Jake6500

I think it is worth the money spent, personally. Did you pick this up on Jauce? Because if so, I was also keeping my eye on this exact piece...

Thanks for your insight Kyle! I did notice the connection in the stroke of the mei as a potential albeit minor inconsistency in the mei. The floating stroke in the top left however is something I hadn't considered before. I had actually purchased this item based on the quality of the workmanship and the design alone, the possibility of it being a work from an elite artist was always just an added bonus. Here is the authenticated mei for context, for anyone else reading the thread: I still do think it is a pretty close match to the mei in the bottom right... This piece is probably still the best in my collection right now whether it is gimei or not.

I can see what everyone is saying with the sword. It certainly looks more like a blade than it does grains of rice... That said, the "handle" of the ken looks a lot more to me like a koku bale or a Daikoku style magic bag than it does a sword handle. Dale's Vajra handle example however gives me pause to reconsider.

Additional, better photos from the seller...

I recently acquired a new fuchigashira (been in my possession for about a week now) that I wanted to share with the forum. At this stage it is probably now the best piece in my collection and has been signed "Sozui". The mei appears to match one of the variations of Hamano Sozui's signature and from what I have read, Hamano Sozui would often create pieces with Japanese and Chinese folklore themes, so a Sojobo/Tengu design would fit his modus operandi. The work is a pretty high quality with an inlaid stone used for the eye of the Tengu figure as well which leads me to believe this might be an actual Sozui piece and not gimei... The pictures honestly don't do the piece justice as they were taken from my phone with 5x zoom and compressed to meet file size requirements but let me know what you all think!

As Dale has already said, you don't find signatures on authentic pre-Edo pieces. Dale's link is also to a reliable seller in Matsukaze, I have purchased things from that seller before. If you're new to tsuba and want assurances, buying from him is a safe bet. In any event, the item you've posted appears quite expensive for a dubious tsuba that may not even have any historical value.

Hi Jason, This is a nice tsuba that looks well crafted. Whilst I usually don't gravitate toward open works in my own collection I am a fan of this one... As for the theme, this is only an educated guess (I am not sure and would like to see what other forum members think) but the dragon appears to be holding a koku of rice on the reverse, and appears to be consuming the rice pouring out of the bag on the front side. My guess is that the theme is therefore from the Tawara Toda Monogatari from the 14th century in which the protagonist is awarded an inexhaustible/infinite bag of rice by a dragon as a reward for slaying a Mukade. If this is indeed the theme it could have the implied association with wealth as Japan had the kokudaka system in which rice was measured and used as the primary form of currency for centuries. The symbolism of the tsuba might therefore be thought of as "infinite wealth" and may have been owned by a merchant (presumably an educated one!) Just my take on it, lets see what everyone else thinks! PS/Edit: For the school, maybe Bushu Ito? It gives me similar stylistic vibes to a Bushu Ito tsuba I have in my collection!

It's a tricky balance. What I would say is try to do as much research on a piece as you can before buying and try to build an ongoing digital catalogue of works you've encountered. Past forum threads are always a great source of information when searching for more information about a piece, school of craftmanship or specific artist/mei.

I agree with this, however beware that higher price doesn't always mean better quality! I have no issues with paying more for quality but it takes some time to train your eye to be able to spot mid-high level work and there are also over-priced pieces floating about. Train your eye to recognize quality before spending! I've only just started to reach the point where I can identify the higher quality stuff by eye and distinguish it from mid to low level work. I did well with my last couple of purchases and I was willing to pay a bit more for them, but I've also had some solid purchases under $150. Price is not everything and can be deceiving.

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?