Iekatsu

For me it is how clean the plates, construction and the finishing of the rivets are, both inside and out. I agree with Uwe on the translation and also agree that it has likely never been mounted or perhaps only mounted once. It is possible that the date is Gimei, but I would still place it on the later side of the Edo period, even without the date. It is a really nice looking Hachi by the way, good shape and form, and being dated is rarer than being signed.

An Edo period Hachi for sure, I think you can rule out Koji.

Ko-kinko for sure, a nice little example. With out an XRF test there is no point speculating on the material composition, observations based on the colour only goes so far. Definitely don't have it cleaned.

Thanks for sharing these Piers, much appreciated.

Dating anything that is not recorded, dated or present in archaeology, is rife with difficulty. Often the only clues we have are in the style, motif, construction methods/techniques and materials. All of which are further confused by opinions/information that that has been disseminated and repeated by well meaning experts without sufficient evidence.

I do the same, any mention of swords will have the package flagged for sure.

The vast majority of San-mai Tsuba, including all the examples in this thread are from the Edo period, they are mass produced and generally poor quality. Pre-Edo examples exist but they are a very different beast. Papering for San-mai Tsuba is pretty bad, the attributuons are all over the place and many that get papered as Ko-kinko/mino should not be.

The file marks is how the gold is attached, it is pressed in to hold it in place. The file marks are visible because over time it has squashed in further and has worn. This is honestly really rudimentary stuff, there is no confusion here.

The Tsuba is not cast and a gold pen was not used to decorate it, it is just nunome zogan as Geraint pointed out.

I will say what I would say to anyone starting out with armour, start with a Kabuto, with your budget you could get something nice.

Brian, This might help: https://tsubakansho.com/tag/ienori/ I would not put too much stock into the Nobuie claim, Saotome Ienori (the armour smith) worked in the Late Edo period, the Saotome armour smiths were well known for making Tsuba, particularly Utsushi of older styles.

A great summary Jean.

Bronze was definitely used to make Tsuba, they were cast using molds, like the examples found in the Nara site mentioned by Steve above. Every Kagami-shi Tsuba I have had tested is Bronze in composition. Yamagane/copper was not used to cast Tsuba, the properties mean that it would not flow sufficiently into a mold, however Yamagane/copper was used to cast blanks for making Tsuba, by dropping molten Yamagane/copper into water, as demonstrated by Ford and documented on Youtube.

Interesting that it can not be removed, perhaps I was wrong. If it was Urushi it would be stubborn, but brittle and would flake off with force applied. As to molding shapes like the pine needles, any shapes and forms can be built up in lacquer, the soft metal elements could also be embedded in it, or be secured to the plate in the normal manor and lacquered around. Urushi being used on Tsuba has a long history, generally as a protective coating but also for decoration, nothing particularly ground breaking.

Hard to say if the Mei has been stamped or cast. Just a reminder that Yamagane as far as my research has shown was not used for casting, when it looks like Yamagane it is always bronze.