Martin

Hi Rich, I first thought that maybe it could be a star too - but a waterdrop sounds more plausible That´s also a very nice Tsuba you had there. cheers,

Hi, I knew I saw that Tsuba not long ago and found the Japanese Site with slightly bigger pictures. http://www.nona.dti.ne.jp/~sword/tuba/t0203hatou.htm It´s described as an Edo Shoami piece. Mike, I hope you don´t mind that I posted it :? But I think some bigger and more detailed pictures would still be of help for the Tsuba Gurus here. What exactly is the circle in the upper part supposed to represent? Nice Tsuba Mike - I love the waves theme in Japanese Art. cheers,

never ending I suppose :D http://cgi.ebay.com/5031-JP-SAMURAI-SWO ... dZViewItem cheers,

here is a clickable link: http://www.finesword.co.jp/sale/kodougu/kodougu(1-300).htm cheers,

Hi Deron AFAIK it´s Sekigane to protect a soft metal Kozuka from scratches (of the iron)... But usually it is done a bit more decent than on your picture. cheers,

Hi all, first of all thanks for this kind of educational experience! I also tried my first translation and spent nearly 30 Min. searching for that "Shizutada" after I had the rest of the first Mei in about 15 Min. After that kind of a little frustrating :D job I wondered how beginners should start to read the Kanji. Is there a step by step guide available somewhere for getting a Mei translated ? I certainly do not expect to learn this in a few days (as I also needed some time to learn modern Greek) but do you start counting the strokes and then look them up at http://www.nihontokanjipages.com ? That´s what I did at least :lol: Any ideas or advice? greetings,

AFAIK some Higo-schools used those kind of punch marks cheers,

Thierry & Paul, many thanks for your recommended readings. Just have to get access to those sources now ... cheers,

Hi all, I want to learn more about Christian motives in Tsuba and heard that there was an article ("Tsuba and the Hidden Cross" by Millard J. Holbrook II) on this topic in volume 24 no.5 Sept.-Oct. 1992 issue of the Japanese Sword Society of the United States, Inc. Newsletter. Does anyone have this article in a digitalized version or can share some information on this subject? kind regards,

The implementation of the subject is also quite strange to me. Neither do I see cows nor horses... The cows have hooves and tails like horses and the horses have horns like cows :? Never actually seen that before... cheers,

a bit off topic now but thanks for the info Stephen. I will check at home this evening and try to edit the auction details. Yes, please cancel your bid (just until I updated the auction of course :D ). cheers, Martin

Hi Stephen, sorry, but I can´t offer free shipping As it says in the item descriptions, the shipping costs will depend on the destination and insurance preferred. My "Turbolister"-application always messes up the shipping costs.... Have to check that later... cheers,

Hi Stephen, I observed that too and therefore first posted each ebay-item individually (in my For Sale-Thread). Somehow there was no item displayed when I hit the "Other items of this seller" link :? Sometimes ebay is strange... Is there a trick to show all items then and is it just a problem when starting parallel auctions in different countries? Or is it just a matter of time for synchronization between the ebay servers? Cause now it seems to work... ( http://search.ebay.de/_W0QQsassZeskrimador8QQhtZ-1 ) cheers,

I think he means this one: http://www.komonjo.com/ cheers,

I couldn´t believe my eyes! There is a sword from the "1348 th century" that probably must have come back to us through a time machine or a Terminator :lol: http://cgi.ebay.com/Ashikaga-Takauji-Ka ... dZViewItem I until now thought, that they would make better swords than this one with future technologies :D cheers,

Hi, I can absolutely confirm what Henry says. I often made the experience thinking: "Wow, this is a really nice Tsuba, let´s try to buy it". But after some months/years of studying and having seen really good pieces, my taste changed quite a lot and I got more and more ambitious and choosy on the pieces I bought. Resisting the urge of buying admittedly doesn´t work ALWAYS :D - but keep in mind that your tastes will change during the time you collect. That´s at least what I experienced cheers,

Hi Steve, the seller is Christian Fassin, a Frenchman living in Japan. I bought from him twice and have nothing to complain about. He sometimes mixes up the Paper issuing organization, but his items - at least the ones I bought - are fine. What do you think seems strange about him? cheers, Martin

That´s nice to hear. Congratulations to that Tsuba! I can also confirm your experience with Mike. regards

I knew I saw that one before ;o) http://www.ricecracker.com/japanese_swo ... e2.htm#T-5 cheers

Hi all, I was asking myself once and again if there were any rules to identify a certain Tsuba school or even Tsubako (on mumei pieces). Tsuba are THAT various in terms of material, shape, theme and techniques applied, that this is a very interesting question to me. As for swords there are some general methods to apply for this approach: - the Sugata tells you about the age - the Hamon and Hada helps to attribute the sword to a certain school or even smith. I read about some approach to come close to an identification judging size, thickness rim shape and other characteristics ( http://www.geocities.com/alchemyst/tsuba/tsubaid.htm ). I could also imagine that for instance the design of the Hitsu Ana and Seppa-Dai may lead to an answer. But these are I guess only rough methods. Is it simply only a question of experience and long term studying to be able to get close to a school and artist? It would be great if anybody (also "Nobody" of course :lol: ) could share some experience and advice or recommend some books on this question. cheers to all

Hi Koichi-San and others, thanks very much for your thoughts and your instructive information. greetings from the summerly Germany,

Okay Milt, sorry for the confusion but believe me - if I had to describe it with words, it would be much more terrible :D So here is the Sakura and the broken needles like I see them. Any ideas on the guess that there once was a Fukurin attached? cheers, Martin

Hi, I guess my picture was a little mistakable, sorry. I meant that all the blue marked connections are part of a broken needle like shown in (3). cheers, Martin

Hi Curran and Rich, thanks for your replies. The symbology of pine needles sounds really nice. As does the contrast between Spring and Autumn as Rich thinks. I think there once was a Fukurin (rim cover) attached, because I can spot a small notch on the bottom side (1). As I think this is a pre Edo piece - were the Fukurin added later on as an additional ornament or were they planned from beginning? I am still wondering about the interconnections (2) highlighted in BLUE. Could these be the broken needles (3)? cheers, Martin

Finally my head scratcher has an end :D I´ll definitely take this as my wedding suit :lol: cheers, Martin