Soshin

Steve, Here is my two and half cents as an armchair Japanese historian. Ko-Shoami were produced in Kyoto from the Muromachi Period up until the end of the Azuchi-Momoyama Period. They transitioned into other provinces starting as early as the Azuchi-Momoyama Period under the rule of Oda Nobunaga and continued until the beginning of the Edo Period and were centered around castle towns. The group of artists that remained in Kyoto became the Kyo-Shoami group. I would say there was some cross pollination of designs of the Kanayama group located in Owari Providence with the ever widely distributed of different Shoami groups.

Yes, I agree the price is very reasonable. Unfortunately given my current situation I cannot take advantage of the reasonable asking price.

Thanks for sharing the video, Peter. I enjoyed watching it.

Hi Artur, This is clearly Kyo-Shomai school's work at its best. It has a genuinely appealing design that alternates open work styles between the left and right sides of the tsuba. The design reminds me of late Winter around the time of Setsubun (節分). While the leaves of bamboo are always green, in the late Winter around or shortly after Setsubun the plum blossoms bloom. I really enjoy the tossing of dried soybeans at the Oni while visiting a Buddhist temple during Setsubun.

No DTI for me this year. In a few years if I am lucky, I will be able to attend it again. Thank you for sharing the link to this year's show catalog.

Sorry, I missed what information you wanted. I don't have the weight of the tsuba and cannot measure it as the tsuba is no longer in my collection. I did keep a record of the measurements of the tsuba and here they are 7.1 cm X 7.2 cm, 5.8 mm at rim.

More research marital for Steve @Iaido dude. I papered this tsuba to Onō by the NBTHK when it was in my collection. I purchased it from @rkg. It had many wonderful iron bones along the rim. I really miss this tsuba.

@Tim Evans Thank you for posting this example. It is helpful to see and study such an example of a late Yagyu style tsuba being made by the Akasaka School.

I remember reading the same thing in various references, I have never seen any tsuba with a Yagyu design with a signature or other design features that would point to an Edo (Musashi Province) production versus an Owari Province production. Please someone post a photo of one it would be nice to study such an example.

This is likely what happened as many if not all Yagyu tsuba were made locally in Owari Province. The oniguruma (devil's wheel) design is one of the original thirty-six core designs done by Yagyu Renyasai Yoshikane (1625-1694 CE). He was the fourth-generation headmaster of the Yagyu Shinkage Ryu mainline in Owari Provience. It is design number twenty-three and is referred to as (oniguruma 鬼車 ). I am getting some of this information from Haynes Yagyu design book per Jim Gilbert's information in a publication in 2014 for the American branch of the NBTHK.

I did not know him, but he was a first-class artist. Deepest condolences to his friends and family.

I was only joking with my reply and funny edit, but I do agree with @Bugyotsuji that anything like this has a price really depending on what someone is willing to pay for it at the time you are trying to sell it. All dealers need buy low and sell high to survive in the Japanese antiques business. If you don't want to clean out your own collection by selling it off. I would move parts of it through a dealer.

The rain dragon themed tsuba was once in my collection. I remember selling it to Skip Holbrook at Tampa Japanese show back in 2017. At the time it had an NBTHK Hozon paper giving the tsuba to Higo. Here are my photos of that tsuba. The price is very low in my opinion. This is a must buy NMB members.

My counter bid is $51 $62.99 for the tsuba.

Very nice sword, thanks for sharing. I would suggest you send the sword to a professional to make minor modifications to the shirasaya to allow it to close correctly.