Question on fitting and tsuba

[Zarathustra]

Hello Everyone!

 

I recently purchased a Sword and have now got to know more on the Smith, but have no Idea what kind of Tsuba or the other fittings are.

I've found a very similar looking Tsuba on the Internet: https://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/store/tsuba-%26-kodogu-over-1000/t304-ko-akasaka-tsuba

 

I would be grateful for any information.

 

Florian

[Spartancrest]

Florian

 

Sasano's book has the same guard listed as 'Hayashi' (Yotsu-hanabishi - four diamond-shaped flowers) Page 230 of his 'New Enlarged Edition'  But you can't rule out Owari or Akasaka as they did some similar designs (as you have already seen on the link).

 

What do people think about the high-lighted areas of the guard?

[Ganko]

Appears to be a later cast copy, the mold flashing that Dale has highlighted makes it quite obvious.

[Spartancrest]

Tom 

 

That's what I thought, Its been reworked but they didn't do all the sukashi. The hitsu look cleaner (difficult to see clearly) Would the two seppa (loose) reflect the tsuba has been changed from the original mounting? [i am not a sword person]

[Spartancrest]

Here is another example of the tsuba design - unfortunately no school attribution.

 

https://daimyou-armor.com

[Zarathustra]

I have made some sharper pictures, if it helps.

 

By the way, is there anything that can be said about the habaki?

 

Thanks

[Spartancrest]

Not an expert on Habaki but it looks good to me,  “neko-gaki”  cat scratch pattern sometimes also called falling rain pattern, and I would say with those tiny dots that is what this one represents. Back to the tsuba - well the better images only confirm it to be a later reworked casting as the seam is very evident in the mounted photo. Added to this the tagane- ato (the punch marks top and bottom of the nakago-ana or tang hole) they look deep but have not resulted in any spread of the metal into the void (which is what they are used for). This would suggest that the punch marks were cast into the guard and not actually real. There is a possibility that if the punch marks were real the opening was filed down to remove excess metal at a later time for remounting, but in this case I very much doubt it. At the top of the guard photo (usually up side down) is another casting fault, see blowup. If this had been hand made that little dag of metal would have been cut off. One great thing about Japanese swords is they were designed so you could change the tsuba fairly easily and was often done.

[Geraint]

Dear Florian.

 

Is the habaki foil covered?  In any event it looks fine, how does it fit to the blade?  If it is a good fit then it's fine.  Best case here is that someone took a shine to a nice tsuba and whipped it off, replacing with this one and an extra seppa to make up the slack.  Worst case is that someone has got hold of a blade, habaki and saya and made up the complete sword.  The quality of fit between all the parts and a close look at the aperture in the tsuka where the nakago fits will confirm one or the other.

 

Either way enjoy the sword.

 

All the best.

[Zarathustra]

Dear Florian.

 

Is the habaki foil covered?  In any event it looks fine, how does it fit to the blade?  If it is a good fit then it's fine.  Best case here is that someone took a shine to a nice tsuba and whipped it off, replacing with this one and an extra seppa to make up the slack.  Worst case is that someone has got hold of a blade, habaki and saya and made up the complete sword.  The quality of fit between all the parts and a close look at the aperture in the tsuka where the nakago fits will confirm one or the other.

 

Either way enjoy the sword.

 

All the best.

As far as I can tell, there's no foil on the habaki. It fits pretty well, when I dismantle the fittings for oiling the blade, I have to apply gentle force, and it doesn't rattle at all when I swing the sword in the air. I should've mentioned earlier that this picture was one of the first when I bought the sword, and I forgot on which side of the Tsuba the seppa was to be done.