pictures first, then questions

[Bungo]

here's the pics of a tanto tsuka that comes with it's original tsuba.

 

milt the ronin

[Bungo]

more pics

[Bungo]

und more pics......

[Bungo]

here's the questions..........

 

f/k are iron, looks like Higo school works, agree ?

Tsuka has no menuki ( not intended to have them as there's no depressions/marks on bamboo strip wrapping )........I pushed aside the bamboo wrap and there are two " holes " indicating the tsuka was once used with menuki, but re-worked for present one with no menuki.

 

What's the " red marks " say inside the fuchi ?

 

Judging from the flared shape of the fuchi, possible this is once part of the akuchi ( spelling ? ) type mounting ( those without tsuba ) ?

 

Looking closely at the seppa area of the tsuba, the rust marks ( some deep ) correspond exactly to the shape/size of the fuchi, so this tsuba was with the tsuka for a while........... if the f/k are of one school and the tsuba is part of the original koshirae, we can assume this tsuba is of same school ? This tsuba looks Higo to you good folks ? The treatment of the dragonflies are different , so I am not positive this is of the same school.

 

Also the size of the fuchi is " big " ; if stand alone, it would be difficult to say it's a tanto size fuchi and yet it is........

so there's no size differential to delineate what we gaijins called wak/tanto/katana size ?

 

again, my appreciation for the allowed bandwidths...........

 

milt the ronin

[Brian]

Can't be too certain, but the fuchi does seem to have the lip on it that would indicate there was a matching aikuchi koiguchi once. Then there would be no tsuba fitted, so looks like you are correct that the tsuba was assembled later, but a good match was found.

Probably an early re-wrap in this style led to the menuki being left off, and the same tsuka core was used for the job.

I'll leave the other opinions to the experts here

 

Btw, your pic resizing and file sizes are comming along very nicely, glad you made the pc work as it should

 

Brian

[Pete Klein]

I have a feeling this tsuba was resized down from a larger piece as the placement of the tonbo isn't right for the size. The nunome being so close to the mimi doesn't allow for wear and the proportions just seem a bit off. If the koshirae was originally designed for show and then refitted for use it might help explain the placement of a tsuba. The fuchi/kashira do seem to be aikuchi Higo pieces. The lack of menuki would make sense also if a functional refit is considered a possibility. They are for show on tanto pieces (and it is argued on all koshirae -- the grip argument is debatable but as I do not practice Iaido/Kendo I will leave that up to others).

[Bungo]

Pete,

the tonbo ( I see my notorious spelling got the dragonfly wrong again ) goes over the mimi ( The left eye is positioned on the mimi )to the ura side, so unlikely it's sized down.

 

milt the ronin

[Pete Klein]

OK -- sorry 'bout dat -- couldn't make that out. Definitely not sized down then. Too bad we can't see the blade that went with this koshirae as it would be interesting to see if there were more than one mekugiana. Two would point toward the tsuba being added, one would mean it was most likely original assuming it was the original blade. As for the red marks, again a mystery lost to the ages.

I'm beginning to feel like Sherlock Holmes again but I promise not to go any further. (LOL)

PS: For some reason I always remember tonbo. Perhaps a former life?

[Bungo]

have a spare tsunagi ( spelling ? ) and refit to tie the whole package together...............

the habaki and seppa come with the tsuka + tsuba.

 

milt the soon to be flyinh ronin