Curran

@ChrisW and @Rawa . Thank you both for this. Chris' explanations helped me on one or two things I was wonder, and Marcin's image posted will be helpful in remembering the new-to-me terminology. I now understand the leather cap on the top of the saya is missing, hence the patina shift between the covered and uncovered part. Yes to Chris's comment on what type of sword it maybe once carried. By the tsunagi and other measurements of the inside of the saya, I suspect it was made for an older sword. What?- we will probably never know.

Ah! I should have seen that. Interesting idea.

and

More pics.

Hi guys, I've been helping and learning mostly in the Tosogu section for the last 20 years. A while back I inherited this gunto koshirae and loved the leather condition right away--- but I have never bothered learning the terminology. On a whim, I listed it in the For Sale section with some photos and very little knowledge of what I was listing. I've received a few questions about it, and I really don't know how to answer some of them. Can you guys have a look and help me learn the terminology. What is good about it? What is bad about it? What is missing or married? My knowledge of koshirae has a dead stop before WWII. I'd like to learn. NOT interested in the monetary value. Attached should be some pics.

I've never used Jauce until giving it a spin yesterday. Why do you guys use it? I cannot see the logic. I used Buyee at one point, but went back to a mix of another deputy system and a friend who charges a certain commission. It kinda depended on the item. Currently I am not really buying from Japan unless something special. Reason? USA Tariff Tantrums. After Jesse's little stab yesterday, I'll probably take an extended vacation from the hobby for a few months or longer. Give it until my birthday, then consider a break. Careful with the Japan listings these days. If you dig through 1000 things, you might find 1 special. Otherwise, kinda a junkfest with a fair number of doctored up copies, etc. KMart Blue Light Specials, if you remember those.

I'd been thinking on this topic for a few days, since I'd started and contributed in the "Dancing Skunk Tsuba" discussion. There are waves of tsuba designs that will get bumper crop copied for a few years, then seem to disappear into the back corner of drawers. Then there are the increasing numbers of cast gold menuki that can be surprisingly convincing. They just seem to get better at deceiving from year to year. What I've been noticing more on Yahoo!Japan is.... quite a few of the iron copies from years and decades past are now popping up with rust that makes them look more convincing. sometimes the rust seems natural, and sometimes artificial, to make a viewer more likely it is authentic rather than a carefully rusted iron copy. There is a certain Ko-Akasaka design of an axe nature. The originals looked too fresh to fool most people. Fast forward 10 years, and now I am seeing more of them popping up with rust patterns to make that $100 tsuba into a $1000+ tsuba. Also, some Kanayama, Ono, and Owari of dubious origins. Supposed Yagyu too, though I find those easier to spot. Be careful with the Yahoo!Japan stuff. There are some dubious ones up at present.

Yes please. And a kinko example at that??? Send to...

Yeah.... I've always struggled with why people buy the one with the guy looking like a drunk Dionysus.

That is an insult to Salvador Dali. I wasn't the biggest fan of his paintings until I got to study them up close at the Prado in Spain during a General Strike. With the Museum Staff at half, they pretty much just left us alone to get within 6 inches of many of his paintings. The guy was total OCD. Up close, his paintings are masterful almost pointalistic brush strokes. No idea what his inspiration for designs might have been (never read up on his life), but the better works all had an incredible attention to detail. These tsuba: not so much. Kinda feel like what we would call "coconut doll artwork"

Very nice. The 4 crest waves have more of an Etruscan or ancient Greco-Roman feel to it. Think Pompeian mosaic https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pompeii_excavations,_Napoli,_Italy_07_-_waves_motive_mozaic_on_the_floor.JPG

It was very thin across the plate, yet felt like tank armor. The mimi was a high dote mimi, all one piece. Most of the sword cut (faux) or test cut, was into the mimi and left very little mark on the main body. I believe it was signed Unshu-Ju-Yoshihisa or similar, which doesn't quite match up in Haynes. I think last year I stumbled on something in researching Saotome, Haruta, and Myochin tsuba felt like a much better fit. Never completed my notes on it, and I sometimes wish I had the confidence in my earlier years to keep something that didn't quite line up peg for peg as my western books taught then.

I remember this stunner very well. Incredible inlay. The spindle I owned long ago was ex-Jim Gilbert, passed to Mr. Orr (I question my memory), and on to Bob Haynes. Lovely piece with one of those faux sword strikes across the tsuba in an impossible location. Sort of like those bullet tested "battle aged" armors.

A marred Tanaka is a marred Tanaka. Not of interest to me, so I understand the -hard pass- However, it is a good example of a Tanaka missing something that is normally a major kantei point for Tanaka school? Why stripped out??? We won't know, but the skeletal remains of the seppa dai shape and cut are educational. I'd learn from the photo and run.

Two decades now of "Dancing Skunks". Milt Ong would make fun of these. Now that Milt has passed, I cannot look at these without mixed feelings that they are still on the market after his passing. Convincing things that has probably scared a few collectors out of the hobby. They don't look that horrible in photos, but they are a real landmine for newer collectors. AVOID.

A bit of a mix. "Edo Higo" type tsuba. Ie. Edo version of what they consider Higo design. Menuki: crab + [I forget the name of this plant]. It is an early Goto design, but this feels like a knockoff. 1700s, or 1800s? I don't know. They look decent, but not early Goto grade. F/K: More of the same. An earlier design of a more ko-kinko theme, but the execution is not at the same level. In many ways, this is what I would consider a decent Revival piece of older styles.

me too

@Rayhan Wow... Heck of a resource. That is truly incredible. Thank you 1000x

Is it 10% on the amount OVER $800, (say, a $1000 item which is $200 over will have a $20 tariff) or a flat 10% triggered at the $800 level? (say a $1000 item would have a flat tariff of $100) There is an item in Japan that I thought to recommend to a friend, but I think he'd be find with a $20 tariff on it vs $100 tariff.

I like that one. Normally, I'd consider buying it. For those of us in the USA, I think this is blunted by whatever the tariff would be. Among Issei Naruki examples, I would have recommended that one to foreign buyers. _____________________________________ -----aaannnnd. I see I am late. Looks like it sold?

According to Haynes Index, the first generation was 1550s'ish and didn't sign. That aside, I would have guessed 1625-1665 by various points. Perhaps later given how wide the hitsu-ana are from the nakago ana. Still, i like the signature being to the left in a column format similar to the way we see armor maker signature on helmets. Anyway: all good fun. This thread started about Kanayama tsuba. Apologies for the minor hijack. It would be nice if more historical record of Kanayama and Ono tsuba surfaced, but I won't hold my breath. That said, some of the other "Owari" schools have had breakthroughs in understanding the last 50 years as families and other sources have shared historical records and family records to the NBTHK.

Saotome Iesada. I'd like to think the 2nd gen fellow circa 1600-1650 who supposedly also made armor. We'll see once I have it hand. A screen grab should be attached. Given the design, I thought it might be a nice compare-contrast with the Yamakichibei.

Yep. Helps when they are signed. Sometimes the signature is faint, like on this Yamakichibei below. I was excited to finally land a signed Saotome the other week. It is probably the last thing I will buy out of Japan for a while, until the tariff and related shipping issues get minimized. Will post an image of the signed Saotome when I get it.

"Wovon". Loving the archaic German.

No takers? I'm a fan of ducks, but I prefer them Peking style. I'll leave the tsuba up for May 2025. I thought this one was a good affordable grab for somebody, but I know this tariff stuff is causing a lot of confusion.