Daisho 1780 - patina/care question

[Oshy]

Good evening,

 

Picked up this Daisho set signed and dated Yoshu Matsuyama Ju Shoami Moriyoshi Saku living in Songshan mountain in Yuzhou. Anei period, one lucky day of February 1780 ( 豫州松山住人 正阿弥盛祥作  安永九庚子歳二月吉祥日 ).

 

My question is on the back of the Dai near the top, you will see an area of darkened color. Is this healthy stabilized black rust setting in or something else that may need care? Also noticing it a little bit on the front as well as on the Sho.

 

On the tsuba maintenance topic, il throw in that reading through numerous threads and recommended techniques, there does not seem to be a consensus on how or to what extent(if at all) one should care for them. I am afraid to remove patina, hinder growth of stabilized/protecting rust  and revert/prevent what the smith may have intended it to become with age. Outside of regulated temp and humidity levels I had planned to lightly polish with choji & cotton once a year but please feel free to correct me or share your techniques.

 

P.S. - Anyone able to translate the large Motif/Kanji characters?

 

Thanks!

[Grey Doffin]

Morning Mike,

Unless the spots have a different texture from corrosion, I wouldn't worry about them.  I would skip the choji oil but the more often you buff the tsuba with a cotton cloth, the better their patina.  Iron tsuba love being rubbed on jeans legs as you sit with nothing else to do; they take on a soft glow (this mimics the effects of wearing the tsuba at your waist for years as a Samurai).

Grey

[Oshy]

Thanks Grey, I've also heard of people putting one in each jeans pocket, seems silly but makes sense!

[b.hennick]

I can confirm a tsuba in a back jean pocket works wonders but it does take time -months not weeks.

[Ken-Hawaii]

I like your tsuba daisho, Mike. Nice & elegant.

[Oshy]

Thanks Ken, I think so too

 

Anyone able to translate the large Motif/Kanji characters?

[masahirok]

The character on the bottom-right corner on Dai and one on the top-right corner on Sho (in your first attachment) look identical to me; they resemble "寿" (life, year, etc.), stylized.

[Oshy]

Thanks MK! Any thoughts on the bottom right of dai and too right sho? There are lighter kanji on the top left of both dai and sho as well.

[masahirok]

The lighter ones are in sosho style, I believe, and they *kind of* look like "卦" (fortune-telling) or"却" (reversal, prevention, etc.) in that style.

 

I could browse through my dictionary all day to get a better guess, but I won't do that  

[Oshy]

Thanks again and no worries, please don't trouble your self! ????

[masahirok]

I won't. Thing is, I tend to take English-related works as jobs (because of how I grew up), and I don't like to take joy out of it by over-doing it.

Didn't mean to appear cold

[Tanto54]

Dear Mike,

 

All of the characters are the same word - kotobuki (meaning longevity) - in different style kanji.

[Oshy]

Thanks George!

[Furin Kazan]

豫州/松山-Yoshu/Matsuyama, 豫州 (or 予州) is another name for 伊予国 (Isu no kuni) , current day Ehime Prefecture. Yuzhou, which is written the same way, is an old Chinese geopolitical province dating back to the Han dynasty and subsequently Songshan (same kanjis as Matsuyama in Japanese) is another Chinese city/mountain in the Yunnan province. Very cool stuff