TBKY

Hi, I want to share some pictures I did this week-end at my Nihonto favorite seller's. Among other things, he showed me a very interesting katana & wakizashi with old leather covers. I loved what he said about this : "Samurai had to protect their Katana when they were outside while it was raining or snowing." It was the firts time I saw that kind of cover. More pictures on my Flickr.

I don't have it now. I will think about it next time. And sorry for my pics quality. I will do my best next time. As you probably know, neon light in Japan doesn't help.

For wonderful kitchen knives, from Kyoto: http://www.aritsugu.com/ There's a review of this shop on the NYTimes

Right Reinhard. More pictures: I got more details about this piece. This tsuba came with a menuki-kamon of the Mizuno clan... but I'm still looking for a link between Mizuno-someone and christianity:

Thanks for your reply. My Japanese friend who owns this Tsuba is sure that it was made for a Christian. Interesting. I said Shitake, but it could be just «Kinoko» (mushroom). So you got your "KI". The sign of the cross is from the top (the mushroom = KInoko), to the down (cloud, but maybe not a cloud) then left (chyochin) and right (Hyotan). Another thought: mushroom= earth / cloud=sky / lantern=light or fire / Hyotan=gourd=water I don't have any other picture now but I can show you more details from the same one:

Hi everyone, I need some advice about this tsuba: It seems to be a tsuba made for a Christian. It is certainly unusual, but I found other pieces on this page. My question is about the 4 symbols on this tsuba: Shitake (kind of mushroom) - Kumo (cloud) - Hiotan (gourd) -Chyochin (traditional lantern). Anyone have any idea about the meaning of these symbols ?