zanilu

Thank you Moriyama san. Much appreciated. Regards Luca

Dear All I am trying to translate the mei on this tsuba Heianjo zogan tsuba and the last part of its hakogaki: What I have translated so far of the hakogaki is: 無銘 (平安城) 室町時代 ??? Mumei (Heianjo) Muromachi Jidai ??? Even though the hakogaki say mumei there is a faint mei on the tsuba: The last kanji could be saku (作) but the previous are completely eluding me. Can any of you help me identifying the missing one? Thank you in advance for all your help. All the best Luca

Thank you Bob for sharing such a wonderful collection! Each piece a masterwork! Regards Luca

I do not like the personal turn this discussion is taking... Usually if you go from quite discussion and reasoning to a personal attack this does not put you in a good light. This said in this thread I have seen no proof about cast iron tsuba that will stand a peer review in the achademic and scientific sense of the term. The original iphothesis has been assumed right and then all the efforts have been put in proving it right regardless of the objections and counter reasoning. Unfortunately this is most of the case in our hobby since not much scientific publication are devoted to it. We can at most propose educated guesses and deduction that cannot be proven or disproven. The opinion of Ford is not equivalent to a scientific proof, but considering his experience and that he has probably seen more extremely high end tusba in his life than all of us put together, it has an enormous weight. Regards Luca

Thank you Bazza. I will look into Unno Shomin school. As you said the menuki on Legacy Art are another level of quality compared to mine. Regards Luca

FT-0021 Nioi shakudo menuki Dimensions 31.8 mm x 14.5 mm x 4.4 mm and 32.4 mm x 14.8 mm x 5.0 mm.

FT-0045 Dragon shakudo menuki Dimensions 100.5 mm x 17.3 mm x 6.9 mm and 101.5 mm x 19.1 mm x 7.0 mm.

FT-0025 Iron tsuba mumei. Dimensions 83.7 mm x 76.6 mm, thickness 5.7 mm at seppa-dai, 3.6 mm at mimi.

FT-0018 Menuki dimensions 59.9 mm x 15.0 mm, thk 5.4 mm and 61.2 mm x 14.0 mm x 4.1 mm.

Dear all Another bunch of dragon in the cloud for your assessment. Any consideration from your side is welcome. Regards Luca FT-0013 Iron tsuba mumei. Dimensions 67.9 mm x 64.0 mm, thickness 3.1 mm at seppa-dai, 3.1 mm at mimi.

Hi Here are two from my collection bought in the beginning in my dragon phase. Average to low quality: Signed Yamashiro no kuni Nishijin ju Umetada. Dimensions 70 mm x 68 mm, 5 mm thickness at mimi. musei. Dimensions 77 mm x 77 mm, thickness at mimi 4 mm. Regards Luca

Here is the picture from the Carlo Monzino collection catalog: the description has already been provided by @Geraint. The picture from the catalog does not make justice of this stunning piece... How many pieces we let go due to poor catalog or seller pictures? Just wondering... A question for @Bob M., has this piece been restored or repatineted? The colors are completely different between your pictures and the catalog. Regards Luca

Yes Dale it could be. I had the same feeling. The filling material looks like lead to me. I have a nicer tsuba that I think could be classified as Washida that has a similar hole but not filled. Regards Luca

Thank you Dale. As usual we can trust you will come up with a lot of info! Regard Luca

Thank you Brian This is one of my earliest acquisitions, my dragon period I would say. Since then my interest drifted somewhere else. My knowledge of Tetsugendo school is limited. Regards Luca

FT-0008 Iron tsuba signed ??ken Eiju with kakihan. Dimensions 69.3 mm x 66.4 mm, thickness 4.5 mm at seppa-dai, 3.8 mm at mimi. Considering the quality and comparing the mei with a papered example I provisionally classified it as gimei Tetsugendo. What is your opinion? Regards Luca

Ciao Mauro. I stand corrected for the kanji. I had the same idea about Hizen based on the hitsu Ana as you said I will also consider Higo now that you mention it. Grazie! Luca

Thank you for the clarification Steve,very informative! Regards Luca

Thanks Dale. I used exactly this criteria when deciding the spelling to use. Luca

FT-0004 Dragon in waves (nami ryū zu - 波竜図) Tsuba Jū-mokkogata (木瓜形), tetsu-ji (磨地), sukidashi-bori (鋤出彫), ke-bori (毛彫), kin iroe (金色絵), maru-mimi (丸耳), ryō-hitsuana (両櫃孔). Dimensions: 80.3 mm x 75.4 mm. Thikness 3.9 mm at seppa dai, 3.4 at mimi. Material: Iron Is Jū-mokkogata (木瓜形) is right or it is better kikku-gata (菊花形)? Regards Luca

Dear All I am in the process of revising my collection catalog and I have just realized ho indiscriminate I was at the beginning of my collecting career in acquiring pieces. Initially I bought what I liked with little discerning... I would like to have your help in classifying some of my earlier acquisitions. Following is the first one. I will add later others as going though the collection I have doubts about them. Please feel free to give your guess and comments. If possible please also justify the attribution to make the thread as instructive as possible Regards Luca

Really outstanding Marco! Well done! Regards Luca

Thank you Steve much appreciated! Regards Luca

Dear All I am struggling with the translation of this line on a truba NBTHK paper. 鋤残土手金泥塗耳 The last four kanji should be read 金泥塗耳 Kin Doro Nuri Mimi Gold Painted Edge Dote (土手) is clear the first two (鋤残) are a difficult. Can you help me out? Can you also give me the exact pronunciation of the whole sentence? Google translator gives me something of the kind "Suki zan dote-kin doromami mimi". This is the tsuba paper: Thank you in advance for your help. Regards Luca

I had finally found some time to look properly at the my new tsuba and I have to say that it is a very fine specimen. I have to develop a taste for old iron and this is the first step... Let's see how it goes. Steve was very responsive to my requests. It was a pleasure to deal with him. Regards Luca