Spartancrest

The hitsu shape is popular it seems, this one is plain Iron with no added decoration. https://www.jauce.com/auction/c768631453 There is an air of great age about it though.

Still working on the namban, it is developing colour but that doesn't help with the corrosion damage. Probably stands out more than when the guard was more matte?

I am sure your guard is not by the same school as this one, but you might compare the hitsu shape. http://www.shibuiswords.com/EDLshigenobu.html

Piers : Mice porters? Tsuba is from the Museum of Applied Arts (Powerhouse) https://collection.maas.museum/object/183028 [It looks like it has seen better days]

Charles: I am afraid your Horses are actually Squirrels. There is another version [utsushi] here: https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/592856738422229900/ Though to be truthful the heads on yours do look more horse-like. [Artistic license?] (Sorry to intrude, I am as far from Canada as you can get ! ) https://www.ultimform.top/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9_10&products_id=10214 This is a spurious site, so don't try buying anything from them, it is a con - but I am sure they won't mind me stealing their stolen image!!

Piers: you can get medication for that these days!

It is by no means top quality work, probably backyard made? Thomas this is the ura view - all the images in the auction are upside down. [Which always annoys me and is often an attempt to hide something.] If they were trying for the 'real' habaki look the slanting 'rain' lines should have been on the lower part of the habaki nearest the tsuba - I am no expert on habaki but that is what turns up on most visual searches. Piers a better analysis can be found here https://jnnp.bmj.com/content/64/6/795

Check this 'Christian' one - not! The design is, to my eyes at least, four stepped or double habaki set around the seppa-dai. I like it very much. Much better in fact than if it were a Christian piece. https://www.jauce.com/auction/c1022974466

Evan: You may be right - I need to count the petals! [there are a few sites that have the same design marked as Sakura, they can't count either.]

Sam, Millet was often used as a motif on sword fittings but I think in this case it is definitely corn. Corn was first introduced to Japan by the Portuguese in 1579, in Nagasaki or Shikoku, and was originally called nanban-morokoshi. Shakudo [black alloy of copper and gold] mouse. Your tsuba is a Ko-sukashi [sukashi, limited in size and in negative silhouette] with a single Sakura [Cherry blossom]. Sakura could also be a family Mon [heraldic symbol - so possibly also seen as a Mon-sukashi] the plate surface is done in Amida-yasuri [radiating lines, often known as the halo of the Amida Buddha]

David, I have to agree, I should have pointed out not to boil if there is overlay such as nunome. Inlays as opposed to overlays are not likely to be affected but don't touch the inlays/overlays with any scrapers. Omar, good idea about the tooth picks, they would be ideal for fine sukashi holes as well. Piers, I will give that formula a try on the next rusty iron guard I get - sounds too easy.

I wish I had a dollar for every dodgy one of these that turns up. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/184026335453 at ridiculous prices. US $537.90 [In fact I would have enough to buy one ten times over]

Namban or Hizen tsuba.

https://www.jauce.com/auction/t1021555062 This one has a new definition of the word 'Ubu'! $434.41 USD.

Jean, aren't the clipped ends of the curls odd on that one you posted? I like the silver inlay though.

Well my dog didn't test these ones - https://www.jauce.com/auction/q1021510626 - But someone sure did! Or were they hit by a truck! What is the going rate for scrap tosogu?

Piers, you may have found the original piece! The copies don't hold a candle to that one. Are they shakudo eyes? The one in the missing book has 'carvings' where your example does not. The ears are not nearly as well done as on your example.

I have mentioned these reproductions before but this one is gouging beyond belief. https://www.jauce.com/auction/q1021280421 I have no idea how they are made but they are mass produced and I mean on mass. The most obvious giveaway is the simulated sekigane and the tagane-ato marks on the ura side - always identical. Whether some patient production line painter colours in the images or some computer printer sprays the images on I don't know. Other examples don't even bother with the colour at all. I wish it were possible to put up "Not Wanted" posters on these they really annoy me. This sellers spiel is really ironic "Why don't you replace the Iaito tsuba with the Edo period tsuba?" That sounds good advice, but why replace a copy with a more expensive copy? $394.30 USD. There is a book out there somewhere that has an image of the same guard I would love to find the book. If you look carefully on the bottom image there is the outline of another common copied guard, four long eared rabbits running through the waves - perhaps it is a book of common fakes? https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/Japanese-tsuba-oni-and-priest-large-katana

Pippo: Never, never use steel wool - no matter how fine it will destroy any and all patina. The best thing to use is either Ivory, bone or antler to rub the active rust off, it won't damage the iron surface but readily removes the softer rust. You can buy bone or ivory awls on-line but they are expensive, if you can find a ruined old piano key they can be used if they are ivory. I make my own bone picks from cow long leg bones, boil them for a few minutes and dry them, then cut into pencil size pieces. I use a bench grinder to smooth and shape. Simply boiling the iron guard in clean water can also remove a lot of accumulated dirt and softens the rust - just make sure you dry the guard carefully afterward. You might use a soft brush or even a tooth brush to remove the dust generated when you use the bone tools, just nothing harder than soft bristles.

I realize this is an old thread but it seemed the best place to post this. Lapidary tsuba are a niche group and those other jade [nephrite] guards all seem to have a Chinese basis, even the one from the Metropolitan Museum collection. However one described as 'Agate' has turned up on auction with a definite Japanese style. https://www.jauce.com/auction/w1021112215 Though agate is usually banded it can occur as a solid colour, which this would appear to be. There is some discoloration in the nakago-ana so it would seem to have been mounted, but due to the stones nature it would be extremely difficult to judge when it was made. It is possible that it is an Edo period piece and also possible that it was made much more recently. I would note that so far all the stone tsuba are on the small 'tanto' scale and would be most suitable as a hand stop and not intended to ward off a blow from an opponent. Another Nephrite 'tsuba' is listed on ebay with once again Chinese origins. The tang hole would seem very small and I have doubts it was ever intended as a guard for a knife or sword. https://www.ebay.com/itm/174580133350

Glen they are beautiful crab designs - but they are not 'sukashi' style. I personally like the Boston designed one with the 'saya-dome-ana' in the hitsu, it doesn't require drilling holes in the plate itself - that is clever.

Roger, sorry I should have got back to you. Like Glen said whatever floats your boat. Like it or not there are two types of collector - the Curator or the Dealer [some are both]. We believe we own our purchases but really we are renting them from history - just like real estate renters there are good and bad - I can't see that a clean up after the last renter has trashed the place is a bad idea, but like the real estate renter you shouldn't go knocking holes in the walls or take out a window to make 'improvements' so to speak. Buy what appeals to you and keep them safe, you might get more out of them than just getting your bond back! Glen: Isn't it weird that people buy this modern crap when they could be part of history? Instead, opting to be contributors to the landfill generation.

No Ford, my bad photo. You are very correct about what you can find under the corrosion, it was a total surprise to me - I have recently had both eye cataracts replaced and can see things now that used to be a blur, but the original image wouldn't have made much difference. What struck me with this guard is the tiny details, so tiny in fact I can't help wondering why they bothered? I mean why go to the trouble of carving details you would be at a stretch to see in daylight with a magnifying glass? It is such a shame that the previous owner/s didn't look after it. [ not that I could have afforded it if it was pristine ]

Sorry Ford but there are no seki-gane at all on this guard, there is a niku like outline around the entire nakago-ana just as in the Christie's piece. From the rather deep tagane-ato punch marks that have definitely moved some metal into the hole, I can't see even an annealed cast iron taking the hit without cracking the whole thing. There is also a lot of undercutting and though it does not show well in the image [old digital camera] there are almost microscopic scales carved into the two dragon bodies and the masks(?) or demon faces have kebori eyebrows and some have inlaid eyes [corrosion has removed about half] I apologize for the image quality I may have to do a high resolution scan. I am not worried particularly, the thing only cost $60 because of the condition it was in and it will never be going off for Shinsa assessment. [ I read somewhere recently that they don't like doing assessments on Namban anyway.]

Björn I just came upon this old Christies auction from 2017. Not a lot of information on it sorry. You might notice the surface texture is very similar to one of yours [sorry the image was as good as I could get] https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/art-Japan-online/collection-twenty-four-tsuba-48/40285