Curran

Lorenzo, I don't think (Italian) olive wood photographs properly. It is a beautiful wood and takes on some depth of personality in time. I have a picture frame we made of olive wood from where I was working in Italy almost 20 years ago. We chose particularly good pieces for the construction. It has aged incredibly well. I also remember an architect's house outside of Siena about 25 minutes or so. He'd used in in a variety of ways in the restoration of his home. It left a strong memory. In contrast, olive wood pieces brought back from southern Spain 10 years ago have not aged nearly as well. _______________________________________________________ Piers, The very first photo you listed with the plain dark wood kake- where did that image come from? Know what sort of wood that is? I'd like to see more photos of it as an aide for a small modern kake design.

Stong belief: Late muromachi or even early Momoyama Mino blade. Nice looking polish. From kissaki to the habaki I am sure the nie look as if they are being blown by a wind over the hills of the hamon into the drifts behind.

Blade only kake: https://plus.google.com/photos/10292032 ... banner=pwa There is one in Ford's photo folders above. Third row in the katanakake section. Guido: I have been told that the different Tokugawa lines had slight variations in their Tokugawa mon. Is this true? Source was a respected individual, but it may be more Nihonto modern urban legend than fact.

Adam, ___Could be. I've considered that before. Answer is I don't know. I don't know the answer. Have grown daikons, but not clove. Hence my bias is to see them as Daikons, but it may be my western eyes seeing what I want to see. If you triangulate Atlanta, Huntsville, and Chattanooga- that approximates where I grew up. Not quite the mountains, but enough so that I've heard every iteration of Deliverance joke possible. Doesn't help I was large into archery and bow hunting. I was down to Callaway Gardens often enough. Not far from Columbus. I miss the Azalea hills and lake there. Without the Georgia climate and red clay, azaleas in the other parts of the USA bloom and burst too fast. Also, something about Georgia clay and climate has the cherry blossoms last much much longer. Tree in our front yard would last forever, or until we could no longer sufficiently deter the Japanese beetles. Sencha low level buzz is the same as southern unsweetened Tea. Add the sugar the way some southern women do, and that... well... that is a different chapter. Should get back to James' sencha, which I agree with using the loose leaves. I don't know about having it with Marmite like he does. Seems plain crazy to me, and I can't figure out what a southern equivalent might be.

Guido, Thanks. I wasn't sure. It is very rare that I would do this given how Yen/USD adjusted expense of shinsa has climbed. With fittings more so than swords, is usually Hozon or Juyo. Toku Hozon for fittings is usually just extravagance, but some pieces deserve the distinction and the jump from Tokubetsu Kicho papers is within financial sanity.

Even if not by Yoshida, the painter was no hack. Bamboo is one of the easier things to do, but the artist had a decent sense of 'what to do when' and chiaroscuro. Paper is decent. I would not have dated it to Edo period. I know less about the silk hanger work. Instinct is that it came a bit later, so time from painting to mounting may have been a bit? I like. Will be curious about the translation. New Year! Must begin Japanese lessons soon.

Adam L. Guido strikes first. See: http://www.bushidojapaneseswords.com/nbthkshinsa.htm Bottom of page. Guido: If you have something with old green papers, you can submit to Tokubetsu Hozon directly.... No? I have a tsuba with old green papers that probably deserves Toku Hozon, and would like to confirm I can submit it directly to TH if Customs doesn't stop it again. ________________________________________ Toronto Newbie: As everyone said, talk to Barry Hennick. Also maybe talk to Darcy too, if he has the time. Between those two, you should be very well advised.

Well, better than the tsuba is this: http://www.choshuya.co.jp/sale/gj/1112_ ... shirae.htm I don't know or doubt the signature on the fuchi given the big name. Otherwise, price is not cheap- but much more affordable than what other Japanese shops ask for good koshirae now. I confess to being tempted by this koshirae.

Brian, I certainly agree in that regard. Spent better part of three years doing early shift work: rooftop construction & at University. Tea is more an even lift, but nothing can get you up like that warm grab and go 2x strength coffee on a cold morning. Peter, White lightning? I assume you mean Miami Snow? Most everywhere I was prior to getting that scholarship to be a Japan exchange student, the people were too cash strapped for (cocaine?), if it was even available. I don't know if I have ever seen cocaine outside of a movie or science film. Never even saw it in South America when the wife worked down there. No.... Japanese Ice Coffee is a dangerous thing. Perhaps even more dangerous than southern chuggers of that Orange Pekoe tea blend drank there. Does wash down pulled pork very well..... but you spend the rest of the day driving 90 when the speed limit says 70.... and being irritated that everything moves slower than you do. There is a reason UPS is based out of Atlanta and FedEx out of Memphis.

This thread should be revived. I have grown rather fond of sencha myself. The concept of tea wasn't foreign to me, since being raised in a southern location it is the fuel of choice. Many of you won't appreciate what I am talking about, as it is one of those things known about those living in certain southern states in the USA... but not understood until you have lived there and seen that if you cut someone from north Georgia, Tenn., Alabama, or Carolinas.... they are half as likely to bleed southern tea mix as they are anything remotely red... The irony is that I had never had coffee until Japan. Mistaking ice coffee for watered down chocolate milk one day as a teenager.... I had an interesting day after about 2 full glasses. Flight of the bumble-bee buzz buzz. Shi-shi: Shi-shi are a mythology I don't know past a certain level. I am afraid I would probably make a mess mixing what I know of them with other Asian Mountain Dog related lore. I have often seen them rendered with Peonies (supposedly King of Flowers) and Daikons. As John said, read any book on Japanese patinas and you will have a profound respect for Daikons. Read enough Korean cookbooks, and that respect will only grow. Incredibly useful. Many years ago I did pick up this nice tsuba with Shi-Shi, Peonies, Flaming Jewels (Treasure) and what I assume are Daikons.

As an experiment, I tried to find a Tokubetsu Hozon sword with koshirae that was without sizable flaw in either the blade or koshirae. ______I looked at 30 swords in Japan with Tokubetsu Hozon = True ______If True, then there was always a flaw in the blade, the length of the blade (sold as katana, but long wakizashi length...), or expensive flaws in the koshirae. Unless you negotiate strongly, it is unlikely now that you will find a Tokubetsu Hozon blade with real koshirae that is < $10,000 in Japan. There are a few that are borderline. There are some good Hozon swords with koshirae for < $10,000. Price of Tokubetsu Hozon sword is largely because Japanese Yen is +50% in value the past decade. Japanese Yen up = US dollar down. I agree with Brian that probably San Fran (August) or Tampa (February) Sword Show are best place to buy a Japanese sword.... and take a vacation too. Same sword in USA is about 25% to 35% discount to near identical sword in Japan. But new collectors often think they must by sword from Japan.

Oops. Kunisane or Kunizane Thank you Moriyama-san. I took a guess, but book says this is 10 stroke 'sane' (zane). I think Brian and I confused it with the similar (to our poor eyes) 9 stroke 'sada'. I have no additional information about this smith in my sword books.

Shooting from the hip: Kunisada. late 17th or 18th century?

Unless his plans got torpedoed, he was moving to Florida. He announced this last fall, but not sure when he moves.

Actually, NihontoAntiques moved to Florida. Yes/No? Or is in the process of joining us in the sunshine and beach state. I so take the beach for granted now that I miss snow and was excited to get snowfall in Dublin last Christmas 2010. Made the Cuban cigars all that much more enjoyable while walking around. Cost of my tsuka alone a few years ago cost $800. West Coast work. $1200 doesn't seem out of whack to me at all if you are getting a black lacquer saya with it. Shirasaya was running $300+ a few years ago.

It was Peter the Immortal Monkey King who first mentioned the kogai ana. I'm just in the crowd.

Kogai ana and the large wear pattern on the dais are the most interesting parts perhaps with something to teach. Anyone got the gumption to formalize an educational vignette on this tsuba, please proceed. Willing to learn, but will admit I don't see much in it.

Up for Sale in Japan: http://page6.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/f106032944 This is one I was considering bidding on myself. I have another financial priority for now, but it does tempt me for a long sword.

Looks like someone wiped their boogers on it.

I assume you are joking. They have no Morimitsu on display.

As Ludolph said, "Hamano Naoyuki" with Kao (personal mark). I have not compared against reference signatures, but Naoyuki is a big name. His work is usually very crisp. First impression of the signature is that it lacks something. Your tsuba has seen some abuse and abuse, but is a nice enough tsuba. Workmanship is better than many we see on NMB, but not what I would expect of Naoyuki. The signature is probably gimei, but still respect the tsuba.

Chris: Oops. My fault, since I knew better. Markus can share some of the blame, since I was typing from notes he originally provided. Bob...,I am glad to see you here. I had wondered if you or John Stuart might manage to find some literary passes that fit the theme. While I have read a a good number of Basho's poems, I don't know my Japanese lit very well.

Flying Cranes is the only Manhattan place I can recommend. There is also Ogawa-san with his small shop in the Antiques Mall, but I don't know him to have any Akasaka tsuba or many fittings for that matter. Very nice gent with whom I've had some discussions regarding trading volatility futures. His wife is a professor at Columbia U. Are you referencing him or the museum curator? The Met Museum's collection on display has rotated again. They had some good helmets on display and some nice Hirata fittings. The display's are obviously knowledgeable and while I was there I listened to a woman give a well informed mini-presentation to a museum guest. A few things are always mislabeled. The most noticeable this time was a beautiful (hypnotic) signed Rai tanto that was attributed as "Bizen Morimitsu". Were it open market, I would gladly have paid the price of a Morimitsu for that tanto as fast as I could get the cash.

I opened this topic for fun, because it seems slow on NMB and I figured it might be a small fun educational thread. After some of the points made here, I am a bit less sure of the conclusion I was going to share. I am going to prune it down to some basic info. Smith: Nishigaki Kanpei He was the younger brother of the 2nd gen Kanshiro (Nishigaki master). Active period was basically the same as his brother's (b.1639- d.1717) , perhaps lagging by a few years. Lived to a similar age, but date of death unknown. Lived to at least age 76 (signed tsuba) Influences: Like his brother, Kanpei was influenced by the literature of the time. Influenced by Ihara Saikaku, Matsuo Basho, and others. One of Matsuo Basho's better known poems: (**Nijiko is an area of the Yoshino River known for powerful rapids.) Petal by Petal At Yoshino River the mountain roses at the riverbank in the blowing wind even the reflections in the depths are scattered. Now then, Mountain Rose does not = Sakura They do come in several forms in Japan and Korea. The most distinct being the yellow variety, but also see picture of Mountain Rose. So, nothing conclusive.... but I like to interpret this design which was often done by Kanpei as his visualization of Basho's poem. There are other poems about the stages of the life of a flower (as Brian highlighted) that allude to the cycle of life and transient nature of samurai lives. To sum it up, if you see this design with the flower indenting the kashira ana and the rapids... seems to be a favorite of Kanpei that I have not seen in any other school (yet). *** On signed ones.... point to look for is that Kanpei seems to have had a quirk where he liked to have the down stroke of his "pei" character curve left a bit and point straight at a continuation stroke in the "saku" character.

I wondered if this might interest you guys: http://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/150227686 The fellow also has some other seemingly circa WWII Japanese items.