Ludolf Richter

To all:after I had last previewed my entry to make some corrections,I must have deleted the "masa"-Kanji of Naomasa without being aware of that fact:look at the Naomasa-H06695-entry second line with the 2 Naomasa-Kanji of the "boss". Hi Thomas,please send my "your" genealogy with only the students and sons of Naomasa.Ludolf PS.Markus Sesko has the following students of Naomasa (with Naoharu below the Naomitsu-entry as his student):Naohisa,Naomitsu,Naotsugu,Naotsune,Naokatsu and Naonori.

Hi Experts, For more than 20 years I have researched the Yanagawa family in the books,when I had purchased a Tsuba,made by Yanagawa Naoharu.It's very disturbing,how the various sources differ from one another.Even Markus Sesko with his fine book "Genealogies of Japanese tsuba and toso-kinko Artists" could not satisfy my hopes! Look at the following data with more students than in the various books and the questions arising.If one has new ideas or facts,let us know.Ludolf Naomasa 直 H06690-the founder of the Yanagawa 柳川 -School.1692-1757 His sons and students: Naomasa 直将 H06695 "1st son" of Yanagawa Naomasa 直成,"died young",D.ca.1750-1775.B.W.Robinson as Naofuru Naoharu 直春 H06610 "2nd son" (most sources!) of Yanagawa Naomasa,born 1750.Probably not a son of Naomasa,because his wife (a daughter of Yokoya Somin) was already too old?!Some sources make Naoharu the son of Naotsugu 直次 H06835,others a brother,so Naotsugu may have been another son of Naomasa! One source makes Naoharu the adopted son of Naomitsu 直光 H06717 after his father's death, Shinkishi Hara (translated from German) only the "fatherly guardian" of Naomitsu. Naoharu became a student and "assistent" of Naomitsu Naohisa 直故 H06636 Adopted son of Naomasa,1716-1751 Naotsugu 直次 H06835 See by Naoharu:son of Naomasa or brother of Naoharu or what else!? Naomitsu 直光 H06717 Adopted son of Naomasa.Was he the successor of Naomasa as head of the Yanagawa Ha or was it Naomasa 直将 H06695 as the eldest son?Some sources make Naomitsu the founder of a Yanagawa sideline. Other students of Yanagawa Naomasa: Naokatsu 直克 H06652 Son of Naoshige,1719-1761 Naokatsu 直勝 H06664 D.ca.1775 Naotoshi 直俊 H06818 Born 1740 Naoshige 直茂 H06765 D.till 1750 Naonori 直矩 H06751 Became the founder of the Konakamura school..D.ca.1775 (Takano) Naoshige 直重 H06769 D.ca.1775 (Morikawa) Naotoshi 直利 H06881 Dates 1764-1771 (Inobushi) Naohisa 直久 H06636 D.ca.1775 There are 2 more,but with doubtful data: Naofusa (H06600) and Naosumi (H06776) 　

Hi Bojan,there are 8 generations of Kanesaki from Inaba from 16th Century to the Meiji Era:Hawley 2119-2131.There is only one Mei in the standard-books:Fujishiro Shinto Hen p.68 from the 5th gen.Besides there are some pics in REI-magazine:REI 60/11 (3rd gen.),REI 3/99 (5th gen.) and REI special edition no.40 from 1995 (6th or 7th gen.).Ludolf

Hi,Yoshioka Inaba (no) Suke is the family/school-name.There are 12 generations working at Edo from the 17th till the 19th Century.They normally signed only with Yoshioka Inabanosuke.There are only some pieces when one of them used his own Go,e.g."Yoshioka Terutake" or "Yoshioka Toyotoshi".Ludolf

Hi,it reads TSUNEYUKI +Kao.There are 2 Tsuneyuki,both working in the 19th Century.It's not Hirano Tsuneyuki (Haynes H 10968) from Mito:I have 2 pics in my database with different Mei and Kao:look at my pic with your Tsuba on the left side.There is another Tsuneyuki with name Tenchosai (H 10969).I do have no Mei from him in my database.There is only one Kozuka mentioned in the books with no Mei-pic.So it's probably him.Ludolf

Hi Thomas,I have only one pic in my database.One member of our board showed his Tsuba with "Nara Masayoshi: http://www.militaria.co.za/nihontomessa ... b47f7f88ed Ludolf

Hi,here are some pics from my Tosogu-Database.Ludolf

Hi Christian!Do you mean the lacquer dynasty Yamada (earlyTerada)?Is your Yoka a misspelling:Joka (Jokasai)!?I have only one example in my Tosogu Database,a Kozuka.Look at the pic.Ludolf

Excellent workmanshift!There is no such artist to be found in the index-books and in my database: 1.Maybe there is a different reading of the 2 Kanji or 2.it's a seldom used Go of that artist,not yet in the books,while he normally had another standard-go. Does anybody know an artist-family or a single tsubako with or without the Tachibana-clanname from Settsu? Ludolf

Hi,I would recommend to purchase the following 2-vol.-collection: Japanse Zwaarden in Nederlands Bezit Beschrijvingen door Han Bing Siong Nederlandse To-Ken Vereniging. All swords with Oshigata an det.description by one of the greatest Non-Japanese Nihonto-expert!Ludolf

Hi,the 1st Kanji is not to be found in my dictionaries when looking at Radical 130:not even in the best Non-Japanese book: W.Wernecke & R.Hartmann Japanisch-Deutsches Zeichenlexikon "Etwa 5800 Kanji mit über 33.000 Komposita" Leipzig 1980 (former German Democratic Republic DDR;737 pages). This book contains also former writings of Kanji.Ludolf

Hi Thierry,I have a similar mei in mei database: Toshimasu read Jusho H 02321.Ludolf

Correction:it should read horizontal stroke.Sorry.Ludolf

Hi,although the vertical stroke of the 2nd Kanji is a little bit too long,it could read MITSUNAGA,probably followed by "saku".Look at the pic.Ludolf

Hi Andrey,I have forgotten from what book I had scanned the pic for my database,but according to the source all the 4 Mei are from the 4th generation guy.Ludolf

Hi Andey,I believe it's from the 4th generation.Ludolf

Hi Thierry,your Tsuba 72 is showing a very poular theme.I own a nearly identical one and have seen a third one on an auction.My pic one from my Tsuba (sorry the patina is not to be seen,because I just made the pic with my scanner) with an article from a Japanese magazine:the writing is to be seen on my pic 2.I am sorry that I couldn't read the text.Ludolf

Hi,I just found out,that 永春 in the books (Japanese/English/German) is read "Nagaharu" and not "Eishun",e.g.by Kashima Susumu ("Tosogu in the Edo Period-Nara Toshinaga and Joi"): "As a stamped signature Joi used the other name Nagaharu..." and lateron "Only a few tsuba bearing his signature have been proved genuine".Ludolf

Hi Ian,here are 4 seal-pics from my database.Ludolf

Hi Frank,here is a pic from my database.Ludolf

The only other "tsuda" in our Nihonto business I know is used to describe the style of the signature,e.g.the famous swordsmith (Nidai) Echizen no Kami Sukehiro from Osaka with "maru tsuda"- and "kaku tsuda"-style ("Tsuda Echizen no Kami Sukehiro".So "tsuda" maybe no family name?!Ludolf

Hi Andrey,"your" Tsubako is not in Haynes,other index-books and my database with that Mitsukata-Go.Mitsukata was a seldom used Go of the 16th Goto-mainline-master Hojo,but that's not him.The style is Ito+Choshu+?Tsuda is a family name I couldn't find in the books,but there is something in my head in connection with a Choshu artist (gone to Edo?).There is no Ito artist starting with Mitsu.Ludolf

Hi Bob,there are some info:look at H07967,H07969 and H07076 in the Haynes-index-book.I don't have "your" Saneyosahi in my database but the following with a different 2nd Kanji.Ludolf

Hi,I read "Harunaga".The problem is,there is no such artist to be found in the books,not even in the "bible",the "Kinko Jiten" by Iida and Wakayama.Only Joly ("List of Names,Kakihan",reprint 1963) has Harunaga with these Kanji as H35 with no further info besides his kakihan.I strongly believe that Harunaga is a seldom used Go of an artist normally known with other Go.Ludolf

Hi Markus,thanks for the info!Ludolf