andreYes

Roy, thank you! Interesting idea, never heard about it. I should find and try this device. Now I'm using ivory to remove rust.

Thank you all for your comments! The condition of iron is really not very good, there is some amount of red rust, but the patina seems to be undamaged. I think I can clean it, I have some experience You're right, Clive, bird on ume branch brings association with otoguisu... But the bird itself seems to be very different. I looked over pictures of different common Japanese birds, and found that it looks very much like the Dusky Thrush:

Please take a look on my new tsuba I just received. I suppose that it could be a pre-Edo katchushi style tsuba with a design added later. The decoration looks like was made by a Nara school master. The dimensions are: 73x68mm, thickness of the mimi - 5 mm. The bird is very small, and the fine details can be seen only with a good magnification (my camera has a pretty good macro ) Will be very grateful for any opinions and comments...

Ron, I have a tsuba with a very similar opening on the seppa dai: eda botan tsuba. I've posted it on this forum. But in my case the slot is cut to the right of nakago ana. I also haven't found out what it was used for...

Yimu, the kanji that you suggested looks very close to the one on the tsuba! I tried to find this name anywhere, but, unfortunately, didn't succeed... I even didn't find how to pronounce it right (sometimes it's "ken", but not in this case, I suppose).

Chris, thank you for your guess! There is a Shoami Shigetoshi mentioned in Haynes Index (H 08497.0), one of his works was published in Naunton catalog. It would be interesting to compare... Curran, unfortunately, I have absolutely no idea about the second kanji. Chris' suggestion seems to me the only reasonable guess for the moment...

Please, help me to read the mei on the following tsuba. The first kanji is most probably "重" (Shige), but I can't find anything similar to the second...

I think it's Ho-o bird, a kind of phoenix in eastern culture. You can read more here, for example.

Thank you again, Ludolf! The gift is from my elder brother . He is living far away from me, in other country, and, unfortunately, we seldom see each other... I was surprised, when I've got to know that he has a small collection of nihonto and tosogu :D I'm a little confused with these generations :? The 4th Tamagawa Yoshihisa lived in Edo (according to Haynes). The inscription tells that he was living in Sifu (in Hitachi province)... Besides, I found on Walters Art Museum's site an iron tsuba and a kozuka with similar mei, which are attributed to Tamagawa Yoshihisa II (1779-1835).

Thank you, Ludolf!!! Are all these mei belong to the 4th Tamagawa Yoshihisa, or just the last one? By the way, from which book is this picture?

I've gotten (as a present ) a very nice fuchi-kashira set. As I understand, it is gold on shakudo. Especially I like the nanako ground: very fine and accurate work! Unfortunately I know nearly nothing about kinko artists I suppose that the inscription is: 水府住 玉川 美久 (Suifu ju Tamagawa Yoshihisa) +kao I found five generations of this family in Haynes Index. Besides, in the Joly's Shosankenshu there are three artists with the same name and different kao. The third one (#143) has a very similar kao. Dear specialists, what is your opinion about the this set and about the author? Is it a genuine work of Tamagawa Yoshihisa? Which generation could it be? Is it the Mito school?

I found one Mitsukata from Choshu He is mentioned in the book "Japan. Its History, Arts, and Literature" by Capitain Francis Brinkley (vol.VII): "Mitsukata. 19th cent. Metal-worker of Choshiu" And I think that Tsuda could be a city name... For example, I found out that there was a port Tsuda in Sanuki province. So, maybe there was a town Tsuda in Musashi province? Besides, I'm not sure that the first kanji in the mei is "武". I can see several differences... Maybe it's not "Bushu", but something different?

Thank you, Ludolf, for your comments. I also can't find neither Mitsukata, nor Masaemon yet... So it could be an artist who lived in Edo, but not from Ito school? And I'm completely confused with this "Tsuda"

Hello! Please help me with translation and understanding of the following mei. According to the seller's opinion the first line is: 武州住津田 - Bushu Ju Tsuda - but I'm not sure about the first kanji... Besides, what does it mean - "Tsuda"? The second line is most probably: 政右衛門光方作 - Masaemon (or Seiemon ?) Mitsukata Saku Are these the family name and the name of the artist? Does anyone heard about this artist? It is Ito school style, isn't it?

I saw a storage box for several tsuba here: http://www.yushindou.com/Oshina/Table/Page/201103/12161231/index.html But I'm not sure if they sell outside of Japan...

I was away from internet for the weekend, I'm late... But... Better late than never! My best wishes! Happy Birthday, Moriyama-san! С ДНЁМ РОЖДЕНИЯ! :D

Sure, it's a kozuka-ana! Thanks to everybody! I think it's actually the Petasites japonicus. I'm curious, why it was depicted on this tsuba: it was someone's mon, or just culinary preferences ?

Thank you for the suggestion! The shape looks very similar. The only problem, I'm afraid to imagine the size of caterpillar that could bite off nearly a half of such giant leaf :D

If you mean the Asarum caulescens (futaba aoi), like on the Tokugawa's mon, - the leaves' shape is quite different. It resembles the leaves of Alcea rosea (tachi aoi), but I've never seen it's leaves in decorations or kamon. And the footstalk seems too long in this case...

Hello! Is anybody here a specialist in Japanese plants ? I'm trying to define the leaves on the following tsuba. My guess that it could be Nymphoides peltata - asaza, "floating heart" - アサザ （浅沙、阿佐佐）. Any other ideas? Besides, the overall design resembles me a kamon, but I've never seen this kind of leaves on a kamon...

Yes, Brian, I know this forum, and participate in it The forum is dedicated to all kind of weapons, and have a subforum about "Japanese Cold Historical Weapons" in general. It is not very extensive, and John is right, there is no division into different themes. There are several persons who know much about blades, but I've not met anyone with deep knowledge about tsuba. There are several amateurs of tsuba, like me, but I'm looking for teachers first of all...

Thank you, Brian!

I'm trying to find tsuba collectors and specialists in Moscow, Russia. Maybe someone is reading this forum? Or probably anyone here knows them? It would be interesting to meet and exchange experience/information.

Thank you, John and Curran! Katsushi was first guess, but I got some doubts when I found in "Nihon To Koza" that amida yasuri, slightly raised edge (called there "itobuchi") and ko-sukashi are characteristics of some Umetada school artists' works. Then I found a similar tsuba with inscription "Umetada" here... Interesting example, Thierry. If there was no shinsa paper, my opinion would be also Katchushi...

Please help me to identify the following tsuba: mumei iron tsuba, slightly goishi gata, with fine amida yasuri. Mimi is slightly raised (itobuchi ?). Ko-sukashi of two sakura flowers. Size: 7.34 x 7.30 cm, thickness 0.43-0.25 cm. Could it be an Umetada school tsuba? Age - Edo? Middle or late?