Curran

fuchi-kashira: Design is unusual, but not unknown. I forget the term for them. Sometimes they are two tone, or done in a way where the deep carving reveals mokume layers. Signature would be on the outer (public) face of the fuchi when the tsuka is taken off the nakago. It is most likely they are unsigned, but I figured I would ask.

Hirado Kunishige-esque work inside a namban type plate? What is the diameter on this tsuba? I thought the Namban was cupped initially, but the tsuba doesn't look as thick as it would be if it were inserted inside a cupped tsuba. The silver is nice, and I wonder what that face looked like when it was all intact.

He is getting too good. They have sent the ninjas for him.

Nice habaki. Interesting fuchi-kashira. Is the fuchi signed?

Mike, If by "meeting this weekend" you mean the NYC meeting, I hope to be there. Introduce yourself. Otherwise, follow Ken's advice. It is possible to do what you currently want, but difficult for any quality. If in the USA and it ever proves easy, go to a sword show. My only add on to that is that if you go to one like the Tampa show this February.... make your schedule flexible so you can have a day at the beach or otherwise vacationing as well as looking at the sharp ancient art pieces.

Brian, I am willing to do so, but I have not been a volunteer part of a shinsa team since 2006. Even then, they've got me doing the filing & cross reference record checking as I rubberneck all the nice fittings passing by. I guess that is what us numbers guys are suppose to be doing. Lord knows I'm helpless with the photography part of recording fittings. Also, according to my last conversation with the elusive Jim Gilbert, the format for NTHK shinsa seems to have changed a bit. In other words, my viewpoint is that of a half educated tourist. Someone like Tom Helm would certainly do it better and with more authority. I also hesitate a tad on the basis of not knowing what the NTHK would or wouldn't want me to say about the process. I definitely paid more attention to the fittings group appraisals than the separate group handling blades. If you want me to give it a whack, I will. Just give me a clue what I should add or delete. (PM me).

It would seem "Tall Tom" Helm is helping a good bit with the shinsa. Half way down the page that you linked, for shinsa questions there is another link to Tom Helm's website. Also, this email is provided: NTHK2012@toryu-mon.com Sho-shin basically means "authentic". A list member known for being a harsh judge when it comes to whether a signature is authentic has spoken up and said he thinks it _at initial glance_ is authentic. That is a good thing. If NTHK deems it authentic, then you have a very green light for going to get it polished. Please, please, _please_ use a qualified properly trained professional. If the NTHK ~pink sheets~ it, ie. fails the signature as not authentic.... then you have a dilemma. ***I warn you that getting a pink sheet is NOT a guarantee it is a false signature. My first sword ~pinked~ at NTHK shinsa, but went Tokubetsu Hozon at the NBTHK shinsa (another authority in Japan) Basically you go and pay $125(?) to submit the sword. It is taken in by the handlers, information taken down, and goes before a panel of experts from a well recognized Japanese organization. They give it the thrice going over, and basically vote on authenticity. The handlers process it further. Measurements and a rubbing of the tang made. Then eventually the handlers call your name and you find out whether your baby passed or failed. If it passed, you pay an additional amount of money and eventually official _Papers_ of Authentication are sent to you months later once they have been done up by the organization in Japan. If you have ever dealt with diamonds or things like that, think of it as the equivalent of GIA grading and certification. Others are most welcome to correct me. I am just trying to provide an introduction to what it will be like from your viewpoint as a newbie at his first shinsa. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.... as when I got that first ~pink sheet~ years ago.... I was hoppin mad. If you get a pink sheet, keep your temper better than I did. The expense of $250 or so, plus trip to Tampa and whatnot ..... .... is easily worth the thousands of dollars wasted on having a professional polish on a sword that is not authentic. From what others say, it sounds yours has a decently well recognized artists name.... so papering it is doubly wise. As with paintings, there were many attempts to pass of forgeries of the works of greater artists. Hope that helps. Good luck. I'll be in Tampa and probably at a table in the showroom. Curran

Harpy, Then you have a relative no-brainer in front of you. Follow the logic: That is to say you live in Jacksonville (I live in Sarasota the majority of the year). The biggest sword show each year is San Fran in August. The second biggest is Tampa in February. As your luck would have it, for the first time in my adult life.... there is to be an NTHK shinsa this year in Florida concurrent with the Tampa Show. Submit your sword to the NTHK shinsa in Tampa. If it passes shina and receives papers, then set about having it professionally polished by someone professionally trained. Having a shinsa in your own back yard (Tampa) is about as easy as it ever gets with Japanese swords.

Bob, I disagree. Kermit the Frog uses "Good Grief" in his own distinct manner and is no less an icon than Charlie Brown. Are you saying the School of Charlie Brown influenced Kermit the Lizard before he became Kermit the Frog in a species change operation and subsequently founded the Kermit School of Thought?

I see two question marks this time! ?#1 No ?#2 Yes My current understanding is that for more recent NBTHK papers, ko-tosho or ko-katchushi basically implies mid-Muromachi or earlier. Ask Jim Gilbert or Gordon R. about NTHK fittings papers, or maybe Chris B can say for the NPO NTHK. I cannot recall if I have seek a ko-kat or ko-tosho attrib on NTHK papers.

David, I am not sure I understand exactly what is the question. There were no question marks in your post. Having seen a tsuba I strongly believed late Muromachi, but with the papers not saying 'Ko-katchushi ', I recently asked the question about NBTHK attributions of the last few years. I have seen fittings with older Hozon papers that I regarded as late muromachi, and the papers said 'ko-katchushi'. However, Rich T and possibly Peter K (?) voiced opinions which left me to infer that nowadays the 'Ko-' attribution is only on Hozon katchushi or tosho if more mid-muromachi or earlier. I don't know if this is absolutely true, but it seems to hold in my limited experience with tsuba designated as such with NBTHK papers in the past 6 or 7 years. I hope that information is accurate and helps a bit. Don't stand on it as Fact. Curran

The tsuba supposedly changed hands in Japan for about $800 and now is on eBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/4482-Japanese-S ... 4ab12ac1db The seller says it reads as 'Shomin', which is how John suggested. Is anyone able to connect this to any of the tsuba smiths listed in Haynes? It may just be a strange gimei. As an aside: Shomin H 08764.0 seems to have some errors in linking to other Haynes references and the Wakayama reference at the bottom is not the same smith. I did not check the other references.

I do not have an answer. I like this piece and wish it did not feel boxed in with that shakudo fukurin. It reminded me of a Hamano Naoyuki tsuba I have seen, probably in the Baur Collection. Proportion is ever so slightly off in that Hamano way which reminds me of early Sienese painters dealing with depth of 3-D perspective. It could also could easily be from any number of talented Mito subschool artisans. Peter or some of the other quiet tsuba experts might have more insightful observations.

Actually, it looks rather interesting to me. I stick mostly with fittings, as I make too many errors with blades- but the file marks on nakago look okay. Yamashiro Ju, then "(Dai Kuni ? Yamashiro That is off the cuff, and I probably butchered it so badly that I shouldn't have posted my very quick read without hitting the books. However, the chik-chik outline and marking stains look like the precursor to someone having engraved a horimono, and then not done it. I will be interested to see how the better readers translate this one, and whether or not it is the blueprint to a horimono never carved. What I am calling the prep work seems reasonably well done set up of ratios and perspective.

I did not intend to be rude. I just intended to be to blunt, as there are so many things wrong with it and I was too tired last night to write a better critique. Malcolm and Brian did pretty good jobs. I was going to say it looks like it got popped out of a Japanese cookie mold, but that would be insulting to those fine old cookie molds. Brian's description is more in the right direction. It looks like it was clamped in a vice, or pounded a few times with a wide hammer. Mjolnir perhaps?

No. Avoid. Buy a good book or two and develop an aesthetic.

Jah- this is a good very basic one. Jean did right by making you work it out. You got the name. Now the province (first two characters). It is a province you will see often.

Anyone? Morita-san?

Well, according to Haynes Index: Haynes list several Shomin. In the write-ups, one of the Shomin did work similar to this sort of Omori wave type. However, Haynes has a different first character for the name. Also there is well known(?) Unno Shomin, using a different first character than I did not know could be read as 'Sho'. Unno Shomin did live a long time during the 19th and 20th century and pick up quite a few honorifics. I followed Haynes pointer to Wakayama books, but the pointer seems wrong referencing another smith on those pages. Many of the students did use than Min character, on into the 1970s? So I don't know if this is one of the minor errors that appear in a few places in Haynes. I've run into a very small handful where he had a wrong character for the name of a specific artist. I'm hoping one of our Japanese teachers or other member very fluent in reading kodogu signatures can solve this one.

Might as well post a link to it: http://page11.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/a ... n100480479 I don't like to do so since I know people here often bid on these auctions, but it isn't often that I get one to stump me. I am curious who is this artist?

John, Yes. It is stumping me too. The tsuba looks authentic and late Edo. I am pretty sure that is the correct second kanji. I find some of these late Edo ones challenging as heck, as they got fancy with their names.

This is a signature from a tsuba: 章珉作 What would be the correct reading of the name? I do not know whether to read the first character as 'Sho' or 'Ari' or alternate way? Help is greatly appreciated.

Note a criticism of Fearless Leader. Good to see him with his topnot. Sake. Yes, a lot of it. Japanese keg party. Generous.

Currency, currency, currency... Post 2008 with the US and UK printing money: What was 120 yen to the USD (c.2001) Is now 75 yen to the USD. (c.2011) Basically the same with UK Pound. While a decade ago it made sense to buy and export a sword from Japan, post 9/11 security measures and post 2008 financial debt crash currency shifts mean you are now paying about 1.3x to 1.5x for a sword from Japan as you would an equivalent one from US, Canada, or UK if you dig around more. Also, fun-fun trying to get a sword back into Japan if you need to return it. Over 50% of the tsuba I sell NOW go back to one of the strong currency countries, as US and UK are the place for bargain buys in international currency terms. If buying from Japan, it should be because it is something unique. Don't get into the mind set that something Japanese has to come from Japan. The Japanese may have repatriated many swords taken abroad after WW2, but many many more remain abroad.

Nidai Hirata? One of the list members has one of the tsuba from Ito's Nishigaki Book. The NBTHK papers say 'Hirata', and I thought Hirata too... but I have much to learn about what distinguishes a Hirata. Maybe Mike can give us an education with this example.