PietroParis

Many thanks Moriyama-san! In Markus Sesko's "Genealogies" there appears to be a 保壽 Yasutoshi on the same page (114) as Tatsutoshi, Tatsunao, Namitoshi and Tokitoshi, so he might well be another member of the school. https://books.google.fr/books?id=vNwvaPSEnCMC&q=yasutoshi#v=snippet&q=yasutoshi&f=false Needless to say, page 114 is not included in the preview. I guess I should just buy the book and get over with it...

Hi All, Checking today's eBay offerings, a tsuba jumped to my eye as a possible candidate for my "Tatsutoshi & students" thread (far too expensive for a purchase, though): I was quite excited when I saw that the signature – oddly transcribed as "Efu Sumi Hoju" – reads 江府住 ? 壽, i.e. Efu-ju ?-toshi. The kanji I cannot recognize resembles neither 辰 for Tatsutoshi nor 並 for Namitoshi. I thought I had found an example of the elusive Tokitoshi, the third student of Tatsutoshi that is currently missing in my thread, but I see that the corresponding kanji would be 其 , which does not resemble the one in the pictures either. Could one of the knowledgeable NMB members translate this signature for me? Thanks in advance, Pietro

As a starting point for sword fittings (especially later, soft-metal ones) this book is cheap, easily available and has great pictures: https://www.amazon.fr/Lethal-Elegance-Samurai-Sword-Fittings/dp/0878467750/

For example, some of these might be actual kozuka: https://www.waxantiques.com/antique-silver-and-Japanese-kozuka-cutlery.html While these are just kozuka-inspired cutlery handles: https://www.proantic.com/en/display.php?id=492891

Another (rather similar) Namitoshi in this thread:

These cutlery handles are often decorated on both sides. In that case they are not repurposed kozuka, just kozuka-like decorations.

Would you mind posting the first picture also in this thread of mine? Thanks!

when this happens to me I like to think that I have more funds left for my next purchase...

OK now I understand: Both of the handwritten columns on the bottom are the date of issue. The date of change would go on the left of 変更年月日, and the name of the second registered owner on the left of the leftmost 所有者名. This clears it up for me, thanks!

I see. In the example above the "date of change" is filled but the owner's name is not. Here is an example where the name is filled:

I wouldn't put it past them, but I still think it's a cursive 正:

Gotta love the description: “The general impression is good.”

Ten minutes on these two sites: https://jisho.org/ https://translate.google.com/ Reveal that the writing on the back of the certificate means: Lower right: 交付年月日 Date of delivery Lower left: 変更年月日 Date of change/modification (?) Top : 所有者名 Owner's name I wonder what "date of change" means in this context. Cheers, Pietro

It can be paired with this tsuba... https://www.ebay.fr/itm/353388251304

The first kanji looks like a cursive 正 (Masa/Sei/Sho) to me, but I can't figure out the second one. Maybe 弥 ? This would make it Masahiro/Masaya/Seiya, does any of these names ring a bell? Or maybe it's 侏 ?

I’d say modern reproduction, maybe a paperweight?

Namitoshi, from a lucky guy on Facebook:

I remember bumping into this page some time ago: https://www.nihon-token.com/2020/10/18/laurent-milhau-in-memoriam/

Nice and original design! To state the obvious, the tsuba in this thread (except one) are not mine.

There's also this nice mokko gata version, just seen in a Facebook group:

Same motif and signature, a daisho from Aoi Art:

Or maybe it's just the classic Kintaro with a bear, and the missing object is an ax instead of a flute?

See e.g. this one... https://collections.lacma.org/node/188358

Could it then be just Kintaro and a bear mimicking the boy and ox of the classic iconography? I noticed that the Japanese depictions of bears are often quite weird...

OK, the overall composition so obviously recalled the “sixth stage” picture that I must admit I did not even bother to look at the details of the beast. And of course I bow to Piers’ superior knowledge...