Curran

Dear Gents and Dames, I just received a large crop of tsubas back from Japan NTBHK. Ironically they failed the only one I knew to be 99% correct, and passed with flying colors the one I thought most dubious. I cannot complain, though still scratching my head about that and some of the other papers. Three of papers are giving me trouble for various reasons. Tanslation help please? Paper 1: (Translation) ? Paper 2: (Yoshi oka ???) Paper 3: This one is confusing to me. The papers say "Bushu", but it is a fine Hirata cloissone tsuba. Maybe I miss something in the context? Any translation help is most welcome!! It is my anniversary this weekend, and I do not think the wife will let me stay home to work on these. Curran

And now the fairly identical otherside. Been curious what this one was, but have not bothered shinsa'ing it yet, as I get the feeling they will scratch their heads and call it 'Hamano'. Doesn't feel Hamano to me. Some sort of derivative of Hamano- maybe Otsuki or maybe something else. Opinions welcome.

Ok, second try to post the photo.

Mike, Nope- the wife and I let the Jersey City apartment go a while back. We are now in the Sarasota, FL area. I love where we live half the year, and hate it the other half (hurricanes and all). We'll see what we are doing in the long run. Both wife and I miss the NY area, so we will probably either move back there or "snowbird" back and forth. Small chance we may move to Scotland, but most likely just some FL <-> NY life. Oddly enough, we mostly miss certain types of food. Who would believe you cannot find Jamaican food on this coast, and we hafta drive over 1 hour to the nearest mediocre Korean resteraunt. Yes, I miss living about 2 blocks from Kodama and being to see him. Not a whole lot of Nihonto down here. I've pruned my collection back a bit too. Mostly tsuba and books. Not as much fun without other collectors around.

Mr. Ford, You may be the best person to ask about a tsuba I've owned for a while. A photo/scan should be attached. I've wondered if it might be Otsuki school? Yes/No/Maybe The tsuba is identical on both sides, and the face seems to be more shibuichi-esque in a dark grey with nice lustre. Eye is gold, with a shakudo pupil. My logic is only that I have seen two very similar Daruma school tsuba from the Otsuki school. I do not know much about the school and would appreciate any references in English. (Hmmm... photo isn't attaching. Need to resize it. Will post later.)

Mike, At the meeting, show it to Kodama. Hopefully he will show up to the meeting. I miss attending the New York club. If I may ask, from whom did you buy the sword? You can contact me offline if you want. I'm mostly just curious. Your description of the seller reminded me an awful lot of a gentleman from New Jersey.

Nice looking sword. I know little about the smith, so cannot comment other than that at least one excellent gimei of his is floating around (last in Japan I believe?). I cannot agree with that papers comment. I just don't much believe in Toku Hozon anymore, and some others feel that way. There is Hozon, and then there is Juyo. Toku Hozon is often a waste of money. Once... only once... I got a specific smith and generation attribution whereas the Hozon had given it just to the school and time period. Ironically... that sword came from Japan originally. Last 11 items I submitted to the NBTHK, only 1 did I bother with Toku Hozon. Looking at that Toku Hozon paper now, I wonder... why did I spend the money? As for the sword coming out of Japan without papers, thats a tough one. There have been others with no papers that came out and have gone as high as Juyo. Sometimes they come out of Japan with respected 3rd party opinions. Sometimes not. One of my favorites.... the 3rd party opinion was wrong and so were some smart people here in the US. I saw the sword and it needled at me as something special. I was close with my attribution, but off. Still wish I could have bought it (I wanted it for the koshirae nearly as much as the blade). One year later, the blade is Juyo. Great blade. Great attribution (one of the more impressive calls by the NBTHK, where once it was made I read-up and said... D@*N how did none of us get that). But for a signed blade coming out of Japan without papers... a bit more questionable. Very sincere "Good luck!". Hope it papers.

I remember seeing a tsuba at one time that was signed something like "this was made with namban tetsu by _____". The signature was more interesting than the tsuba, but I made mental note of it. That was a while ago. Not sure which, but I believe it was on a Japanese website.

Nobody, That is an interesting observation. I did not notice. Perhaps he did make a mistake, but maybe the mistake is in the upper right quadrant. If that is the mistake, then the "fernbracken" or sort of Karakusa style design would have continued around the tsuba in a continous design. Good observation by you. Thank you for the illustration.

Milt, John, motley crew, and peanut gallery: Yes, you are right that I sold it. Most well known are the distinct punch marks of the Kamiyoshi (late edo Higo) school. I have also seen Higo tsuba with these distinct punch marks added to imply that they are Kamiyoshi (1st gen & 2nd Gen). Someone submitted one of them to NBTHK shinsa. I did not think it would pass, but it came back with papers that said "Higo". ie.... they didn't fall for the falsified punch marks. I was surprised they papered it at all.... Also the Nishigaki have some distinct punch mark habits, but nothing that I know of in my journeyman knowledge which points to specific guys or declares 'Nishigaki' with certainty. I have one of these that just came back from Japan with Nishigaki papers. It may go up for sale in Tampa, as I got a Hayashi tsuba I fancy more. It will probably go up, as I seem to be focusing mostly on ko-Akasaka now. We'll see. Peter Klein can probably comment much better than me on Hayashi, Shimizu, etc. marks... I've only mostly bothered with Nishigaki/Kamiyoshi I'd agree with John or whomever stated that those daisy cutter marks mostly seem to appear on late Edo Kinko pieces. I have now and have had a few with these marks. I am fairly certain it is not limited to Hamano- though some of the examples I have are Hamano school derivatives. I'm waiting to hear back from Japan on a nice one I believe to be an authentic Hirotoshi (knock on wood!) - see attached photo. The two marks at the top of the nakago ana don't seem to affect the sekigane that much, if at all. Curran

Fairly common Akasaka design often seen later in other schools. Look through the Akasaka section of the tsuba taikan. I know there is one of this design in there. I sold one that I would place as around 6th or 7th generation.

This has been an interesting stroll across several languages. John Stuart, glad to see someone keeping up with the Latin. As for the Romans- the older I get, the more interesting I find them. It is unnerving how many of their structures still stand in Italy, and in Spain to a lesser extent.

Ludolph, Thank you for the reply. I was under the impression there was a modern guide to price or value, similar to those books available for swords (and coins, etc...). I do not have access to many auction catalogs. For instance, I have no idea what value to assign the 6th Gen Yasuchika tsuba I posted.

I should amend my statement about the "dating" in the barcode. A polisher I respect told me that he did this, and demondstrated with several swords of one of his clients. The client confirmed that the polisher was correct. Maybe it was an April Fool's day joke on me, but I believed it. It does not follow that ALL polishers who use the "barcode" do that, and I should not have implied it. I have also seen the wood burl marks of that Ted mentioned. I'd forgotten about that.

Ludolph? Do you know of a Japanese valuation/price guide to the various kodogu makers? One of our former fellow NMB list members had such a guide, but he is now long since gone. Mr. Nobody (Moriyama-san), may I please ask what are your schools of interests within collecting swords? I've been interested in mostly Oei period blades of the Yamashiro and Bizen tradition, but occassionally strayed into Soshu tanto and O-tanto.

To claim they are a sign of quality might be a stretch or half truth. Think of it more as a bar code. The polisher responsible can read it and some have a system to their code by which they can read when they polished it. I have seen polish jobs where the polisher was so (proud?) of his work that he also burnishes in a very small mark or kao over the lines or in some other semi-secret spot. I've seen this a few times now. The first time was on a Juyo blade of the Rai school. The owner didn't even know the mark was there. The polish was extremely beautiful and gentle, but I was mildly surprised a polisher would do that (it was hid in the horimono under or near the habaki). I do not think this is common, but when I come across a blade with a higher end nice recent polish... I like to see if I can find these 'polisher kao'. Searching for it also yields a nice overall study of the blade.

That is an interesing tsuba. Given the style of workmanship, I was surprised by the signature. Given the name, I would have thought something more along the Hamano style. I've attached photos of what I believe is an authentic Yasuchika 6th. I have not papered it yet. Just been told by one of the shinsa judges that it is correct. Still need to see if the other judges agree! It is dated to 1853 (or 1856- I forget). I believe Mr. Nobody helped me translate it as commissioned by or for a Mr. Tamiya. Ludolf or Mr. Nobody, what guide or text do you use for the "ranking" of kodogu makers. I purchased several tsuba from estates/small-museums in the past few. Some of them have been bigger names. I have no idea how to value them for insurance. For instance, what is an unsigned Otsuki school tsuba worth? Several have been papered in Japan. I will paper the rest next year.

Martin's tsuba was a good example of the "reverse swastika" keyfrett design. Today I came across another example: http://www.soulofthesamurai.com/home/de ... 4-339A.jpg I have never dealt with this seller before, or at least not that I can recall. He occassionally produces one or two of note.

Nigel, Today accelerated on me, so I've been busy until now. I did look at Tokugawa. On "Tuba" page two they do have a shakudo one with the lightening & thunder keyfrett. Not the Man (reverse swastika) pattern I was trying to find. I remember it being part of a complete koshirae with the Man all over. O well. Cannot find it now. Thank you for the comments on my tsuba. It was a lucky find purchased from a bad photo. It is very nice, but extremely dense and heavy. I've enjoyed having it. To think I almost passed on purchasing from the original photo sent me! My only complaint is someone "numbered" it in the upper left part of the seppa dai (look closely at the photo). While looking at Tokugawa today, I noticed another nice tsuba up at a very fair price. I need to visit the websites more often.

Nigel, Yes, that tsuba is one of mine. I haven't bothered to paper it yet, so the statement "Owari Kinko" is only my opinion after being pointed in the right direction by Alan Bale a while back. Peter K over in Miami loaned me a book on it. It may even be an unsigned 'Norisuke' (that is a whole other kettle of worms...) but Norisuke I and Norisuke II mostly worked in iron. As always, Rich T's links are very good. I like the one iron Edo Higo tsuba he showed you. Price was good too.... hmmmm! Parusing one of his links also led me to another tsuba I am interested in, so the Edo Higo tsuba is probably safe from me. Work has had me too busy to visit many of the Japanese sites in a while. Seems I'm missing out. I'll need to find the time somehow! I believe Tokugawa Art had a good example of 'Sayagata' but it may have sold or my memory may be faulty. I'll go looking for it after work finishes today.

Pitch is often added to the back of the menuki to fill them out, be they soft and thin or thick and solid. I've seen it on the thinnest gold menuki, and I've seen it on iron menuki over which you could drive a truck with no damage. A similar set of menuki was just published in the 2nd Annual KTK Convention Catalog, as part of Ron Hartman's collection. Ron's are exceptionally nice, and signed. I would say that every time I have seen this pitch and removed it hoping to find a signature- I never have found a signature. In one case, I damaged the back of the menuki... so I don't recommend removal of the pitch. The pitch is sometimes as hard as a diamond. Leave the menuki as they are. Curran

Nigel, aka. Keyfrett design. I cannot add much. As your post notes, it often comes up around the repeating pattern of the Buddhist "reverse swastika". It could also be based upon the Japanese design rendering of lighting & thunder. You see it used alot set in shakudo. Often in kaga kinko, and sometimes in the more rare Owari kinko. There are some Akasaka tsuba that use it as their design through softer iron. I've attached an image of what I believe to be an Owari kinko tsuba with keyfrett. It is made of shakudo with gold wire insert. You are welcome to visit us in Sarasota when you feel like it. Weather is finally nice over here. If possible, could you post a photo of the tsuba that is on this koshirae of yours?

Mr. Nobody, Thank you. I was just curious if it could be read the other way. We often feel Japanese leaves much to inference. I did not know if this could be true even of " ichi gatsu". I wish it were possible to more actively study Japanese where I live now- but it is very difficult to find a teacher here. Learning from books without human interaction allows for too much 'interpretation error'.

Mr. Nobody, Any chance this could also be translated: "the first month of the Genji Era"? First month = February ? This is probably a wrong idea, but I am just wondering.

John- I'd have to agree on Nobody's expert reading of the 1st and 4th character. I think he is probably right on the 3rd character, but not sure what to make of the 2nd character. I looked up 'Motoaki' (and other variations) in Haynes and didn't get a match. I think we will hafta wait until you receive it and post a better image. Then we will help as best as we can. Let me know when you have a better picture.