Bugyotsuji

Re AI above, it mistakenly attempted to translate the smith name 馬面 Bamen, producing the expression ‘horse-faced’.

Here’s another nata tsuba, probably younger than yours, Dale.

Not yet mentioned, and may not be relevant here, but some larger blades were created especially for execution grounds.

Just one Nakago ana?

WOWZ!!!!!!!!! What. A. Contrast!!!!!!!!!! That doesn’t even need a second clean! Oh, …no you didn’t! (Overspend)

You wonder about whether you paid too much. In Japan this is sometimes referred to as Jugyo-ryo 授業料 or tuition fees. = We pay to learn. We turn around and see the path we have walked so far…

銘 Look at the character for Mei in the line directly to the right of it, so different, as are the other various brush-written examples of Kanzan’s Mei character shown above.

That looks like an index page, setting out the aims of the archery school. The "一" kanji for 'one' is commonly used like this as a bullet point along the top. (A date would come at the other end of the scroll, IMHO)

To be fair the old Hosokawa Kaichō paperwork does not suggest Mino or Nagoya or Kyoto or anywhere at all. It’s simply descriptive of Mokkōgata ‘shakudo’ Daisho Takabori Tsuba showing Shishi/Botan, adding ‘Mumei’. Nagoyamono is entirely possible, agreed.

Declarations like this of proud usage of Namban Tetsu tend to occur in a window of around 1600-1700.

Pleasing design, the seller’s description sounds fair, and if you collect Hayashi tsuba then it’s not out of the ballpark.

Might need to crop out all the bubble wrap etc., to get the image sizes down first...

Colin, put your feet up and have a comfortable little ponder, or two, or three

This tsubakō smith is indeed listed for Sado Island but with no clear indication of how to read that last kanji in the name. Alphabetically it appears here to be Yoshiko, although Yoshifuru is a more normal way to read it. -taka and -hisa are also possible readings of 古 within names. It is quite likely that even the author of this book was not sure.

The thick wheel rim is quite distinctive.

Someone must have been reading the old thread recently Colin and maybe they reacted with a sticker(?). Not realizing it was old, I read through it thoughtfully and found myself wanting to add my own experience to it. Serendipity!?!?!

One has to imagine that all of these factors discussed above and probably more have already been considered by previous owner(s), and the math(s) and economics run and rerun through the calculator. So the question remains, can we, or could we, or should we take a gamble and take this a step further into the unknown and make a new breakthrough? I tend to vote yes on these things, usually willing by the same token to take it on the chin if things go pear-shaped. We can buy a complete polished blade package with NBTHK papers, Koshiraé, Tsunagi and Shirasaya, but sometimes a little project and a flutter can provide a different type of entertainment.

Mei = Endless variations on a theme. Some artistic license acceptable. The old Koku/Kuni 國

Following on from Dale above, Colin, have a look at this karakusa-wa 唐草輪 or karakusa-guruma kamon. https://www.google.com/search?q=唐草車　家紋&client=safari&hs=w58p&sca_esv=04a6da60a81ec2d8&hl=en-gb&udm=2&biw=390&bih=699&ei=Mvk9avzMOOah1e8Pq4TsiAo&oq=唐草車　家紋&gs_lp=EhJtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1pbWciEuWUkOiNiei7iuOAgOWutue0izIIEAAYogQYiQUyCBAAGIAEGKIESPCmAlDWDFjvoQJwEHgAkAEEmAGZAaAB0yKqAQUyOC4xOLgBA8gBAPgBAZgCNKACwR6oAgDCAgUQABiABMICCxAAGIAEGLEDGIMBwgIOEAAYgAQYsQMYgwEYigXCAgUQLhiABMICCxAuGIAEGNEDGMcBwgILEC4YgAQYxwEYrwHCAhQQLhiABBjHARiYBRiZBRieBRivAcICDhAuGIAEGMcBGJgFGK8BwgINEAAYgAQYsQMYgwEYBMICBxAAGIAEGATCAgYQABgDGATCAgoQABiABBixAxgEwgIIEAAYgAQYsQPCAgoQABiABBixAxgXwgIHEAAYgAQYF5gDAYgGAZIHBTM1LjE3oAfubLIHBTIyLjE3uAecHsIHCTMuMjguMTcuNMgHjwGACAA&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-img

As to the wheel aspect I can see what you are saying. It gives me flashes of another one about the same size that came this way recently.

Nicolas, nice design! Can you get a clearer shot of the Mei?

Generally this kind of arabesque vine pattern is loosely described as: Karakusa moyo 唐草模様 Definitely unusual though and a goodly size.

Probably the same year, even though you’ve cut off the important part above.

Dang Jean, I did not want to answer that here... grrr... Over the phone: I asked him if it was easy to remove, and after a moment's thought he said "Yes." He said to use 'a sanding eraser', but without actually seeing him doing that I would not like to encourage anyone here to try any such procedure. I suggested to him hopefully that such work should be done gently (yes/no?), and he agreed, saying that one should be careful not to expose the iron/steel surface of the tsuba. Well, that sounded pretty obvious, if not exactly easy to perform smoothly. The above answer will self-destruct in five minutes.

Been doing a little digging around as I have a nice tsuba with a wet black appearance. A friend looked at it and immediately put it down. "Ibota," he muttered. "How can I remove it?", I asked. It seems that over the years there are some people who continue to apply this 'Chinese wax', or 'Japanese wax' to protect tsuba etc. from rust. Exuded by insects on the leaves and branches of Ibota no Ki, Ligustrum Obtusifolium. Also known as Chuhaku-ro (虫白蠟 Insect white wax, 雪蠟snow wax), イボタ蠟Ibota-ro.