sanjuro

If its an opinion based on theme you are asking for, here goes...... Tsuba 1. Is fussy and cluttered. I dont really know who the maker is but the whole thing is just a bit too late edo period and 'touristy' to be called tasteful. Tsuba 2. Is everything that tsuba #1 isnt. Its tasteful and the subject is well rendered. Theres a lot to be said for tasteful understatement. I vote tsuba #2! Now I'll shut my big mouth and keep quiet, and watch to see what everyone else thinks.......

Consider a further possibility here regarding the hand or machine made question. I have owned a few of these blades over the years and in the latter war years the Japanese were indeed still making swords by hand. All comments above being valid I think you have a decent hand made blade there. The appearance of the hamon which as you say is a bit foggy usually comes about from a machine polish, rather than a hand finished polish as you suggest. This would make sense rather than the other way around since the Japanese in 1943 didnt have the time to wait around while some Togishi did a full polish from scratch on a new blade. I'm an Aussie also and it seems you have paid top dollar for this sword. The up side however is that these things arent getting any cheaper. You wont lose money in the long run. Just my opinion.

I must agree with Ford. The aesthetics of wabi - sabi both acknowledge change and the effects of change. They are basically a melancholic response to impermanence and the beauty inherent in something that is less than perfect due to the effects of mere existence over a period of time. Essentially therefore, an artifact such as a tsuba cannot be created with an eye to this aesthetic since change upon a finished piece can only be inflicted by time, use etc. These aesthetics are not in any true sense of the term, creatable by the hand of man. The above is not however to say that an artisan cannot invoke the 'spirit' of the aesthetic in a piece, he simply cannot create the real thing from his own hand, only an illusion of it. Only time can render a piece truly wabi or sabi.

Hi Guys I'm new on the forum but this subject fascinated me and was one of the first I read. With all that has been said already I'm left with nothing to add other than all this seems to make a great case for my preference for ubu mumei blades. They dont pretend to be anything that you cant see for yourself. However, You do need to know what you are looking at in the first place, and that applies at least equally to papered blades and gimei blades. False papers and there are definately enough out there, along with false signatures, are only there to mislead the uninformed. Get informed before you get misled!