Spartancrest

One here with what looks to be the same signature. https://www.ebay.com/itm/326306514750 The Kao is a little hard to see. One in the Met - very plain, no Kao that I can see. https://www.metmuseu...lection/search/30094 may well be a different person. AI says: Naomichi Naomichi was the first maker's name used by Tango no Kami Kanemichi, a swordsmith from Settsu province (modern-day Osaka). His birth name was Mishina Yoshiheibei. I wonder what happened to this area on your tiger example? Was there an inclusion in the iron? Doesn't look like "normal" corrosion as it is only in the one spot

https://www.agsa.sa....ind-gold-huge/36461/

Toledo needs some help! http://emuseum.toled...2776a302a4fa&idx=104 I have looked and looked but darn if I can find a "Fan" - unless they mean they are fans of an Oni !! Sword Guard (Tsuba): Fans Date:19th century, Edo Period (1600-1868) Dimensions: 3 1/4 × 3 1/16 in. (8.3 × 7.8 cm) Medium:iron with inlays of gold, copper, and shakudo Major confusion with these two entries: http://emuseum.toled...7-b50817544f73&idx=0 http://emuseum.toled...9-da8c2679e70b&idx=0 Images are mixed up. I think I have it straight - I am surprised at some of the images - they have not been up-dated from the 1920s !!

Hi Colin you might find something in this lot.

For those of us that don't have xray eyes or were brought up living in a coal mine:

Can you spot the problems with this description? http://emuseum.toled...-75816da6248e&idx=64 Sword Guard (Tsuba): (front) Bama Sennin with toad near waterfall, (back) a rock, mountains and a tree Artist: Kaneiye Date: 17th century Dimensions: 2 1/2 × 2 1/8 in. (6.4 × 5.4 cm) Medium: iron Bama Sennin? It should be Gama Sennin - but that is all wrong to start with! Should it not read something more akin to : Daikokuten the Japanese god of wealth and fortune seen sitting with raised hammer guarding his bales of rice, symbols of wealth. With his attendant rats. 17th century 64 mm × 54 mm Sentoku with inlay of shakudo & gold I can't see the slightest hint of Kaneiye in the design - can you? Someone has mixed the descriptions up at yet another museum.

Getting back to the tsuba: https://images.ashmolean.org/search/?searchQuery= half-flowers https://jameelcentre...ection/7/10237/10356 described there as Akasaka https://www.brooklyn...ction/objects/160591 https://www.invaluab...uba-130-c-7b44213a22 https://www.aoijapan...ei-boxes-and-plants/ Image from an old Catawiki auction - [no longer active] Which shows it has had holes drilled for use as an escutcheon plate and since been repaired [crudely] https://www.catawiki...edo-period-1600-1868

https://onlineonly.c...t-iron-tsuba-8/12092 Signed Kenzui, Meiji period (late 19th century) The russet iron tsuba finely carved with a bat in high relief beneath a silver crescent moon with drifting clouds applied with gold, on the reverse a willow carved in sunken relief beside a meandering stream in silver inlay 3 in. (7.62 cm.) http://emuseum.toled...7-b7a33cf03a67&idx=0

https://www.jauce.com/auction/r1168333030 What to make of this one? I don't think it is fire damage, it looks like a layer is flaking off, certainly not carved that way.

Auction houses are set up to sell - they are not set up to tell the truth! [Goes for some dealers as well.] https://www.invaluab...id--213-c-0da4a4da60 Chinese fake https://www.invaluab...ment-28-c-ce04cad953 Chinese fake https://www.invaluab...uba-401-c-ab54368bf3 check the injection molding marks on the seppa-dai. https://www.invaluab...ub-6737-c-01b49a688e tried to hide it upside down! Even right side up it is a cast mass produced fake! https://www.japankat.../tsuba/tsuba_094.htm

Another possibility is the Tanabata festival ? It may also relate to a specific local festival unique to where the tsuba was made.

Good enough reason. I think we often forget one thing - could you pay anyone to make you another for the price you paid? I very very much doubt it. The purists will say it is a waste of money [true if it was a cast piece] but a good copy is still a GOOD COPY and would have taken a lot of work. JMHO PS. I found the auction price - a bit of a gutsy first buy!

Some older threads here with discussion of the mei

A Dr Stevens tsuba sold in the Edward Wrangham collection sale back in November 2010 - lot 36 But the one image remaining does not show any red numbers in the nakago-ana - sorry https://www.bonhams....school-19th-century/

I know next to nothing about NBTHK papers but I did stumble on this https://shibuiswords.com/ELkarahana.html Papered by NBTHK as likely Hizen. My problem is I have 25 other examples, some saying they are Asian export guards and only one with a signature which I would need to have translated. I can't see how this "Karahana" can be definitively papered as Hizen - Also the only translation I can get from AI is "Karahana" = Groan, Moan or Whine! - Which is apt as that is the reaction I had when I saw it! [plus a chuckle at the ridiculous price being asked for a rather poor example of the type! ] 六代目签直 "The sixth generation" ???

I give up! What is it now? Four tsuba turned into who knows what! https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/167236591293

Found on a Polish Helmet - I don't think it is the same, probably just a proof mark. https://www.antiquew...met-2nd-half-17th-c/

Yes but I have a diagnosed "handicap" - Asperger's and too much time on my hands!

I recently found a "stash" of difficult to find tsuba linked to the Ashmolean Museum - through their ASHMOLEAN IMAGE LIBRARY - This added something in the order of 160 more tsuba to the 1,800 odd other tsuba that can be found in the museum searches https://www.ashmolean.org/collections-online#/search/simple-search/tsuba/%7B%7D/15/96/objectNumberSortedSorting1.keyword/asc/catalogue I was taken by a particularly designed piece based on an expanded "Three Karigane" sukashi pattern - which had five birds rather than the more common three - however the description stated the design was "Ginkgo Leaves" So I thought I would let the museum know they had the wrong description. I realise that the link now is corrected so the evidence no longer exists that the museum had the wrong description - how many other corrections have "gone unnoticed?" Jan 1, 2025 As a collector of Japanese tsuba I can say with certainty that the description of https://images.ashmo...searchQuery=EAX.5754 is not ginkgo leaves and should be "five wild geese" or "five Karigane". Perhaps this can be rectified? Regards Dale Today I got a reply : Dear Dale (if I may), I just wanted to mention that our eastern art colleagues have carried out the required update following your kind email! Best wishes Rosanna Rosanna van den Bogaerde Picture Library Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology University of Oxford Beaumont Street Oxford OX1 2PH

You bet there are triangular tsuba https://collections..../item/O462200/tsuba/ [nice one too!]

Me either and I have the book! - not that I can read it I would not buy the book at that $130 price, they turn up from time to time on Jauce or Buyee for a lot less. https://www.kosho.or...product_id=548402858 This link works for me ¥2,350 + shipping a nice quality hardcover book with clear B&W images - in Japanese [did Marcus do the translation back in 2014 and is it available?]

Ito - is also "thread cutting" as in Ito-sukashi a number of schools used the technique. https://www.kosho.or...product_id=275327658 https://www.kosho.or...product_id=381081619 An English translation of the text was talked about way back in 2014 - not sure if it ever happened? https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/15368-translation-of-ito-bushu-tsuba-book-by-markus-sesko/

And it looks like it is not far from losing a boulder as well

You guys do this for FUN? - [I am totally in awe - I am also totally dyslexic when it comes to reading Japanese!] Thank you all so much for the effort!