cluckdaddy76

I just want to say thank you for a great read. Although I have other fittings and a small collection of swords, I have become primarily a tsuba collector. This has provided me with references for more literature to own, which is one of my current focuses. Jason

In agreement with everyone so far, it looks to me that it is a replica of a Choshu school tsuba. Jason

I am much better with fittings but am studying swords too. This is a pic of a wakazashi boshi, other side is same basic pattern. It runs close to cutting edge, comes back down from top of kissak and makes a small "V" before heading back up. Is there a name for this specific style of boshi? I was not confident in a match from the drawn examples I could find. I have a handful of blades in the collection I inherited, and instead of just posting them, I want to try to identify small items as I study so when I am more confident, I will ask all the right questions after taking a guess myself at the school/smith/era etc. All help is greatly appreciated. Jason

I believe Hotei are another legend, I have this mostly iron base example in my collection with this subject.

I have seen a couple iron catfish tsuba, bit only soft metal with the entire theme.

Put a little bit of white on the bottom modern pair and it would look more like an orca than a catfish, some reproductions are just awful

I would suggest not getting a cheap one off a site like Amazon, my experience is that they are very unreliable. You don't need to break the bank either unless you are looking for precise weights on menuki. My suggestion is a decent Ohaus that meets your needs. I have an Ohaus that was maybe $50 and it is going strong at 10+ years old. Jason

I have been keeping an eye out for a tsuba with the same theme but have not seen one that I felt was good enough quality. I came into the majority of my collection all at once and now that I have studied a bit, I am ready to make purchases. One of my goals is to make themed sets from pieces I really like, and this is one I would love to complete. I have seen kozuka with this theme but have not seen a fuchi/kashira set with it, but I am sure some must exist. Jason

I have a very similar pair that must be from the same school. I have always liked this set. Sorry my lighting isn't the best. Only differences I see are that my gourds are a different color and your catfish have a slightly red tone while mine are very close to black. Jason

This is a smaller wakazashi sized tsuba that seems a little bit different than many openwork crane tsuba that I have seen. It looks as though the crane is dipping his beak into the water. There is sekigane visible on the other side, so it appears as if was set at least once. I find these are some of the harder tsuba to attribute to a school, and I have been happily surprised with the results of some other sukashi tsuba in the collection I inherited. Just looking on opinions from anyone who may have the knowledge. Jason

Geraint, thanks for the feedback. I was leaning that way myself. I have seen a couple listed as Higi/Jingo school that looked similar, but none had the square Hitsu-Ana. Jason

I have one example in my collection of this tsuba with a plugged rectangle hitsu-ana, I have not identified the school but perhaps somone else can. Jason

Too bad auction sites don't have a commentary section while bidding occurs, we could help people from buying these items. There is no way any auction site will add that feature in my opinion, they are there to make money and let the buyer beware!!!

With taxes, fees, and shipping, winner paid close to $700 USD for this gem.

Sorry for the pic quality, best i can do in this case