Retaining most of brass inlay

[roger dundas]

It seems that many of these pieces manage to lose a bit of inlay over the years- this example has done better than many.

I enjoy the fine, accurate inlay- swastika pattern is it. It doesn't go over onto the rim.

8 x7.5 x 5mm

[kissakai]

Keyfret pattern?

[Ford Hallam]

sayagata-mon or pattern in Japanese. Also called manji when used singly.

[roger dundas]

Many thanks for your responses.

The following pics were meant to accompany the above this a.m when we posted but time ran out.

For mine ,these two are really most appealing. Neither is big- the spoked example measures 67 x 63 x 4mm. It is almost identical to one sold either early this year or late last year on e-bay which was a bit bigger at 72mm.Both have 64 spoke apertures (I should have bid on it but didn't). I would think made by the same craftsman ?

The second with twining vines, foliage and flowers is 68 x 60 x 5mm.

With both tsuba the engraved, brass inlay goes over and onto the rim.

I would very much welcome your opinions here- These are both tsuba for smaller swords than katana size which is O.K in my mind but wonder what the consensus is regarding size- if there is any general agreement ?

The other thing with the second tsuba is I can't decide if the brass used for the vine differs from that of the foliage and flowers (colourwise) ?

 

Looking forward to any responses.

[roger dundas]

I have run into a problem because I thought we could have posted some shots of the two tsuba mentioned above.

Will sleep on it (10p.m here) and try again tomorrow. Not sure my old heart can take the rebuffs-  just joking of course ( I hope).

Roger D.