Dan tsuba

Thaks for the info Geraint. My friend is sending me a book Tsuba Collecting for the Beginner by D R Raisbeck. He says it is really good, and told me the same author has written lots of other stuff with good information if I want to buy the books. Maybe looking for my first tsuba on EBay.

How close to an actual year can tsubas be figured to be made. If there is nothing on a tsuba that tells me who made it, and I know they don’t have a year stamped on them like a coin, how can I narrow it down. Can I get close to a 50-year period. A 100-year period. Longer. Or it can’t be figured out for sure. I think I will try to find a good book to begin with about tsubas.

Good posts and good information. Thnks for the help.

Thanks for all the posts. But maybe I will just keep looking for that 1909 S VDB penny. Or maybe look on EBay for a tsuba. I don't know which to collect.

I have been thinking about collecting my own tsubas . I have read a few of the threads here. It all seems very complicated. It is not like coin collecting or stamp collecting. I have read where museums could be wrong. I have read where the NVTHK could be wrong. I have read where members who thought they were right were told they are wrong. If I have a question about tsubas, who is the final authority. I guess that this is not an easy hobby to get involved in. I think maybe I will stay with coin and stamp collecting where there seems to be more absolutenes. But I have been looking at tsubas on EBay.

Hi John, Is it even worth trying to learn how to clean this tsuba. The rust was so bad the tsuba now looks that it has metal layers. Maybe I should wait until my friend gives me better tsubas.

Here is another photo of my tsuba. It looks to have been rusted with metal showing. Is this how this tsubas are supposed to look.

So being a new guy about this tsuba stuff, I figured everything was already known. But I guess there are still things to figure out. I will continue reading as many posts as I can on this forum so I can learn.

Thanks Mal!

My bad about the tsuba pictures! I have roated them. Is this bettter?

I got this tsuba from a friend. He said it was timpo or tempo. What does that mean. The tsuba looks rusted and layered.

O.K. everyone. You all win. I can no longer take this undeserved mass ridicule. I am out of here.

Hi Brian, So, you stated a quote- "This person has hit rock bottom....and has now started to dig". Of course, you didn’t state who said that quote (or was that just you?). Here is another good quote- "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence" - Carl Sagan I think that would apply to the cast iron tsuba thread and also this thread!

Maybe? Or the Japanese could be shaking their heads in wonderment that the gaijin do not realize that there was more than one way to make a tsuba in the Edo period! Who is to say?

So, I received this tsuba today. I think it is unique, and I have nothing like it in my collection. It has a small higare (crack) at the bottom of what I think is the ura side, but it doesn’t go all the way through to the omote side. I am thinking about Owari school? But I am just guessing. Or did I get bit for about $150 U.S.? I would appreciate any help in determining the tsuba school. Thanks!

Hi Colin! I see what you mean and that is what I thought, the zogan was the water. That it could be carved, it just looks different to me and that is why I thought it was an outer shell on the tsuba. And I didn't know that about it being a simple technique. Yes, I have many tsuba but none that are carved like that! That is why I brought up the question. Thanks!

So, here is a tsuba that I am presenting that may have an outer shell of metal on it. What looks of interest to me is that the outer shell covering on this tsuba was not done properly and the craftsman used those areas as part of the motif and even put zogan in them (I think the craftsman may have even smoothed out one of those shell covering areas – on the omote side). Also, as I have stated in a previous post about the motif on these types of tsuba; the motif does not look hand carved but molded into the outer shell. Yes, I may be totally wrong about these tsuba with an outer metal shell covering. But I am not making this stuff up! I have shown pictures in previous posts about what I am talking about. I also think there is still much that can be learned about how some tsuba were constructed. Every member here talks about what they are interested in. Well, this stuff interests me! I know it is not a popular subject, and I am putting myself out there for possible ridicule (again!). But that is just part of what goes along with presenting an unpopular subject. Onward!

Hi Stephen! That wouldn't be a FU button. It would be a FY button! But I still understand what you mean! Ha, ha, ha, ha, etc! Now, let's move onward!

First off I ediited my post from "Everyone else just it guessing" changing the "it" to "is". Sometimes I get excited and can't edit my own stuff!! To heck with Asperger's, you are doing fine! Dude, you are my hero and a valuable asset to this forum. Just my opinion, and I can see the downvotes for me coming in (once again)! Onward!

Wow Spartancrest! You are the man! I consider you an expert on tsuba! Everyone else just is guessing. But you know! Well done! And congratulations!

Good reaction Jean! No it is not a Kindergarten, it has come down to a University type thinking with backing your opinions up with stated research and references. You never could do that. And because you are Jean we are supposed to take everything you state taken as gospel! So, you decided to take the easy way out! Typical. It is my opinion that you are an anachronism on this forum. Maybe just time for you to concentrate on your forge, and not this forum? Onward!

Sam, I don't think you get what I was stating. What is Jean's reference for this opinion of his?- "Well, as an interested apprentice, you could not choose a school or a master, but you had to apply for apprenticeship, hoping to be accepted. Additionally, as a young lad, you certainly had no knowledge about sword making schools or differences in techniques. And learning did not contain manuscript texts or whatever instruction, oral or practical. In the beginning, you were allowed to watch the master and to learn by copying movements and techniques. This has only changed with some smiths in modern times where real teaching is practiced. Apprentices did not have to pay (as was usual in Europe at that time), but only as an UCHI DESHI they could sleep in the house and were fed by the smith's family. For everything else, they had to rely on support from their own family. The only process that was kept secret for outsiders was the temperature of the quenching water in the trough. So no, this text part is not well researched and mostly fantasized. And Sam, you stated- "But Dan, your inability to connect the dots is flabbergasting. I think it’s time to retire from these fantasy and guesswork threads of yours. Goodbye Dan, best of luck finding the ghosts you’re looking for." Sam, I really don't care what you or others think about trying to tell me what I should do or not what to do! Goodbye Sam, it has been fun!

Hi Sam! I don't see what you are referring to? Maybe you can quote that piece of the article? Jean can answer for himself if he wants.

Thanks Jean, But is this your own opinion (again!) Please state your references as I have done on this thread and other threads. Did you even look at the references referred to in the article? Don't argue with me, argue with the author of the article! Otherwise, you are just guessing (again!) and fantasizing on our own!

Hi Sam! A little off topic here but you stated- "Maybe my sword was made with cast steel, and an alternative hardening method. It has features that I am unable to describe and identify, so it could be RARE, and an example of SECRET KNOWLEDGE." Well isn't that funny, it so happens I have another thread on that very subject in the Nihonto section! https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/42617-2000-year-old-sword/