Curran

It amazes us advanced Beginner-Intermediate types even more. How many years or decade we have to go. Reading one of Markus' translations this morning and thinking of picking up the Natsuo one as an early gift to self. Confess I was hoping Lulu.com would do more for 'Black Friday'. Will send a PM to Markus on another topic, looking for recommendations of anything in English on another kodogu topic. Thanks for the Tombo -Tonbo read.

Crickets answer.... Anybody? I'm hoping for one of our very kind Japanese mentors to pop in.

It is a shame this is the last one. It has been a nice slideshow. I appreciate his aesthetic in his choices, and I wish he had been a member here.

I ask for help on the center line of this box's hakogaki. The inside is easy to read, and of course the outside starts "Ko-katchushi" Then: [?] [field/rice paddy] [kami?] [kore?] tsuba Probably something very logical, but I'm drawing a blank and could use help. Sincere thanks in advance.

Concur with what John said. Seen mostly on koto swords. Often the appearance of this machiokuri 'mizukage' is stronger on one side than the other and bend away into the blade quickly fading without changing the jigane. Not the hard ruler line straight up both sides to the mune area. Most often described as a heated copper block tool with sword laid on it for transference- as localized trick to soften an area chemical structure and reduce risk of cracks while altering swords considered to be of a bit more valuable. One of Cary Condell's old tricks was to go around sword shows and spot unpapered ones with this phantom mizukage, kick the owner down to nothing on price, and then have it polished and papered. One of the listmembers had this experience first hand, resisted the Cary ploy, had it polished and Tokubetsu Hozon to Osafune Morimitsu. Lovely sword that I wish I knew who owned nowadays.

Nearly all Hirado Kunishige tsuba have the design go onto the seppa dai. Quite a fair number of smiths routinely wander onto the seppa dai. Nidai Kanshiro often did a bit. Perfectly functional. At first glance, that looks like a big name signature unless I am misreading it at this bleary cold early hour in the morning. Ie. possible misread. Workmanship doesn't quite seem to support the reputation of the name. I'd be more concerned with the signature, but someone may have gotten quite the steal.

Collection or museum catalog #207

Wow, what a pleasant one. I recognized the basket design, but didn't know it was:

First tsuba is appealing. Personal feeling is that it would be older than we are attributing it. While technique most common in late Edo, the skill on this one seems very fine like truer to a painting. I have much to learn about ko-umetada kinko, and every time I see a NBTHK papered ko-umetada kinko tsuba with this sort of fine workmanship.... I allow for something similar like this to be much older. Very difficult to date this one. This is a nice tsuba. While I cast pebbles at the quality level of the previous Tanaka tsuba, your father had fine taste. Most everything you have shown us so far has been at a very solidly elevated aesthetic above the vast majority of what people query about. In other words: batting average very high. Wondering if there isn't a home run or two waiting to be seen. Second tsuba: Mito or Nara work. My first thought was one of the decent 1800s Mito spin off schools, but John might be right on Nara call. Very hard to pin it down to a specific subschool without some sort of special clue, and nothing leaps out as evident in a quick look.

This is what I do for a living. US$ getting stronger? Maybe sporadically, but longer term Not Happening. No going back to April 2002 or 1990s hipness (=want USD for reasons other than fear) in the eyes of the world. Only thing I think Surf should have included is how changing international laws and shipping requirements prevent the flow of swords. These barriers have many results, and are partially responsible for my shift more to fittings after 2004.

Prado. That was the joke. Love that museum by the way. The mind buckles a bit when observing an entire room of Bosch's works. Sir Bernard's tsuba may very well be authentic, but not a very good example of the work that can be seen from the school. I'd seen a Juyo piece that was pristine in condition and excellent of workmanship, if a bit unimaginative in design. Thus I was lukewarm about this school's reputation. An American corrected that when he showed me a few pieces of his large collection in this area. The few he showed me easily eclipsed the few I'd previously studied, and he supposedly had 2 dozen more. I regret not making more time to visit with him and see the others. ~~~ this is to say that you see a wide spectrum of work in this school. Many things about this particular one fail to impress me. Wife's wallet says "Prada", but we both know it to be a functional NYC street market buy with decent stitching and leather that isn't quite the real deal. Hence we call it the "Prado" when lost around the house or apartment, in hommage to the many Chinatown special "Prado" knockoff versions of the wallet. My recent favorite from Chinatown was the hardware shop with large lionhead door knocks labeled "Loins Knockers - 50% off!" Sometimes being just a little off changes everything. Kick the entendre around as much as you like.

Tanaka'esque. Gut reaction is it reminds me of my wife's Prado wallet.

Was posted over 4 years ago. This is a very old thread. While blades seem to continue to be soft in prices, the number of interesting fittings like Fred's coming to market has dropped substantially since the 2003-2004 Bankruptcy of the private Fittings Museum due to the owner's poor investments. That represented the last great buying opportunity. We're just not seeing that many quality pieces anymore. Having gone over photos of the DTI and been rather bored by what was show versus the prices, items there are trading at multiples of what they can be had for in North America- if found. Yet a lot of the traditional sources for top level fittings are drying up. This score by Fred 4+ years ago was a good one, and one he shouldn't let go.

Please forgive slight divergence away from your original question. --Do you mind sharing what state or city you live in, if in USA? I respectfully have spent time with a long time collector who lost his sight. He still has his memory of the blades he has owned, and can discuss with me the various activity and other signature aspects of them as I view them and tell him which one I am viewing. We cycle through through various blades of schools and time periods. Some I know very well, and some not as well as his memory shows me. Please judge how important it is to your husband to own a blade vs. seeing in person and getting to handle some fine blades. Depending on where you live and other practical factors, there may be some of us willing to share with him and show a few blades. A nice blade can be had for $5000, but the experience of something like one of the sword shows rampant with Juyo and higher level swords (and hands on lectures, after review lesson in blade etiquette) in the USA may be a greater memory with less cost. In some states you may even find monthly group meetings or lectures that he would enjoy and also serves to give you information as to what he may ideally want to own. No promises or false hope, but some of us will help if possible to do so.

Lucky timing.... as this topic just came up elsewhere. I have seen a tsuba with recent NBTHK papers to 'Tachi Shi'. *However*, the tsuba was photographed with the nakago ana blade up, rather than blade down. Pre-Edo tsuba. No hitsuana. While many regard it common practice is to photograph tachi tsuba with nakago ana blade down, is this the practice of the NBTHK in papering tsuba? Anyone able to link to a tachi tsuba with modern NBTHK papers to illustrate?

Hizen, Hoan, Hirado, Umetada, Tempo, and a number of other schools. Still own a nice Hizen example.

Sasano was repeatedly said to use a patch of undyed cotton thread carpet, on his knee. This would be less than a sanding belt, but more than most people can do with cloth. More than once I've read people's memories of him resting a patch on his knee and working a tsuba as a sort of reflexive habit while in a taxi ride, talking to someone, or killing time at a desk. I've certainly never tried it and am curious to see any old film of him doing this, as I've seen some of his overworked tsuba. Henry: not even sure where to begin. Most things are photoreactive on some level. Old lacquer or mystery substances can be brutally stubborn or occupy inside sukashi where they don't belong. Before most people are in a rush to sandblast their tsuba clean, maybe they should just relax a bit and give it some time in the sun. 1 month of Florida summer sunlight through a skylight in the guest house can make many mystery substances just pop off, yet not hurt the natural patina that much. There are certain schools like Kamiyoshi or iron tsuba with kinko on them where I might avoid this, but for many of the relatively naked darker grain Owari tsuba this is almost always a good thing. I am collecting more kinko these days, it is rare I fiddle with a tsuba anymore. Still sometimes a nice one half sheep dipped in mystery color or overcleaned one comes available.

Horsehair brush: try shops involved with traditional print making Prolonged sunlight: dose of radiation has its uses, depending upon what you are trying to do or undo KM: moist and close to the sea is not a bad thing. Inside a tool shed or garage with open air flow, hung from the appropriate rafter with some sort of natural thread- take it down, check it, give it a bit of the previously mentioned rub with clean undyed cotton or undyed denim, then rotate the clock orientation of the tsuba a bit, and rehang for another few weeks. All this is subjective low level stuff. Also depends on the nature of the patina and the tsuba. I've had a Hayashi that wouldn't heal much despite a year of patient care, and then I've had a number of Owari or Higo school ones that heal incredibly easy from the existing patina. On average, we are talking 6 months to 2 years this way- but the advantage is you develop a great level of understanding by so ritually visiting it and inspecting it.

+1 quite the exhibit 11 Kaneiye side by side on exhibit boggles the mind of those us who collect from afar and rarely get to see such pieces in person.

Heavy rains? I've heard they are attracted to Tokyo when Cyrus is in town. Mike Y or someone else painted a distinct picture of heavy rains, Cyrus' primero shoes, wet tiles, and a heavy backpack lead to some Henry Ford-Chevy Chase moments.

Don't quote me: Rough read: "Kazukazu" or "Ichikazu" ? Actual: I forget how it is rendered as an artists name. I've run across it before as the gimei signature on an otherwise beautiful tsuba in a museum. Gave me quite the challenge at the time to track it down. From *distant* memory, fellow is recognized enough that I had examples of shoshin on file somewere. Maybe Wakayama. Maybe Baur. Late late edo maker. Given the lack of precision in the signature, I'd go along with you all that have deigned it a souvenir or poker token piece.

See Kaga Kinko Taikan for fine example of gold tsuba with this creature.

There is a well known iron Hizoko Hirata with a large natural kizu. It is considered part of its tea beauty. I have a nice Hazama with lamination fold kizu along the seppa dai. Somehow, it seems in character with the tsuba. These sword cuts happen. Some real, some not. Late Momoyama/early edo there was a rash of 'test cuts' across muromachi & momoyama period tsuba. There are at least 2 Nobuiye with these cuts across them practically from slightly under 9pm across to above 3pm. Some of these seem done by professional cutter/tester. Jim Gilbert had a few of them back in the day. I've also seen in person a Yagyu with a bunch of little cuts in an area that look more like wear-n-tear via some sort of live blade practice. It seemed ridiculously dangerous to me, but nature of the cuts seemed to imply a sword on the tsuba.

Armor and the higher end fittings seem to have done acceptably well, but it looks that Congress and the Stock Market tantrums did successfully scare away the sword buyers. That Masazane for a fraction.... was there some condition issue other than the lost Juyo papers? Now the after auction bargain hunters get a week or so to go after what didn't hit reserve. Most of what I was interested in seems to have sold, but now it is time to talk to them about the one that didn't.

Thanks Pete.