Soshin

Hi Stephen, I was at the New York Token Kai meeting at the MET on Sunday, October 23, 2022. It was a fun experience. I also stopped and viewed the Art of Samurai auction preview at Bonhams. I did some online bidding on a few lots but were outbid during the auction on Wednesday after the viewing. Unfortunately, I had a schedule conflict and could not attend the last meeting of 2022 on Sunday December 4. I highly recommend the club as a whole and the club officers.

Thank Ed for posting better photos of your new tsuba. I am of the educated opinion that these antique iron tsuba were all forged from iron and not at all cased. Modern cheap reproduction of the antique ones I have seen use a casting method that would then be hand finished that would produce a nonfunctional facsimile. I really like these types of iron tsuba with symmetrical openwork design. In this photo you can clearly see a forging flaw in the iron surface was opened because of rusting of the forged iron plate causing permanent corrosion damage to what was once a smooth surface.

Hello Jeremy, As others have stated it was a subjective matter and the intermix of different but related themes were commonly decided by the sword owner and his budget except for the high-ranking direct retainers of the Tokugawa during the Edo Period that would be required to perform official duties while in the Shogun's court. The Goto as well as other Kinko Schools were known for producing sword fittings such as menuki for wear within the Shogun's court. I hope you find this helpful.

Nice tsuba John. I have two Umetada School tsuba in my collection right now on in iron the other like yours in shakudo. The rectangular slot on your tsuba was for a clip used to prevent the sword accidentally drawing the sword from the scabbard. These types of clips were popular on Shin-Gunto mounts during World War 2. I have come across a few others older antique tsuba before while collecting Japanese sword fittings over the years with these rectangular slots added later. I hope you find this answer helpful.

Hi Luca, Nice Ko-Kinko dai-sho set you have. Thanks for sharing. I agree with other people's theories as to the origin of the matching tsuba set. It should be noted that there was not any rule against having a set or wearing a matching set of tsuba if you really liked the design for your swords. The practice of samurai carrying a long and short sword started during the Momoyama Period before the Edo Period and would fit the timeframe of the NBTHK Ko-Kinko attribution.

I agree with all that has been said. I have been a collector for many years, dealer for four years, and have had an interest in Ko-Tosho and Ko-Kachushi tsuba and old iron in general since the beginning, especially after reading the Sasano books discussed above by Tom. I noticed that I had much better luck finding nice Ko-Kachushi tsuba to collect and sell than I have had with finding any Ko-Tosho tsuba. This might have something to do with the rarity of the Ko-Tosho tsuba.

Hi Everyone, As a member of New York Token Kai, I wanted to share a few photos of the special exhibit Samurai Splendor: Sword Fittings from Edo Japan at the meeting I attended with an artist friend from Baltimore at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on Sunday October 23, 2022. Once the meeting, discussion by curator Markus Sesko, and private viewing of the exhibit was complete, I attended a preview of the Art of the Samurai Auction at Bonhams. It was an incredibly fun weekend. Feel free to discuss it politely. Thank you.

I cannot make it this year; I hope next year I can attend. It will be my first DTI. Looking at the catalog the tachi signed Yoshifusa looks genuinely nice.

Just received this "bad boy" back from Japan. It is my favorite modern "Gendai" tsuba so to speak. I think the classic openwork design is a reference the Enbi no Tachi kata set of the Honden of Yagyu Shinkageryu. My second favorite in another modern Yagyu tsuba that I had with a classic openwork design referencing Sangakuen no Tachi.

Found you and started following you on Instagram. The username is "satsuma_yaki1976". Thank you.

Yes, I am on Instagram. I mostly look at aquariums and aquascaping on Instagram. I do follow a few people (ex. Ray Singer) in this hobby on Instagram. Thanks for the replies, everyone. I really enjoyed bringing this old tsuba out of storage and taking another detail look at it. Here is the second photo I taken. Enjoy.

Just wanted to share a new art photo of a tsuba that I am taking a fresh look from my collection and updating my notes about. The size of the tsuba is 7.6 cm by 8.0 cm. It is 5.6 mm thick at rim. Feel free to discuss politely and thank you.

Thanks Tom and Les, Some reason Naruki Issei name is "ringing a bell" in my mind. Does anyone have other examples of Naruki Issei work? Did/does he primarily work in iron?

Really can’t add anything substance to the discussion, other than that I have enjoyed reading this topic. I don't have many examples of Onin or Heianjo groups work in my collection and really haven't conducted a more structured study of these groups work. I did have one tsuba pass NTHK shinsa at the San Francisco show that was attributed Heianjo on the worksheet this year. Here is a photo of tsuba attributed to Heianjo.

Thank Dan K. for posting photos of this year's show and Mark Jones and family for all of their efforts each year. I am planning to attend next year's Chicago show and have it marked on my calendar.

About this issue, I was told the same thing Tom said above that all work on the books was stopped because of his heart attack a few years ago.

The closing price of $280 sounds reasonable to me... I really cannot see any detail in the photos (this is likely a good thing). LOL

Hello Mark S., Normally don't do this but you sent a PM as Mr Kunio Izuka was my Japanese sword teacher as being a member of the New York Token Kai. I looked up examples of the 1st generation Omi no Kami Hojoji Tachibana Masahiro work and found a few examples that match very well with your sword's signature. I am looking at them on page 185 of SHINTO-MEIKAN by Markus Sesko. This sword I think would be worth sending it to shinsa.

I cannot attend this year, but I fully recommend going to this show if you have the chance. Mark and family always do a great job with the setup and running of this show in my opinion. I hope to be able to attend next year.

Dear Marco R., Sorry, I get a Facebook error message when I try and view your link.

I think these menuki likely date from the Momoyama Period. I do agree with John's call of Mino. I don't see the extensive openwork around and among the design that I have seen on examples of Muromachi Period Ko-Mino menuki.

I cannot attend the show this year, but I wanted to take some time to recommend attending this show if you can. I have always really enjoyed attending this show the past few years. Mark Jones and family does a great job of promoting and organizing the show.

Hi Bruno P., Yes, I see and agree with Shonai Shoami influences. I wish the tsuba was signed. I had a ji-sukashi tsuba without the gold zogan sell out from my collection in 2021. It was made of the same base metal also with black lacquer, but it had a really nice silver fukurin.

The sword on the eBay link was not at all interesting to me. I would recommend you keep saving your money and avoid the eBay impulse buys that myself and other have made when we are new the hobby. If you just want to buy something I would invest into some good reference books to expand your knowledge. This is just sharing just my own personal opinion. I hope you find it helpful.

Hi Steve M., In answer to your question not really sure and looking back at all the photos I do have only this one photograph that might show a loop at the end of the tang (nakago 中心). The sword is still with the professional Japanese sword polisher so additional photographs are not possible at this time.