Ken-Hawaii Posted February 6, 2014 Report Posted February 6, 2014 I've never seen a nakago-ana shaped like this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Japanese-Antique-Tsuba-for-Japanese-Sword-edo-10-/191040358076. Is it a bad fake or is there some type of weapon it would be mounted on that I can't visualize? Ken Quote
Curran Posted February 7, 2014 Report Posted February 7, 2014 Seen a few like this on legitimate tsuba from different schools. My best guess as to Why? is the same as Mr. Bowen's. Quote
seattle1 Posted February 8, 2014 Report Posted February 8, 2014 Hello: While Chris and Curran might be correct, I would have a hard time imaging that use for this piece. I suspect that it once had substantial seki-gane fitting shims in the nakago-ana which were knocked out to fit someone's aesthetic tastes or simply to fit it to a large nakagao sword and the person so doing didn't have the resources to place seki-gane in place for the new blade. While the visual impact of the tsuba is somewhat pleasing, I believe they are called gomoku-zogan in the West (lit., rubbish incrustation), and they usually are not considered a highly prized category of tsuba. I believe that in Japan they are called hokori-yoshiro, lit., dust inlay, and are usually the product of Yokohama dock work. Arnold F. Quote
Peter Bleed Posted February 8, 2014 Report Posted February 8, 2014 I agree with Arnold (as usual). These gomoku-zogan tsuba are a reflection and indication of what seems to have been a active recycling and "hustling" trade that was the low end of sword marketing during Late Edo times. Musui's Story, the autobiography of a ronin describes how he supported himself for a while by buying trading in fittings he bought in flea markets. Not all the hustle was for the foreign trade, I suspect. I think this tsuba may have begun life as an "Onin" style piece and it may have been flipped and turned before the scrap brass wires was fused on to the surface. Peter Quote
Pete Klein Posted February 8, 2014 Report Posted February 8, 2014 Whenever I see one of these I ponder if the tsuba was rotated 180 degrees to allow the hitsu-ana to properly align with an existing koshirae and the nakago ana re-purposed. Quote
Brian Posted February 9, 2014 Report Posted February 9, 2014 Pete, I see what you are saying now..and i think that could easily be a possibility. Brian Quote
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