Spartancrest

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!

Information on the theme and other examples of tsuba found here:

Uwe, I think 3 is "Soju Chokumura" Soten school? Number 6 - could it be Kamiyoshi school? One like it in the Compton Collection.

Welcome Jay, you should find plenty of information on Kunihiro tsuba in these threads. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/394955466723

A museum collection has a sample of tsuba that have no translations - I was hoping to send that information so it might be available for the future. Any assistance is very welcome.

That's not an Ox - it's a Jersey!!

What significance does only a partial outline have? [image is very overexposed, the metal is Yamagane] other is from Amazon [Obious copy of the Umetada design] http://nihonto.us/UMETADA TSUBA A.htm A classic Umetada chrysanthemum and a sukashi flower through a amida yasuri plate. Granular tekotsu. 7.5 cm x 7.43 cm x 5.4 mm.

https://uk.pinterest.../800796377483681651/ https://collections.mfa.org/objects/13540 ebay and Yahoo auctions - modern

Strangely enough I was talking to a friend about the same tsuba that he was interested in [he didn't get in quick enough!] I thought the guard might be Tempo/Tenpo/ Tembo [however you like to spell it ] Tempo tend to be more random with their hammer work though and the folding is anything but random on your piece. Another possibility is it could be Myochin like this pair. Myochin like thick bold designs https://www.ebay.com/itm/375810906638

It happened to me in Nara - I can never go back to that antique shop again! [You should never ask if the salesman has any "old spit" for sale ]