reinhard

A few hints: The three kanji on the right read: maker's name + saku (made this) on the other side (right): Choshu Hagi (no) Ju (=resident of Hagi in Choshu province) " " " " (left) : ? A nice mei for further investigation reinhard

Discovery of Japanese art during later 19th century made a strong impact on western art and design. Quite a few "art nouveau"-designs were directly influenced by Japanese objects reaching the West at that time and were not invented "out of the blue". This goes for "decorative arts" as well as "real" art. Vincent van Gogh admired Japanese woodblock prints deeply. reinhard

Hi Dan, Internet is not the place to get reliable information in the first place and you won't find a good "beginners-lecture" on tsuba anywhere in the web: Why not posting high-res pics here and we will discuss them over a longer period of time, one by one. There are some people really interested in the subject, ready to help. Those interested in commercial aspects probably sent you PMs by now. Ignore them. reinhard

Hi Brian, The sword you are wondering about is a fake. Nakago is artificially aged in a very poor way and proportions of the kissaki section give final evidence. Chinese fakers learn quickly and they are capable of producing hada and real hamon by now (which is not exactly witchcraft). Polished properly, these blades can lead you astray easier than the crude fakes made some years ago. Nevertheless, they are of no value whatsoever. reinhard

Stephen, Is this the infamous 4th paintball-platoon, haunting the Appalachian mountains since they have lost their way back home in 1978? And which one is Milt? reinhard

Average quality level of top-class ShinTo and ShinShinTo is below top-class KoTo. Inoue SHINKAI is no match for Go YOSHIHIRO, whose work he tried to copy, f.e.. Long KoTo were shortened due to changing needs during Momoyama and early Edo-period, but ShinTo and ShinShinTo can't claim such needs. Shortening is just a regrettable flaw in their case. However, this preclusion from Juyo is not a law made by stupid bureaucrats. Exception to the rule is shodai Nanki SHIGEKUNI, one of the greatest ToKo of all times, whose shortened blades can go Juyo or higher. reinhard

For consideration: reinhard

It is difficult to tell from this very small pic, but it looks more like some parts of a kanji missing than sosho-style writing; but I'm really no expert in this field. quote:"Finaly, the 5th right sign is certainly a kao. If this tsuba was for honouring the memory of TOSHUN or KASHUN, there wouldn't be a kao at this place, dont you think." This is why I think it was made by two CONTEMPORARY artists: MASATOMI making this tsuba using a design by TOSHUN as a blueprint and signing for both of them. Full mei seems to be made by one person. Joint works of painters and tsuba-ko are quite common during late Edo-period reinhard PS: slightly bigger and higher resolving pics would be useful

I understand this MASATOMI was 6th generation of Choshu Okada-line, working around Bunka era. The Toshun artist, who is mentioned here, was probably a contemporary. reinhard

Hi Marc, The top two kanji on the right might be translated: HOGEN (high-ranking Buddhist priest). I don't have a clue about the next one though. BTW I think they are "regular" kanji, not Sosho-style. reinhard

Not all of them, but you make me wonder, once more, what I am doing here. reinhard

Seems you've got this one already (=written by Nagayama Kokan) reinhard

Hi Larry, I guess you're right. The coarse inclusions are due to the unique workmanship of Bushu Shitahara smiths and not to steel quality. Creating pure ayasugi-hada, as the Dewa-Gassan smiths did, demands special processing and does not depend on steel quality. This can by seen on later copies by Osaka-Gassan smiths, made of a different kind of steel. The example posted, is not supposed to show a "prototype reference" type. Bushu Shitahara blades come along in different variations. Some of them with ayasugi-like structures and others with coarse inclusions of a different shape. - Having neglected this school until now, I've got to work on this one. Thanks. reinhard

The mei reads: (right) Soheishi (left) Nyudo SOTEN sei reinhard

Believe it or not: It is VERY difficult to make. Even the most simple wrappings, made by amateurs, always turn out horrible. BTW, this is not only about "evenly pulling strings". It starts with choosing suitable same and arranging it properly in proportion to handle-size, diamond-shapes and menuki. A lot of preparatory work is necessary. reinhard

Short-cut: The mei definitely reads: Rai KUNITSUGU and is gimei beyond doubt. Kanji-style is completely wrong and Rai KUNITSUGU always signed his (few surviving) tachi with smaller characters close to the mune. Therefore Rai-school is no option here. All that's left is a gimei-sword in poor condition. reinhard

Hi Larry, Returning to your question at the beginning of this thread: The coarse structures you can see in your blade's ji-hada are typical for Bushu-Shitahara school. Although Nagayama Kokan classifies it among the ones related to Soshu-Den, its style is quite unique, incorporating mokume with "whirlpool-structures" resembling ayasugi-like hada. Probably it is this particular feature you can see on your blade. Added a close-up of a TERUSHIGE blade illustrating this very phenomenon. reinhard

Well, I've got what I deserved, guessing wildly with not enough substantial informations. Since there's a confusion about the meaning of "waki", I'll try to bring some light in there. "Waki", meaning "beyond a mainline", can only be applied, when there IS a mainline school. As in HizenTo. There was a mainline-tradition (TADAYOSHI/TADAHIRO) and surrounding schools, called "Waki-Hizen". It is the same with Goto-school of Tosogu-makers. There was shirobei-mainline, represented by the heads of the family. Artists, trained in Goto-school and working for them elsewhere, can be called Waki-Goto. It is different, however, with Bizen-school of swordmaking. It divided into many famous, independent groups at a very early stage, leaving only local "mainline head-masters", such as KANEMITSU for the Osafune group, but there were artists with supreme skills like CHOGI, working at the same time at the same place, who can't be called "waki". Therefore no such thing like "waki Bizen" exists. Going back to the sword in question. Bushu Shitahara-school worked quite secluded in Musashi province during Muromachi-period before the rise of Edo as the new capital in "their province". Important feature of Shitahara workmanship is strong emphasis on mokume-hada. Ji-Hada of some Shitahara blades has a resemblance to Dewa Gassan swords including ayasugi-hada. Others are made of pure mokume-hada (which is very rare in general) and will easily lead you astray (see my silly guess). However, congrats to a very interesting sword, Larry. You seem to be a quick learner. reinhard

Sorry Brian, I couldn't resist. Some pics are just too...beyond. But seriously: Henk-Jan and you are right , of course. If there's a slight chance of this person owning a real TADAHIRO, he must be told immediately how to care for it properly and what NOT to do. I really wish, somebody close to him will give him some elementary advice. Owning a Nihon-To is an obligation in the first place. reinhard

Oh, and BTW: Pretending to be a newbie is not very credible anymore. reinhard

On the screen ji-hada looks like konuka-hada to me. This would make it a Hizen-To. Without seeing hamon itself (only kessho masking) and without knowing the measurements of the blade (length, sori), any further guessing is highly speculative. Maybe I'll make a fool of myself, but telling by the hada alone, I don't think it's mainline Hizen (TADAYOSHI/TADAHIRO) but some "next to" artist in the lines of MASAHIRO or YUKIHIRO. reinhard (prepared to face your laughter)

This is a very famous blade by TADAHIRO. Its nickname is: "shibaka(ri)ki-maru". reinhard

Nobody will be capable of giving you an answer on the basis of amateur-pics (no offence). Most reliable source of information is the mei once more. In case you want to investigate any further by yourself, here's a hint what to look for in this particular example: sharp respectively rounded angles in the writing of the name TSUGUHIRO. This is not an expertise, however. Just a notion. TSUGUHIRO was well known and oshigata can be found in ShinTo Hen by Fujishiro, in ShinTo oshigata by Sato Kanzan, in ShinTo Taikan by Iimura and in other books. Maybe you can get one or more of these. I recommend them all. For background information: TSUGUHIRO belonged to the group of sandai (third-generation) YASUTSUGU of Echizen Shimosaka group. This is where you should look for parallels in workmanship. reinhard

Domo arigato gozaimashita. I have a long way to go. reinhard

With all due respect to Morita-san, but this mei doesn't make sense to me. Translating the Kana for vocal "a" as "AN" doesn't make sense to me. Asking for enlightment. reinhard