Another tsuba for info please

[Ron M]

Good morning to you all,

please offer any opinions on this tsuba I received from my student. It came on a katana. It has no kozuka-ana so interested to know why.

 Respectfully 

 Ron

[ROKUJURO]

Ron,

perhaps because most KATANA do not have KOGATANA or KOGAI. But this TSUBA seems to be rather small, so it might have been made for WAKIZASHI. Do you have the dimensions?

TSUBA like these with AMIDA YASURI are often related to SAOTOME school style.

Have a look at our "For sale" items: 

Another SAOTOME example:
 

[Ron M]

On 12/17/2023 at 8:43 AM, ROKUJURO said:

Ron,

perhaps because most KATANA do not have KOGATANA or KOGAI. But this TSUBA seems to be rather small, so it might have been made for WAKIZASHI. Do you have the dimensions?

TSUBA like these with AMIDA YASURI are often related to SAOTOME school style.

Have a look at our "For sale" items: 

Another SAOTOME example:
 

Hi and thank you. The measurements are 67x63mm.

Regards

[ROKUJURO]

Ron,

I guessed it would be that small. so it is not really for a KATANA.

[Ron M]

On 12/19/2023 at 3:45 PM, ROKUJURO said:

Ron,

I guessed it would be that small. so it is not really for a KATANA.

No it’s probably for a wak but why only have a kogai and not a kogatana, as they are extremely popular and you can find more than of kogai. So what makes kogai so special that this tsuba clearly shows the preference 

[ROKUJURO]

Ron,

we can only speculate about that. I could imagine a SAMURAI having ordered this simple TSUBA, and not a rich merchant. A SAMURAI would have perhaps needed a KOGAI (to arrange the hair-do) more than a KOGATANA. There might be a story behind that which may make this old TSUBA still more interesting!