Spartancrest

Not an uncommon type of design. I think you could get a nice "Christian tanto guard" out of this 2,000 yen buy! [I hope not though!]

Australia [the continent where everything would like to kill you! ] has some large centipedes as well - they are very friendly and will come right up to you [so run!] https://australian.m...des/giant-centipede/ Australasian Giant Centipede Ethmostigmus rubripes

I wonder why the mice are often shown with spotted coats? - Wild mice are usually uniform in colour, pet mice often have a spotted or patched coats - are these "pet portraits"? They look like they had really big rat problems in the past! https://collections.mfa.org/objects/27594

I do like the odd tsuba shapes that turn up from time to time and have built up over fifty kawari-gata guards. So at first I was highly delighted to see this guard turn up at auction. https://www.jauce.com/auction/b1150937496 However the pattern sparked a memory of another guard, maru in shape with small sukashi squares cut into the Heianjo plate. I found a maru version [albeit with larger squares] and you can work out where some bright [or not so bright] person has removed portions to end up with the cruciform shape. There are details that show where the cuts have been made even though there is considerable patina covering the cut surfaces. In my own nomenclature I call these "Forced - Kawari" as they never started out in this shape. We have seen a few other "Forced-Kawari" in a few other threads.

You are right but it is a centipede I think. https://historyofjapan.co.uk/wiki/seta/ I am not sure what the centipede has to do with the lotus sutra, but it does have a big place in Japanese folklore. Bishamon and the centipede 蜈蚣 or 百足 – Bishamon’s messenger is the centipede or mukade. In the "Handbook of Japanese Mythology" by Ashkenazi it says: “Centipedes are impure, polluted animals associated with the dead.” On the Seta bridge Otohime met Fujiwara Hidesato (Tawara Toda). Him she recognised at once as the hero sent by the gods to free Omi from the frightful terror. Him she implored to kill the mukade, to which he assented. The same evening the hero arrived at the foot of the Mikamiyama where he perceived the large body of the centipede twined round the mountain in seven coils. The eyes of the horrible being burnt through the semi-darkness like two flaming moons. The intrepid hero shot four arrows in rapid succession at the mukade but in vain, not one of them pierced the armour, all rebounded from the steellike Seeing this he, on Otohime’s advice wetted the head of the fifth with his spittle — human spittle is popularly believed to be fatal to snakes, centipedes and creeping things in general — shot, and with this last arrow pierced armour and body of the centipede. The next morning it was found dead at the foot of the mountain. Deeply grateful Otohime took Hidesato as a guest to her father’s palace. The dragon-king awarded him suitably with a costly bell of bronze, a never ending bolt of brocade, an inexhaustible bag of rice and a kettle that even without fire always held boiling water.

This design is one of my pet "hates" - they constantly appear, some like the auction piece at horrendous prices. Plain ones, coloured ones and in two sizes, but the details are always the same. I do/did? have an image of one that was mounted and it could well have been the original - but you would need to see it in hand to be sure. The "bulk buy" image is a real scream! Found the mounted example [I keep everything but that doesn't mean I can always find it again!] [I even found the original link - https://new.uniqueja...h-navy-seal-trident/ ]

That link is not working for me Peter [sold Jun 14, 2024] - But I tracked down the image. On another issue the same Auction house [and others that are linked ] has this "thing" listed https://www.zacke.at...&sd=0&pp=96&pn=1&g=1 I do hope no one has put money towards this mass produced piece of junk! You can confidently disregard all the BS description except note in the lot details - 20th century. Yet the artist is listed as living 1722-1787!!!

That would be an understatement! For those who can't visualise the sword size - here is one I prepared earlier 1447 to be exact.

From this site originally? https://www.samurai-...723/109724/list.html https://commons.wiki...ishi_ni_Oni-zuta.svg One with a bird and jumbled Matsukawa-bishi [logo of https://tsuba.info/ ] Owari school - no karigane [birds] Akasaka school - no karigane [birds]

Probably way off here but the hitsu shape reminded me of a Tibetan/Burmese Buddhist ritual gong. I am not at all sure if something similar is in the Japanese list of ritual implements?

Strange it works for me? It looks like a Japanese blog site - probably not much information anyway.

https://japaneseclass.jp/trends/about/金鍔次兵衛 same guard the kanji a little easier to see.

Greedy for something that has never left the box. JMHO

Are you sure the seppa are signed? - some can have instructions on which part gets mounted first written on the pieces. Something to check with the kanji translators.

Pre war postcard. https://www.jauce.com/auction/c1135220058

Just listed is this very 'chunky' piece. https://www.jauce.com/auction/o1150354631 10 mm thick rim and weighing in at 292 grams. I was wondering just who has the heaviest tsuba out there?

Ok . . . 230,000 - but I bet it gets pulled again - these guys are going for big bickies! For you non Aussies. informal•Australian a large sum of money.

An older thread but I just found this Hamidashi tsuba converted to a netsuke - cat with a catfish [menuki?] attached. https://www.jauce.com/auction/f1147577760

Peter there are a lot of strange hands and fingers. But they usually belong to Oni - Priest hands are usually more "normal"

This is the matching tsuba. The dots are a dead giveaway!

Very nice sword, I really like the two fan menuki - the Gunbai is particularly large. Worth a closeup if you can manage it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunbai

I think the tsuba represents "Hanshan" [Chinese] - "Kanzan" in Japanese. He is often depicted reading a large scroll. Normally he is accompanied by his sidekick "Shide"[ Chinese] - "Jittoku" [Japanese] who usually carries a broom. It is possible the daisho to your tsuba may have had Jittoku on it- ? I think your guard is late Edo and has been mounted - though not more than once or twice. An example of Jittoku from another post https://education.as...de-approx-1500-1625/ https://www.worthpoi...an-jittoku-wakizashi

Just getting back to Justyn's original post image I found a mokko version [unfortunately very worn] https://www.jauce.com/auction/e1149723226

Where would the horses head be when this was mounted? Half the mane would be covered by a seppa. https://www.jauce.com/auction/n1149520508 Some evidence it was mounted on the ura side.