Please help me with this Tsuba

[Chriso]

Hi all,

I've been offered an interesting looking Tsuba and I'm hopeing that you can assist with its identification and possibly some information on it. I have a feeling that it may be Edo, but that is as far as my very limited knowledge goes. Please HELP

 

Regards

 

Chris O

[Bungo]

it may be cast and the nakago ana looks " obscene " but then I have been proven wrong most of the time , so take the comment with a lump of rock salt.

 

milt

[Chriso]

G'day Milt,

I agree that it looks a bit ratty and I havn't seen a nakago ana with a lining like this one. It was taken off an old neglected sword (no other details) the wooden Saya was apparantly disintergrating and the blade was quite rusty. I havn't spoken with the dealer except through a third party but I might contact him to find out a bit more about the blade.

 

Cheers Chris

[Henry Wilson]

It looks like the habaki is connected to the tsuba. It has a raised rim so it has not been altered in size. However it looks very much like a piece of junk and possible a Meiji tourist piece and a copy of a theme that became popular in the Edo period. The front bottom looks bubbly under the tail of the "stylized centipede" so I think it looks cast. The metal and carving looks very dull and lifeless with not much depth in the dragon even thought it is raised.

 

I can't figure out why someone would attach a habaki unless they are trying to hide something, they don't know what they are doing or it is for some one who is not Japanese and does not understand Japanese swords well. Also I have a feeling the sword would not be worth looking at and could only get you all confused as it is very very unlikely to be a sleeper of any sort.

 

Above is just my own opinion and could be very wrong

 

Friday night here. Time for

[IanB]

Chris, This looks to me as if someone has pushed a niju habaki through the nakago ana of the tsuba and then spead the outer sideplates of the habaki down onto the tsuba's surface. You will note that the tsuba would be back to front if you tried to fit a blade into the present arrangement. Who knows why someone would do such a think. I agree the tsuba looks a bit dull, but there is a lot of dirt on it and the highlights show a lot of wear. It might look a lot different with a bit of TLC.

Ian Bottomley

[Brian]

Personally I wouldn't touch it unless it was $20 and I wanted a neat belt buckle. Too much damage and not much in the way of redeeming features.

 

Brian

[Chriso]

Many thanks for your comments,I'm actually looking forward to seeing this piece in real life, who knows it may actually make a nice belt buckle after all. Having only seen pictures of the item yet, I haven't figured out if it is actually the Habaki that is protruding from the nakago ana or someone has attempted to reduce the size of the nakago ana to fit a particular blade in some weird fashion.

The Tsuba is not costing me anything so really I can't loose. I'll give it a tidy up when it arrives and post a further comment if it looks better than the pics.

 

Best, Chris