Curran

This is a Murakami Jochiku that received TH last year. It is signed with his personal name on the other side of the fuchi. The shrine gong (with pull) is inlaid with writing, very difficult for my naked eye to see. Conjecture from a knowledgeable friend is that it is a shrine dedication. Anyone willing to venture a reading on it? It is beyond my level.

Impressive! Having fitted boxes and shifuku made in Japan is quite expensive. Mailing and agent fees have risen a good bit after the Pandemic. I don't think people realize how much expense that tacks on to an item. For it to be cost effective, I only do so about every 2 years: usually with one or two friends joining in. If sending to shinsa in Japan, best to have the boxes made then. As I get more to the high TH and low Juyo end of the spectrum, most come with papers, fitted box, and shifuku. Heaven knows when I will have more fitted boxes made, though I have two good ones out of the woodwork in the last year that will eventually need a higher end box.

Like sands of the hourglass, My intent is 2/3rds humor and 1/3rd serious. Piers was far more poignant. I cannot match that.

Juyo papers and what looks like a modern Tanobe-san sayagaki? It might be crazy to put it on Yahoo!Japan, or it might catch a Russian bidder.

That is a good primer. I've been at this a long time and collect mostly Higo or Owari schools, but sometimes something totally away from those groups will artistically or philosophically connects with me. It doesn't matter what -school- it is. If I like it that much, I buy n keep it. Thus I have a Saotome, Ko-Nara, and two Ko-Akasaka owned for many years now. I love the Ko-Nara far above its financial value. NBTHK papers are nice, but at some point you eventually take off the training wheels. Also, NBTHK tosogu opinions aren't what they once were. The time and expense of getting them has risen at least +50% in the last few years, and the opinions a bit more slapdash than those from 1983-2013 reference frame.

Time for 2024 dose of zen. Still need to get to Japan and Australia. Discussing with the wife.

This is exactly what I do, using bluetape over paper bands done in spiral and counter spiral binding. Then some cotton binding around this while it sets. I don't want too much direct pressure in any one area. I ended up steaming and using the dental floss trick until I could get enough purchase to ***slowly*** split it with a large [wedge-like] flatblade knife we own. I had to be careful, as I have seen other people have the wood split unevenly. Striking the tsuka on the nakago ana side up would make sense in many cases. This particular tsuka has a ridiculously thick horn ring around the nakago ana section, so I preferred to work from the other end and see if I could split it and wiggle out the sections without damaging the very thick horn ring. Thank you gentlemen for the input. Tomorrow we will see if my 2nd attempt is a better fit.

Perhaps best to give it a rub-down, now and then, with some undyed flannel. Over time, you'd be surprised how much that can help a tsuba. These little art objects don't get handled as much as they once did when in use and resting against someone's kimono.

Very good first purchase. Is the red from light fresh rust (you can probably halt or fix with a brush at this point), or did someone paint or lacquer it red? My memory says the school is from Kyushu, but I would have to find it again either in the Nihonto Koza or Torigoye. I still owe another member here some Goto references...., so I am hoping someone else can nail it first. One of our Italian members has a great database of NBTHK school attributions. It is definitely better than my first tsuba purchase back in 1992.

Ah yes. Thank you- this is a very good idea- provided there is a enough suction. I don't have access to the lab grade hoovers of years past. I can seal the menuki opening tightly and give it a try. If this doesn't work, then @Brian steam'o'rama it will be. For a tosogu collector, this is a rare problem for me.

Backstory: From a local collector, I inherited a decent shinto echizen blade. Shirasaya was a mess and the patina on the copper habaki was cleaned or stripped. I split the shirasaya parts with the old dental floss trick, and reglued with rice glue. This is the 3rd or 4th time I have had to do this in the last 25 years. It came out well. Perhaps too well. Handle [tsuka] section is too tight. AND.... during trying to loosen it, I got a piece of fine-grit sandpaper wedged inside the handle [tsuka] section. I need to resplit the tsuka section of the shirasaya, but the rice glue job is too tight. Anyone have working knowledge of how I can soften up the rice-glue to resplit the shirasaya handle? Microwave??? I wanted to get advice here before experimenting with anything new.

He has been around for a long time. Knowledgeable enough and fair. I have had at least two exceptional buys from him over the past decade.

Indeed, the show was Great. It surprised significantly on the upside. Mark did a phenomenal job. Even the taxi service was surprisingly good if you had access to an I-phone. I regret that I only spent 1 day there. It was my first show in 5 years. Next year, I will be back. Thank you Mark.

Thank you. The old ones get en-vogue for a while, but currently seem out of vogue. I thought it would sell fast at that price, but only not too serious tire-kickers. Things like Shingen tsuba, which you couldn't give away 5 years ago, currently seem to be very en-vogue.

+1 to David Styles and Tasmanian Dale Thank you guys.

Maybe Mauro can suss out what is the design element. Ito-san's page says "Temari" or traditional Japanese hand ball. No image of the NBTHK papers and how they describe it. https://www.galleryy...m/jt0111kotoshotsuba

Thank you again Mauro. 勾 = be bent, slope, capture So the theme is "sloping jewel" as in akin to https://kansaicultur...-of-Japan-houju.html ??? -----------Glad to know you are back RKG. I didn't know you were ill. As life would have it, I was photographing a Ko-Tosho yesterday. In some light, it is battleship dark grey. In other light, it gets dark as a kamakura sword nakago. Ko-tosho is my call. I haven't bothered with the NBTHK opinion yet.

@Gakusee I know. The thread is posted in Tosogu, and @paul tsubadotinfo was highlighting the Tosogu shinsa. The time and expense of tosogu papers vs what the items sale for has become too great a %. Make the stenosis of # able to submit smaller, and the folly of it grows. Add to it how random some of the results can be, and it is just a bit of pissing into the wind.

Like many things these days, there is a bit of Shrink-flation at the NBTHK. Ideally, limiting the number means a bit return to more knowledgeable response of shinsa of years past. Realistically, it is just another hurdle. My opinion of NBTHK papers has slid the past decade. Now I check the dates of the papers and handicap the opinion. True story: [1] a very good condition iron tsuba that I thought was nidai Kanshiro. Off to NBTHK shinsa and the results are "Higo". Well, that is useless. As a friend said, "Use if to line a bird cage or the bottom of a cat box?" [2] I sold the tsuba. New owner put it through NTHK-NPO shinsa. They bounced it as "modern". Buyer asked me what I wanted to do? I said. "oh, I forgot it had NBTHK Hozon papers. You want them or want to return the tsuba?" [3] He kept the tsuba and papers. Amidst a divorce, he sold the tsuba. It pops up in Japan with a dealer, with more recent papers NBTHK papers to Kanshiro. [4] An authority shows it to me and says "shodai Kanshiro" So, what do I make of all that? Paper game, even more fiat than most currencies nowadays. Do I still paper? Kinda, sorta? Is it worth it? No, not really. I get a lot of Horyu on anything big names I send in to the NBTHK. I then have to wait 6 months more and resubmit. So far about a 100% success rate on the second try, but it is a lot of hassle and agent expense to have to submit twice for what should be relatively easy match workmanship and signature to books.

Nice explanation. -Pretty darn good copies, when under a wrap. Yes, seeing the backs will help. Good enough copies to get some of the things like the tri-marks at the armpits correct. Tri-clovers and spots on the body too. The ridge on the chest is a good imitation of the markings on the originals. The paws are not finished in enough detail, but still a nice effort. Close enough to the originals that Kyo Kinko would be likely how they paper. If they weren't so thin, they might get a waki-Goto call on a good day.

Great little package there. That it has an older Gassan blade in it really gives a bit of the gravitas of someone carrying it into wartime.

Legit tsuba. From the picture of inside the sukashi, I'd guess it to be repatinated. Probably it had condition issues that were cleaned up, and then repatinated. Take this as the devil's word, but many tsuba are repatinated. Some are incredibly well done. Others are a bit more "dipped". Believe it or not, many repatinated tsuba get NBTHK papers. Guido S. would insist it was only to Hozon in the past and No Longer Done according to his NBTHK sources, but I then watched tsuba I know to have been repatinated go on to get Hozon despite Guido's opinion. Repatinations at Tokubetsu Hozon or Juyo? Mmmm. Some exist. I had one with TH papers that I learned was repatinated. I also know of at least two Juyo that were repaired and repatinated. I had the pleasure of seeing the before, after, and after Juyo pics. I'm sorry that Guido isn't around to disagree with me.

+1. I'd like a copy of this book too.

Bingo. I can see both a Tochibata call and a Sado Island call. The iron definitely makes me think of the Sado Island tsuba.

The Akasaka borrowed from Higo. The Higo sometimes borrowed from the Akasaka. Later, the Tosa Myochin would often borrow from both of them and mishmash up a bit. Most of the ones you see with sukashi into the nakago ana are going to be Nishigaki, but there are some Akasaka and Tosa Myochin (and some early Hayashi, but those tend to be a very different beast). There were really a LOT of smiths in the Akasaka school, especially later on. Yours is probably a later Nishigaki later generation. That is my best guess, going off the internal spatial ratios of its design.