OceanoNox

I argue that the tsuba, at least until Edo period (and likely after, depending on class), were meant for protection. The evidence I have for that, is a copy of scroll of Hayashizaki Shin Muso Ryu from 1701, published in a investigation report on Hayashizaki Jinsuke Shigenobu, who is said to be one of the main influence on iai. The scroll states "鍔は只拳の楯と聞物を太くも太くもなきは非がごと", which is hard to translate, but I have found it would mean that a tsuba should be thick as it is a "shield for the hand" and thin tsuba are bad. The other evidence is from practicing Shinkage ryu (taught by Matsuoka Yoshitaka), where when the sword is carried by hand, the thumb is placed on the tsuba just over the edge, to allow to parry with the tsuba and tsuka without getting cut on the thumb. There also kata where the enemy's weapon is meant to be caught between tsuba and habaki. Now, in terms of tsuba being able to perform as "hand shield", that is another matter, and as I have said in another thread, it is difficult to conduct meaningful studies, as the tsuba that remain might just be only the ones that were not damaged. For those interested, the ladies at Usagiya have uploaded the damage on a sword in late Edo: http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/katanainfight.html

While I cannot judge the dating of the sword itself, both the paper by Nojima and the Yao city report clearly state that the sword is cast iron, and they cite evidence from X-ray transmission imaging (numerous cavities) as one of the proof that the sword was cast. An earlier article is also cited in the Nojima report, showing that, in Japan even, some researchers did not believe that long and thin items (such as this blade) could have been cast with the technology. In the conclusion of the Nojima report, it is said that cast iron items (pig iron in the text) were decarburized (as they are now when making tea kettles). The report states that while large production was difficult in earlier times and there are still many unknowns, the large spread of "pig iron items" from Nara period to Heian period shows the ability for mass production. As an aside, the Yao city cultural report was written by specialists in their fields, and I find insulting to comment on their abilities without even skimming the report. Here are the links reposted, just in case: Nojima report https://ir.lib.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/files/public/3/36130/20141028020046845818/KAKEN23520946_Nojima.pdf Yao city report (2008) https://sitereports.nabunken.go.jp/en/4618

You might be right, I think it was exactly that (I do not remember the initial topic, but it might have been a comment by Ford Hallam). This actually leads me to a follow up question: In the case of fittings with different "pictures" (whether they make up a story or match a topic but with different images), would they be made in the same style?

I asked this question to the Instagram curator of Arms & Armor of the MET. They told me that it was fairly common to have a common theme on all the fittings. I seem to remember someone saying that all fittings having the exact same theme was not fashionable/not educated, but I do not remember who and I certainly do not know the validity of the comment. For what it's worth, I think that most gendaito are made with matching fittings (mine is a grape/vine in nunome zogan).

I have found a citation from an old Japanese text (end of Edo ~ early Meiji) in a book by a Mr. Kawami (Tosogu wonderland, 2016) (this is my inelegant translation): "The sword size and the fittings to be worn when attending at the castle were set in the Edo period, as described in “幕儀参考”by 越前福井藩主 松平慶永 (1828~1890). The katana should be 2 shaku 23 sun long, and the wakizashi should be 1 shaku 67 sun. The scabbard should be lacquered in black (蠟色塗), the handle should be wrapped in white ray skin with black lacing with a width of 5 bu in the nakabishi pattern (中菱巻). The tsuba should be polished shakudo (赤銅), the fuchi in shakudo with a nanako or polished ground, and the kashira in horn (角製). Finally, kogai, kozuka, and menuki (三所物) should be made by the Goto school/style (後藤家)." Full reference: 川見典久, 黒川古文化研究所, 刀装具ワンダーランド, 創元社 (2016) About combat in general, there have been many discussions online, and there is no consensus right now (I think they were meant as hand protection, at least in the beginning). In general, several books (although I have little idea about their authors' credentials) state that tsuba were, at least in the Edo period, equivalent to neckties for our own businessmen, showing off fancy fabrics, patterns, and colours. However, samurai themselves were not all rich, far from it. There are records of samurai renting spare rooms in their houses or doing small jobs (in the famous 侍の絵日記, the writer is a good writer/painter and sells his services). In that sense, they may have had only two sets at minimum, the one for official appearances, and another for civil attire.

Oh no, this is mostly curiosity. The lines in this kashira look so fine (especially the grass) I was wondering if it was possible to do sen zogan with lines so close to one another. On a personal note, I prefer any zogan over nunome, as the gold/silver pieces do tend to fall off if there is any active rust.

Yes, sen is simply line. It seems to be considered a separate style of inlay (at least in the books I have read), and there is a chisel that is specific to it (it both makes the groove and raises the sides at the same time). Thank you for your answer, I thought maybe sen zogan for the flower, but I was very much unsure about the other one (is it grass?).

By the way, the tsukagashira, is it sen zogan or nunome zogan?

The smiley was meant to show a tongue-in-cheek comment. But at any rate, the Japanese in general were actually traveling a lot at the time (besides the lords and their retinues having to visit Edo).

Good evening Dan. Thank you. Did they "look" or feel different? Doing iaido myself, it is also something I have been thinking about (I am not overly fond of the tsuba provided on iaito or shinken). It's good to know you managed to do it.

Dear Geraint, thank you for sharing your experience. I was really wondering if this way of looking at tsuba was something people did at all. I shall certainly try when possible.

This is a very good point. I would add that even some craftsmen have misconceptions about the technical facts. Obviously they would know what happens, but the reasons/mechanisms are sometimes not clear even for professionals. I would argue that a really informed text (especially for such a field as antiques) would have input from art specialists, craftsmen, historians, and scientists, as we all have a piece of the puzzle that the others miss. The only answer I would have to that would be tourists.

As written in another post, I am reading and re-reading the "Tsuba" book by Ogasawara Nobuo (first published in 1975 in the "colour books" collection of Hoikusha). One specific section caught my eye: he states that currently tsuba are appreciated either through the glass of whatever shelf they are stored in, or in a small box to be held in the hand. But he further writes that this is a ”resting" position, and that the tsuba finds its real meaning when it is a part of the koshirae. Following this, the nakago ana and hitsu ana should not be seen as empty spaces, but filled or covered by the tsuka and kogai/kozuka. The book shows some examples of tsuba with those three holes filled, to show how the impression differs from the usual point of view. My question is then: is it a common way to look at tsuba? It never occurred to me until now, but then again I am a relative novice.

This is getting outside the scope of this topic, but from the papers I have read, the max. carbon content in Japanese swords is about 0.8 mass% (but could start around 1 mass%) and more likely close to 0.6 mass%. The hamon itself is martensite, the border martensite/pearlite, and the slowly cooled rest of the blade is a mixture of pearlite and ferrite, with more or less pearlite depending on the area. References: Inoue, Materials Science Research International, 3 (1997) 193-203 Sasaki et al., Tetsu-to-Hagane, 86 (2000) 45-50 Sasaki and Momono, Tetsu-to-Hagane, 93 (2007) 78-84 On a more personal note, I have been able to conduct destructive testing of a Japanese sword (age unknown, destined to destruction anyway) and the carbon content was 0.55 mass% at the edge and 0.06 mass% at the mune.

Maybe because it would damage the edge and weaken the sword (regardless of possibility).

Thank you! Unfortunately, I am in Japan so the prices remain a bit steep for me. Nevertheless, at the moment, my interest is less in collecting tsuba than data. Yes! That was the book. Now that I know the kanji, it will be easier to look for them. Thank you. Thank you. I think I will need to contact Markus Sesko about getting a print of that book.

Was the Sasano book published in 1979? I have perused one such book, and it dealt with the origin of uchigatana and their tsuba, with explanations based on picturial evidence.

Sorry, I mostly meant it as a joke. I did not know that C14 was mostly for organic matter, and anyway I do not have access to the equipment. I meant only that it is basically impossible to be 100% certain of the date (I wish they engraved it like the nakago). But at any rate, you are correct, most analysis will damage the tsuba if they are done to get significant information (I remember a paper where they did destructive analysis, because the tsuba had initially been damaged beyond repair by thieves). I will try to see if the Sasano book is available. Thank you for the precision on tosho/kachushi. At the moment, I am reading the Ogasawara book on tsuba (1975). So far it has been most interesting, but it will take time to digest all the info.

I do not know much about the evolution of casting technology, but I can quote my tea ceremony teacher, who complained that newer kama for tea ceremony were extremely heavy, due to them being thick, while antique kama were thinner and easier to carry even full of water. There are artisans (in Ashiya at least) trying to obtain 2mm-thick kama (like the antiques) but as far as I understood, they had issues with the flow of molten iron and they did not manage it. Thus there is a possibility of lost knowledge.

Thank you, I don't think that I can afford to buy their tsuba. I am mostly interested in the details (size and era) in the descriptions.

On another note, what is the level of accuracy of the website Aoijapan? A lot of their tsuba have papers, but as seen earlier somewhere here, it is possible to fool judges.

My apologies for not replying one-on-one, but thank you all for the information, both about museum and reliable curators, and the books. I will try to find the Sasano books. About the dating of tsuba, I suppose besides clear documentation from earlier eras, only carbon dating remains to be really sure.

Being new to the forum, I did a cursory search, but nothing came up. I am interested in data about (ko)tosho, (ko)kachushi, and akasaka tsuba. In general, iron/steel tsuba prior to the Edo period. At the moment, I have a couple of books in Japanese about private collections, and I am perusing the websites of the MET or the Museum of Fine Arts of Boston. But a few questions remain: 1- Are the qualifications on the museum pages reliable? It seemed to me that tosho were wide and thin, while kachushi were thicker with more piercings. But the info on the museum pages (the few that I found) seem to contradict those trends. 2- Are there any references/websites where one can look at collections of such tsuba? I could find a lot of Edo tsuba, but not so many from earlier periods. I have also misgivings about whether the tsuba that are kept in collections are representative examples or exceptional examples (survivor bias, perhaps?) At the moment, I am interested in checking the evolution of tsuba made out of iron in particular (my goal is to see trends for copper alloys as well, but that will take some time). Specifically, I remember academic articles about tsuba, where there are claims of being strong despite sukashi (for akasaka) or being thin (for tosho), but I cannot find any reference in those same articles. At any rate, thank you in advance for any info.

It is in Japanese, but there is a very comprehensive book called "Techniques of colouring for goldsmith" (金工の着色技法) by Nagano (長野　裕) and Io (井尾　建二), published in 1998. It is extremely comprehensive, and gives nice tables with the various mixtures and how changing ingredients can change the colours. It also covers colouring by inlay or surface soldering (as far as I remember). If I remember correctly, for iron, they proposed to rust the piece a bit and then remove all the rust in acid, to finally rust it completely (I supposed to have a weathered or stony appearance). There was also a program (this month actually) on NHK called "刀剣 Lovers 入門", and one of the segment was about iron tsuba making, which might be available for viewing on the NHK website. In the end, the idea is to get uniform rust, so the piece is either heated and dipped in a liquid to instantly rust everything, or covered in some mixture and left to rust. Arnaud