Jesta

I can’t say for certain, but it would seem unlikely. The second one up from the bottom has the little flat area for the kozuka, which would imply an attention to detail that might be a step too far. I would guess that towards the end of the Edo period there would be so many of these things floating around that there would be no need to make new ones for something like this. It fits with the repurposing of menuki into earrings, and pouch clasps, and the re-use of tsuba in furniture and boxes that we also see.

Thank you both. I didn’t know the name, although Swan Vestas were matches when I was growing up, and Vesta was a Roman goddess when I was studying…

I picked this up because I thought that it was interesting. It is a matchbox made from five fuchi, with the top of a kashira to close it off. It is nicely done, and I am guessing that it is Meji-period, using earlier pieces. If anyone has any thoughts on the origins of any of the individual fuchi, I would be grateful…

The one shown here seems to be of higher quality than the two other versions. I wonder if it was the original that got copied…

Thanks… I have seen so many of these that I thought that they were all modern rubbish…

Are the two you posted old, but mass-produced for export?

Training my eye, and I found this on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Katanas/comments/1oor0gw/signed_unno_motomasa/ My initial reaction was one of caution. The flags raised are: 1. The depictions are too colourful. I have not see too many Edo period tsuba with so many colours (outside of the cloisonné designs), so this seemed a little off. 2. The design seems to be back to front. If the kosuka-ana is real, then the simpler design would be on the front, while the complex carving would be on the back. 3. The wear looks odd. At first glance this looks like it should be iron, but the wear reveals a sort of yellowish underlay or white, neither of which look like worn iron patina. 4. The sekigane look like they are decorative rather than functional. 5. I may be biased, but the demon design looks like the sort of thing you see a lot on new tsuba… What are your thoughts on this? Is it legit?

Very creative. My hotel had this as the clothes rail.

Found this in an odd little shop in Himeji. Would anyone be able to help with the mei and any thoughts on the origins? It is iron, with a nice wave pattern, which seems to have silver highlights (which are a bit faded on the omote side, more visible on the ura), and bamboo or reeds in gold. But, that’s all I can say for now.

Thanks… now I have that image in my head…

Thanks. Another one that looks pretty ancient. I think that the upside down presentation probably comes from thinking that swords are slung and presented edge down, and seen from the point back to the hilt, in Western cultures so they just transfer that here. You can see this even in modern katanas (largely sold from China to the US) where the tsuba is put on the wrong way round so that the design faces the blade rather than the tsuka.

I am off for a short trip to Osaka and Kyoto. Are there any particular shops I should drop into to look for tsuba or other pieces of koshirae?

Thank you. Yes, no tapering edges, but the shape of the openwork on the right is identical. For time being I will refer to the shape as either a fan or a tray… The tray design would fit with the porcelain plate posted by Dale. That could be a version of the tray…

Reminds me of some of the tachi tsuba that also have three pieces with overlays holding the decoration inside a tsuba with a raised mimi like this.

That's a very interesting comparison. It definitely looks very similar, particularly because of the rounded, rather than pointed, side.