Jake6500

To me the middle one looks a lot like a seahorse...

Dale and Peter even exhibit modesty befitting of their expertise! You are both experts compared to me, that is for sure!

I'm hardly as much of an expert as Dale or Peter here but my first instinct was also that this is an Ohno school tsuba. Ohno tsuba tend to be thicker than most other tsuba of similar styles so when you get to the 5mm+ range it is likely an Ohno piece as opposed to Kanayama, Yagyu, etc. That said however, this would have been a pretty common design and it might be hard to distinguish between Yagyu, Ohno, Myochin or Kanayama with such a design.

Thank you very much for the information. If this is an authentic 1st gen Tsunekatsu piece I will have done even better than I thought on this purchase! I have had some pretty good luck on my last couple purchases, I can safely say the purchase before this one (I believe it is an authentic Hamano Sozui fuchigashira) is probably the best piece in my entire collection. I will make a thread about that piece shortly as well. Whilst I thought this latest piece was nice, I had not expected it to be a close second! Thanks again for the assistance!

Just managed to find this in 'Japanese Sword Guards' by Okabe Kakuya, Published by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: Perhaps my guard comes from a student of these artisans.

Interesting, your tsuba seems a lot more similar stylistically to the first example... As you said, not much similarity to mine. I did find these examples of Kozuka by "Kikuchi Tsunesada", circa 1800 that has a similar design and style to my tsuba (shishi lion/tiger, katakiribori) Now I don't know what to think! Are these two different branches of the Kikuchi lineage?

As this thread didn't get any responses the first time around I am going to bump it up in the hope of receiving some new responses... I recently found this papered Kikuchi tsuba on Jauce and as soon as I saw it I knew I had to snatch it up... It appears to be signed "Kikuchi Joukaku". https://www.jauce.com/auction/1160942560# Does anyone have any information they could share about this artist or the Kikuchi school generally? Most everything I've been able to find is that the Kikuchi school were big on Katakiribori and not much else... And of course, whilst it is papered it is green papered... Do you think this is an authentic Kikuchi school piece or gimei?

I would love to assist in your experiments but the thought of actually doing that with a piece of history makes me feel physical pain...

Yikes, now I'm paranoid about the fuchigashira I'll soon have coming in the post.

Bit late to the thread on this one but I concur with the answers of our fellow board members. The embroidery is depicting the various stages of Edo Period cotton production from picking to separating the cotton from the seed, weaving, etc.

Haha, I'd be too nervous to try and import any of this stuff into our country Dale, what with the strict wildlife protection laws and customs. Biological materials are an automatic pass!

Not the best pictures off my phone camera but hopefully they'll suffice... This pair 100% come from Nara. The maple leaf on the side is also a common Nara image. Not exactly the same style as yours but the spotted deer makes the association with Nara likely!

Yes I believe so, which is why I suggested it may be from Kaga! I'm pleased other observers have also picked up on it! Most of my collection are more artistic ornamental (mid-late) Edo Period pieces but I want to build a collection of 4 pre-Edo tsuba with mon such as this one if I can find them!

You are very likely correct about the connection to Nara as the deer trade was historically an important part of the Nara economy. All parts of the deer would be sold or serve a purpose in Nara and deer themed fuchigashira are common from the Nara area. In fact, I have a similar fuchigashira in my collection which I received as a gift.

Here is a tsuba I recently picked up... (possibly Azuchi-Momoyama tsuba from Kaga?)