Spartancrest

Chris has the image of this one https://www.bonhams....5-1868-19th-century/ https://www.bonhams....7-1878-19th-century/ https://www.fromjapa...o/input/x1120193756/ [copy] https://www.city.ner.../nerima_0421_all.pdf Special exhibition of collection items Sword fittings - Nakayama Collection - Exhibition Date: April 28th (Sat) - June 3rd (Sun) 2012 Venue: 2nd floor special exhibition room, free admission A collection of about 120 sword fittings with diverse designs, including Edo-period tsuba such as the ogre-shaped tsuba (photo), which Nakayama Akira, a resident of the ward, has collected over the years.

https://www.jauce.com/auction/e1166080879

Victoria and Albert museum has a "fish bone" tsuba as well. https://collections..../item/O466388/tsuba/ A marked decline in the number of bones in this one. Accession number: M.168-1911 Tamba/Sado/Kiami [looks like they are not sure who made it] The museum also has a sukashi type with three bones in negative silhouette https://collections..../item/O466561/tsuba/ M.461-1931 Bushu

Nothing really new but I just purchased a "Treasure bag" tsuba from Japan. The buy it now price was ¥14,546 or about US $95 + $20 in fees. Fair enough for an unusual [but not unique] shape. However as often happens these days the same guard was up for sale on ebay - for US $250.80 + US $38.50 shipping. Very likely a proxy seller from within Japan, as the sellers addresses were from one side of Japan to the other. I guess the point of this post is to do your research and check whenever possible to see if the same item is listed somewhere else at a better price. Use google image search as at least a starting point. [it won't always help but it can't hurt] Compare known sites like Yahoo, Buyee or Jauce with ebay with a "Sort by" search for Recent arrivals, BIN price or Time ending soon - to narrow down the search. The time spent can save you money! Unusual but not unique - this time of year they look a little like "Plum puddings" [Note: No actual PLUM was used in plum pudding! But lets not get facts involved with tradition!]

Keep me out of this - I think you mean DAN Could the tsuba be covered in a thick layer of urushi?

Other alternative Tiger and bamboo tsuba to consider.

Got it, masonry/brick wall brace - keeps the rim of the tsuba from falling away.

The best clue is the bifurcated tail - it seems rain dragons have a split tail. The tsuka decoration is likely related to "The Seven Lucky Gods". The gods carry with them takaramono (宝物), or treasure things, including the hat of invisibility (隠れ笠, kakuregasa), rolls of brocade (織物, orimono), the inexhaustible purse (金袋 kanebukuro), the secret keys to the treasure shed of the gods (鍵 kagi), the scrolls of books of wisdom and life (巻き物 makimono), the magic mallet (小槌 kozuchi), the lucky raincoat (隠れ蓑, kakuremino), the robe of fairy feathers (羽衣, hagoromo), and the bag of fortune (布袋 nunobukuro) At New Years the Gods are said to pilot through the heavens and into human ports a mythical ship called the Takarabune, or "Treasure Ship". You might find the symbols match your tsuka from some of these images

Well lets give AI a chance - The "s" shape in Japanese legend may refer to the katakana syllable "sa" or "shi". Well "Sa" = カ & "Shi" = キ The translations are "mosquito" & "tree" so extrapolating that, it must mean "When picking ginger look out for the mosquito in the tree" - Always good advice! [Score: AI zero out of one hundred. . . . again!]

An Owari of a very similar design https://www.papilio....e-auction/5/item/206 Myōga [ginger plant] a very popular design. Many slight variations. https://www.seiyudo....10717.htm#movepoint1 https://bushidojapan...ith_Myoga_Motif.html The Akasaka school and others also used the Myōga motif in their sukashi designs.

Wind Chimes are nice - This monster was part of a wind chime, but I use it indoors as a decoration now! [It really was so heavy it would have to be a hurricane to get it to work as a chime anyway ]

Peter have you noticed the images are both of the omote side - someone put the wrong image in. At least they tell it like it is "I call it my "tsuba" tsuba." Another one with a single tsuba on it.

Tsuba on tsuba still appearing https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/326370267223 It has one more tiny tsuba than the one I have - but I prefer what I paid for mine!

This one has always made me smile - just from the absurdity of imagining it on a sword!

This tsuba proves that Dragons and Crinoids co-existed - AT THE END OF THE PERMIAN - 345 million years ago!

Hi Zachary one very much like yours in the Norwegian National Museum - I just thought you might like to know you have a museum quality piece. https://www.nasjonal...tion/object/OK-09433 https://www.eldreds....-openwork_2E02EACA27 https://page.auction.../auction/f1106215209 The six lobed ones are slightly outnumbered by the four inome versions - the actual flower decoration tends to vary from piece to piece, maybe some personalization to each customer like a Mon?

Well - - it is not a fake. I will say that much, but there were so many tsuba that were later signed that the signatures are often in doubt. I have to say that a signature of a relatively unknown maker [at least as far as Haynes is concerned] makes me lean more towards genuine - Why fake a signature that is "unknown"? Very possible to be a smith from the provinces that was not prolific and not recorded

Would you say the image colour is accurate? As you point out it doesn't look to have been fitted to a blade [unless it was not necessary to "tighten the fit" with tagane.] Well to my eyes it looks sandblasted clean, which would contribute to the rounded edges of the nakago-ana and the general pitted look. But possibly cast - though there is little direct evidence, just a few questionable spots. You could do the "drop test" but that is rather drastic. If you didn't spend too much it is always worth a gamble - alloy fakes are selling for stupid high prices, so an iron guard that may have been "over cleaned" and appeals to you is a no brainer. I presume you don't have it in hand just yet? There is usually "something" that speaks to you when you hold one and can really see it in good light. Good luck

Two inome on a gift I received from Roger Dundas back in 2022

Not the best quality piece I have but I do love the Kawari-gata nature of it. https://en.m.wikiped...File:Gion_Mamori.svg Gion Amulet - 「祇園守」 The Gion Mamori is a special amulet sold at the Yasaka Shrine in Gion district in Kyoto. The origin of the Gion Mamori kamon is shrouded in mystery and is still debated: some think that it represents a cryptic map of the woods that used to surround the Yasaka shrine, while others say that it is in fact a hidden Christian cross. There is also a third interpretation linking the amulet to an obscure Gion-shoja temple in India, where the guardian deity Gozu was said to inhabit. Chinese characters for "Gozu" mean "cow" and "head", and therefore some say that the Gion Mamori mon represents the head of a cow. The Gion Mamori mon is a rather rare emblem with about 50 known variations.

Value even having a fake mei to compare. Darn it I found a Tadahiro to compare it to - and it is Yours! [I like the giant one that was in that mixed lot!]

I wonder what six inome amid waves means?

Tea room window and a rope! VERY CHRISTIAN - in some other universe! Still if you are trying to sell what are in fact very ordinary and common tsuba for inflated prices as this company is clearly doing, even made up story lines of what they depict might aid in "moving them on". Let us not forget there is BS in the word business. There is a whole thread on the Tearoom window type of guards so I won't bother digging those out, but plenty of rope tsuba getting about also - no mention of any religious context! https://www.aoijapan.jp/鍔無銘-14/ https://page.auction.../auction/u1160512611 https://www.the-sale...9e-907b-ac7c011d611c

Trouble with some information on page 5 of the PDF - Modern studies on “Tsuba” started only from the beginning of the 20th Century In Japan 『刀剣会誌』(刀剣会): 1900 onward  秋山久作 (日本鐔研究界の始祖)  和田維四郎『本邦装剣金工略誌』(1913) In Europe  Hara, Shinkichi, Die Meister der Japanischen Schwertzieraten (1902)  G. Jacoby, Japanische Schwertzieraten (1904)  A. G. Moslé, Japanische Kunstwerke (1909) "Modern studies on “Tsuba” started only from the beginning of the 20th Century" Clearly this is untrue. THE 'ORNAMENTAL ARTS OF Japan' VOLUME II by: GEORGE ASHDOWN AUDSLEY (1884) THE ART AMATEUR : TALKS WITH EXPERTS. no. 2 Heromich Shugio : On Japanese Sword-Guards. Dated 1888 "The Scottish Arts Review" Vol.I Japanese SWORD-GUARDS. By J. P. MacGillivray. 1888-1889 The Portfolio; "SOME Japanese SWORD-GUARDS". by Philip Gilbert Hamerton. published 1889 Japan and its ART by Marcus B. Huish, L.L.B. 1889 Japanese ART by Louis Gonse translated from French by M. P. Nickerson. (1891) CATALOGUE of the COLLECTION Japanese SWORD-GUARDS Louvre Museum, gift of Mr. Tadamasa Hayashi of TOKIO 1894 HISTORY OF ART IN Japan Commission impériale à l'Exposition universelle de Paris, Dated 1900

I think it is a case of "Give them what they want" - 99% of people would not know the difference. Production line on old plain tsuba