Lorenzo

Just in case it is not matsuyani, and in general terms, for other cases, I copy Ted. A Sayashi working in Osafune told me a couple of years ago he uses ki-urushi (raw urushi) mixed with rice flour as a glue for kojiri and so. He showed me a sample wood with another part glued, the glue looks was blackish like matsuyani. The gluing force is quite unbelievable.

Thanks guys, well as Brian says this kind of sh... happens, so all of you, if you plan to have a website or a forum, remember to do always your own backups and do not trust automatic services of the providers, those simply sucks. :x

Sorry Brian, maybe I am misunderstanding; you think that if the mei is gimei it could still be something special because the inscription says it was a "special order"? If the mei is fake then all the writing is fake; isn't it?

hey hey hey... calm down. Sorry you got angry for this, it was not my idea to make you feel so. The whole point is, you started the thread talking about kantei, but you also talked in a negative way about people that see the virgin mother on the tsuba of the previous topic; so... I thought you was stating that a piece must be judged only studing on books and catalogues. This approach is very limited in my opinion, but is just an opinion, no need to have a fight for that. About who teached me a little of what i know I called him teacher, not master, and I didn't mean to use his name to make my point stronger. I would prefer to keep him off from this completely nosense discussion, that turned out very rude, but I sended you a PM and hope it is enough. Sayonara

I see your point, and of course I agree. Yet, I think even in connoisseurship, maybe we shall not completely forgot that "Appreciating what you like is the most natural, and easy thing in the world." A connoisseur, in front of two tsuba (in this case) made by Natsuo for example, has to choose between those in some way. There are several different aspect to be judged, like the overall quality in terms of craftsmanship and conservation, but also the feeling that the piece give to us; isn't to give this "feeling" a sort of goal for the artist? This is the point in my view. I had the opportunity to work metal with a great teacher and a wonderful person. This opportunity teached me a little bit how to recognize craftsmanship; so I think I can now see the technical qualities of this tsuba; yet, I can't recieve any "positive" feeling from that, neither knowing what the theme is about or who did the piece and in wich year. This is much probably a fault of mine, just wanted to express this feeling, because maybe other people feels this sensation and try a way to express it through words (and also in a foreign language :? ) Hope you don't mind about this digression, Regards, Lorenzo

And the knowledge can be distracting too, many times. We like something because it has been teached by experience that it has to be beautiful and we must like it. I talked about the frame of the painting, and not about the painting itself, because I (very personally) can't see anything attractive in this tsuba, while, I liked the design of "the amazing iron piece", even without see in it nothing misterious. My off-topic talking about the seppadai was only joke about this aspect. Now I am ready for the insults

Here it is, that's what I was saying. Never talked about the piece is original or not. Just, even if the nakago ana has been readapted, even on the original piece, the seppadai has an odd shape, old or not No, not worse at all. In the pic you posted, the seppadai is very well defined, much more than the first tsuba of this post. Do not confuse seppadai and nakago ana, we are talking about two different things.

Just add some impressions, no conclusions. The seppadai shape, on the ura pic, is very odd, and decentered... also I feel strange seeing that kind of roughness on a alloy piece.. why it is not flat? I have a last remark; I am not expert at all, just usually on the piece I have seen, the nanako follows concentrical lines, in this case are parallel lines.

As some of you maybe know, I was in Ford's studio in that period and I could see the tsuba in person. What struck me about the real color of the alloy patinated, is the various tones. It is an unbelivable quantity of brown, and in my opinion, it looks like brown leather. Stunning effect, really.

I have seen few kabutowari but this looks longer than usual.. lenght? A question about kabutowari, do they where forged folding steel or not? the one i have seen seems to have no hada

You told that Welcome.

I am not sure about the second kanji of the name, but the date is showa 17 year, july, one day. So one day of july, year 1942

Ah Chris... you don't trust me

exactly.

I absolutely agree. Even if it is not an hagire, the list of fatal flaws can't cover all cases. In my opinion, this dip cover around 60% of the resistent area of the hamon. That is similar to an hagire long as an half of the deepness of the hamon. In this case, i consider it a fatal flaw, even if i am well awared about wich kizu are commonly defined as fatal.

I agree with Reinhard. Look at the shape of the ha in the first picture. The hamachi is present, yet, from there to the end of the picture in the right, i can see a gentle curve that maybe is a polishing defectness, most of all in the point of the dip. Also, this rust dips are right there in the hamon, while the hamon itself is very low. A polishing restoration there will took away too much metal to hide the flaw. Also, the blade looks tired to me. Speaking about the resistence of the weapon to stress, maybe we can't call this flaws as fatal, but in terms of sword appreciation this really are fatal.

As the last time Aoi Art didn't let us too much time to guess the tosho. The sword is now online for sell, with the mei visible.

Copy that. It works perfectly.

I have just spended 15 minutes to write them an email in Japanese as best as i could, and, after have sent it, i notice the sword was online. The use of that Horimono , pages 81 and 111 of The Connoisseurs Book of Japanese sword, crossed with the users of Jizo boshi, could lead the the solution.. Tsunahiro I mistook anyway, i guessed Kunihiro too.

ehehe Brian you know me... i am a total messy I think so about the first one. I was trying to type ezo koshirae in kanji, to make a search to help Ford. Problem is i am not sure that ezo kanji are the ones i written (the first two). I wonder if the second one is what Ford means. Ford?

Or maybe this: http://www.finesword.co.jp/sale/touken/ ... tanaho.htm

Are you talking about something like this? If so, kanji should be something like this: è¦å¤·æ‹µ