Merry friends of "Y! Auction".

[Yasaka Azuma]

Brian, Well, in Japan, blades with a blade length of more than 2.4 inches are regulated. Sode-karami is not regulated. However, it is 6.5 feet long and looks scary, so it is rare for people to like to collect it and keep it at home. If anything, it is considered a "strange person". Therefore, the evaluation of value is low and it is not treated well.

 

Dale, those themes look more like a landscape of Mars than 破墨山水(haboku-sansui = a landscape painting) that an oriental hermit played.

[Spartancrest]

How about the cajones  [balls] on this one https://www.jauce.com/auction/f507080904  first you take a plain iron guard and with your paintbrush - - - - 

[Yasaka Azuma]

That's pretty good.

The Japanese never thought of castrating horseback riding until they were ridiculed by the British in the 19th century, "I can't believe I'm riding such a beast-like rampage!"
I think the Japanese stirrup is shaped like sandals so that when the horse doesn't follow the instructions, it must be able to jump off immediately.

[Bazza]

Yas wrote:

>  I think the Japanese stirrup is shaped like sandals so that when the horse doesn't follow the instructions, it must be able to jump off immediately.

 

Could I suggest that a "sandal" stirrup provides a more stable platform for standing up and shooting arrows even with the horse at gallop??

 

BaZZa.

[Spartancrest]

True Barry except historically other peoples like the Parthians didn't even use stirrups and yet were renowned for their mounted archery - just ask the Romans - who also didn't use stirrups.

[roger dundas]

The Japanese stirrup also allows the foot to easily slip out in case of a mishap whereas a European stirrup can sometimes  trap a rider's foot and drag them along the ground even though only the ball of the foot is meant to be on the plate not the instep and certainly not the entire foot in the stirrup.

Many riders have been badly hurt and sometimes killed from brain injuries as a result of being dragged by a bolting horse. Certainly has happened in our community here over the years.

And if the Japanese chose to ride stallions as many macho men did, they can be a weapon in their own right, often enough quite savage and aggressive. A rider might welcome no impediments when coming off a horse in a hurry.

One of the great scenes, shot in the rain, in 'The Seven Samurai' was the war horse kicking out at whoever got in its way- a stallion I imagine. 

Also BaZZa's comment about the Japanese stirrup providing a stable platform for firing arrows etc makes sense. The Parthians, the Romans and the Greeks just hadn't got around to inventing the stirrup in their time.

Maybe I have told you what you already knew ? 

Roger j.

[Yasaka Azuma]

It's a half joking, tailored to Dale's humor. In reality, the samurai are not allowed to quickly escape from the rampaging horse.
The Japanese cavalry shoot with a long bow of 7 feet. It is troublesome to embed the video here, so please see the link.

https://twitter.com/naoejou/status/1380500992798560266

[roger dundas]

No doubt very adept archers, even on a galloping horse but for all that it must have been extremely challenging with all that movement going on underneath you, the archer.

As for a Samurai not expected to abandon his mount/his fighting platform, those situations can happen in the blink of an eye, a horse stumbles and off you go, air born . Especially if you are concentrating on your arrow shot, you can be off and down in a moment.

Roger 2

[Spartancrest]

For those interested it looks like the Stallion has found a mate - or more precisely a split daisho has turned up  https://www.ebay.com/itm/392407861489

I can't say I am entirely convinced they weren't worked on much later than the guard was made - despite what the NBTHK papers say.

[Yasaka Azuma]

Judging from the touch of the paint and the color of the pigment, it is certainly due to the same painter.  He drew without thinking about actually attaching the tsuba to the katana.

I found such an item. It seems more difficult to hit than a bow and arrow. I'm wondering if this could be used as a firearm, aside from the stirrup.

https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2021/04/13/double-barreled-stirrup-pistol/

[Spartancrest]

Well I don't see that idea being too good for the horse! He either gets shot in the leg or he bolts and throws the rider - and just how do you aim it without falling out the saddle or blowing your own toes off? 

[Yasaka Azuma]

Yes, it is. The painter drew without thinking of attaching the tsuba to the sword. A gunsmith who made a strange gun might have made it without thinking of riding a horse.

[Yasaka Azuma]

I think he himself was surprised that it sold for 200,000 yen.

https://www.jauce.com/auction/t801297034

Quickly, the newcomer to the market seems to be dutifully working his way to the low end.

https://www.jauce.com/auction/s819666721

[Spartancrest]

I saw that one - it was so bad I didn't think it should offend the viewers! A big downward spiral in quality. Still, it is starting at the right price, makes a cheap fishing lure! 

[Yasaka Azuma]

This is an unfinished kit for the buyer to complete the Rain Dragon tsuba? 

https://www.jauce.com/auction/k512095566

 

And the buyer damaged it. In less than three months, he will sell his failed work to someone else. It is a wonder that a buyer appears.

https://www.jauce.com/auction/f480979961

https://www.jauce.com/auction/n458395919

[Spartancrest]

Yas, I saw those, the one with the broken head has been cleaned up but not repaired. It is funny that a clean up can earn three times what he paid for it. The unfinished one [or hobby piece] was selling back in December 2020 for 15,000 yen, it is back at a cheaper starting price. I just received an unusual double rain dragon, that adds to my collection of four single dragon examples - very pleased with it. [My double was only 12,000yen and not damaged]

[Yasaka Azuma]

Oh! That's right. They are the wandering or rolling dragons.

[Spartancrest]

How about this little picture I made up of "Rolling Rain Dragons" - 

[Yasaka Azuma]

Yes, that's the traditional "蛟龍文(Jiao Long Wen)" design from ancient China.

https://www.jauce.com/auction/q448882361

[Yasaka Azuma]

For Apr.

The staple products.

 

https://www.jauce.com/auction/j723046718

https://www.jauce.com/auction/n460821641

https://www.jauce.com/auction/o467624970

https://www.jauce.com/auction/c903087381

https://www.jauce.com/auction/w466484297

https://www.jauce.com/auction/s814150095

https://www.jauce.com/auction/l669252836

https://www.jauce.com/auction/x773571678

 

It is confidently lined up with the sample, but there is much room for debate just by comparing the two signatures.
https://www.jauce.com/auction/q432923316

 

The lotus-leaf pattern, which was the specialty of Shoami-Denbey in Akita and Tachibana-Takaie in Morioka, is also a standard product of cast reproductions.
https://www.jauce.com/auction/v770491209

 

This tiger pattern looks like an inlay and is quite skillful. However, the splashes are just gold painted on the ground iron.

https://www.jauce.com/auction/b549081380

 

I thought that Masachika's tiger, which is mentioned in Dr. Torigoe's book, was philosophical and nihilistic.

reference sample

https://matsukaze.thebase.in/items/9814604

 

In addition to casting burrs, there are areas where nanako is not uniform. Nanako, which is engraved one by one or in units of several, is less sensitive to uneven surfaces.
https://www.jauce.com/auction/q442624655

reference sample

http://ginza.choshuya.co.jp/sale/gj/r2/09/09_satsuma_tsuba.htm

 

These may be castings or die-cut from steel plates. The details are different, but they are repeatedly exhibited and should be avoided.
https://www.jauce.com/auction/c897140821

https://www.jauce.com/auction/k476029332

https://www.jauce.com/auction/n459975707

 

[Spartancrest]

Yas you are the king of spotting fakes. 

 

 

I have to confess I do have a terracotta plant pot I am fond of.

I have to show this - taking a hobby far too seriously - and why choose this design? [the tsuba is genuine I think, not one of the countless cast fakes] The tattoo, really bad fake!

Are they 'Man Boobs' on the tattoo frog? And a belly button?  - very anatomically WRONG!

 

[Yasaka Azuma]

Dale. The image is broken and will not display. Is it the frog you are referring to? I don't like any of them, at least not the ones that are resident.

[Spartancrest]

Sorry I hope that post is fixed now. No I must admit there are no really good frog patterns - they make a lot of fakes though!

[Yasaka Azuma]

Hmmm, the tattooed frog is about to evolve into a mammal.
I am wondering if there is an original for this design that I sometimes see.

https://www.jauce.com/auction/v777207162

[Spartancrest]

That auction says "rare item" - not rare enough, someone paid very much over the value of that cast fake. Check the nakago-ana with the ones in my picture - identical.

My pictures are at least five years ago, and I have seen plenty more since. Yas I would say the tattoo is even worse than the fakes.

[Yasaka Azuma]

That's right. These frogs are mass-produced and are often the doppelganger brothers I see in the market.
I think that the frog has a prototype somewhere, just as the oni-tsuba originated from the Mito school. However, I am not sure about the school of design.

[Spartancrest]

This one is like an old friend [not]  https://www.jauce.com/auction/e516816626  Whomever made it has figured you only need one side of the design.

Rather than struggle to compare the images at a slope I have straightened them up.  From a cheap display board perhaps? Would not fool a monkey!

[Yasaka Azuma]

That demon is the worst I've ever seen. It is low end to the extreme. I saved it to my image library.
Meotoiwa's scenic spot, which I found, is a cast reproduction of which Japan is very proud, and is relatively elaborate. Diagonal composition images seem to be all the rage.

https://www.jauce.com/auction/l675674702

[Spartancrest]

One with an added fukurin in the same week  https://www.jauce.com/auction/x777616974   They look like they are punched out like big coins!

 

These are nearly as common - I got caught with one about five years ago, bought from Poland - so they get around!

https://www.jauce.com/auction/f512871912

[Yasaka Azuma]

Oh! I put them together and they are indeed perfectly identical. Do you think they mass-produced tsuba by indenting hard iron, the same way they made coins?