kyushukairu

Many thanks, Arnaud. I had a look at Kawami-san's paper and read the quotation on the first page. However, the discussion only mentions the cost of swords. Valignano says that in Japan a single sword may cost 3000, 4000, and even 6000 ducats. He then says that Ōtomo Sōrin showed him a sword which cost 4500 ducats, and Valignano then states that he thinks this is a ridiculous amount of money because there is no material value, which he empathizes by saying the tsuba was made of iron, not gold. 「なぜなら一本の刀 を、三千、四千、あるいは六千ドゥカードも出して購う。私はそれらの高価なものの幾つかを見たが、 その中には豊後国王(大友宗麟)が私に見せたものがある。彼はそれを四千五百ドゥカードで購入し たのであるが、その鍔は黄金ではなく、単なる鉄製に過ぎなかった。私はそれらの高価なものの幾つかを見たが、 その中には豊後国王(大友宗麟)が私に見せたものがある。彼はそれを四千五百ドゥカードで購入し たのであるが、その鍔は黄金ではなく、単なる鉄製に過ぎなかった。」

Arnaud, do you have a source for this? As someone who previously lived in Oita (Bungo) and is interested in Bungo/ Otomo related tosogu, I'd like to look into this further

Dear all, In the wanted section I had listed that I'm looking for 'Akita Shoami tsuba' and received a message from a 'member' with 0 posts. The message was quite generic, reading 'are you still looking for this' and 'contact Garnie he has a Akita Shoami tsuba for sale'. There was also an email address to contact 'Garnie', which was probably newly created too. If anyone else has received/ receives such an email, I advise you to ignore it. Stay vigilant, there are lots of scammers around this time of year Yours authentically, Kyle

Hello Bruno. If you interpret the small protruding circular shapes on either side as cheeks and at the bottom as a chin, then I can see the resemblance to Okame/ Otafuku, but the design may simply be a kamon with three repeated images. In that case, it would probably be classified as 'kawari-gata' (変わり形), which is used for unusual shaped tsuba.

Mario is also right, 藻柄子 can be read as Sōheishi too

In my opinion, the shakudo plugs were part of the original design. As for the theme, I think the sukashi (and shakudo plugs) are intended to represent a flowering plant or vegetable - perhaps daikon (Japanese raddish), which is a symbol of fertility and longevity. When mounted on a sword, and being worn in an obi, one would observe the flowering leaves flowing above and around the tsuka. And when matched with a (fuchi)kashira of complimentary theme (of a daikon or something similar), the image would become quite prominent. The Umetada school excelled at such floral motifs (though done in flush inlay of various metals) (Image taken from https://japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/store/tsuba-kodogu-over-1000/t159-shakudo-umetada-tsuba-gold-silver-copper-zogan/)

Front/ omote Mogarashi (藻柄氏) Nyūdō Sōten sei (入道宗典製) Back/ ura Gōshū (江州) Hikone jū (彦根住)

11th year of Bunsei (1828) Umetada Sanshoshi Narihide made this [文政十一年梅忠三省子就栄作之] (三省子 can also be read as Sanseishi) Okusenda Katsuyuki jū (奥仙田勝之住) Unyū (雲遊)

Dear Jake, it's a nice set of fuchigashira and not out of line with what one would expect from the Hamano school. However, I don't think this set would paper to Shozui. Although the quality is good, I don't think it's good enough for Shozui, who was considered to be on par with the top Nara masters. There are also quite a few inconsistencies in terms of the mei. The top left hand stroke of 正 in 政, for example, floats higher than all of the examples in the meikan, and the third stroke is too long. In the second part of that kanji (攵) the third stroke isn't usually connected to the first two strokes. In general, that kanji lacks the balance seen in all shoshin (papered) examples that I've seen. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news... It is a nice set though, and the glass eye is an interesting feature. In general, I'd avoid buying big names without papers from Japan. It is possible to find some treasures, but artists like Shozui (and Yokoya Somin, of whom there are also lots gimei examples) will sell for a considerable amount of money with papers, and in Japan it is fairly easy to submit for kanteisho. So if someone knows what they have there is the financial incentive to submit for papers and make a lot of money.

bump

The wakizashi is signed 'Fujiwara Noriyuki' (藤原則行), most likely a mid-Edo, Bungo smith.

A fairly pleasing design. It would most likely be attributed to a swordsmith (tōshō 刀匠) or possibly even 'Umetada' (埋忠), [Umetada Tadatsugu (埋忠忠次) did such sukashi work]

You're very welcome, Brano! Jean, I'd wager no 13 is indeed san-mai. Brano, if you look in the nakago-ana is there a copper core sandwiched between two shakudo plates?

Hello Steve. Just a quick comment (before I go to give a lecture), in the book, the tsuba is described as 笠透かし, with kasa (笠) meaning a type of bamboo hat, so that may be the design, rather than namako

Unfortunately, these are just inspection marks. If you orientate the image to the right you can see them better: ア二三?昭⚪︎ This translates to A23? followed by the Sho(wa) stamp, and the arsenal stamp, which I think may be Nagoya Army Arsenal (Nagoya Rikugun Zoheisho)