Curran

Yes. And not all works by a smith are created equal. Some of the most valuable shodai Shimizu (Jingo line) clock in above $100,000 - yet most of his non Juyo are in the $15`,000 or less category. The supply of these > $100,000 tsuba tends to be so limited that they almost always change hands privately. I never liked the idea that you needed connections and introductions to get access to such things, but that is how it works. Supply of Juyo level fittings is so much lower than Juyo level swords.

These are the two that I keep. -Old photo.

The one on Yahoo!Japan is not a Hikozo. Seppa dai is wrong. I didn't check the mimi, but it looks wrong too. The Den Hikozo is more interesting. I understand the reason for 'Den' on it. I like it, but don't love it. I won't be bidding.

Yes. There are many higher priced tsuba. Some get into the 6 figures rather easy.

Once upon a time I asked the National Gardening Association https://garden.org/ threads for help identifying the plant and flowers on a shodai Shimizu (Jingo). The wealth of information and response I got back is the only thing that has ever rivaled -possibly exceeded- NMB for depth of knowledge. Even as a former biologist, I was humbled with the response from the NGA crowd. It has been a while since I have logged on there, but you may get some surprising traction if you can take the time to post there and wait a little bit.

Here I was expecting a WWII pistol. That caught me a little off guard. @Bugyotsuji thanks for response. I didn't know the Japanese name for these. In one of the more recent Zatoichi films, one of the characters uses one of these pill-locks to discretely dispatch one or two other characters.

Still my favorite thread.

Many of these have museum numbers inside them and seem to have been fairly well preserved for a long time. I picked up 2 in my primary interest areas of Higo and Owari. I've got to stop there, but I keep waiting for someone to pick off JJ0002 = 4th or 5th gen Akasaka of good thickness and condition JJ0009 = usual and exceptional mokume gane signed Bushu Akasaka JJ0010 = Akasaka or Owari, great condition That is my honest personal opinion. The temptation is fairly strong, and I am glad someone picked off one of the other ones I was eyeing.

The living breathing database.

That is the one I was thinking about. I remember reading the UK Club notes and finding it an extremely interesting writeup. Also, the Han Bin Song collection was an interesting one. I did not remember that the one owned by Mr. Sinclair was by Ikkansai Shigetsugu. That makes me more eager to see it again, so I think I have to go digging through my older files.

This is what I was thinking before: https://eirakudo.shop/tosogu/menuki/detail/363556 Called "Shihode", which is described in one of my Goto books as a form of horse harness

Yes, I think so. Though I learned to ride when I was young, and family and my girlfriend had horses- I was never very fond of it. The past month I've been dealing with a lot of equestrians due to another interests, and I even picked up that horse saddle Bushu from Jimi-san. Bushu is totally outside my Owari - Higo interests, but I do seem to be more attuned to the equestrian and hawking pieces right now. I am regretting having sold a "hawk feeding basket" iron Higo tsuba (NBTHK Hozon). SwordGuyJoe put it up on eBay a number of years ago. I wish that one would pop up again. If anyone here has it- please PM me.

That was a nicely constructed post. Personally I always thought this was lotus root. The second picture of soy sauce, mirin, etc, with sesame seeds is such a classic long standing dish in Korean and western Japanese cooking that it never occurred to me it was anything other than lotus root. When sliced, it is very geometric. When boiled or simmered, it looks exactly as the Yamakichibei.

Hi Jimi-san, I also sent an email. There is one I like and one that maybe would be nice to own for a bit.

It could be abumi, but also more likely this tack here: https://eirakudo.shop/tosogu/menuki/detail/363556 I forget the name and the Japanese equestrian purpose, but Robert Hughes was good enough to explain it a while back on his Facebook feed. I need to look it up again.

Most likely it is Horse Tack.

Well, pretty much the market has been cornered by him, Tanobe-san, and Bill Miller here in Georgia. I'm not even that into Satsuma, but it took me a long time to get a higher level Satsuma tsuba. I've heard from Bill, Darcy, and two other collectors that Tanobe-san has some exceptional examples.

Southern flash rain rules: less brakes, and more steering wheel boat drift control when you feel yourself hydrofoiling. Drifting seems to be a necessary skill here.

Georgia vs Ohio... I'm not even much of a sports fan, but will watch that one. Just a 32 year old rivalry between me and an old friend who to high school in that Other place. Yes, the flash floods here are something I'm glad I warned my wife about when we came here. I just wasn't expecting one in January. Very fast torrents out of nowhere. We're notorious for not being able to drive over snow n ice, but Level 9 experts at water and mud-dogging it.

You and I seem to be on some ATL parallel wavelengths right now. I'd been thinking on doing this with the sword I own, or at least the Nobukuni O-tanto. You did post this in a place I rarely check. I'd also bought for my wife a special large woodblock print from a downtown artist and lamented to myself that I didn't know any good frameshops here like I did in NYC and Sarasota. Usually you just go to the best museum in the city and search a 10 block radius. I haven't found anything near the High Museum. Maybe I should jump outside the Perimeter and meet up with you later this month after the 10 megaton flu has passed. Ps. I hope you are getting to enjoy some of this wicked winter lightning storm we are having this morning. While I have seen some wild heat lightening, I don't think I've ever seen a winter discotech like last night and this morning. Flashes almost every minute.

Carved in . Sekibun was very skilled, and particularly known for his tigers. Just 30 minutes before seeing this post, I had the Sekibun book out for a bit. Nice coincidence.

wow.. the train completely jumped the tracks. Got fugly real fast.

These are useful stands. Put up, take down, and store very fast/easy at sword shows. I purchased one from the PhD student at MIT that was making them 10-12 years ago.

Most of his koshirae are added or retrofitted koshirae. Far from original. It is quite the cottage industry, as more non-Japanese pour into the market for this high grade relatively low cost art form. Many of the newer generation of foreign buyers want that koshirae, even if they are slapped together. Cary Condell would make them tastefully, ensuring your Juyo NOrishige had the koshirae to match. Some of the lower end Japanese dealers... a bit more slapdash. In recent years, most swords under 10k will now come with [koshirae]. Let us call it lipstick on old dames.