Spartancrest

Adam I came across this today in a sold book of metalwork designs: The Ruyi looks closer to the menuki set with the long cords. The image is blown up from a very small photo so the resolution is poor: The link is to the sold book with some page images. http://www.morra-japaneseart.com/books/archive-of-books/1788-various-artists-tsuba-designs.html And just to prove Ruyi do appear on tsuba, there is an image from an old ebay sale.

I think it is a goat, the horns are short not like an Ox, this guard has a similar layout : The resolution is not great but it is an old file. There is also a native Japanese goat/antelope the Serow. Both sexes have short, backward-curving horns.

I just found this half finished hobby piece. https://www.jauce.com/auction/s774163452 The asking price is a bit out of the ball park. Does suggest the design is still popular.

I am with Grev - it's real, but personally I don't like the scale of the bamboo and the Tigers head "needs work". I like the shape. If it feels good to you that's what you should act on. [In my opinion the dealer has a much better piece with "cherries and mushrooms" though the signatures are worn]

Strickly speeking the depiction is in Japanese. = Hō-ō 鳳凰 or Hou-ou, Ho-o, Hoo-oo. the Asian phoenix, as you can see from the various spellings you have some choice! The Hō-ō has nothing to do with the Egyptian or Greek mythological 'bird" There is a link to find out more here : https://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/ho-oo-phoenix.shtml I would agree with both Jean and Bruno - it looks a cut above the average. A lot of late Mino were made much more crudely.

Yas Do you think the laser one was good before it was 'cremated'? Image is too small to see very well. It may have been worth more than it is now! 😬 I have not seen Lasered mei before - waterjet and cast in yes - all very lazy. If you intend to fake put some effort in with a chisel! 😄 Roger Thanks for the comment - I know how Yas must struggle with Google Translate - it is not so great. Have you tried looking up from the Japanese 'found in an old trunk' -Google comes back with 'found in an old Elephant' [that would explain why so many tsuba require a good clean!😷]

The Mon looks like the crossed feathers of the Asano clan - very famous for the story of the 47 Ronin [ not the movie with Keanu Reeves, that was mostly Hollywood crap] The guard looks to be from the period, but as the Ronin incident is so famous I have no doubt many 'authentic' guards were made. I must say I like the robust look of your guard. Link to Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forty-seven_rōnin I visited the graves of the Ronin back in 2014 and found the place very moving - even the pool where they washed the head -The entry fee was a novelty, we don't pay to enter cemeteries very often!

Yas These 'Miochin/Myochin' copies are Nambu Tekki - paperweights/souvernirs. Produced in the city of Morioka in Iwate prefecture. I do believe most other copies are from China - but some of the better copies I think are still made in Japan and even in America of all places.

I have posted an extract from an observation made over a hundred years ago previously about 'forgeries' As well I have with the help of Steve M. found one firm making cast iron guards called Nambu Tekki (南部鉄器) There are new copyists poping up all the time - some are truly junk whilst others would pass un-noticed if you didn't have a close look. Just check this link - https://www.jauce.com/user/touki_souma?search=tsuba - at least there are so many the same, you automatically know they are fakes. These are rather expensive replica guards - so expensive in fact you could find an original at a comparable price with a bit of looking around. https://www.jauce.com/user/sekiblade2018?search=tsuba

Greg F I have just over thirty individual images of this type, most with dimensions. some are from old sources so a bit grainy but clear enough to disern that they are not duplicates. Send me a PM if you would like me to forward some or all.

Military war era swords sometimes had fuchi, tsuba and even spacers/seppa stamped with production numbers or arsenal markings, not all pieces were marked. Different marks were used in different factories - some pieces were matched so the sword, tsuba and fittings all had matching numbers. With others it could mean a production type, as styles varied over time as well as by the branch of the military. NMB link to a post on arsenal marks here There is a good link to WWII swords here https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/Japanese-militaria/ija-type-95-nco-sword-info-228172/

Brian it does have some weight to it despite its small size, you could be right. It could be an attempt at humour, a feather holding down papers!

I have had this little 'object' for about four years - It is very similar to a nice set of menuki that I also have but this thing is easily three times as large - any ideas? It looks to have lost a bit of ten-zogan and is hollow like a menuki. kind regards.

I agree with Curran, it is a style, there are very modern versions. These are four of mine [before they were cleaned of rust] They have the same lobed layout with the 'draw handle' motif [stylized Chinese influence clouds?] with some 'extra' carving by way of a flower centre. [the number of petals varies with the lobes] I don't claim they are Kamakura or Kamakura-bori just that the designs are very similar.

I can't help posting these two images, both from upcoming auctions. The first is some very amateur re-working - that has ruined a perfectly good guard. The second is a piece of metal that was never, and could never, be confused with a tsuba. It may be Japanese, an airspeed dial taken from a plane? a fuel gauge from a truck? Who knows? it was never on a sword.

It is a good piece - good art is supposed to make you think.🤔 [ has anyone got the phone number of the artist? - No? - He will know.😉]

Hi Roger I dug up some images of the Phoenix tanto - from what I could find they are all described as being Shakudo. The pictures are not very high resolution and frankly some were out of focus when they were first displayed [so not my fault ]. While they are very close in design they look hand finished and the quality varies. Sorry I couldn't find better images. In my opinion your example is much better than those I have seen.

You may be correct about the interpretation - you need some good imagination though. I found this one on https://www.nihonto.com/3-2-20/ there are some common elements when you look side by side. Perhaps other people can find something closer. The 'head' of the dragon represented by the circle in the circle reminds me of the rain dragon heads. It could at a stretch be water drops splashing in a pond causing ripples?

Piers I think the panels [ategane/ume?] are yamagane or shibuichi, they are a bit dirty and probably need a clean but I don't want to spoil the 'rustic' effect. The seppa was just laying about so I stuck it up so it wouldn't get lost 🙃 . What do other people do with their seppa? Stick them away in a box? - are seppa part of tosogu or not?😄 I have a B&W pic of the guard without the seppa - you will notice it was a bargain price - I think everyone was asleep when it went to auction. - It has a Miochin look to it but, also that early Katchushi - looks like the smith didn't get rid of all the slag and liked the 'natural' effect. I like it for its shape - and Captain America said he would buy it, if he ever lost his shield😉.

Piers that leaf sukashi is very, very nice🤩. The second hole is very small, you are probably right about it being a design rather than udenuki-ana. I have a huge 'Temple offering' guard? The two holes are big enough to thread rope and both are the same size, so I would think they too, are a design and not for practical use - unless the guy using it was eight foot tall! [Would love to have seen the whole sword]

I was once told that many sukashi tsuba would not have needed any Udenuki-ana, but at least one design supplied by Christianmalterre above throws some doubt on that theory. I have a few examples that if not strickly designed as Udenuki-ana could certainly serve the same purpose. The Tanto guard with the single hole is probably a 'Water droplet' design in keeping with the round indents on the surface of the leaf. The sukashi 'snow banks?' on the lower side of Fuji on the second guard are positioned well for Udenuki-ana as are the inome and 'monkey tumbler?' on the Kaneiye. The Iron nanako has the more conventional twin holes, the lighting does not show well the two colours of the linings. Has anyone fitted a strap to their mounted guards? I have, and the only way that makes sense is to have the Udenuki-ana on the Mune side of the guard away from the blade edge. Try it, don't assume it.

Roger What fascinates me is the price I have seen the 'uncut' ones being sold for - they were meant to be cheap souvernirs but have gone ballistic because the sellers often believe they are real. $800 US. plus, price tags I have on record. I have one myself but I paid the true value of 25 yen about 30 cents. I saw one very recently that had been broken into four pieces and glued together [very badly] still being offered for sale being described as "rare". They were originally sold in a cardboard box, but that evidence would be a dead give away of what they were, so out of hundreds now that I have seen only one was ever with its original box. Yas The same one is also for sale through Jauce. https://www.jauce.com/auction/f458746654 One of the iron castings also on Jauce. https://www.jauce.com/auction/c853489148 [Already up too high in price in the auction]

In a previous post I had some help tracking down the manufacturers of some unusual tsuba, that were mass produced castings. Steve M. was kind enough to translate a boxed example I managed to find, as made by Nambu Tekki (南部鉄器) a cast iron consortium in Japan aimed at the tourist trade. I found this pictured example on-line and you can see from the inserted 'tsuba' how it may have got to its present shape. The only odd feature is that the 'cut down' guard is in 'bronze' whereas all the other examples I have seen are the cast iron ones. Has anyone seen other soft metal examples?

You beat me to it Brian, I was going to say the same thing. But why not? If you had a larger guard laying about why not modify to fit. [Wonder what the small hole was for?] The first Ho-ho one is a rather too common 'Mino' ? type, I have seen perhaps twenty just like it. Even Mauro's Rabbit in the waves is a very common design, and why not, it is a great design and much coveted.

There is a guard in the V&A with Sennin riding the Carp.