Steves87

Great post Geraint, Can you please shed some light on the storage conditions you had this guard in? Maybe something like: (Almost) exact timeframe. In/out box. If out of box, mounted or display. If out of box (mounted or display), location in house... eg, near living/kitchen/bathroom/laundry rooms (for light/humidity/temps)... cupboard/drawer with approx frequency of opening. It would be good to get an indication of these also for preventative conservations sake.

And another with "straight" hair

Good one Dale! I think the finger pointing confirms that the most. Most depictions of Kanzan and Jittoku that I come across have both with the knotted hair, or one with knots and the other with straight hair.... I found it strange that one has a hat in this case. Here is a couple of Tsuba with two different hair depictions, one has both figures with knotted hair, and the other has both straight (possibly one is a hat).

Someone may know for sure. However, based on the smaller figure's hair style and the text scroll, I would say it is likely to be a Rin Nasei (Lin Hejing) theme. This is a Tsuba example of the theme.

Good memory George, I vaguely remember that thread. Whenever I refer to this guy from now on, I'll be using "Handaka (possibly Chinnan) Sennin".... Great to see Stevenk's posts again, too. He was the first guy to reach out to me on here.

Yep, you have convinced me, after some more searching I definitely agree Handaka (the bamboo cutter?)... it explains the cane too

Handaka Sennin it seems. I have read that Tekkai Sennin can also change into a dragon or a human figure though. I have this one with both Gamma Sennin, Tekkai Sennin, and Handaka Sennin, which shows the dragon form at the 12 o'clock.

Love it! Well done!

I quite like that, congratulations! The flow of the grain is very nice, and I think it may also be the first time I have seen samegawa ategane too!

Like Mauro says, who (really) knows? I try not to get caught up in exact dates, the important thing in my eye is the work which went into making something such as this, and then relating it to the costs and effort of someone making it in modern times (by traditional methods).... In any case, and like Okan believes, I feel that your example is more likely to be of Japanese origin because of the design elements (eg. fan, clove, shippo mon?), but I'm just guessing.

It looks like the hitsu ana is a modification with a shakudo fukerin bordering the ana. I have a similar example with an added hitsu-ana/shakudo fukerin.

The clear stands are optimal for sure. A while back you could get a transparent white filament for printing, but it wasn't transparent at all once printed. I'd love to have a perspex plate (with a small peg) so that the whole face of the Tsuba is unobstructed, and, if a mirror behind, the whole face of the reverse side would be unobstructed too. I have looked for something proprietary that would meet this want, but it seems there is nothing readily available, and id have to construct them myself, one by one.

Well, I am voting for the ultra leftside theory of "a new style of shingen" 😉

I really like the wood patterning on that, congratulations on your acquisition. I don't really know anything about cicada, but I came across this one yesterday. https://www.ebay.com...r=artemis&media=COPY

Basically the same design, nice thinking Jean! You achieved a very effective design naturally, in only 4 cuts!

Nice one Jean, stand damage really should not be an issue if both are stagnant. I'd really only worry about moisture absorption when holding iron, or materials that 'off-gas', otherwise most 'soft' materials should be ok?

Hi Justyn, I can understand your concern. I can confirm that I have now just checked three soft metal Tsuba (one with Nanako - a polished face - and a Chidori-ishime finish), and none show any signs of wear. One of these has been propped by the stand for at least three years, and I have been using the stands for nearly 7 years on most (or all) Tsuba construction materials. The contact surfaces of this stand are technically only small 4 areas (less than a millimetre each); two at the bottom on the mimi, and one either side of the Nakago-ana (within the seppa-dai). The plastic you use is dependent on what filament you personally prefer... I use PLA which can be scratched with a fingernail. I use this material in its print-extruded state with all sorts of bare-untreated-unpatinated metals and it has not caused any form of corrosion to date (including Chinese-made functional dojo katana blades). I guess one thing to consider, is how much movement your object will be making while in the stand; technically, the object should not be moving at all. I say technically because: in a previous profession I worked in for over 20 years, we did study the effects of vibrations (from wind/traffic/sounds etc) on buildings and the effect these vibrations had on the building (and the contents too, in some cases). High rise buildings move a lot through sway and wind induced vibrations, and buildings next to heavily traffic motorways are vibrated massive amounts via sound and heavy vehicle contact with the road. Potentially, the stands could mark a Tsuba that is propped by a plastic stand in these high movement cases, but even then, I would guess there is more chance of the stand being deformed first, and I'd say there is more chance of a timber stand causing damage to a Tsuba, before the plastic one does!

Hi everyone, I have been getting quite a few messages on instagram about the Tsuba stands I created and use. I have started to offer out the .stl file for people to make their own, and I thought it may be a good idea to share here too. They are a simple 3d printed design and can be printed very quickly, depending on the quality settings. The pictures show examples of the lowest quality setting (some minor disruptions on top of the base). If you have a 3d printer, or access to one, it is a good option for a stand that is very consistent when displayed on a shelf. https://www.dropbox....rmmh4nrt4lpz70k&dl=0

A lot of good advice here, two articles I think are worth reading more than once, maybe a couple of times a year are: (26) How to Collect Tsuba Like an Expert - Building a Collection | LinkedIn Haynes Article (shibuiswords.com) (second last paragraph especially) Particular take-aways from these articles is: be unique in your collecting, authentic to your interests, and do not be close-minded in your study or interest of types. Reading is very important, but it will only get you so far, you need to handle authentic and replica pieces too. I would highly suggest trying your hand at creating a Tsuba from scratch, cutting, filing, chasing, inlay, all of it... doing this will give you an appreciation of how much work still went into the Tsuba freely labelled as "junk", and what is likely needed to accomplish the exquisite museum quality guards. I suspect the majority of collectors do not truly appreciate the time and skills needed to make any level of Tsuba, especially the low-end examples. Trying your hand at making Tsuba also teaches you to spot the nuances of traditionally made items, especially through photographs, nothing handmade is perfect. I personally go for inlaid items, particularly in iron, and I focus on theme depictions as a criterion for collection... my care for smith/school is low, but having said that, I do have multiples guards within singular school classifications.

The Birmingham has one in their collection, this is a partial shot from Grev's book

Chris is correct, I do know that Matsukaze sources at least some of their stock from Jauce... they do have a mark-up, but they are otherwise very trustworthy.

this seller is one of only a few (not including private sellers) that I would recommend. After a while, if you get on with them, they make some "allowances" for you, too. Having said that, stay away from them! I don't need any more competition adding to the weak Aus dollar!

Dale already has these two on file, but here they are to add to the forum examples.

I see what you are getting at, Dan. Not a bad idea, I think the main issue you will have, is the infinite different results that are possible... I have a ton of photos just like the one above and every one is different. I am almost 100% sure some of them are rust over previous unwanted/fixed rust... and getting a bit literal, iron patina is a controlled rust anyway, isn't it? Who says that between intentional hammer blows/chisel marks and various levels of intentional patina rust, a created finish cant just happen to look like a cast finish?

You can ignore the first two books, they should not be available at all, and new book is far superior to those. This is the link to the proof copy of the book: Tsuba, the special collection of Rolling Brooks Gallery https://www.dropbox....j873v4y9ecysnrj&dl=0 Like I have said, there are quite a few amendments in the hardcopy.