Isocyanide

Geraint. My goal is to mount these menuki together with the f/k. I still need a tsuba and perhaps a kozuka. But this is what I was trying to describe with the pose: I'd say most Goto shishi menuki I have seen the closed mouthed dog looks like this one, where the head is turned back on the body. The menuki I have it is in a pose I haven't seen before, and I actually like it much better. Thanks Brian! I thought I did my due diligence before making the purchase, but it's in my nature to second guess myself. Like you said I was drawn to the level of detail and liked how the inlaid eyes matched the f/k I have.

I picked up the following shakudo menuki, which I think match really well with the Goto Etsujo fuchi kashira I bought not long ago. They also appear to be in the Goto style, I'm thinking perhaps Waki Goto. I've looked at a ton of shishi themed menuki and I can't find any that look exactly the same. The opened mouth dog looks normal, but typically the closed mouthed dog is looking back on itself. Was wondering if people more experienced could weigh in with their thoughts. I'm fully prepared for any cast copy ridicule. Steve

LMAO that made my morning!

Sugata is mid-Nambokucho. Bohi with soehi + Nanbohucko = Bizen. Looks very similar to some works I've seen by Bizen Kanemitsu. edit: Flipped a couple pages in the Bizen Chapter of the Connoisseur's book and Omiya school also sounds probable as well, very similar to Kanemitsu.

I might have bought it

Jason, that's a good sword from 4th gen Tadayoshi. If you are intestered in the school Aoi has one that is Hizen Tadayoshi perfection for a similar price: http://www.sword-auction.jp/english/auction.cgi?acc=disp&no=1440892440&t=1213703271 In my opinion it's a Nidai dai-saku mei, made by the Sandai Tadayoshi who is arguably the best of the school. You're able to tell by the deep katte-agari yasurime. Based on the mei I believe the sword was made around 1672 the same year as the wakizashi I have. The right foot of 'Dai' is smoothed out and not angled. The vertical stroke in 'Tada' is centered and not slanted, which he started doing in 1674. I almost feel bad for Nidai, I keep seeing swords made by his son being called the best of his work... I'm not an expert though and could be wrong, but it is an amazing sword regardless.

Sorry Guido I understood what you were meaning, I should have constructed my statement better to reflect that. I was actually thinking about buying these f/k from Aoi art, but someone beat me to it, I just remembered they have TH papers and was stating so.

These f/k already had Tokubetsu hozon, I don't think the owner has to worry about papers.

I was interested in some items until I saw their payment methods...

They arrived today (I love EMS!). The level of detail once in hand is amazing, I'm very pleased.

Very nice. I really like that wave themed koshirae in Thomas's picture.

Based on the NBTHK fee page it appears if it fails Hozon with the dual submission you pay the same as it failing Hozon ¥7000. Though if it passes Hozon and and fails Tokubetsu you pay for Hozon and the Tokubetsu failure fee (¥24000 total). Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks David, I'm going to go for the dual submission.

That's it Pete, thanks. I'm thinking of getting these papered by the NBTHK. Based on the workmanship I think they should get Hozon, but I'm not sure if I should try for Tokubetsu Hozon or not, this would be my first submission.

Thanks Ian, looks like a negative on Teijo. I'm getting Goto Etsuno (kao) out of google translate. So it should be Goto Etsujo. A NBTHK papered kozuka with a similar mei: http://www.seiyudo.com/ko-080513.htm

Thanks Stephen!

I purchased the following shi shi themed fuchi kashira. They are currently being shipped from Japan so these are the sellers pictures, I'll see what they actually look like soon. I really liked how the kashira is formed by the two shishi embracing, very cool design. From my research these seem consistent with the Goto school. If anyone would care to confirm or suggest which school these belong to. I'm waiting on my brother who lives in Kyoto and his history teacher friend to get back to me on the mei. I was wondering if anyone had any comments on the mei. The seller has 後藤悦乗. Goto Teijo?? Thanks.

Started reading. It's very interesting, thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the response Henry. Yeah it's not exactly a Steller's but to me it appears that was their intent. I have seen very few tsuba depicting birds that are exactly accurate, this one is at least pretty close. I forgot they also winter in Korea. Quite possible the Japanese observed them during their failed invasion of Korea in the late 1500s. I'm still debating the tsuba size issue, my wakizashi is very thick. I have a 6.8 cm x 6.5 cm tsuba and it's tiny on it, only fits up about 2/3 up the nakago. Even if the nakago-ana was larger it'd look way too small.

So I came across this tsuba: http://www.seiyudo.com/tu-270515.htm A photo that I took of the bird for comparison. It depicts a Steller's Sea-Eagle next to...well the sea. This interests me since I'm a serious birder and was in Hokkaido last March and was able to witness the scene depicted on the tsuba first hand. During the winter months Steller's follow the ice pack and a large number of them are found in Northeastern Hokkaido in the winter, namely around Rausu, Cape Notsuke and Nemuro. Very, very rarely are they found south of there. So my question is how did a mainland Honshu Japanese come up with the idea for this tsuba. I'm guessing during the Edo period very few people traveled far distances, and NE Hokkaido seems highly unlikely. My other question is this mei actually Umetada? Looking through known Umetada work I'm not finding any tsuba that depict birds. And I guess the last question I have is regarding mounting tsuba to a wakizashi, is there an ideal tsuba size for the length of the blade. My wakizashi is 20.9 in. Thanks!

Most likely gimei, since like Mark said the Tadayoshi school signed katana tachi-mei. Should not be surprising I've been told up to 95% of Tadayoshi school signatures out there are gimei. I had issue with the Tada and Hiro characters as well, they are kind of large, generally they are smaller and very neat. Although, the Nidai Tadahiro lived until he was 80 and his signature, from what I've seen, did get a bit less elegant later in life. I love the lacquer on that saya!

I'd highly recommend buying the PDF of Roger Robertshaw's book on the Hizen Tadayoshi school. http://www.hizento.net/buy_book.htm It has everything you'd want to know.

Holy necro Batman.

That's too bad! Gorgeous nihonto, I had to clean the drool off my keyboard this morning.

You cut down an enemy before you returned it to it's saya right?