Spartancrest

Late new entry- https://www.jauce.com/auction/d1067356293 They do show the side view of the 'stems' but the patina [or rust] hides any cut marks. I strongly believe this guard was not made without a rim, it is just too jagged.

Jason!

Maybe the last guy drowned!

Beware of the "Blue-Bat of Unhappiness" he can really crap on your roof!

Mauro - do you think it could symbolize blood? Or a clan colour?

The lady is the Aoi, screened from prying eyes.The whip is the man, strength and dominance.

Hi David I am trying to get a much more interesting book out before Christmas, the complete collection of tsuba in the Walters Art Museum - about 800 pages in two volumes, in my opinion they have a better collection than the Metropolitan. I have changed my style a little and where possible I have added associated items from the mounted examples such as F/K, tsuka kozuka and kogai with a few umabari thrown in. In other spots I have added legends or woodblock prints dealing with the subject matter on the tsuba. I must say the Walters Museum has been very helpful and has supplied several "hard to get" images not found in their on-line collection. You might find the Met book a bit disapointing because of the print quality, the glossy paper option would have been very expensive costing around $200 which I thought was excessive so it is only available in 'economy colour' to keep the price within reach. You can always contact me with a personal message, I very likely can get any of the books sent much cheaper than the book dealers. Regards.

Late post, it took me a while to find the image. Nowhere near as nice as the Hamano but the same design by a less skilful maker. [The cicada could do with a diet!]

Hi Roger The business end of town [close to the river] was flooded for a few hours yesterday - I am 24 m further up in elevation, if we get flooded please send a submarine because half the state will be under water! Hate to say it but it is a bit of a news beatup for us, but more serious inundation for smaller centres like Deloraine [central North of Tassie] Sorry David for highjacking your thread I am actually struggling to find another guard like yours - which is not a bad thing, but 'unique' pieces are difficult to to assign school or period. Jean is very likely correct in it being Hizen or made somewhere around Nagasaki(?)

I was wondering if the large symbol on the cross piece might be a Vajra? But it looks like some archaic Chinese symbol. The 'spiral square' is what is called "greek fret" but obviously not Greek and not Manji pattern as it would have a swaztika like pattern I hope someone can come in with some more helpful information. I like the shape of the guard not a common shape at all, it has the look of wooden fretwork seen over temple doorways. Kumiko patterns -

David, another with the same pattern [crude]. https://www.jauce.com/auction/k1067110802

Well there is some confusion about the correct way to orientate the guard - "true" tachi should be orientated as you have in the image, but as "true" tachi don't have hitsu and yours does, it should be the other way up - now this is where the confusion comes in, some tachi were later altered to be used on katana etc. so what we need to find out is, was it altered or was it made that way? One guard in the Metropolitan Museum of Art with two hitsu the same shape but larger. One side has been altered for use, then repaired later. I would say the fukurin has been added on yours much later than the hitsu - but not absolutely possitive.

I think Bruno has it covered - Chapter headings from the "Tale of Genji" https://tsubakansho.com/tag/genji/ David the image Alamy is trying to sell in that clip is in the public domain for free from the Rijksmuseum in Amstedam Number- AK-MAK-1112 - I know because I did a book on the whole collection. How far from the Museum do you live? You can probably get a closeup view!

Derek your design is very good - I say stick with it. The extra hole is a classic water droplet theme and is perfect for the crashing waves. Richard I love that "corrugated iron" look on the sukashi rain dragon - wow! I don't know about America but here in Australia a heck of a lot of homes are covered by corrugated iron roofs, all trying to keep the 'rain' dragon out!

Derek from the orientation of your drawing I take it the design is for a tachi? Most guards have the Dragon on the blade edge side of the guard, a small minority with the head under the nakago-ana usually looking up.

Yes it is a catfish, but isn't there a striking similarity to some of Casper's bullies? Spooky!

Wow Okan that is one cross, crosseyed Vampire with a Beatle hair cut! My Mr Pumpkin head!

Glen GRC found this one - https://nihonto.com/11-14-14/

Thanks John and Mauro - I was just confused why the first character often has that Z shape on the right instead of a square box with a pitched roof, so it is a type of shorthand.

I am doing some research on a museum's collection and have found many visual discrepancies with the text kanji and the actual mei on the guard. I have managed to pass a few changes onto the museum and they have taken them onboard. This one has most of the characters of the mei - but I can't find the first symbol and don't think it is the one presented. Any help would be appreciated [or am I barking up the wrong tree?] 船田一琴 Funada Ikkin .

Number 10 - a current auction, it is described as 草図 [grass drawing] but that looks very strange grass! https://www.jauce.com/auction/1065349129 The design is very similar to the previous [perhaps someone was looking over his shoulder]

Looks like more than Morichika liked the design. Or at least half of it! http://www.japansword.co.jp/kako_kodougu34.html Design of cherry blossom with flying swallows made by Masakage who is a pupil of Tanaka Kiyotoshi . 19th century. And another one from an old auction.

I noticed that the Walters Art Museum has two very similar guards in their collection - nothing unusual in that, pretty common in fact. What I found strange is the descriptions of each guard highlights different faces of the guard as being the most dominant. Who gets to decide which face is the omote? In this case both sides are highly decorated and the choice would be difficult - but my money is on the side of the two birds. I have doubts the two are a daisho, mainly because one is signed the other is not and the designs of the hitsu coupled with the overall different shapes of the guard. 51.288 "Cherry blossoms are a symbol of spring and often used as a symbol of Japan itself. Along the lower left edge of this tsuba, two blossoms float on a stream. At the top, a distant mountain can be seen. Two swallows in flight are shown on the reverse." 51.376 "Along the upper portion of the tsuba is a gold branch with cherry blossoms and two buds. Two swallows in flight are shown at the right and lower edge. The entire tsuba is surrounded by a raised rim. On the reverse, cherry blossoms are shown floating in a stream. Cherry blossoms bloom in early spring and are a common seasonal motif."

Jesse - have you ever tried counting them- I have and these guards rarely if ever reach 100 monkeys let alone 1,000. A million! They would be the size of one tenth of a grain of sand. Gritty Why can't the descriptions be accurate? The 50 monkeys? [in this actual case 43!]