ZH1980

Thank you, Jean! Appreciate you taking the time to explain this.

Hello - hoping to get some input on this tsuba's nakago-ana. Is the shape unusual? Given the standard size/shape of a typical sword's tang, this shape seems strange. Thoughts?

Thanks very much, Steve.

Hi Steve - I wonder if you could elaborate a bit - or provide another example - on what you mean by "absence of indent in the upper sekigane." This sounds like an important "tell" for possible modern replicas, but I didn't understand your point.

Like others have said, the soul of my nihonto collection has little to do with intrinsic value and more to do with sentimentality. As such, some of the most meaningful pieces aren’t necessarily the rarest or most valuable—they’re the ones tied to memories. The tsuba I was given by my daughter as a birthday present, the wakizashi that sparked a long conversation with a fellow collector who became a friend, or the unexpected Mercari find that sent me down a research rabbit hole. These memories give the collection a kind of living thread, binding together styles and schools that might otherwise seem disparate.

True that counterfeiting has always been illegal on paper, but, in practice, Japan lacked meaningful enforcement mechanisms against counterfeit goods until legal reforms that were passed in the 1970s. Laws on paper are great, but without enforcement mechanisms, laws often meaningless. Post War Japan is a good example of this, particularly vis-a-vis counterfeit products.

For that price, one would think it would be papered, but, sadly it doesn’t appear to be.

A similar one currently for sale on Mercari in Japan (¥179,200). Same signature too.

A similar one currently for sale on Mercari in Japan (¥179,200).

On the topic of tsuba with same/similar design, here is one motif that I see a lot - the so-called “daikon” (radish) tsuba. This specific design appears to have been quite popular.

Beautiful!

Thank you for this detailed response! Very helpful.

I’ve been working with Paul on a proxy tsuba shinsa and have found him very professional and responsive thus far.

It would be most helpful to me (and perhaps others) if you could expand on this comment a bit. What are the obvious signs that this blade is a Chinese knock off? It's obviously in very bad condition, but any additional information on why the blade appears fake would be appreciated. Thank you.

Sharing a papered daisho tsuba set from my collection. I suspect later Edo daisho tsuba are more common than the daisho blades you are discussing, but wanted to share nonetheless.