Cat-scratch Habaki

[Bruce Pennington]

For the record.  AOI sale, found by @Tsuku, HERE

 

[Bruce Pennington]

Brimstone?  Found by @NathanLM Here

 

[Bruce Pennington]

I really like this version of the clouds & rain pattern.  Posted by @eric-t HERE.

[Bruce Pennington]

I just keep getting surprised at the variety of art on these habaki!  I guess with art, and the human imagination, there is no limits!

 

On a nihonto posted by @ChrisW HERE.  Can't tell if the rectangles are foil added to the surface or are they the real brass color and the darker brown is a coating?

 

[Stephen]

Is it just the light or is one side gold other sliver? 

When i first seen i thought bands inlay

[C0D]

A little tanto habaki i have since a while

 

 

[ChrisW]

9 hours ago, Bruce Pennington said:

I just keep getting surprised at the variety of art on these habaki!  I guess with art, and the human imagination, there is no limits!

 

On a nihonto posted by @ChrisW HERE.  Can't tell if the rectangles are foil added to the surface or are they the real brass color and the darker brown is a coating?

 

The lower part of the habaki is solid silver I think, with the rectangles being gold inlaid into it. As for the reddish part, it is some kind of copper alloy plating I believe? It might have originally been a closer match to the color of the saya. I am not entirely sure, I haven't paid too much attention to it since the blade itself is such a puzzler. The whole piece has some weight to it that suggests silver at least. I might have a jeweler take a look at it now that you've mentioned it.

[Bruce Pennington]

A nice mon on habaki, found at an auction site:

 

 

[Bruce Pennington]

Duplicating some posts on other threads, but I've scanned all the pages on this thread and don't see them mentioned, so adding a couple of habiki with 5 star mons:

 

This from @robinalexander

 

 

and this from @Butch

[DRDave]

[Bruce Pennington]

A cool pattern posted by @Utopianarian HERE

[Bruce Pennington]

This habaki posted by Tom, @drb 1643, HERE, got me to thinking about the edge style.  Is it clouds?  I think I've seen it a few times.  There are a couple others on this thread that are similar, but both of them curve around to form the "boars' eye" or heart shape as we think of it.  This one looks to me like cloud edges with rain.

 

[Shuriken]

Here's one I haven't seen before:

[Bruce Pennington]

10 hours ago, Shuriken said:

one I haven't seen before

Wow, on the zoom-in, they look like half-tubes.  Quite unique!

[Itomagoi]

Bäähmm

[Bruce Pennington]

9 hours ago, Itomagoi said:

Bäähmm

DANG!  Stuff like this blows my mind.  The craftsman must have a vision in their head, like Michelangelo said "I see what's there and remove everything else."

[Itomagoi]

Yes, there are really very beautiful habaki out there.

[Bruce Pennington]

On 1/24/2022 at 9:10 AM, Itomagoi said:

Yes, there are really very beautiful habaki out there.

Interesting!  Obviously intentional wrapping around of the waves to touch, making a boar's eye?  Anyone know the significance of the boar's eye (looks like a heart shape) on swords?

[Bruce Pennington]

Here's one of simple skill/art, but effective.  Tropical trees?  Found HERE.

 

[Bruce Pennington]

Inome, or "boar's eye" pattern from @AntiquarianCat HERE.  I think it's only the second habaki I've found with the design.  Please add yours if you have one!

 

Here's the only other one I have (which is likely to have been posted already, but adding for comparison)

[noneed2hate]

Hi Bruce,

Coincidentally this was posted Yesterday on one of the Facebook groups.

Habaki was mounted on a Seki made Showato blade by Inoue Suketsugu. I'll ask the original poster if I can get a clearer photo for you. 

[Bruce Pennington]

4 hours ago, noneed2hate said:

s mounted on a Seki made Showato blade by Inoue Suketsugu. I'll ask the original poster if I can get a clearer photo for you.

Thanks George!

 

 

Not to detract from this line of searching, but just came across this one with possibly a chrysanthemum?  19 visable petals, so @ChrisW thought it could be either that or sun rays.  I'm going with the chrysanthemum angle.  Posted HERE.

[ChrisW]

3 hours ago, Bruce Pennington said:

Thanks George!

 

 

Not to detract from this line of searching, but just came across this one with possibly a chrysanthemum?  19 visable petals, so @ChrisW thought it could be either that or sun rays.  I'm going with the chrysanthemum angle.  Posted HERE.

I've always operated on the assumption that it is a chrysanthemum. It is mounted on a Taira Shigeyuki wakizashi. Its a very lovely blade.

[ChrisW]

I'll also check my other blades/spare parts for habaki that are out of the ordinary.

[paul V]

Not spectacular but a decent habaki for a tachi:

Habaki1.pg

[Bruce Pennington]

On 2/18/2022 at 9:47 AM, paul V said:

Not spectacular but a decent habaki for a tachi:

Paul,

Your photo is listed as a ".pg" and I can't open it.  Any chance of uploading a ".jpg"?

[paul V]

Sorry, new attempt:

[Bruce Pennington]

3 minutes ago, paul V said:

Much better! And quite a nice one!  Good quality gold work and I like the way the second piece fits the Bohi.

[suketaka]

one of mine..

 

 

[Bruce Pennington]

6 minutes ago, suketaka said:

one of mine..

That's a quality piece, K.!  Was it made with the shirasaya?