wonderful condition and I want to explore its every detail. I completely agree with you about its rustic flavor, which also drew me to it. I find more personality in such pieces than I do with the more refined styles of the capital, for example. I would love it if some unknown artist far off the grid banged this thing out.

Some more pics that help shed some light on its construction. I also thought that they would serve as a nice reference. These appear to be evidence of folding from what I know but please correct me if I'm wrong. Not sure if this is of any significance but they are directly oopposite of each other; one at three o'clock, the other at nine. Thoughts??

Are you a BladeForums member? I only ask because your name looks familiar and I'm friends with a traditional maker who is also on there. He would probably be able to give you a solid answer on this. If not, Stuart Branson seems like the kind of guy that would know this, but I don't him that well...

Gotta say I'm stumpted. I have a ton of custom knife experience and can usually identify woods but not in this case. Whatever it is, it's gorgeous.

I had originally planned on submitting it for papers. Now I'm thinking I may just hang on to that extra $$ and put it towards another piece or some books. We'll see... Probably won't be able to make it down to Philly. October is a busy month this year family wise and I can't see being able to fit the show in there. I could always drop it in the mail for you to spend some quality time with it.

Fair enough, Marius My comparison to kyo was just based on the fact that they share qualities with owari tsuba of the same period and that it can be a challenge to tell between the two.

Thanks Marius! I've certainly over many pieces that you've posted. I think the seppa dai is too broad and short to be kyo sukashi. The hitsu ana are also very standard unlike the elongated kyo sukashi counterparts. Haynes/long specify full oval seppa dai beginning late muromachi. Thats not getting into the iron and overall aesthetic, which both scream owari to my eye. I actually saw the one on eBay after purchasing mine. The "Higo" piece lacks boldness, depth and feels a bit flat compared to the owari. The seppa dai was also done a bit lazily IMO. It's connected to the web instead of "floating" and I think it detracts from the overall look quite a bit.

Don't worry, not planning on removing them at all. Just curious as to the history, reasoning and methods behind them. Heres a shot of the edge, it shows suble tekkotsu all the way around. This was the best shot I could get for now, sun is starting to set here.

Antti, thank you my friend. You have been very helpful in my early stages. You were the first to reach out to me to help and I am deeply ggrateful for that. I put that picture last in the sequence for a reason, it was my favorite too :D Kevin, I honestly did not know that! Makes perfect sense though, i just simply didnt give any thought as to how they are fixed in there. If that were the case I would assume some punch work would knock them right out. I also hadnt considered them being part of the design from the start. I had just assumed this started as a plain spider web sukashi and whoever plugged it decided to add the spider. Unfortunately I don't think we'll ever know for sure!

Hello all! Hope everyone in the US is off to a fantastic start on their Labor Day weekend and happy Saturday to the rest of the World! I just picked up this plate and I'd love to share discuss with the board. It's given to Owari, Momoyama period. Measures 8 x 8.2 cm, .5 cm thick at the mimi and .48 cm thick at the nakago ana. Nakago ana measures .75 x 2.7 cm. It's been a fantastic piece to study already. The bold and strong design drew me to it and has been a pleasure to admire. I've started diving into the details one by one, using published examples as references to learn everything there is to know about it. That has led me to a couple questions, I was hoping this could spark some discussion as there is probably no right or wrong answer. Both seem pretty subjective from what I have read so far. First, the patina. This piece displays the textbook purple tint of the Qwari (and some others). I was wondering if anyone had come across a theory on how this was achieved. Was it a property of the iron itself? If so, what? Could it be a product of heat treat? If so, how? Perhaps there isn't a straightforward answer, I just haven't found so much as an opinion on it. I've seen a lot of metal in my life (custom knives preceded this hobby) but nothing quite like this, it has certainly sparked my interest. Second, the kogai hitsu ana. There seems to be two of them. Now, I've done a bit of reading on this and opinions are widely scattered. Some think that carrying two kogai was not too far fetched as it was a general utility tool. Guess it couldn't hurt to have two! Others think that the shape has little to do with what was actually mounted in this case, and that a kozuka could easily be made to fit inside of a kogai-shaped ana. But, why go through the trouble of making the second one lobed? Aesthetic purposes to keep the symmetrical design intact? Another touch on the hitsu ana. They have been wonderfully plugged in this case. I'm assuming whoever did them was also the one who carved the spider, but that's obviously just a guess. My other question is why plug them at all? If it were being mounted on a different koshirae that didn't accept the accessories, why not just leave it as is? That way you could keep the possibility open to utilize them in the future. I haven't researched it but I'm guessing that once you plug them, that's it. Seems like it would be tough to remove them without damaging the plate, especially given the tight fit of these. If there was a way to remove them I'd love to hear about it! Last we have the pics. Cell phone shots are the best I can give you but they do give an honest look at it. What you see is awfully close how it looks in hand. I have included a couple of different angles and lighting changes to show both its "normal" look as well as the different undertones. Hope you guys enjoy it! Any and all discussion is graciously appreciated.

Agree with both of your statements. It's a lovely piece.

Fabulous composition here. Looks like the view you would get if you stuck your head into a cloud of blossoms.

It certainly has the look. Thickness and size are in the wheelhouse as is the rim shape. If it is a true heianjo i would guess it's later on. i could be wrong but from here it seems to lack the finesse of the earlier pieces. It could also be a mass produced look-alike but i don't know enough to be able to pin that down.

This gets my vote. You can still see heavier corrosion around the seppa dai where it is much lighter everywhere else. I guess it could be that new oxidation formed after the patina was stripped or it could be that it went deep to begin with and was never completely removed.

Love this piece. No idea about its origins though. The contouring around the hitsu ana is just gorgeous and the overall aesthetic has tons of flow.

Agree, shape looks right, surface texture and stamping are also spot on.

That skull tsuba is incredible. Any idea what the inscription says?