Curran

I have seen a copy of the Index. I remember it to be a large book with lists of entries, but not full information per sword. I do not know if it would indicate which Volume that particular sword is in. I do not know if there is an open digital index. Interesting question, that probably should be addressed to NBTHK directly. I have seen very few copies of this Index. If you find one, buy it. You may even consider writing Darcy and asking about his copy. He travels with work a good bit now. If you are lucky enough to catch him at home, he may be willing to try and locate which volume has the 1352 dated Motoshige in in.

ebay seller: Ryokin30 Anyone know who this person is? He had an item on ebay I was interested in, but photos of the nihonto where a bit too fuzzy. The papers were old 'green' papers and he had no return policy. Item was interesting enough to me that I thought I might try to shout out to him off ebay now that the auction is long since over without bidders. Anyone know him, feel free to PM me or to put us in contact. From his ebay listing, he is supposedly in Denver, Colorado.

Test cuts on tsuba seem to have been an early edo thing. They often traverse the nakago ana in impossible fashion and are done in a way which seems to maximize the visibility when they are remounted. Sort of a manly manly thing? I do not recall seeing it on anything later than early Edo. I have owned one of Jim Gilbert's "test-cut" tsuba. Enjoyed studying it for years.

(#3) Overhead view of WW I Biplane with both guns blazing.

The sage, student, and waterfall theme seem very popular in the 1800s, yet largely limited to the 1800s. Any conjecture as to what this theme referenced in particular? Almost always a sage and student looking at a sharply dropping waterfall. Very popular in Uchikoshi work, and seems to pop up in other avenues of Mito and Hamano work.

This has turned into a parade of ghosts past. I can mentally picture about 6 tsuba that I regret not buying in the past decade when I had the chance either due to lack of available funds or other constraints. Two of the tsuba are here and Martin just produced the Kremers(?) twin of the ko-akasaka I passed on years ago in Tampa. I have seen three of that exact rendering over the years. Given the Jedi undertone to this thread....Martin, you WILL sell me that tsuba. You WILL sell me that tsuba. Okay, so I'm not a Jedi. Ed- I like the shakudo unsigned one. Guilty pleasure are some of those late edo tanto and wak tsuba where skill level is excellent, yet left unsigned. The nanako is as tight as Yoshioka work, the shakudo looks a great color, yet the feel is Umetada or something else. I wish the maker had put on at least a little signature or kao. Bob- yes, gotta get better photos of that first one. It is a much nicer tsuba in hand, and I wouldn't have known from the photo. Very hefty boy. I also think it escapes 97.5% percent of people that it is a "named" tsuba. Some very smart people here will debate that with me, but it is how I interpret the NBTHK papers and the engraved characters relative to the design.

Mariusz, Oooh sure..... List the ko-umetada you know I like. Evil bugger. I kept looking at that one, for sale during the period where I wasn't collecting. Guys (girls anyone?)- Boris has us beat on the old iron one. I'd settle for a single nice ubu ko-katchushi in my collection some day. Passed on quite a few. Ted- very big sigh.... I passed on that one way back when, and wish I hadn't. Very much to my taste, though some disagree about the Sasano attribution. Regardless of what it is, wish I'd purchased it when I had the chance. If the owner reads this, he should contact me about it.

Nice quiet thread where I get to see pretty stuff and do not need endure overly long posts with little content. The pictures here are proving, "worth a thousand words". Some real diversity of spectrum. Ububob- you need better photographs of that first tsuba. Nice to know RKG had entered the Tea House with a Yamakichibei. Also like the more funky wabi-sabi one. Boris, will trade you a lightsaber for either one. Jason K.- that is exactly the sort of tsuba I get a kick out of now and then. I find it easy to imagine the koshirae for them, and have noted similar canting in some nice Akasaka tsuba where they add to the sense of swirl in the design. Had a really nice example years ago, long since sold off to Europe. Lorenzo- good to know where that one. Love it and the original. Fernbracken always makes me hungry for korean bibimbop or yukgaejung. Keep the images coming....

I recommend : http://pages.suddenlink.net/afuresearch/afu/Philly.htm Nobukuni School by Kowalski. Easily worth $12. My copy is currently in storage, but I remember this being a good resource. You can ask Harry to confirm that it contains the information you seek.

My personal favorite 4, as of 3 years ago. Slight change since then. No photos yet. To emphasize the idea behind the thread- often favorites are not those of particular value to others. One of my current favorites is a simple iron tsuba by a samurai who retired and made arrowheads afterwards. Only made a few tsuba, and is relatively unknown.

Probably Umetada. Inspect the keyfret under a loop, looking for any open channels on the mimi or thereabout. If the keyfret is all inlaid using gold wire, you may have a Kozenji tsuba instead of an Umetada tsuba. My wife would like this one. Thank you for sharing.

Max, You seem to be off to a fine start. Just be patient as the hobby covers centuries of variation across a good sized country. Building you basic framework of understanding and then filling in particulars can take a while. Unless you are incredibly devoted to it, give yourself at least a year to get your bearing and sort out what you have absorbed. (1) Is there no Japanese Sword club within visiting distance of you? (2) How many of the swords you are caring for now exhibit the minor rust or spider rust exhibited on the 2 blades shown? As Jean said, (den) Osafune Tadamitsu is quite collectable, though a shortened unsigned wakizashi from the later muromachi war time mass production is worth significantly less than an unaltered katana or tachi from the earlier end of the school. Still, it is something i would stop and look at.

Shinny? Seriously, I know that one of our Australian members was in an unusual situation which involved having to cut down an (ostrich) or large emu- but taking a sword to possum seems a bit Southern Fried Samurai? Where does your cousin live?

Mia culpa-- Thought I was helping, but Peter is right that it is not the Goto book. Careless of me.......I've edited out the link due to my error. I have only purchased 2 item from the Japan auctions in the last 2+ years. Mark-up including shipping only added +10-15%, so I didn't have a good frame of reference. I'll take Peter's word on the added agent and shipping from Japan mark-up. Forewarned: Yes, the currency rate is now FUBAR for those of us in the USA. If you know what you want and where to find it, USA is best place to buy. Last tsuba I purchased was in Tampa, only to see a similar damaged one with only Hozon papers go off for about +30% on the Japan!Auctions. Prior to the earthquake, things were actually selling back to Japan. Not sure about now. Found something else I'd like to buy if the funds come together...again here in the USA.... The Japan auctions continue to be downgraded to browsing and practice.

I keep an eye out for certain books fellow collectors told me they'd like to buy if I see them at auction. Recently there have been a few good one on Yahoo!Japan. I hesitantly passed on a fair priced Higo Kinko Taikan because we are moving soon. This TOSOGU GOKECHO MEIHIN SHUSEI is up for sale a second time: ---------------edit-------------------------- After shipping and agent fees, it will be $300 to $325 to those of us in the US. The US dealers offer it for $550 up to $600. Can be read about here: http://www.nihonto.com/3.1.10.html and here: http://www.satcho.com/ Anyway, not a book for everybody- but I already have my copy and enjoy it. Figured I'd share the heads-up with the NMB.

I heard this at the Tampa show, but believed it was in confidence. I was waiting for confirmation from the West coast club, as someone like Fred Weissberg could probably confirm it. It seems it is now public knowledge or rampant rumor. Most likely he has passed, as he was supposedly ill for a long time and had severe complications with his eyesight. For various reasons he and I had little overlap of interaction, but I greatly respected his aesthetic. I once went after a tanto at a Christies auction and found myself outbid, only to see it in Cary's possession shortly thereafter. Regardless of how some felt about him, he did teach and share with the community. I regret his passing.

Sort of heavy handed on the sambontsugi. I would think this later generation Kanemoto.

For 150 Honkies, sure. It still pays for lunch and a drink. The 150 Honkie version is non-calligraphy version, but still on decent paper.

Kyo-kanegushi? I'll put it in writing for $150.

Not crazy about Sasano dating or even attributions in some cases. Just like more than a few of his tsuba. Overly intelligent composition by Peter for a tsuba that I don't think merits the gray matter used. I'm not debating much. I place it a bit earlier in Edo than the bulge of these produced assembly line by Umetada workers later in Edo.

Peter, When it comes to kantei, especially in anything pre-Edo, I'd rather see your name on the issued papers than mine. I could easily be talked into a _den_ Umetada Edo Jidai attribution. Observing from a photo and processing what I see, I remain inclined to date it a bit earlier and less likely to be one of the (Shoami)-Umetada works. Sukashi is less. Shape is slightly different than I think as common Umetada works of this sort. Age in the sukashi looks older to me, but not that old. Another answer is it could be somewhat earlier Umetada work than most I have seen. For now I will stick to my initial opinion. John, I described it as go stone shaped because it looks to have the identical shape as the signed tosho tsuba I have from early Edo. Jim Gilbert described it as go stone shaped, but reviewing textbook illustrations of what is meant by goishigata, this is not quite what I meant. I don't know if Jim's use of the terminology was wrong at the time, or if it can include tsuba that swell up slightly from the seppa dai and wave down to the mimi.

Soon to bed and tired as one can get, so forgive me if I am not laser precise on this. I always forget that this design is common in the later Umetada works. However, the Umetada work seems to usually be of flatter plate without worked mimi. Also, the sukashi usually has an overlapping image at some point- as illustrated by the two examples of Umetada tsuba posted. I could be wrong and it is Umetada, but I agree with John about the mimi. I also see a raised surface similar to what I call go-stone shape that seems to have been slightly in vogue among certain smiths during the 1600s. I own a very nice example of this sort, but no images of it. Also, the sukashi says to me that it has naturally aged (thinned) a bit more in keeping with slightly older work. My gut feeling was and is that this is 1600s katchuchi style work. I'd date it somewhere between 1650 and 1700s. Confidence level is not absolute, but I lean away from an Umetada attribution.

Would mostly agree with John. Peanut gallery quick opinion: Katchushi, early Edo. Nice one. Well done. Walls of the sukashi would give a partial clue to age.

Gents: Chris, I enjoy seeing the photos of the house as it has progressed. Reinhard, I regard myself as only half qualified to discuss the blade if it is Bizen or near Bizen. If it is not, I will shut up and wait to learn. However, if I may stand on my ant hill and declare myself king of the world, it would be to correct you the one time I will probably ever correct you...... .....that is you want the Whisky, not the whiskey. Geez. What good are you if your mastery of the language is only 99.99999999999999999999999% perfect? John: http://www.lfw.co.uk/ The storefront is smaller than Aoi Arts shop. When I first wandered into this place 9 years ago, I quickly realized it wasn't the tourist shop I was expecting. It feels wrong to imbibe it here in our tropical region, therefore I have had only a glass or two in years. This may change with upcoming move. Okay, back to the Study Sword... anyone able to advance the discussion more?

I think the horimono are fine. I forget the correct term for these long sharp ended "gombashi" like hormono. My Nobukuni has them and I've seen them on a number of blades from the period. The horimono look old to me and the way they taper off where the blade has been o-suriaged, looks correct to me.