Dan tsuba

Hey Deanna! I backed your play (my post of today-7hours ago). The peeing contest was started by someone else. Sometimes, unfortunately, that is how this forum goes! Onward!

Thanks Derek, I must have misinterpreted your statement. Onward!

Hello again Derek! You stated- “No, not a dealer, but this very forum. Actually, the idea was given about swords, not tsuba, but I thought the same rule might apply to both. The idea was that instead of buying many $1k–$2k swords, I should buy one really good sword. - It’s quite a harmless addiction, I must say.” "It's quite a harmless addiction, I must say", well that must be nice! (and just to clarify, there are several forum members who are dealers!) Your bank account must be in a lot better shape than mine! Anyway, enjoy your hobby. And keep learning from it! That is the key point, no matter what different collectors and individuals can afford! Onward!

Hey Derek! You stated is some of your previous posts- "A forum member once gave me similar advice regarding swords. He told me that if I was serious about collecting, instead of buying $1k–$2k swords, I should save up and aim for better names or schools. That way, I’d have higher-quality pieces in my collection(maybe not 10 but only 3) and could learn much more from them." And- “If I don’t handle some good pieces, how can I differentiate them from lower-level work? Pictures sometimes don’t do them justice, and I can’t zoom in enough to see the details.” Again, it all comes down to the dollar bill! Are you saying that someone should spend about $5000 dollars (or more) on a tsuba so they can tell the difference between an expensive (possibly papered) tsuba and an inexpensive mediocre tsuba (substitute sword for tsuba to suite your needs)? Who sold you on that idea (maybe a dealer?). And yes (to answer your question in one of your previous posts), it probably does mean I am addicted. But in a good sense. It is an educational addiction! Onward!

Hello Derek! You make a valid point and thank you for your opinion. However, it all comes down to what the collector can afford at a certain time. I don’t have deep pockets. I live from one social security check to the other. I can only afford so much a month to spend on my hobby, because before you know it any extra money I have is gone and I have to start over with the cash that I get each month. Yes, with the money I have spent over the years with my mediocre tsuba I could probably have bought only a few really prized tsuba! But I would have to lock those prized tsuba away in a bank safety deposit box! Unlike probably many tsuba collectors, I don’t buy my tsuba to resell them and make money! Instead, my inexpensive tsuba are hanging in several rooms in my house for me to enjoy on a daily basis! And someone has to give those lower level and mediocre tsuba a good home! And who is to say that you can't learn as much from a mediocre tsuba as you can from a prized tsuba? We all collect in our own way! Onward! Onward!

Hey Deanna! Very nice tsuba for a great price! If you know how to discern real tsuba from fake or reproduction tsuba, there are still deals to be had out there! And yes, I have a few trusted sellers out there who I have bought real antique tsuba from the Edo period and they give a fair deal (and most of those dealers are in Japan). So I tend to buy from those sellers again and again. And especially purchasing those tsuba with a limited budget (like I have!). I try not to spend over $150.00 for a tsuba. But sometimes I do go over that amount (but not by much), especially when the piece calls out to me to just go ahead and buy it (which has happened before!). Keep on looking for tsuba that you can afford and then learn from the piece. Like I said before (somewhere!), this is a great hobby! Onward!

So, I was just fumbling around on the internet (again) and found these really cool videos of a guy making wrought iron tsuba (using modern tools). The first video shows how he can achieve different surface designs on tsuba, and the second video shows the outcome of using wrought iron that is rusted to make a tsuba (who knows, maybe all those Tempo type tsuba were not all hand hammered?). I hope you enjoy these videos as much as I did! https://www.youtube..../watch?v=ahLY8QgawNI https://www.youtube..../watch?v=_kpa0uxSuOU Onward!

Here is something neat from the internet. It explains and shows pictures of a lot of cast-iron sand-casting defects! Have you seen some of these defects on tsuba that you have? I know that I have seen some of those cast iron defects on one or two (or three!) of my (about) 150 tsuba! Below is the weblink- https://vietnamcasti...and-casting-defects/ Check out the pictures under Pinholes, Blowholes (see Open holes), Cut and washes, Metal penetration, and Fusion. Especially those Metal penetration and Fusion pictures (pictures attached below). I think something like that Metal penetration or Fusion (and an Open hole) appears on a papered NBTHK tsuba that I showed in one of my previous posts here (I have included those pictures again below with the NBTHK papers). Interesting pictures and information on that weblink! Onward!

Thanks, Robert! I understand what you stated in your previous post. However, the question of whether or not an iron tsuba is cast or hand forged is an important aspect of the piece to many collectors (at least I think so!). That is because it all comes down to the dollar bill in today’s tsuba market (my opinion). A buyer may want to purchase a rather expensive tsuba that he believes is hand forged. But what happens if he ever finds out that the expensive tsuba he purchased is actually cast iron (one day when a cheap non-invasive metallurgical test is developed to discern the difference between hand forged and cast iron – kind of a do it yourself at your home test!) That is why I keep posting on this thread. To try and show members that some Edo period tsuba may have been cast, and not hand forged. Maybe looking at a tsuba for specific signs of possible casting (as I and others have shown pictures of possible cast iron Edo period tsuba on this thread) will help tsuba collectors question whether the piece is hand forged or possibly cast. Onward!

Hello all! Well, I am back on this thread. Why? Because I have come across too much new good information on cast iron tsuba. If I don’t post it now, I will forget about it! Heck, I even forget where I sometimes leave my walking cane (that’s what happens when you’re old!). So, included are pictures (picture 1 and 2) that are of newly made cast iron tsuba cast by the lost wax method. Notice the amazing amount of detail that can be achieved with that method! As stated by the dealer, which can be found at this link- https://www.jauce.com/auction/o1149602781 “I am selling an iron Japanese sword tsuba. This product is from a workshop specializing in Japanese swords for Iaido in Seki City, Gifu Prefecture. It will be a contemporary work. The material is iron, and it is made using the lost wax method. They are produced by casting using wax molds (commonly known as precision casting).” Also, Dr. Lissenden in his master’s thesis on Namban tsuba describes the lost form (wax) method (found on p. 130) that may have been used in making Namban type tsuba. His thesis can be found at this link- https://etheses.dur....4129/1/4129_1648.pdf So, moving on, Pictures number 3.4.5, 6 and 7 show an NBTHK papered tsuba that could very possibly have been made from cast iron. That tsuba was for sale at this link- https://www.jauce.com/auction/m1160847457 Notice the unfiled casting flanges in some of the openings of the tsuba. Also notice small casting flaws that can be seen, if you look carefully. And notice that the nakago-ana is bottle shaped. A feature that I have found on many cast iron tsuba. Also shown in pictures 8, 9 and 10 is another similar motif tsuba as the ones shown before. It can be found at this link- https://www.jauce.com/auction/r1148317429 It is an NBTHK papered tsuba, which I think is cast iron. In these pictures I have circled (also in red) several (what I determine to be) casting flaws. Anyway, just my opinions! Onward!

Thanks Tim! I understand what you stated in your post. “The cup shaped tsuba were influenced by the swords worn by Europeans. Anything European was exotic and fashionable in the 16th century and later.” But how the Japanese used the cup shaped tsuba on their swords is completely different than how the Europeans used that shape on their swords. When mounted, as described in my post of Nov 17, 6:48AM (and as shown in some pictures on the above posts) the bowl shape of the tsuba on a Japanese sword would face towards the sheath (saya). On a European sword the bowl shape would be facing away from the sheath. My drawing of how a Japanese sword would be with a Wangata tsuba (top of drawing) and how a European sword would be (bottom of drawing) is attached. So were the Japanese trying to emulate the European hand guards, or was it something else? If my memory serves me correctly (which is always an iffy thing!) not a lot of those Wangata type tsuba were made.

Hello again Deanna! I would like to refer you to this thread (a thread that you were the author of-well done!)- https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/50495-sand-cast/ and my posts on that thread dated Friday (Nov 15) at 7:17AM and Friday (Nov 15) at 2:21PM. I know that me stating and showing stuff that goes against the status quo on this forum is always risky! And yes, the tsuba you showed has a few good (small and not deep) tagane-ato punch marks in the seppa-dai (which could indicate that the tsuba is a hand forged tsuba). Could those punch marks be made or appear on a sand cast cast-iron tsuba? For the answer to that I refer you to this thread- https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/47640-tagane-ato-punch-marks-on-tsuba/ But those posts are just my opinion on the subject! Oh no! I can see all the downvotes coming in for me now! But when you go against the status quo thinking on this forum, you must prepare yourself for all sorts of negativity (as I have experienced in the past-but then again maybe this forum is now changing for the better!). Oh well, keep posting stuff and learning from the replies to your posts. Tsuba collecting is a fun and super interesting hobby! Onward!

Here is a thought about those tsuba books shown in the previous post by Spartancrest. A customer goes to a tsuba craftsman to buy a tsuba. The customer does not see a tsuba that he wants to buy that is on display. So the craftsman shows the customer a catalog of diverse tsuba styles, designs and motifs (that are styles and designs developed by different schools of tsuba craftsman spanning across Japan). The customer flips through the pages of the catalog and finds a tsuba that he likes. He then orders that tsuba, and the craftsman makes it for the customer. I never thought of that before! Made to order tsuba in the Edo period. I think that is a definite possibility!

So, I was thinking again (which maybe isn’t a good thing!). When a tsuba is attributed to a school of tsuba craftsman, my first thought is that all the craftsmen were trained by the same teacher (as in a school-western thought!). But couldn’t several different craftsmen several hundred miles (or thousands of miles) apart make the same style of tsuba without having been taught in that specific school of tsuba makers? In that sense a school would be “a group of artists under a common influence” that definition was found here- https://www.merriam-...om/dictionary/school Especially if there is no mei on a tsuba, most any master tsuba craftsmen could have made the same style of tsuba with an example of that style made in a specific school of tsuba makers. Or am I just overthinking this!

Wow! Great videos! That tiger tsuba is beautiful! So, those videos have energized me to try my hand at making and adding a simple motif to a copper plate. I mean I am an old retired guy and have nothing else better to do than to try and make a copper tsuba (at least it would keep me busy!). It seems like it would be a great learning adventure! I will need to study techniques and acquire the proper tools. Although the videos shown here are helpful, does anyone know if there are any other videos (or DVDs) that can take me through the initial steps? Thanks!