Spartancrest

Updating this post, I now have images of 42 distinct 'Rain' Dragons the majority of which have the lower left [omote side] curled leg [tendril?] facing to the right. There are a small number where this curl is to the left, the numbers work out roughly as 10% are done this way. It strikes me that some makers must have strayed from the 'original' pattern - but that is part of the notion of utsushi where the emulator puts a little of his own style into the design. A recent addition to my database is even further from the pattern with a distinctly different head and less 'legs', the final curl going to the left. https://www.jauce.com/auction/b544415096

Another factory produced cast tsuba - with its original cardboard box! https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Flange/203293794720 I like the box, never been a fan of the design of this trinket, there are endless numbers of them - many genuine but for me - - unattractive.

I can't help but notice the loss of three mon on that first guard, two on the omote and one on the ura. The other mon look likely to fall off as well given the edge damage around each of the remaining ones. Any moisture will lift them.

Good workmanship, do you intend to make the top pillows as well? The pillows are the most often lost items, whenever I purchase a box - there is probably a market for them on their own. Great to see good craftsmanship. Thoughts on doing daisho boxes?

Would a self respecting samurai have such a thing on his most prized possession? [or second most prized possession] https://www.jauce.com/auction/t794799013 the quality is low and I don't think even the participants are enjoying it . There was a discussion back in 2012 , some of the links are now dead. https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/9489-and-now-for-something-completely-different-menuki/

Yas I have to cross a lot of water to get to the Great Victoria desert, I get plenty of rust right here from all the rain we get in Tasmania! Did you know the size of the G.V. desert? = 422,466 km² - That is larger than the whole of Japan! = 377,915 km² As my dear old father used to say "Australia - plenty of room"

I see these listed every week, it is sort of funny when you check what other items some of these dealers are selling , you get a large number of the same type of fake - https://www.jauce.com/user/dj2hmyuc You would think the dealers would try and conceal the truth a bit better. Why would anyone pay 60,000 yen for a brand new factory made reproduction? https://www.jauce.com/auction/w448836534 As Yas has shown it is far from unique. While ever there are people out there that will pay large sums of money, others will gladly go to the trouble to 'supply'.

I found this guard of the same design, though in a simple maru shape sold by Christies in 2007 https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-three-bushu-tsuba-a-choshu-tsuba-a-4870264 SUNAGAWA MASAYOSHI - The auction description as -" helmets, armor and roof tiles" would be overstating the roof tiles as there are none. Korean armour and horse equipment would be my guess. Another same as the original posted example but this time with a partial signature as with the maru piece. http://world.seiyudo.com/product/tu-040519/ 75.8 mm x 72.9 mm x 4.6 mm Weight: 110G - must have been a popular design. The original guard appeared back in 2013 [Warning, one member has passed on since then ]

Well there is a big bonus issue of fake tsuba going up for auction - you could save a lot of money by bulk purchase of junk! One helpful thing is we now have a reference for what not to buy in the future! https://www.jauce.com/auction/n494240434 https://www.jauce.com/auction/f498316558 https://www.jauce.com/auction/m470906707 https://www.jauce.com/auction/k535155603

Just a short update on a design from the Chösen Gafu book, the design is of two iron workers pliers [found at the top of page 11] a tsuba from the collection of Georg Oeder [no. 376a/b] shows two pliers of different sizes laid out in a more artistic way. Was just wondering, is this just a coincidence ? Steven King sent me a link to a tsuba with a Tanuki looking at the moon, there are several similar designs in the book - but this one has been to Weightwatchers and is not as 'rotund' as shown in the collage.

Yas that is a great Blog site, thanks for the link. It is odd that the really good examples have no mei, it is something to look out for.

These reproductions seem to be very numerous, they come in various colours and the quality of the casting varies - but they are not genuine tsuba. https://www.jauce.com/auction/n491403321 It is very common for the facial features to be worn away due to the soft metal alloys used. This last example is a handmade utsushi , you may note there is no signature, but the detailing and hand carving is evident.

I agree with Björn, a museum defacing an art work with a permanent stamped in number? Any ideas on which museum would do that? There are numerous examples of painted on catalogue numbers, but paint can be removed. Also how did a museum piece get on the open market? [I know the Metropolitan Museum of Art sold off a large number of excellent tosogu back in March 2006, but none of their items were marked in this way]

I was looking through my books on the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford and found they have a guard by Namitoshi EA1956.2061 almost identical to Tony's original post. https://collections.ashmolean.org/object/367338

Mauro, thanks for that information. I don't think it will stay at a low price for long - my budget is empty as well! Isn't it always the way when a bargain comes along, you still don't have the money,

This guard has just been listed for sale - what are your thoughts? https://www.jauce.com/auction/l659192492

Jean how is your Swedish? Bjorn is doing well enough with his translations to get his message out. Bjorn the tsuba looks in overall good shape you can remove the rust with bone, antler or ivory [old piano key] if the colour worries you a relatively easy method is to heat the iron just enough to be too hot to hold in the hand and using a soft cotton cloth rub gently - now if you want chemicals use some saliva on the cloth, The ptyalin in the saliva reacts with the metal to darken the iron - its natural always with you and causes no harm. I am also sure that the Japanese likely used the same technique but it's not talked about [you know tsuba has at least three meanings? Guard, Brim and Saliva - there is probably a clue there.] The fuchi would likely match a tsuba featuring a honeypot like these from the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences [Powerhouse Museum, Sydney Australia] (A5308-58) (A5308--111)

Similar design listed as Owari https://richardturner.wordpress.com/2011/04/23/owari-sukashi-tsuba-尾張透鍔-2/ Also this one is listed as owari http://www.users.on.net/~coxm/?page=tsubaI_tsuba Itomaki Karakusa tsuba unsigned Koshoami vertical 82.4 mm http://fluorite.sakura.ne.jp/contentspage/kodougu/009_warabite_inome/009.html https://www.barnebys.com/auctions/lot/iron-tsuba-katana-sized-mgj156-rbvn5n0-kz [I managed to find the image, which is no longer available] "Iron Tsuba, Katana sized. Sukashi Tsuba possibly Owari School. Tsuba shows evidence of rusting over the centuries, but still has pleasing appearance." It would appear that the majority of sites believe these designs are Owari in origin with only one example being described as Ko-Shoami.

Dealers often stretch the imagination when describing their items, but this auction is really stretching the truth ! https://auctions.roseberys.co.uk/m/lot-details/index/catalog/549/lot/170319

There is a guard by Inshu no ju Naomitsu [Naomitsu of Inaba Province] in the Brooklyn Museum of the same general type - taken just a little more to extreme. The Brooklyn Museum only has B&W images. Stephen the seppa-dai looks like it has obliterated a signature in your example?

School utsushi - like the many Kinai school examples? Those two examples are close but as you say not the same. That is a good trick to flick from one image to another- would come in handy very often detecting mass produced copies.

There is one here at catawiki https://www.catawiki.com/l/21380241-iron-tsuba-signed-kofu-ju-namitoshi-gold-inlay-Japan-19th-century It has a little more gold highlights. [ I have lightened the image so the mei is a little clearer, still difficult to read] The rim also has gold overlay. It is in fact the same tsuba as number 9. in the post by Andrey E. above. There is another in the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences [Powerhouse Museum, Sydney Australia] Similar flower theme but the mei looks to be from another hand. A5308-31 Also one in the Ashmolean Museum [Jameel centre] http://jameelcentre.ashmolean.org/collection/8/object/20284 I am no expert on mei and the signatures may well be by different people but the style of work is the same.

The auction site translates the 'signature' as 正保 = Shōhō I don't know of a smith or tsuba-ko with that name but Shōhō (正保) was a Japanese era name after Kan'ei and before Keian. This period spanned the years from December 1644 through February 1648. [I cannot see this tsuba being made within 300 years of those dates]

Tony, no fakes at least, the last one is badly corroded, could even be a battlefield find? The fourth is 'Hot stamped' Tembo [also called Tenbo & Tempo, depends on how you want to spell it ] as Barry has suggested.The carved landscape with gold highlights [2] reminds me of a Umetada that I have seen but it could be Shoami school it has a badly damaged 'mei' maybe someone else could try to read. Number 3 could well be Akasaka or even Owari , there is some overlap in these two schools, see the designs in the image. All of your guards could do with a good clean, nothing harsh, maybe boiled in clean water for a few minutes and a soft cotton wipe down till absolutely dry. There is a huge following of tsuba collectors on NMB and many specialist areas you can draw from.

Not close enough I think.