Ludolf Richter

Thanks John,besides Netsuke I could not find anything about Tsuba etc..Haynes must have had a calalogue,because he made that Tsuba # 1386 of the Arthur-Kay-Collection.Ludolf

Hello to our British and CO-members.In the Haynes Index the author describes a strange Tsuba made by Joi as piece from the Arthur-Kay-Collection.When looking for the Arthur Kay Collection there was nothing to be found on Tsuba or Nihonto or that parts of his collection had been sold.Now a Ge-Ebay-seller is going to place a Tsuba with the same strange Mei and details mentioned by Haynes (I got the pics,because I am helping him to describe his entries for Ebay-GE.He has no idea,from where his late grandfather has gotten his Kodogu collection).Does anybody have information that this famous Scottish collector and maecenas may have collected Tsuba too?Is there something written?Ludolf

The Mei is similar to Nara-Toshinaga's (a very big name!),but the Kao is different:no match with all my Toshinaga pics in my database or Joly's ("List of Names,Kakihan").Ludolf

Hi Mike,do you have info about "property of the Tsuchiya Daimyo".From my knowledge,there was no more Daimyo of Mito at the time,the artist made this fine Tsuba ("Meiji 5"= 1872),when the 9th (and last) Daimyo of Mito became the 15th Shogun,fought against the troops of the emperor in the Boshin War,lost finally in 1867 and resigned (and got interested in photograhy and bicycle riding!).I have 28 examples from this artist in my database.That Dragon-Tsuba ist the only example,where he did not use his Kao behind his Go but added "respectfully carved this".Ludolf

Hi Ford,I don't see the Mei wandering:I see 2 colums,the right one with Yurakusai,the left one with Sekibun.He had not much place to space the colums with this Kozuka.Ludolf

I don't understand your question:why should it not be real?From father and son Sekibun (1788 or 1790 -1875,H 08118 and son 1838-1912,H 08119) there are many pieces on the market,from high quality to below standard ones.From my database I believe it to be the senior's work.Mei in Sosho "Yurakusai Sekibun".Ludolf

I just found another pic with that Hikone-Kanji.Ludolf

Hi,I have a pic in my database,but I was unable to find the respective Haynes-indexnumber.Ludolf

Hi,the Mei reads Bungo ju Fujiwara Kuniyuki. Besides the 2 from the 17th Century,who would have used their honory title (Daijo/Kami),there is a post-WWII-swordsmith possible.Ludolf

Thank you George!Ludolf

Thank you John.Ludolf

I own a nice iron Tsuba with high relief carving.The Mei is as follows Hôbudô Kôto jû Takafuji Kiyohide and Kao 鳳舞堂　皇都　住　高藤　清秀 The problem is,there is only a Hôbudô Kiyonari in the books:Haynes (H03300) plus Kinko Jiten (Iida+Wakayama,page 886).here is a Kiyohide possible (H03252 "Heianjô jû") but with no info about the family name. Does anybody have informations about "my" Hôbudô Kiyohide eg.what does Takafuji mean and is Kôto an old name for Kyôto or a part of the city? My pic is not very good,but there is no doubt about it,that the last Kanji of the Go is "hide" and not "nari".At the moment I have no pic from the backside with Hôbudô plus Kao.Ludolf

Hi Janusz,disregard my last statement where I excluded Saotome Harutada from the 17th century as the originator.It is possible that he made the iron Tsuba,but the inlays have been added some time later,probably in the 19th century,by a different artist.Besides,as I have already stated,it is always possible that the Tsuba was made by an artist known with a different Go,who also used that Go Harutada,not yet recorded in the books.Ludolf

Hi,I don't have any mei pic in my tosogu database.According to the Haynes index,there are to Harutada with these kanji: H 00879 Saotome Harutada,working in the 17th century and H 00880 Harutada from Aizu/Iwashiro with no further data.The source was a Kawaguchi magazine.He is probably your tsubako or it is a hizerto not yet recorded Go!? Ludolf

Hi!The Mei of your Tsuba no.2 reads Shoami Kanenori Haynes H 02518,active in the 2nd half of the 18th century.Ludolf

From my many pics of Nagatsune (Haynes H 06539;1722-1787;starting as a painter) the Mei seems to be real.He normally signed with Ichinomiya Echizen Daijo Minamoto Nagatsune and Kao (besides only Nagatsune plus Kao):because there was not enough space on the Fuchi,he probably omitted Ichinomiya and Minamoto (a clan name).Ludolf

The Tsuba has a big-name-mei ("Hamano Naoyuki" with Kao ,Haynes H 06907,born 1754) which I believe is Gimei.Ludolf

Thanks!This "Soten-Tsuba",without Hikone-bori-style,where the faker didn't even try to make the Mei similar,was just sold.I believe I am not going to warn a seller in the future.Ludolf

Hi,I had informed a seller via ebay,that his Tsuba ( a nice piece with Gimei and a style not used by this Tsubako) is definitely a faked one (with facts why that is so).He thanked me for my message via ebay but is not going to change his description.Was this a bad idea by me or what experiences do other members have?Is it better to do nothing at all when recognizing fakes?Ludolf

Hi,a very nice Tsuba from Wada Isshin (H 01946,1814-1882,student of Goto Ichijo),here signing with "Isshin Masatatsu" and Kao.It looks authentic for me.A faker would probably have used the big-name-mei Wada Isshin.When using the Go Masatatsu he normally did this in combination with "Wada Isshin".Our experts will probably give the whole inscription.Ludolf

Hi Adam,there are some examples to be found,which I once added to the Hawley entry: Nihonto Koza vol.IV p.20 Baur Collection D 2543 Token To Rekishi TTR 619 Fujishiro-Shinto-hen p.336 (only the Mei) REI 1962 (which month?) AITO (number?) Cheers Ludolf

I cannot remember from what source I took the pic and why I believed the description,that the piece was made by Okawa Teikan.Ludolf PS.Someone should translate the Japanese text for you of the one Tsuba,I have posted.

When I find a Mei-pic in my Books or in other sources with a verified Soshin-Mei I scan the image and add it to my private Tosogu-database without making a note what source I have used.I am sorry.Here an additional example.Ludolf

Hi John,here are pics from my database.Ludolf

Correction:Goto Jujo and not Juyo.Sorry.Ludolf