Justin

Congratulations to Paul and the rest of the committee for arranging this event. I was very disappointed not to attend (should have stayed in the UK for another 6 weeks). Have heard lots of good things about it. Well done to all involved. Keep up the good work.

Hi David, is the fuchi not pierced yet to fit a blade?

Sorry, have been offline for a bit. I'll take a colour hard copy too please Markus.

Good work Grev. I have just sent my donation to Brian.

My tsuba arrived yesterday. Very happy. Thanks Grev!

Grev, is #3 still available?

PM sent

Me too!

I emailed him last week, but no response

Very good Antti. I purchased the tsuba from Andy Quirt, however before that it used to belong to someone here at NMB. A good candidate for shinsa one day.

The lacquer work and the binding were done by two separate craftsmen here in England. Both are self taught and there work is becoming very good. I am having some other work done soon and will post additional photos.

Attached are some photos of a recent restoration project. Some of you may remember that I found matching menuki for the fuchi-kashira here on the message board (thanks Lance). In addition the tsuba used to belong to another member. All the fittings are a nice chocolate brown shibuichi colour. The kashira and menuki have shakudo jingasa with a red mon. The fuchi and menuki also have a brush design (plus Mt. Fuji on the other side). The photos aren't the best (as the sun seems to have disappeared here in the UK). The saya is very dark brown colour with nice flecks through it. In fact it is almost black. You can only see the brown in specific light. I will try and take a better photo of this later.

Thanks Barry. Just picked up two of Markus' books.

http://www.finesword.co.jp/sale/kodougu/htm/2001_3000/2551_2600/2573/k2573.htm Gold moon, but not silver clouds.

PM sent!

I agree with Grey. No comments. This is similar to auction houses, eBay, Yahoo Japan and pretty much any other online sales site. If you don't like something or think it is overpriced then tell your friends or pm people. Don't jeapodise other people's sale by posting negative comments. Can these for sale posts be locked? Once sold then item is removed. Or perhaps items stay on for 3 months unless sold before. I remember when I first joined this forum (under Rich S) it was just a thumbnail, description and price set out in a grid pattern. No comments were possible. This was better in my opinion.

Michael, do yourself a favour and visit Ginza Choshuya when you get the time. The staff are very helpful and you can see some amazing things. They have another business called Finesword (http://www.finesword.co.jp). This has more affordable pieces but still good quality. Tsuruta san at Aoi Art is also great. His shop is small, but he has lots of items on his website (probably stored in a warehouse somewhere). In my opinion his fittings are a bit hit and miss. Recently he has been getting some nice kodogu. His shop is also very close to the NBTHK museum. For old iron such as Owari I would suggest Ginza Choshuya. Tell them what you're after and they will find it for you. Japan Sword and Ginza Seikodo are also good. Japan sword has a whole floor of fittings. Barry's 100% right about getting books, however there is nothing like seeing top quality fittings and holding them in your hand. Elliott Long's website is also good. He is collaborating with Robert Haynes and there are lots of great articles by Haynes/Toriguye. The URL is www.shibuiswords.com. There is some information about Owari there. Good luck!

Interesting article about the author here: http://www.shibuiswords.com/akiyamaHaynes.htm I understand that it was Akiyama's rubbings that made Nobiyue popular amongst regular samurai. Prior to this real Nobuyie works were only really held in the collections of noble families. The rubbings and subsequent books no doubt led to the proliferation of Nobuiye copies and revival pieces that we see today.

It is thought that the 'real' Nobuiye craftsmen travelled around Japan and inspired off-shoot schools, e.g. Owari Nobuiye, Kaga Nobuiye, Akasaka Nobuiye. Your tsuba doesn't look that old, so perhaps it is a late Edo revival piece paying tribute to Nobuiye? I'm sure someone more knowledgable than me will have more information for you. Please see attached photo. This is 3 layer construction and is probably Owari Nobuiye. The notched corners and chidori birds are a kantei point for Owari Nobuiye.

Great work Ford. Makes a big difference. The ground was flat and dull and now it looks like a nice marble finish. 'Grey felt' is a good way of describing it. Thanks for posting.

Go for the brown. Looks good with this saya too.

Forgot to ask if there are any antique dealers in Paris selling tosogu? I heard of one near the Louvre, but cannot find anything on the web.

Cleaning the BBQ? Strange binding too. Looped style ito.

Thanks very much Geraint. Some good information there.

I have some questions about aikuchi tanto koshirae. Are the gold fittings in this photo (fuchi, kashira, kurikata) just black horn that has been lacquered gold? Or are these some type of soft metal? I wouldn't have thought that lacquered gold over black horn would wear that well and would chip or rub off over time. Also I wanted to know how the menuki were applied. Was this just rice glue or pitch or is it something more adhesive? Obviously without any wrap they would need to be fixed on firmly. Any information would be greatly appreciated.