Curran

Mark and Barry, Well, I didn't know that sword came from Mark. One of the other 'finds' I saw also came from Mark. Mark- I think I should have taken a longer look at your table. Barry, yes- in addition to yours, I saw that other sword too. Awful chemical polish on it, but once I looked past it- I agree with the restorer. That was a pretty insane deal. As Grey said, there were a large number of good books in excellent to pristine condition. I bought two, and about a dozen people tried to buy a hardback Owari/Yagyu one that I brought for reference to the Owari koshirae I had there. I try to stick to just kodogu/tosogu books, but there were quite a number of sword books that one usually must buy from a Japanese source. I'll be interested to see what Grey lists, as I am sure I missed a few. The storms did keep many people from the west from flying in. One long time attendee that I was suppose to deliver something to did not make it, and the weather also forced many people on Sunday to try to move forward their travel times.

Very different dynamic this year. I brought a few things to sell, but has a difficult time sitting at my table. Too many things to see, and too many people to talk with. Even then, didn't get the chance to talk to several people. We took over an empty table and Mike Y lead an impromtu cram session on Higo. I learned a few things, especially on f/k and some rare menuki. Envy the Hirata f/k belonging to one of the members of the group. I'd seen a previous photo, but wow that was a crappy photo compared to the real thing. Half dozen of us grew to about a dozen of us sort of throwing down a discussion, with specimens ranging from $100 in value on up to not sure ($40,000 or $50,000?). Casual, quick, lots of information. Though it wasn't all on the tables, the level of stuff floating around was some of the highest I've seen in Tampa. Boris was there. Also gentleman Corain (?) from Japan with the extremely high end stuff. I hadn't expected that caliber of items, and should have brought more money. When I could sit at my table, sold 4 of the 15 items I brought to offer out. A dealer made me a last minute offer of $2000 vs $2250 (marked down from $2550) on three tsuba, but he couldn't meet me half way at $2125 and we swapped cards- which means that is the end of that. Show was much more fun than I anticipated, and had 4 finds shown to me. I agree that at least 3 of them were excellent finds at 1/5th to 1/20th of what they should have been had the dealer known. One of them was right under my nose on a large table of tsuba, and I didn't see it until literally handed to me by someone later. Amused. I did cave in and buy a Kanshiro tsuba from a member I've known for years. (Edit:) He thinks nidai and I think nidai or sandai. My one major buy of the show.

Yeah, that tsuba was a nice little buy.

Yes, you should be jealous. Having more fun than anticipated. Seen better quality on some tables than in previous years, and some very nice things have changed hands at prices less than they would in Japan. Definitely much less than they would cost in Europe.

Tochibata. (see Nihonto Koza, Harry Watson's translations) also search on Tochibata on NMB. I believe we discussed a very similar tsuba in another thread.

BaZZa, That is the exact question I asked, knowing how it was with hashi. The answer I got with 'tsuba' was that there was no difference. I thought there must be, but there are many words in English where there is no difference.

Jean, I think we would say 'neck' or 'collar'. It is really just a choice. We might say 'neck' for the whole vertical part, or just the length and save the word 'collar' for that up top going around the saya or shirasaya. Learning languages can be fun and cruel. I remember learning that 'tsuba' (sword guard) pronounced is also the word for 'spit' and I cannot hear the difference in pronunciation, if any. A Japanese teacher blushed as she wondered why I was talking about putting 'spit' on something. ...languages....

Thank you all for the answers. Attached is a photo of what the tachi kake and tachi looked like. Looks better this way than the other, but still a little absurd towering at 4ft. You guys gave me enough information to think I was pushing it to try it. The katana kake I have is that mid edo one. At 260 years, I hesitate to drag it to the sword show. ~But it may be better for the tachi. The tachi kake will probably hold an Owari koshirae. I hate to separate it from its blade on the katana kake, but it seems wiser on a variety of fronts. As Jean pointed out, the neck is narrower. It held the shirasaya very snug, and is more at ease with a smaller katana koshirae in it.

Serious question: I personally believed tachi stands like this one http://www.iidakoendo.com/info/item/b034.htm required the blade to have the kissaki pointing towards the heavens. I don't know where this was learned. I've seen Japanese display the blades (in shirasaya or koshirae) kissaki down into the stand. None of them being serious collectors, I always assumed this was a mistake on their part. Recently I have acquired a very elegant tachi display and placed a tachi blade in shirasaya on it. ----> The tachi is about 4 ft long in shirasaya with sayagaki. ----> displayed this way, sayagaki is upside-down. To be honest, it looks much, much, MUCH better displayed kissaki down. Is this improper Japanese etiquette? This will be on display in Tampa, and I'd like to know before then whether I am committing an etiquette error.

Post a picture someday near or far. I'm a bit more familiar with Oei and Omiya Bizen, but would like to see a Yoshii example.

Can't see the papers to interpret. Think Yoshii is the school attribution. I thought of Yoshii school as decent made koto Bizen blades, but it is unclear if Dr. Honma is deriding them. Go pop open Nagayama and see what is said there. On the web with a Yoshii search: "By Dr. Honma Junji (50) (P.18) 14. Osafune-mono (Sequel) & Yoshii-mono (Sequel) There are the terms ‘Oei-Bizen’ and ‘Sue-Bizen’. The former is a favourable naming and the latter is somehow a derogatory one. Most of Bizen smiths who had been active in the Muromachi Period belong to the Osafune school and others to the Yoshii school."

Christian, Hmm indeed. I hadn't see this one before. Says third gen Jingo. I would have placed it as 4th gen in the school. Which is I guess correct as 4th gen 'Shimizu' = 1+3rd gen Jingo. My pet theory is 4th gen is heavy handed and prefers thicker gauge on the inlay. The tsuba you show supports my theory. Also not the nakago ana shape top and bottom. Yes, similar to the one I placed on eBay.

I refrained from comment, as I didn't have anything of value to add here. Thanks to Brian for letting the thread go its way, as several people added educational commentary.

Curtis, David Stiles had a thread comparing several tsuba of this design.

Don't do anything at this stage. Get a beater tsuba or two w/ a bit of rust off ebay and buy some ivory sticks (usually busted up piano keys). Google and pull up "Jim Gilbert tsuba" website on cleaning rust off iron. Then practice on the beater tsuba. I wouldn't bother with waxing like Jim Gilbert mentions. Definitely definitely definitely remember: LESS is MORE You have some rust spots that needed attended eventually, but _aren't_ a crushing priority. Wait until you have a better feel for such work. You have what looks to be a very nice original koshirae. Better to slightly under-do care on it than over do it. Ensuite dragonfly koshirae are *not* that common, and it is sad that Sachiko Yamauchi Prough passed away last year: http://www.ny-naginata.org/yamauchi/ She was a good friend and great martial artist known as "The Tombo" (dragonfly) She would really have liked your koshirae. Please take good care of it.

Kamakura tsuba can come in many forms. This NBTHK papered one went to someone in the other forum years back. We more often see the landscape ones or the water dragon ones.

There is such a wide range of quality in this carving. The Somin book (Grey has a copy last I checked) is very good at illustrating this. You will see a piece that looks very expert fine by itself, and the book will compare it side by side to a masterwork. Suddenly the fine piece looks like what an English friend calls, "as different as chalk and cheese".

I saw that auction and mistakenly thought it yours at the time.

Page 1. Keep your toupee on and admit you didn't read. (1) Do that and acknowledge the initial rudeness that you did to us who owe you absolutely nothing, and I'll call it settled with newbie. Fundamentally I care enough for the hobby that I come back again and again answering the same newbie questions again and again, with a decade in here on NMB from its early formats through the current version Brian shepherds so well. Hopefully each newbie we help it is someone serious and with potential like Junichi. Often it is not. (2) Or you can go thermonuclear tempest in a teacup flamewar, which I won't engage.

I think I am channeling Reinhardt today , but at this point I think you deserve this: (1) ~How many times in one thread must we say "Markus Sesko"? (2) ~~Just type it in at Lulu.com or Amazon.com. (3) ~~~Or just search on his name here. He is a contributor. (4) ~~~~Come meet him at the Tampa show and get a signed copy. (5) ~~~~~Here is a photo of our favorite Austrian, looking quite a bit like Darcy w/ glasses: http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=Aj0 ... =yfp-t-701

Gilbert's site remains a defacto go to site after being one of the first and most complete. However, it hasn't updated in 7 or 8 years. Since then, the translations by Markus Sesko and other works have outdated Jim's list a bit. "The Japanese toso-kinko schools" and his "Genealoigies" books. Get one of the Lulu.com -30% coupons at some point. Also: "Tsuba, An Aesthetic Study", by Kazutaro Torigoye and Robert Haynes, from the "Tsuba Geijutsu-Ko" of Kazutaro Torigoye, 300 pages. at http://ncjsc.org/ncjsc_publications.htm For $100 to $150 bucks.... best start.

That one is private property now. Ricecracker.com should take down the image. Yes, the Shimizu-Jingo group were fond of their dragon designs.

I see what Michael is saying, but I am not convinced. I'll look at it in Tampa and see if I can agree. Thing is that there were quite a number of capable dilettants producing Higo level work, but playing with their own designs or designs of other schools. As I read through those sections of the books, I often see things that look partially Higo and partially not. I don't know what this tsuba is at present. Not really Jingo in my eyes, and not Kamakura. I've seen and even owned a very atypical Kamakura tsuba, so I won't rule out that this is just atypical Kamakura bori work.

(Harumitsu ?) ___ Yasu (hide?) Any matches in Haynes?

I'm not convinced either. The Jingo boys did love em their rain dragons... Even seeing it in person in Tampa, I don't know that I could make a call on one like this.