Tsuba "vibes"!

[Dan tsuba]

Hello all!

 

So, I have a question.  I have been collecting tsuba for about 6 years.  I have about 140 tsuba.

 

When I receive my tsuba, I open the package and (while standing) bow to the tsuba (I guess it is part of my martial arts training thing!).  I “heft” it in my hands to get a tactile “feel” for the tsuba and its weight and shape.

 

I also know that sometimes the forging of tsuba had religious rituals attached to it (as in the making of sword blades).

 

Now this may seem “weird” to some.  But with only a few of my tsuba I have felt what can only be interpreted as definite “vibes”.

 

Most (of the few tsuba that I have felt "vibes" from)  are “positive vibes”.  But with one tanto size tsuba I received what can only be interpreted as a “negative vibe”.

 

I am getting along in years and have learned that the “universe works in mysterious ways”.

 

I am wondering if any other members have experienced something similar, or do I just have an overactive imagination!

 

Just an interesting experience I wanted to share with members.

 

With respect,

Dan

 

[Spartancrest]

Well if we are being weird for Christmas - I sometimes go to bed and balance a tsuba on my forehead [Omote side down] and try to block out any distractions, after a few minutes I remove the tsuba and go to sleep. Some tsuba give me pleasant dreams whilst others give me nightmares. This seems to repeat if I try the same guards a few weeks later, so I have "respect" for the ones that give me nightmares and don't try them out more than once nowadays!

[I don't bother with known cast guards - I already know they are a nightmare!  

 

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Not speaking from personal experience here, so please ignore at will.

 

I have heard the same thing from people regarding certain swords. Actually when I was young I often heard this said about houses, and the happy or negative vibes of people who had lived there before.

 

Tsuba though, is a new one on me! Interesting to hear your experiences. Names beginning with D…

[Ian B3HR2UH]

I have a sword that a previous owner loved so much that he took it to bed with him !  Guess he fell out of love .

Ian Brooks

[Spartancrest]

32 minutes ago, Ian B3HR2UH said:

I have a sword that a previous owner loved so much that he took it to bed with him ! 

"I would have given you all of my heart, 
But there's someone who's torn it apart.
And she's taken just all that I had,

But if you want, I'll try to love again…The first cut is the deepest"  

[FlorianB]

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy" - Hamlet

Best, Florian

[Deez77]

Thanks for sharing, Dan.

 

I have my own "routine" when unboxing a newly arrived tsuba. It goes something like this: I typically unwrap it, hold it with my middle finger and thumb to take a good close look at each side, then holding the seppa dai with my thumb and middle finger give it a hard thump with my other hand's middle finger, cup my hands behind it and have a deep smell, then rub it in my hands, and repeat above steps a few times. It's important for me to get "a feel" for the tsuba, its weight, the texture of the metal, its smell to try and appreciate all of its parts.

 

While I often think about each piece's story, I can't say I've actually felt any vibes coming from any of them. I somehow envy that connection you have made with the pieces, good or bad.

 

@Spartancrest, can you recall the dreams when you wake up? Are the nightmares anyhow related to samurai or old Japan? I mean, could they be a projection of a previous owner?

 

Thanks again all for sharing with us.

 

Damon

[Spartancrest]

1 hour ago, Deez77 said:

can you recall the dreams when you wake up?

Nothing specific, they don't relate to "past lives as a Samurai" just bad or good personal events in the usual "makes sense at the time but not possible in reality scenario".

 

[This all started when I read a book sent to me by Dan about a tsuba that gave visions of the past to a modern exchange student visiting Japan from America - so it might all be subliminal.

Perhaps Dan can remember the name of the book and who was the author?] 

[Deez77]

7 hours ago, Spartancrest said:

Nothing specific, they don't relate to "past lives as a Samurai" just bad or good personal events in the usual "makes sense at the time but not possible in reality scenario".

 

[This all started when I read a book sent to me by Dan about a tsuba that gave visions of the past to a modern exchange student visiting Japan from America - so it might all be subliminal.

Perhaps Dan can remember the name of the book and who was the author?] 

Let me know if the name of that book comes to mind. I wouldn't mind having a read.

[Dan tsuba]

The book’s title is “Kosaten - Crossing Paths” by Patrick Sean Barry. 

 

This author has written several novels, although he is not well known.

He evidently has a web site (listed in the book)-

 

www.patrickseanbarry.com

 

(if interested maybe -and I guess these are “proof copies”-you can contact the author directly – contact information is on his website).

 

The novel (as Dale described) is about a young college student visiting Japan in modern times who gets “vibes” from a tsuba he wears as a pendant around his neck.

The tsuba (at times) gives him “visions” of the past (which he is “transported” to by the tsuba).  It is written so historically accurate that I feel I have “visited Japan”.  It is so good, I read it twice!!!

 

My personal experience, however, started long before I read this great novel.

 

Years ago, I wanted to make a tsuba pendant to wear.  I ordered (Ebay) a small tanto size tsuba (didn’t want the tsuba to have a lot of weight to it!).

Anyway, I made a pendant from the tsuba and hung it around my neck.  All I can say is that it obviously did not “want to be there”.  I actually (I know – weird!) heard it say “no, no, no, I do not want to be here” (in English – not Japanese)!  So, (after wearing it for about a week – and getting the same “negative vibes) I took the tsuba off the pendant and hung it on the wall with my other tsuba.  No more “complaints” from my little tanto tsuba!  I purchased another tsuba that was wakizashi sized and made another pendant.  That one “gave me no problems” and I still sometimes wear it to this day.

 

Just to continue my “weird” type tsuba experiences (and the “vibes” I have felt only have occurred with a very few of my tsuba). 

 

I received one tsuba, bowed to it, and began cleaning it with gun bore cleaner (my cleaning methods are not up for discussion here!).  Anyway, I started cleaning it and I heard (as if someone was standing right next to me!) “Thank you for cleaning me”!  I was startled and turned around to see who might be there!

 

Of course, there was no one there!  So, just my imagination?

 

Maybe, or maybe not!

 

With respect,

Dan

 

 

[Spartancrest]

I just had a weird thought - [most of mine are weird] - What vibes would be given off, if by chance we place two [or more] rival samurai clans' tsuba side by side in a display or within the same close proximity in storage?

[my guess is not much] but it is a thought that for some, the closest the two rivals would have been "together" before, might well have been when engaged in conflict and battle. 

[Dan tsuba]

Dale,

 

That is an interesting thought and possible “experiment”.  Although they would probably have to be tsuba that you already felt some sort of “vibes” from.  I figure the odds of two tsuba with rival family clan mons on them that you have felt previous “vibes” from would be extremely rare!

 

Anyway, who knows.  Like I stated before “the universe works in mysterious ways”!

 

Also (as stated in my previous post) I still do wear a tsuba pendant (with a leather cord) around my neck.  It makes me feel “closer” to my collection and what interests me.

 

However, unlike the novel mentioned in my previous post, it does not leave a “burn mark” on my chest and it doesn’t transport me in time to “old Japan” (darn it!).

 

With respect,

Dan

[Guest Simon R]

I like tsukashi tsuba because you can almost sniff the history which has passed through all the holes and crevices over the centuries.

[Dan tsuba]

These posts are very interesting!

 

In my opinion:

 

If you use the tactile (and those of you that also use the olfactory) senses and also show some respect to the piece and its journey through time, it just may “speak” volumes to you (if you listen carefully !).

 

Just another interesting aspect of tsuba collecting!

 

With respect,

Dan

[Dan tsuba]

So, all-

 

In my last post I stated “show some respect to the piece and its journey through time, it just may “speak” volumes to you (if you listen carefully !).”

 

Well, since I consider myself a “poor man’s tsuba collector” (I actually raised my limit to purchase tsuba and do not spend over $250 U.S. maximum) it got me thinking about that novel that I read (twice!) about a college student that wears a tsuba around his neck and is transported back to old Japan to witness events that occurred with the samurai that used that tsuba on his wakazashi.

 

Unfortunately, that scenario hasn’t happened to me with the tsuba pendant that I sometimes wear around my neck (at least not yet!).  But I still have hope!

 

I dug out my “proof” copy of that novel - the book’s title is “Kosaten - Crossing Paths” (which I received by contacting the author on his website – as listed in one of my previous posts to this thread) and I am reading it again!

 

I guess since no more tsuba have recently “spoken to me”, I am using a way to use a fictional novel to “try to relive” the main characters experience!

 

Oh well, maybe I will be fortunate enough to purchase and receive another tsuba one day that will try to “speak” to me. 

 

In the meantime, just studying, observing, learning, looking, using my tactile and olfactory senses, respecting and appreciating these small works of art will just have to suffice!

 

Until the next time (if ever!) another tsuba that I purchase and receive “reaches across time” and “speaks” to me, that novel will just have to do!

 

With respect,

Dan