Bugyotsuji

Used to have this one until the previous owner said he wanted it back!

Dale, central top right must surely be Yoko-Ito-Gata, in contrast to central bottom left Tate-Ito-Gata, ‘Tate’ and ‘Yoko’ being directional measurements.(?)

Agreed, AI going off the rails there. Russ’s ‘South American’ seems more likely to me too.

Hi Marc, please see your messages.

Ah, from the back they do resemble udenuki no ana! Art and function going together… (?)

While on the subject though, I would like to add this tsuba to the thread. Iron, flat, tōshō 8.5 x 8.3 x 0.25 cm

The cave in Max’s interesting tsuba above (which goes through to the other side) gives me the impression of a clever design feature to suggest for example Mt. Horai, rather than a functional element. (Can we see the other side, Max?) I have one tsuba with a figure hiding inside a 3D cave, but the cave does not have a rear exit!

Just ran a search on the Japanese web but nothing earlier than the Enomoto Meiji blades mentioned above came up.

Some years back Ken & Linda brought a meteorite from their home in Hawaii and gave it to the younger Ando (Hiroyasu). He made several Kozuka and longer blades and even tsuba during his experiments.

No Alex, however you could have listed it, I never look in the for sale section, so... mea culpa. On the other hand I do have a growing appreciation for shinchu tsuba, brought on partly by one of the artisans at Osafune who always shows deep interest in traditional Japanese metals and alloys. This has kind of opened my eyes to see and accept the beauty and the possibilities in other metals, not just iron. This extends to Kozuka and Tsuba for a start.

On the other hand I was assured that this one is recent, i.e. not old. 1.

That’s the one Rohan, especially Natichu (Nathaniel’s linked treatise), many thanks!

Good thread running on Den just yesterday…(?)

Looking good!

Somehow reminds me of this one: