jct3602

John, I have seen a papered daisho belonging to Blaine Navroth in which some of the work was obviously not done by the master; exactly the same theme, but the stonework in the walls of the sho was done differently; there were also other small technical differences between the dai and some of the sho, although the scene is the same on both. For example, if the buyer wants a daisho in x amount of time (deadline), and the master has x-(some period of time), does he tell the buyer that he can not do it? In a perfect world, yes; in reality, he has his best student do some of the work on the sho. The buyer is always right. Art is great, but it was done to put rice on the table. So, is a daisho in which some of the work on one piece is not done by the master still a daisho? Just a thought. Blaine just told me he has 3 other daisho in which the pieces were made at different times, 2 of those in which the sho was made later by different makers; one papered with a 72. My own opinion is that my pair are not a daisho; just a fortunate acquisition of two nice tsuba. Would have been great to hear a shinsa team"s opinion; second question, is if presented as a daisho, and rejected as a daisho, would they have said resubmit the individual tsuba, or would they have made some comment on the authenticity of the tsuba in the pink? paper. Two more comparison pictures showing small differences by stacking. john

Quite true, which is why the question mark. However, if you had a 62 cm katana and a 56 cm wakazashi, how different in size should the tsuba be? I was skeptical also; these are probably both from the same pattern book, though by different producers; they are virtually identical in overall size, the small open areas are different in size on the two. At a shinsa, if presented as a daisho, do you feel that it would be bounced? Sadly, the Burlingame Shinsa was cancelled; I was going to find out; well someday later (hopefully). Thanks; John

An unexpected daisho. Thoughts?

I presented it to the board first; before the show; did not agree with Ford, etc. but kept my mouth shut. I am willing to believe I could be in error; figured Brian Tschernega, Robson (an NTHK judge), and Markus Sesko were a reasonably competent group to show it to in person. I talked in the bar to Haynes, but that was Thursday night before set-up. If I had had it with me then I would have shown it to him. Also was going to show it to Yoshindo, who is making some great tiny tsuba, etc., but he left early on Saturday. Some of you may know Blaine Navroth, Stephen Strauch, and Michael Bell, each of whom have been deeply involved in Japanese swords and furniture, for longer than those of you younger than 55 have been alive; they had the same opinion as the 1st 3 gentleman i mentioned. No one gave me a negative opinion; not one that had it hand. However, this board supposedly is for scholarly discussion, not ego; sadly it does not always rise to that level. Sterile technique seems to be valued over art; the cave paintings in France would be dismissed by this board as crude, since they were done probably by charcoals in firelight. john twineham

Henry, thank you for the reference! Had not thought of wikipedia, but the description of elegance in the article is quite appropriate. Have only had it for a couple of days, but I can see where the simplicity, strength, and flowing curvature would have influenced Higo tsuba. A pleasure to look at it; a "gift that keeps on giving". john twineham

John, Thank you! john twineham

Hi George: That is what Markus Sesko also thought at first: the blow up pictures are to illustrate. His original thought was perspective as was yours, however , the carving goes all the way down to the base material. Date Masamune was known as the "one eyed dragon of Oshu"; he supposedly did not even wear a patch in battle. He went blind in his right eye from infection around age 5 or 6, and supposedly plucked out his blind orb or had one of his samurai pluck it out, so it could not be grabbed in battle (around 18-22?) Anyway, I could be easily wrong; but an interesting theory/possibility. Yours, John Twineham

Hi Jeremiah - no, a mercury amalgam with gold; probably the most common way to "paint" with gold coloration, but I am no authority on jeweler's arts; ask Ford. Have been told it can be dangerous, with mercury being toxic. A few more pictures; 224125 is from the kashira, a poor photo hugely enhanced of the dragon eyes, the other 3 of the fuchi, one extremely enhanced of the eyes. Both to demonstrate the socket Yours, john twineham

The dealer, who I have known for years at the San Francisco Token Kai, specializes in Tsuba (at incredible prices, I might add), thought it was a mid or late Muromachi Shoami when i bought it from him. At the price (including a custom box with carved cushion and perfect nakago ana support), was so absurdly low that it did not matter at all, whatever it is, for the quality, even without the box, and usually crappy pieces do not have $200 boxes. Now do I get to know??? Thank You! John Twineham .

dimensions were 7.98 cm x 7.54 cm. .71 cm thick on edges. Thank You, John twineham

Hope these pictures will be sufficient for some posters to help me with some information! Sometimes sending pictures from my cellphone to my computer seem to rotate them back to original orientation, even when I supposedly saved them after rotating to the edge up, so my apologies in advance for poor orientation. Thank You! john twineham

Thanks Steven! Appreciate your input very much (i also thought it was Chinese when I first saw it on the internet; Blaine Navroth said buy it!), i added the motif interpretation post as a side-light. john twineham

Also, the motif is Date Masamune: a one-eyed dragon missing the right eye, without a patch, on both the fuchi and kashira (closed eyes or missing in dragons tends to be left (non-dominant eye), and/or the inside eye from what i have seen; this is the right eye and outside eye). Markus had the opinion that motif was accurate. john twineham

Hmmm - fake; not the opinion of Brian Tschernega, Robson, or Markus, shown to them in hand at Token kai in Burlingame last week. Also Blaine Navroth, Stephen Strauch, and Michael Bell. Robson says possibly Mito; all others said hobbiest Samurai. The gold slop was some dealer trying to touch up gold; the underlying gold is heavy foil. Has 95% positive nanako; one area has reverse (indented); obviously not standard. Waves were probably overhead punch chisel, then finished with chiselling; once again nonstandard. john twineham

New acquisition, already shipped and arriving in a day or two. Wonder how it will look with a bit of super gentle soap and some water. Looks like may have had some damage, but pretty flashy -I like the waves on the kashira spilling down the sides and the construction of the lines of the interior of the waves on the fuchi. Any thoughts on possible artist/school would be appreciated to guide research. Thank you, John Twineham

Thanks to all, and SteveM especially. The blade also had a tsunagi and full set of mounts, although i have no memory of what the koshirae looked like. Was interesting in that it was the only Inoue Shinkai katana I have heard of that had a horimono. Given the amount it sold for, it was either genuine or a very expensive fake. yours, john twineham

Sold by father back to Japan through John Yumoto around 1964-65. Would like to know the details of the paper; know the signature is Kunisada 2 (Inoue Shinkai), but am interested in length, etc. Any information would be appreciated. Sorry for the orientation; flipped it 90 degrees and it still insisted on laying out this way. yours, john twineham

My father sold an Inoue Shinkai katana back to Japan through John Yumoto in the mid 1960s for 6500$ (do not know gross or net). Was originally papered in 1948 by Hakusai Inami. It has a Fudo myo horimono (could have been added later). Has never shown up since, so was either treasured or a fake. My father only got it out of Japan after the war because of a legal nuance. If anyone is interested, I will take a picture of the paper and post it. john twineham

Any thoughts? Just acquired; I like them (obviously, since I bought them) but every individual has their own opinion. 2 different lights and background. john twineham

Am interested in any thoughts about the alloy in this fuchi. Silver, Gold, copper, etc. Any thoughts on %s? Will be able to do some testing on it in a week or two; just curious looking at the pictures where the alloy color fits. yours, john Twineham

Thank you all! Here are some pictures of the edge of the tsuba; perhaps they would show some indication of whether the tsuba was originally a different shape. I have been told that when a daimyo or samurai visited the shogun, a wakizashi was the longest blade they could bring into the palace, and it had to be set aside, allowing only a tanto to be carried on the person. Perhaps this shape, as opposed to round, allowed the wakizashi to sit in a stable position. yours, john twineham

Hello All: Just picked this up, and would appreciate any information/thoughts about it. Yours, john twineham

Thank you, Peter! The markings on the right of the Yoshiteru piece are something like "made by"? It is a nice piece, enclosing pictures Thanks. john twineham

Hi all: 2 fuchi; one i changed coloring and pop to try to make it easier to read. Any assistance would be appreciated. yours. john twineham

The other fuchi are ones I have, just to show comparative thickness of the thin hoop. Yours, John