Rich T

Ahhh, ok, thanks Lee. At Tokyo station there. Ok, handy to know. Cheers Rich

Personally I would not bother with AOI, and Shibata has mostly average kodogu. I guess it depends on your budget but I would suggest going to Ginza Choshuya, Ginza Seikodo and Japan Sword all in or close to Ginza, as most importantly they all have English speaking staff. If you have good Japanese then you can go anywhere. Don't expect anything to be cheap though, but if that's what you are after, then AOI is probably the place to go. Also, in Harajuku is Sokendo, they are great and have a lot of excellent kodogu, you just have to ask. Not great on English though. Oh, that Shibata exhibition Lee mentioned is a once a year event. Their store is also in Ginza. Have fun, see heaps Rich

Hi Darc, I can help out as an Image Editor Rich

I'd like to think of myself as a student, not a collector. The only reason for collecting is to help study. There were several tables of accumulations for sale at the SF Taikai I must say. Rich

Hey Franco, how are you, I hope all is well. Well I have no number of the pass/fail rate but I can say the first day was a little heavy on the pinks, but the second and third days were much better for passes. Moses can testify to that All up, there was just over 400 swords submitted and I think about 80 kodogu. I saw a few swords pinked for condition as in just too bad. then there was a few gendaito made to look like older swords that bounced, and mumei gedai swords as well pink plus the usual gimei. From memory the highest score for the swords was 73 points, and I topped out the shinsa with 75 points for some Joushin menuki. There were several tsuba in the 72 and 73 range. One I remember was a rather nice Choshuu guard. Cheers Rich

Well hi all, so here are a few pics from with in the Shinsa room. I worked again as kodogu photographer and assisted on the kodogu table. I would like to add Tom Helm did a sensational job arranging the Shinsa, well done mate. Sorry that's all I have, I was a bit bit and cross eyed to be wandering around taking photos. Cheers Rich

Greetings all, so I think these tsuba, while they show traits of Satome work, are classic early Edo Umetada school tsuba. Their 50/50 negative positive designs were very very popular with some of the early Edo artisans. Umetada Tadatsugu was a very prolific creator of these types of tsuba. I have a very simple version of this style heavily covered in Urushi http://kodogunosekai.com/2009/12/05/ume ... shi-tsuba/ I also know there are similar tsuba attributed to Shoami, and Ko Shoami also. I have never thought them to be Kamakura Bori though as I do not think them to be that early, as in pre Momoyama. Satome ? not convinced with the bori on the surface. Just my thoughts. Cheers Rich

Hello Jason, these links, which I put together originally, are meant for the most part, to be just looked at. Yahoo Japan auctions are in Japanese yes, as...... well...... they are in Japan. Go figure. As Rich suggested, you need to translate the page to work out what's going on. If you are willing to trust those translation web pages of course. of course. Looking at a description of say a tsuba that comes back as " red nightingale duck balls in top hat fancy pants" while hilarious, is not very helpful. TO bid, you need a Japanese address and a Japanese bank account or credit card to be able to bid. So, basically, you need a friend, living in Japan, who is either Japanese, or speaks Japanese to bid for you. Or, you can google for any of the Japanese Yahoo Auction bidding services. So, while this is not very helpful to you, it is what it is. Cheers Richard

Hi Hitori san. I agree with Pete. It is very similar to one from my collection. These usually date from the mid Muromachi to Momoyama period. There is a little book by Sasano that is dedicated to these guard. The hitsu are pretty crude and an obvious later addition as Pete also notes. The tsuba is almost identical to one in the Sasano book I have just noted. I have added a scan of the two pages for you. It is dated to the end of the Muromachi period. Also attached is my one, probably from the same time. Cheers Richard Sasano Tsuba (interesting to note that there appears to be a hitsu filled with yamagane in this piece also) My Tsuba

Indeed, but even more importantly, a dead sword has little value as a sword. A fatal flaw means that the sword is indeed most likely no longer reliable, and if the flaw happens to be in the monouchi, then it probably cannot get any worse. Any bushi worth his salt would not go into battle with a sword that would most like snap in two with the first strike. His life and duty to his lord would demand it. He should discard it and get another as soon as possible. The only time I could think that this might be otherwise is in the dying years of the Bakamatsu period, when Samurai were either unemployed, very poor or had no real use for swords. That end of their history is far less interesting in my view and swords were more just decoration or a status symbol for the average man. Not as an important part of their life as such. My advice, collect quality. Don't collect flaws. You'l just hate them later on and they'll teach you nothing, other than they are flaws. Just my early Easter Opinion. Rich

Hi Mariuszk, thank you for your kind words yet again, though I can assure you my blog is not that impressive. Just some random thoughts and pieces I like to share. Nothing more. Do you have Sasano's second book ? "Japanese Sword Guard Masterpieces from the Sasano Collection Part I" In this book he states he corrected many of the mistakes he made in "Early Japanese Sword Guards" I know many people who prefer the first sukashi book over the second, but it is interesting to find that Sasano thought his later work was more important, or correct. I myself prefer the second book over the first. but that's just me. I still like the first book but I use the second for reference more so. Cheers Rich

Oh I love a conspiracy theory. Well done Ted, that summed everything up just nicely. And I would suspect the Onion news more "intelligent" at new reporting than some other folk Oh, and in regards to the comment "seems like an intelligent retort to a serious inquiry" hahahaha, I nearly cried when I read that one. Well done Pete. You are the most intelligent person I know Rich

Hey Franco, yes that is very very true and you are of course correct, this could be anything and it could be by some one who worked out of their home or local smithy in a small rural area or anything such scenario like that. Country Work springs to mind. We do of course just love to pigeon hole things and many collectors need to be told "what it Is" This is just the way we are. So yes, it in truth could be anything, made by anyone, but if it is a copy, then I think it is a copy of an Aizu Shoami tsuba (just my opinion of course) Cheers Rich

Hi John, well not being one to sit on my laurels LOL. yes there are a lot of maru gata tsuba in this group, but I had no trouble finding these. http://nihontou.jp/choice03/tousougu/tu ... 32/132.htm NBTHK Hozon Aizu Shouami http://www.sanmei.com/contents/media/tu ... d1471.html Not papered and kinda kooky but I like it LOL. http://www.finesword.co.jp/sale/kodougu/htm/487/487.htm NBTHK Hozon Aizu Shouami Cheers Rich

Hi Dave, sorry, I think this is Aizu Shouami, and a fairly low end piece at that. The soft metal work is bordering on shiiremono, the carving not so bad but still fairly rudimentary, but I would bet my bottom dollar if it went in for shinsa, that's what it would get. I have no real idea about the fuchigashira, maybe Mito work. Just my thoughts. Cheers Rich

Thanks Mariusz but it is just my own opinions on things I happen to like. Not much more. Your blog looks like a great start, keep it up. Pete, I love you too LOL:-) Rich

That first tsuba is signed Shouami Shigenobu. It is a very common style for him. His work is average to say the least and it was made en mass. The next two are not as good as the first and also Shouami guards. There are like the more common country versions of Shouami work. There is no way to tell who made them or where. They just fall under the "Shouami" umbrella because no one knows where else to put them which is a sad thing for all the really good Shouami tsuba in the world. Just my opinion of course. Cheers Richard

Steven, that is one of, if not the best posts I have read on this forum. Very well said Richard

Hi all, I am going to be lurking about Tokyo for the day on the 25th of November, so if anyone is free, and wants to catch up for lunch or anything, let me know. I'll be around :-) Cheers Rich

if it has not been posted anywhere else ???? Cheers Rich

Hi all, well my guess is, based on the soft raised mimi, hammered surface and gold treatment, Aizu Shoami. Mid Edo period. Rich

Looks like Nara work Milt, you checked him out in Haynes ? Rich

a hearty congratulations to Brian R, our fearless leader on this, his, one hundredth and 51st eeeeerrrrrrr, 31st ? , no, no, 21st birthday. Well done mate. Have a great day Rich

I really think if you have fire scale (and it certainly looks that way) then your tsuba is a goner. You'll wind doing severe damage to an already severely damaged surface. Also, I would be anything that tsuba would paper to Shoami, not Kyo. Cheers Rich

Thanks for that image Ford and LOL yes, I was waiting patiently for your anti Torigoye barrage hahahahahahaha, sorry, I may have set that up a little:clap: That Field Museum tsuba does indeed look like a nice specimen. I am sorry but no amount of dread locks and or platting will make the one on Ricecracker look anymore to me that a nasty piece of fluff. That of course is just my opinion, and a personal taste, regardless of how much work went into it. There is obvious skill and the base plate on the Field Museum tsuba looks very interesting. I would like to see a larger image of that. It's an interesting read this thread, I am not sure who except the Ainu would use a tsuba like this as it come off as too crafty for a Samurai's aesthetic but then I was never there, and can only form my own judgements. It's interesting that the circles I travel in in Japan, now seem to have less and less to do with Torigoye, and even to an extent Sasano, with Wakayama still thought of with merit. Aggghhhhhhh. How I love this stuff :D Cheers Rich