Jake6500

Wonderful to hear that it worked out Max! Not surprised that you were happy with the quality and price point! It can be hard to capture the level of quality with pictures when it comes to tosogu, and even so the tsuba seemed decent for the price you said you paid. Interesting that you've found a similar example, however it isn't that unusual to find certain iconic motifs repeated by artisans of different schools with their own distinct style or spin!

Hey Viktor, Here's an image of the back panel in one of the fuchigashira boxes I recently received from Japan. It does seem fairly similar to yours. Sorry it took so long!

Thanks Brian for the title edit, I'd like to make this thread an extensive one! The more contributions the better!

Hey Tosogu collectors, I recently obtained my second Yanagawa Naomitsu piece, a beautiful lion and peony themed fuchigashira (possible tokubetsu hozon candidate?) In celebration of this new acquisition I felt a mega lion thread would be fitting, hoping to get the rest of the forum involved! Post your best lions, all types of Tosogu welcome! I'll start:

This one is an amazing piece Viktor. Jiryuken Terumitsu appears to have been a student of both Yokoya and Omori schools... Both Ichinomiya and Yokoya emerge as "new schools" from the Goto tradition in the West and East respectively and used similar techniques so it can sometimes be hard to distinguish them... I think Yokoya school is also a distinct possibility.

Mentioned above already, but I think it might be Ichinomiya school. The Gold pattern on the robe, thickness of the limbs and style of the fingers, etc. remind me of Ichinomiya school. The theme of Shennong (good job team, I honestly never would have guessed it) also seems to match the type of theme one might expect from the school as the Ichinomiya school seem to have been big on Chinese history mythology and folklore motifs... But I'm interested to see what other more experienced posters think. After all I am basically just an overly active newbie on the forum...

Wow Geraint! That helps heaps! I can basically confirm the two Ichinomiya pieces at minimum were in fact in that auction lot. It is possible that the Uji River piece refers to one of the Hamano style pieces, however it may also be that those two have different origins despite coming from the same collector. Thanks for posting these catalogue descriptions! They could well be gimei given that Hamano Naoyuki was a big name. Keep in mind though that my pictures aren't the best. They definitely all look nicer in hand! I got each of these pretty cheap (roughly 60,000 yen per piece) so I think based on the quality alone they were a good deal. I have a 5th and final piece that was (a LOT) more expensive on its way so stay tuned for a separate thread about that when it arrives...

Can't say with 100% certainty but this one gives me an Ichinomiya vibe and strongly reminds me of a recent fuchigashira acquisition of mine... No idea about the theme though

Last but not least, when it comes to my favourite from this set it's between the first Hamano piece I posted and this Taigong Wang design and I can't decide which I like most...

Now the Tsunenao pieces with their original Sotheby's tags...

Posting the 4 pieces in 4 separate comments just for space...

Hi Tosogu enthusiasts, Over the holidays I acquired a number of new fuchigashira that appear to have come from a single collection. The acquisitions include 4 pieces in total, two signed Hamano Naoyuki and two signed (Ichinomiya) Tsunenao. The two Tsunenao pieces still have their original auction tags from a Sotheby's collection dated November 15th 2000. The other two pieces are missing their tags, but all 4 appear to have been from the same collector/owner. (This does not mean they are from the same Sotheby's collection necessarily...) These pieces are pretty high quality with some interesting motifs and I'm hopeful the mei might be authentic. If not however it's no big deal as the quality was well worth the price I paid for these. Photos taken with my less-than-spectacular phone camera and size compressed but I tried my best... Do let me know what you all think! I'll start with the Hamano pieces:

Very interesting thread! This is the first time I've seen this technique so I'm happy to have learned something new! Did you encounter this blade in Japan Ian?

I see some beautiful stuff there including what (I think) are some pieces with Hamano school influences... (Tiger could also be sekibun as Curran said). The tiger kozuka and the Nioh kozuka next to it both have what look like Hamano style influences with the gold eyes and striking colour contrasts... Are either of them signed on the reverse? If so, please post images of the signatures. It wouldn't be hard to find a buyer for many of these pieces if you're looking to sell. (Hell, I'd probably make an offer on these two myself! Possibly for the tiger menuki too...) As others have said though, take your time evaluating each individual piece, even if it means extra work. Posting images of any signatures here would be a good start.

Not exactly multi-stacked but this tsuba of mine by Marukawa Hiroyoshi (Mito school) has sekigane resized so small that the centrepiece of a tsuba box will not fit... I had to make my own (kinda dodgy) box for it out of a ring box... I think it might have been re-used on a mamori-tanto gifted to a child. (Image below is in the original box, not my dodgy self-made one)