Jaron

Thank you Steve. I did read somewhere that the he was fairly liberal with ways he signed the second character. It’s a funky way to write the Mitsu as well. More like a Z shape with an offshoot for the other leg. Jeff

Also, Richard Turner used to have a blog that looks like it stopped in 2015 but had a paper by Mosle on the Goto Shirobei family that had many examples and a chart of the Goto Shirobei Pupils that I have not been able to find any where else. The chart on the website is too small to read and used to have a link to a site where it was larger but obviously no more. Here is the page, Part 3” that has the chart. https://richardturne...ily-by-mosle-part-3/ Would anyone know where this chart can be found? It is a valuable chart that should be out there. Jeff

Thanks Piers. Yes you are right. Going down that path, the picture below was the closest I could find of a mei even somewhat close to Goto Mitsunaga. The Mitsu character is similar, but then the second character is certainly an odd “naga” character but I didn’t think given both things, it could be close. Could also just be a gimei. Jeff

Thanks Ray, I saw that in the index but haven’t been able to match the mei yet like it is done on this one. I also didn’t think this would pass for a Goto school artist. I’ll keep looking at that, though. I also thought it might incorporate the radical shown below but can’t find any characters fitting that.

Hello all, I was hoping someone might recognize this mei on this fuchi. I got it in a set of miscellaneous fittings from an old, unopened WWII chest. I have tried many things from searching through as many sites as I could find for likeness, searched this site using the reference pages on kanji, using a picture of it on Google’s picture match, tried to copy the mei from the picture’s OCR(both editing in the best sketching over what I see close up), trying the online Kanji app to see if I could come close, to also using Sesko’s Tosogu Mei index I found on here using what I believe is the first Kanji character, Mitsu. I think I am at my wits end with such a simplistic mei. I like to try and figure it out myself and have another one signed from the set that I just figured out is Yasuyuki. Very beautiful work he did. As stated, I believe the first character “could be” Mitsu but the second “character” almost looks like a cursive character vs. normal mei kanji. I would appreciate anyone’s suggestions. Thank you much in advance. Also, very sad news about Ford. I didn’t know him, but followed his work, his sites, and watched all his videos. What an amazing man. I have edited the pictures so they aren’t too sizable but maintain quality. Regards, Jeff

…..and back down.

It is back up for me today. Maybe server maintenance over the weekend..

Hello all. I use the Nihontoclub.com sword exchange very frequently for one of my go to’s for analysis and I get a server error when I try to go to it for the last few days. Does anyone know the status of that site? I’m getting Gateway 504 timeout errors which are never good. I sure hope they are still a viable site. Regards, Jaron

Thank you Piers. I will look into that.

The first character looks like it could be kanji, 光, but the next one is the mystery. I wanted to leave it totally open to interpretation.

Thank you kindly Colin and Jean! I didn’t catch that in the upload, lol. Any ideas?

Hello all, I have a fuchi with a signature I have not seen and I have looked around quite a bit. I even tried taking the figures and putting up on Google images to see if it might get me close. I believe this is a kao of someone and not kanji thus the difficulty figuring it out. I would appreciate anyone’s thoughts. It is a piece from a collection that was pulled out of a military chest not opened since the end of WWII. The officer who brought them back in a bag just kept them in an attic until recently as he has passed. Thank you in advance.

The iron is shaping up quite nicely thanks.

Thanks guys, so much. That was my thought. I’ll leave the soft metal as is as it looks good as is. I’ll work on the iron to get rid of any active rust. Jaron

Hi all, I had the pleasure of getting this new Tsuba and setting to work to gently clean the overall piece with warm, no detergent soap, dry it, and then go after the areas that respond well to shattered bone needles, mainly the precious metals like gold and silver. I am only part of the way when I was wondering if one of the overlays was supposed to be exposed as a metal in it’s pure form or is it truly copper patina which should be jet black. It is an iron Tsuba but has the metal overlays. My one question is the butterfly that has worn away a bit to expose just a bit of copper or bronze, but I’d like your opinion whether this is supposed to be block or fully exposed copper of bronze. is. If it is supposed to be brlack entirely, and I have many pieces that are like that. Please let me know what you think. The patina is tough to remove with light rubbing with antler, so that tells me probably wearing away the black patina and leave it alone! I if is truly supposed to be copper of bronze exposed, I will stay on it with antler needles, otherwise I am done… other than removing the red rust and replace it with xoygen restrictd black! Thanks guys. Ciao

I appreciate the quick response from everyone. When I got it to review I was immediately suspect and the feedback was a great learning experience as well as confirmation of that. I do like the Goto school and I have a Tsuka with some nice Goto fittings and was recently given attribution at the Shinsa in San Fran this year, as well as a Tsuba with more identifiable and crisper “fish roe”. This one has been returned. Thanks all! Jaron

Great advice John. I will do that. Thanks.

Thanks Jean. I appreciate your expertise.

Hello members, my apologies for adding to an old topic but I am hoping to get input from those who commented before, and others of course, since I can’t message directly to some. I hope Mr. Hallum gets a chance to see this. A new collector, I am looking at buying a Goto Teijo signed Tsuba that looks identical in design to Ludolph’s post above. I have included the one I am looking at to compare with the two posted above, one being in Hayne’s listing. I have also included others I have found to add to the discussion. The one I have is a green/silver hue, shiny, with the nanako where there is no carving. You can see the gold is inlay with a decent thickness to it on the figures. One area of concern, other than authenticity, is that compared to others, the bridge/dock post tops look smashed. I assume it could be normal wear but that is why I am posting for input. Looking close with a loop, it is appears to be decent workmanship in any case. I would appreciate any thoughts in addition to the original since this post is 2014. Thank you. Jeff

Thank you.

My apologies, I forgot the kuni ju 国住 So this is the full signature I believe 備前国住長船法光造. It’s that last character that doesn’t seem likely.

Here is a blade with a supposed Norimitsu signature I have not seen before. I have also checked Nihontoclub.com signature database. The signature as far as I can tell is 備前長船法光造. It could be Bishu not Bizen but it is hard to tell. I understand that 造 means construction but I am used to seeing 作 for “made”. I don’t understand if someone is trying to pass off the signature as real and not gimei, why sign it in an oddball, uncommon way? Here are some pictures. I found one signature that did incorporate that kanji but the signature was much longer and 1400s. Curious to what others think. Thanks, Jeff

As it turns out it actually is Bizen Ju Osafune Sukesada 備前住長船祐定 as noted from the seller. The engraving is so light it is hard to see in pictures. So at least it has Osafune in it but still a short signature. Often in signatures after Bizen, not Bishu, the smith would engrave koku before the ju. Still looking in resource material for anything like this particular one.

Hi Piers, Thank you for the response and your own looking. Yes 祐定 is what I am talking about and I agree that a better look at it is needed. Once I am able to get views I can post ai will. From all the research I have done there are no short signatures other than the couple I mentioned above. I don’t think there are any 備前住祐定 out there. Jeff

Sorry to be vague, it’s not papered like from NBTHK, I meant the government certificate registering it, and the hand written name which is hard to make out but it is 5 characters which look like “ Bizen ju Sukesada” supposedly late Muromachi, so in the time of sword factories. I found one case when a Sukesada smith signed “Bizen Sukesada “ that was papered. I have also seen Bizen Sukesada Saku.