Spartancrest

I am sorry I can't give an opinion on whether the tsuba are Ko -Nara but I have dredged up two additional images - one a very close match to yours and an older grainy image close to the other example. Perhaps the images may be of some use.

Bob try this link and attachment https://www.jauce.com/auction/e443156025 This tray is in coloured iron and was made by one of the 'nambu-tekki' companies.

Robert there is another interpretation of rats and rice : "Prosperity implied by absence" "Since ancient times there has been a belief that a house with rats must be wealthy. After all only the wealthy had excess food that the rats could eat. The very poor peasants had no excess food and hence no rats! It developed that the theme of rats (or mice) rummaging through the rice sacks meant prosperity even though no obvious display of wealth was portrayed." As you have said the guard must have started out as Tachi otherwise the design makes no sense with the mouse hanging upside down relative to the blade edge, correct me if I am wrong but tachi koshirae did not incorporate kozuka or kogai so the hitsu-ana must have been added at a later date to fit a Katana. Is this similar to the winnowing basket ornament your mother had? [this one is mine I purchased recently from Japan]

Regards no.72 has anyone noticed the starving condition of these animals - is this deliberate? Perhaps showing that in order for the farmers prosperity something has to suffer?

Yes aggressive miniature versions of Bull ants [40mm] - sting like a wasp and they keep stinging. Caused at least four deaths between 1980 - 2000. Big mandibles but the stinger is in the tail, Jack Jumper size: 12 to 14 mm (0.47 to 0.55 in) They can jump 10cm repeatedly when defending themselves. Ants and more ants - https://www.jauce.com/auction/g535098108

Can you believe it John, there are people who have never seen a Cyberman? What next, are Daleks just figments of our imagination ? -- I don't think so! EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE

Here in Tassie we have just set up a new Basketball team called the Jack-Jumpers [based on our rather nasty ant species] Imagine my surprise at this tsuba ! https://www.jauce.com/auction/w482203685 similar or what? [it was either the Jack-Jumper logo or Cyberman!]

And another https://www.jauce.com/auction/x786125475

Hi Yas don't give up - [ Who would I talk to! ] We would all rush out and buy junk like this - https://www.jauce.com/auction/b563922550 just because it has a Ghost and a skull on it!

I think this is the quality to make into a belt buckle! https://www.jauce.com/auction/o485879879

Wow that is beautiful!

I think it is made by the same people who make these modern 'replicas' https://www.jauce.com/user/dj2hmyuc you will notice the similarity of the raised rims. These are regularly released in various patterns harking back to very early designs.

You might find that the 'black' rust will protect the blade from destructive 'red' rust - that's one reason most tsuba are the colour they are. A black blade is better than no blade.

Thank you all, Pietro is not far off the mark - It cost me $75 AUD. Plus no shipping which is very unusual. It was bought on a Sunday from a little old lady in a country village, who was surprised anyone would pay so much for an old piece of metal - sounds like a fairytale For those who haven't seen this particular fairytale take a few minutes to read this wonderful nostalgic story. http://www.tsukamaki.net/PDF/gary_montgomery01.pdf

Paul Having it in hand it is easy to see the tool work around the seppa-dai and the weight and colour [something that often does not come across well in pictures] I have noticed in the past some people dismiss a lot of images as being castings, so it was more of a heads up that it isn't - don't worry seen many that are, even bought a few!

Sorry I meant to put the dimensions = 75mm x 70mm x 4.5mm There is some wear on the flower heads.

I spent the day going to a well known market here in Tassie - Evandale near Launceston - not much there really but just by chance I visited a little Antique shop in the town - and hit the Jackpot! I haven't found a tsuba in an actual Antique shop in nearly forty years, but today I found a genuine shakudo piece with gold chrysanthemums on both sides. Have a guess what I had to pay - [no it is not cast, don't even go there ]

Thanks Richard - I think we often forget that these pieces were owned over centuries and were sometimes modified for fashion or practicality. It is sometimes possible to gild the lily and make 'improvements'. [even though as Bob has pointed out the 'improvements' are beginning to fall out!]

I have two guards that I would like opinions about. The first is I 'think' Ko-Katchushi? with a Dote-mimi. The second I am wondering about the theme, is it dragon in clouds or dragon in water? I haven't seen this swirling background before.

Just a guess at the layout and texture, I would say 'cobblestones' 石畳 Ishidatami

There are many gourds grown in Japan - each has slightly different leaf patterns. This example is of a 'Bottle gourd'

One here with gold 'ume' https://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/store/tsuba-%26-kodogu/h371-iron-tsuba-signed-umetada-holbrook#

Yes Curran, Gonse mentions the gold inlay - wish I could find a clear picture. Like everyone else, Gonse got some things wrong, Dragonflies don't fly at night [ Just the same as the opening scene in 'Men in Black' -WRONG ] For those unfamiliar with Gonse he was an early (Western) authority on Japanese art including Swords but mainly Tosogu - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Gonse he wrote extensively [unfortunately for me at least - in French!] [The Countess Annie De Montaigu, took all her illustrations and information from Gonse] Sorry for drifting off topic

I don't have much in the way of information on the 'UME' other than a few roughly 130 year old images. Regardless of their age the two extracts from the accompanying texts speak with great regard to Umetada's works. Japanese ART by Louis Gonse translated from French by M. P. Nickerson. (1891) SWORD MOUNTINGS. The seventeenth century marks the apogee of iron work, as it marks also that of many other branches of art. The name of Umetada throws upon this period all the splendor of his genial talent. One must not confound this Umetada, who was from the province of Owari, with Umetada Miojiu, of Tamashiro, a maker of sword blades. Umetada the chaser signed his work with the plum flower (ume) and the character "tada." Of all metal work in Japan, his is most sought for. He was born in the latter part of the sixteenth century, and worked during the "nengo" of Kuanyei (1624-1643). Two most perfect examples of his style, celebrated throughout Japan, having the signature of this great artist, are now found in a Parisian collection. On one of these pieces dragon-flies, with the fierce look of creatures of the night, are engraved in low relief; they decorate the two sides, and extend upon the outside border, which is ornamented with a beautiful fret design. The plum-tree flower is inlaid with gold above the signature. On the other piece Umetada has expressed, with wonderful art, a sketch in the style of Yeyas. It represents a horse at liberty on the prairie, his mane flowing in the wind. The illusion of the painting is rendered by open work upon metal of varying thickness. Two qualities are found united in Umetada: finished skill in execution and originality of style. His works are so original that they are easily recognized among all others. His taste was for work of a quiet and manly character. He excelled in the chasing of iron without incrustations. He employed metal of extraordinary hardness. When one strikes one of Umetada's sword guards, holding it at the end of the finger, it sounds like a crystal bell. I will here remark that fine iron sword guards are distinguished by the purity of their sound. The more ancient a guard is, the more clear and high is its sound. This quality of sound results from the perfect state of homogeneity and density of the metal, resulting from continued hammering before the work of chasing began. THE SWORD OF Japan AND IT'S ORNAMENTS by THE COUNTESS ANNIE DE MONTAIGU Illustrations from notable examples of ancient sword-guards. Source: The Monthly Illustrator, Vol. 4, No. 13 (May, 1895). Outemada [Modern-Umetada] was also an able exponent of the school of metal-workers, and devoted his talents to the manufacture of tsuba; he was of a sombre turn of thought, and his works are characterized by their strange and grotesque forms, but are always notable in execution. Two pieces by this grandest artist of a past type celebrated in Japan, were found some time ago in a Parisian collection. One of these is ornamented with dragon-flies, in their wild, nocturnal aspect, hollowed out of the metal and curved over the border of the guard. In the other he represents, with remarkable art, a brush-like sketch; it is of a horse at liberty in the field, with his mane flying in the wind. All of his work is highly original, and as he employed the hardest metals they possess an almost everlasting durability.