Bugyotsuji

Ah, thanks!

And now I have just seen your 'other' paper with "Nie nyoi shin shin to tsuku"...

Sorry, had to do a bit of research、Bernard. It says for the Choukoku, "omote ura kaki-tooshi no 掻き通し

My goodness, Eric, you do come up with some unusual things! Yes, I have parted with things over the years and just occasionally one thing really causes regrets. Anyway, I was meaning to post this earlier today to illustrate some of Eric's bits, but only just got around to it. I do not think it is old, per se, but quite an interesting scene. (The red seal says 箱根八里）

I think the article needs editing. The word should be "Tsunomoto" (Tsuno is a horn)

Having learned this morning not to be too hasty, may I hedge and just say that your translation is about 90-95% correct! :lol: PS Hokkaido is usually spelt with two 'k's because there is a little hesitation in the middle to represent the Hoku+kai-do so it sounds like Hock-Kaidou.

There is a Hamano Shozui listed on p 168 of 古今金工全集 with four lines of detail. 明和 Meiwa

Thank you, Moriyama san.

To do this accurately would take some time, and most of us would be afraid of making a small mistake (large?) mistake somewhere. The inclination therefore, is to leave the whole job to Moriyama San or Morita San. It is a simple description saying Diasho Kawari Mokume-hada Tetsu-sabiji tsuba signed (Hamano?) Masamichi, with Niji Mei. Dated spring/summer of Showa (1970???) , it is signed by Kanzan. Edit. Some of the above is not accurate. Please see Nobody's post below!

Many thanks for the understanding, the quick replies and the useful tips. Now feeling much more confident. Step one is to go home and finger it with acid sweat! :lol: Over and out!

Jumping on the bandwagon for a second. Apologies to Henry. I asked a Shirogane-shi to replace a missing strip of Sekigane in a Tsuba, which he did very nicely. I expected the copper would go dull and gain patina pretty soon, but even after two years it's still shiny. Should I take it back to him?

Three reactors have melted down. They and their spent fuel rod pools are causing endless problems for the struggling workers, on top of which the rains and then the unbearable heat and the typhoons are approaching. Eric, the word you have used is country slang, shyoi, which probably comes from standard Japanese verb Se-ou or 'to carry on the back', = Se-oi kago, which are still on sale! http://www.google.co.jp/search?q=%E8%83 ... 24&bih=579

You mean Shimosaka? It's funny. I was just offered a Shimosaka Oomi-yari on Sunday... Just found this concerning a different Yari with a Shimosaka Mei: 銘には「下坂」とあり、筑後国柳川藩主田中吉政に仕えた刀匠「下坂八郎左衛門」のことであろうと言われています。 On this page: http://maedakeiji.jp/sub5.html

Watching the footage of the earthquake and tsunami I have been surprised to see how many of such articles are still used by the old people in that area, Eric.

I have heard a Kinko/Shokunin looking at a tsuba for the first time and then saying after some moments, "Neratteru tokoro wa wakaru na..." or "I can see what the maker was aiming for". In other words there must have been thousands of attempts to emulate/recreate famous tsuba, in sincerest honor/honour, many of which attempts will be extant, all slightly different, and each of varying quality.

My goodness, Eric. That is redolent with hundreds of years of everyday life. You can even sense the mood of the person and the surroundiung culture in which it would have been used. Is that your room there?

Ian, use of the word 'fabulous' has me eating out of your hand, but to tell the truth I think the dealer was having trouble selling it. It seems that few people collect things like this here now; a little rust and some cracking in the woodwork and it is doomed for the dump. I didn't dare take it home for fear the wife sees it, "we don't need any more clutter" (typical thinking of 99.9% of the population) so it now sits proudly (to me alone?) in my office where instead of doing office work I have been gently cleaning it up. I am really glad that you can see something in it. There was an old Professor here, a Gakugei-in who sadly passed away a couple of years ago. He had the best collection of Meiji Biidoro glass in Japan, among other wonderful things in his house. I used to watch this thin old man at antiques markets leafing through old books and unrolling scrolls, and I felt that he was somehow 'rescuing' little bits of history from some impending final disposal. He had an eye for things that no-one else seemed to possess, and many of his purchases turned out to be very valuable indeed. Thank you for your explanation which seems to be eminently sensible and sits well with what's there. I suspect there may once have been a flat lid to lock down the top tray, or it would have filled with rainwater. There may also have been a larger tomobako that this whole No-bento might have slotted into. Maybe one day at an antiques fair I will spot a square section pole to fit nicely through those carrying handles.

I have been looking at typical Nobento on the web. This seems to be quite different. I may have been a little hasty (not like me) in pronouncing the large box for sake... OK so here's the question. What was the large round hole in the lacquer box for? Simply an insert for a flask? Or was the box filled with water through that hole at the way station and then a bung or lid applied and tied around it, so that water could be poured out sparingly through the corner hole? Or was the corner hole used for pouring out spillage from whatever was in the box? Any thoughts? 1) There is no evidence (eg scratches, rubbing) that I can see, of a string having been passed around the box from any direction in order to tie down a lid. 2) There is no evidence inside on the floor of the liquids box of a round flask-like object having been placed there. Likewise the inner edge of the rim shows no sign of any hard object having fitted snugly into it. The lacquer looks pristine. Is it possible that this picnic frame was actually never used in earnest? Or.... was this possibly a lady's portable washstand and Ohaguro set?

Interesting theory Lorenzo. That could explain why the marks are over the weakest, ie the longest unsupported section of mimi.

Love that photo. Some great replies here. Many thanks. I should have mentioned that the nick shots were taken from 1~2 cm away. They look too deep for someone casually placing the sword even on a concrete floor. The opposite rim bears no evidence of counter bracing. So I will assume that someone either used this tsuba for whacking the edge of something hard enough to dent steel, (ignorance, iconoclasm?) or they hit it with a Mozo-to or sharp-edged iron implement as an experiment in ... what?

I am now, Keith. Thanks. I was thinking more of the Satsuma troops who believed in the Men stroke with a katana. This Tsuba was on sale at the Old Edo market for 70,000 yen. We haggled for a bit... Here are some shots of: a) the iron shoami tsuba; the edge in question marked with stick b), c), d) the same area of mimi from different angles e) an unmarked length of mimi for comparison.

That must account for the popularity of the quick single stroke out up and down before the opponent had a chance to react... (just charging the battery)

Thank you Ford. That brings me back to the original question. Where might we expect to find (sword?) nicks on the mini of a Tsuba and why? In your opinion, we wouldn't! So now I will find an excuse to go home, take some shots of the offending tsuba and await comments... :lol:

Piers, I think that 20 strikes on a tsuba during only one fight is very unlikely. It reminds me this. I am waiting to see the pictures to clear it out :D Ah Lorenzo, sometimes you do make me laugh. Whoever said the Italians had no sense of humor/humour? (What? No-one said that?) :lol:

Och, what an idiot am I. In the process of playing with the sliding latches to remove the rust and discover how they locked, it became apparent that the tangs hit each other. ??? But that was the way I bought it yesterday! Now I have just discovered that there are inserts in the uprights to receive the tangs. Duh...