Please assist in identifying this tsuba

[Chriso]

I picked up a papered Shin Shinto Toshizane katana a while back and I've been trying to figure out the school that the Tsube belongs, and indeed if it is original or not. I would appreciate any help and views positive or otherwise.

 

Mokko-Gata

Height: 7.9mm

Width: 7.6mm

Thickness of plate and Seppa Dai: 4mm

Thickness at Mimi: 6mm (1mm front and back

Nakago-ana: has not been adjusted to fit

Kozuka and Kogi Hitsu-ana are both filled and identical in shape

 

Many thanks

 

Chris

[John A Stuart]

I would think this is a Tosho tsuba. It may be Momoyama period, but, I'm thinking middle Edo period. John

[Jean]

John,

 

Just a question, I have read somewhere that raised mimi will indicate Katsuchi tsuba rather than Tosho. Can you tell us what to look for to make the difference?

[John A Stuart]

Hi Jean, You are quite correct in that, that is a major difference between ko-Tosho and ko-Katchushi tsuba. My reasoning for picking Tosho was that this tsuba has so little open work as compared to most Katchushi. I wasn't convinced this tsuba had an actual mimi, I looked at it a lot and thought it was raised a little on the bottom right and thought it might be a photo mirage, since most of it looked flat. Then I considered that it was rather thick for a Katchushi tsuba. As to age, the nakago-ana seems crisp for an older tsuba, but, it may have been remounted and the ana filed to fit. If we accept this as having a dote-mimi I would believe it to be a Katchushi tsuba, those ones usually had quite pronounced mimi, although some were very small. Well, it is one or the other, eh? John

 

The more I look the mimi seems more apparent. yes?

[Jean]

Hi John, Thanks for the answer. I thought that your kantei was maybe based on the sukashi (open work).

 

Concerning the mimi, I really don't know what to think when I see the picture as it seems to disappear in its upper part.

 

Is there, generally, a very different thickness between Tosho and Katchushi tsubas?

[John A Stuart]

I personally have only one of each. Because the Katchushi has a dote-mimi it is quite thin in the body of it, including the seppa-dai. My Tosho has a very thick plate in comparison, but has a shakudo fukurin added at a later date. However you can still see how it had no dote-mimi before the addition. The Katchushi tsuba has tomoe sukashi, probably 40% of the tsuba. The Tosho tsuba has only the two hitsu-ana. The literature mentions the thinness of Katchushi over Tosho, as well. John

[Rich T]

my thoughts are that this is a heavily rusted and poor condition mid to late Edo period tsuba that may be a Tosho guard. It is possible it may also be country work of some kind. I feel it is far too thick to be earlier than Edo, Muromachi/Momoyama period Tosho tsuba should be about 2mm - 3 at the max, Katchu a little thinner as John noted.

 

The surface of the tsuba, and the mimi, is heavily effected with rust so we cannot gleam much from that I think, though the non corroded section where the seppa lived shows a fairly homogenous looking iron with not too much character.

 

This tsuba could be anything I guess but an Edo Tosho guard might be as good a guess as any to me.

 

As to original or not, well there is no sekigane, so if it fit the nakago, and was original, it would fit like a glove. If this is loose and sloppy, then I would suggest it is an add on, and possibly put on for the sword sale.

 

Sorry if I am not able to add much more.

 

Cheers

 

Richard

[Markus]

This tsuba could be anything I guess but an Edo Tosho guard might be as good a guess as any to me.

 

I fully agree with Rich, and the piece in question reminds me on this one:

http://www.e-sword.jp/sale/0810_6022syousai.htm

 

So probably a mid to late Edo tôshô...

[Chriso]

Thanks for the continuing discussion, It's all a steep learning curve for me.

 

The only thing that I can add to the original post is that as already mentioned there is a good deal of rust covering the plate and the Mimi is quite rough. The rim is raised maybe slightly less than 1mm above and below the plate. The Nakago-ana shows signs of file work which may be the result of it being made oversize to fit this particular blade. It is a nice snug fit on the blade with no extra movement.

The fittings on the sword are Iron and seem quite old and I'm guessing that they may have been relocated from a previous blade, The Tsuka seems to be a fairly recent addition, so perhaps the Tsuba has been lying around in a box somewhere and has been modified to suit this blade at about the time the Tsuka was replaced.

 

Chris