katonk66 Posted January 31 Report Posted January 31 Hello. First, please forgive me as I have very little knowledge in regards to shakudo and koshirae. That being said, (from a first, limited glance), do these handachi fittings appear to be contemporary or "antique"? (Taisho, Showa, Edo?) Thank you. https://imgur.com/gallery/shakudo-haonEte Quote
Bazza Posted January 31 Report Posted January 31 Hmmm, at first blush looks interesting. It seems to be antique, en suite, what about the blade?? BaZZa. Quote
katonk66 Posted January 31 Author Report Posted January 31 On 1/31/2025 at 10:44 PM, Bazza said: Hmmm, at first blush looks interesting. It seems to be antique, en suite, what about the blade?? BaZZa. Expand The blade is old, with multiple scratches and some rust spots. The blade is in "meh" shape and maybe early Muromachi (koto) era. I bought it for the handachi koshirae. Quote
Jake6500 Posted January 31 Report Posted January 31 Looks authentic, I think probably late Edo circa 1850. Not great quality but having an entire matching set is nice. Quote
parfaitelumiere Posted February 1 Report Posted February 1 This may be late edo work, it would be interesting to see other pictures, including menuki and all the fittings, sadly I saw only 3 or 4 pictures in your album. I purchased a silver handachi koshirae some years ago, late edo koshirae with muromachi era blade. I made some searches about it and found several result, as my tsukamaki was bad, and tsuba was missing. I found high end work from silver or shibuichi. I remember also about jabara maki and mokko shaped tsuba on all exemples. They all had fuchi, kashira, tsuba, koi guchi, habaki and complex parts on saya, all with same theme. In my case, all the mount is made from silver with ishimeiji finish, seppa are ginkise, and same as yours the lacquer is aventurine lacquer, using fine abalone shell dust inside dark glossy lacquer. The menuki are goto school, "crows and waves" the most probable attribution should be Goto Eijo. This has been decided after studying similar attributed mekuki and talks with several people. The feather, waves, gilding and zogan are identical, same as finish on the backside. No, the eye is not some paint, as some member told once here. Same as you, my original tsuba was missing, replaced for a non matching tsuba, made from shakudo, that's the reason why I made some searches, to know what exact tsuba was supposed to be there. The original seppa (ginkise) were present on my koshirae. I went for standart maki, as jabara was really too high in price. Sadly original tsuba are almost always missing, as blades were stored in a place, koshirae in another place, and tsuba innother different place. I have been lucky to find the blade with matching koshirae, shirasaya, tsunagi and seppa, but not original tsuba. I also found a daisho with matching koshirae and shirasaya, but that time, tsuba were not original, nor the seppa, the kogatana was also missing. In your case, if base metal is shibuichi, it means the tsuba is also made from shibuichi, with silver and gilded copper on kind of ishimeiji finish, that will be impossible to find. I have no idea about the seppa. It would also be possible the tsuba and seppa to be different, but from what I saw until now, I have serious doubts about it. Quote
katonk66 Posted February 1 Author Report Posted February 1 On 2/1/2025 at 2:53 PM, parfaitelumiere said: This may be late edo work, it would be interesting to see other pictures, including menuki and all the fittings, sadly I saw only 3 or 4 pictures in your album. I purchased a silver handachi koshirae some years ago, late edo koshirae with muromachi era blade. I made some searches about it and found several result, as my tsukamaki was bad, and tsuba was missing. I found high end work from silver or shibuichi. I remember also about jabara maki and mokko shaped tsuba on all exemples. They all had fuchi, kashira, tsuba, koi guchi, habaki and complex parts on saya, all with same theme. In my case, all the mount is made from silver with ishimeiji finish, seppa are ginkise, and same as yours the lacquer is aventurine lacquer, using fine abalone shell dust inside dark glossy lacquer. The menuki are goto school, "crows and waves" the most probable attribution should be Goto Eijo. This has been decided after studying similar attributed mekuki and talks with several people. The feather, waves, gilding and zogan are identical, same as finish on the backside. No, the eye is not some paint, as some member told once here. Same as you, my original tsuba was missing, replaced for a non matching tsuba, made from shakudo, that's the reason why I made some searches, to know what exact tsuba was supposed to be there. The original seppa (ginkise) were present on my koshirae. I went for standart maki, as jabara was really too high in price. Sadly original tsuba are almost always missing, as blades were stored in a place, koshirae in another place, and tsuba innother different place. I have been lucky to find the blade with matching koshirae, shirasaya, tsunagi and seppa, but not original tsuba. I also found a daisho with matching koshirae and shirasaya, but that time, tsuba were not original, nor the seppa, the kogatana was also missing. In your case, if base metal is shibuichi, it means the tsuba is also made from shibuichi, with silver and gilded copper on kind of ishimeiji finish, that will be impossible to find. I have no idea about the seppa. It would also be possible the tsuba and seppa to be different, but from what I saw until now, I have serious doubts about it. Expand So, just out of personal taste, I changed the tsuba. One of these came with the koshirae. But for the life of me, I can't rememeber which one. Also, these are the best pics possible for the menuki. I'm not unwrapping the tsuka. https://imgur.com/ga...nuki-tsuba-s-KxpPrji Quote
katonk66 Posted February 1 Author Report Posted February 1 Here are some other photos. Unfortunately, there are some photo taking limitations. (Sorry) The blade has I believe fukure kizu and multiple scratches. Also, the nakago is mumei. https://imgur.com/ga...achi-nihonto-FmzKotX Quote
parfaitelumiere Posted February 1 Report Posted February 1 Thanks, I think original menuki have been lost, also original tsuba and seppa, that will be hard to know exact menuki design, maybe some dragons?! Quote
katonk66 Posted February 1 Author Report Posted February 1 On 2/1/2025 at 8:23 PM, parfaitelumiere said: Thanks, I think original menuki have been lost, also original tsuba and seppa, that will be hard to know exact menuki design, maybe some dragons?! Expand That's what I thought. Possibly dragons, I don't know. Also, though the blade is in bad shape, someone told me it was fairly old. (second post with a link) Quote
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