Anyone like Tsuba's and other fittings?

P

P.08

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Mar 6, 2021
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I also collected tsuba and some menuki when they came along for the right price.
This tsuba came on a rather expensive sword. Was told it was worth a bit by itself.
Done in shakudo and gold.
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this is one I picked up a bit ago.

and another one I had some time ago as I understand it was an openwork geese tsuba
 

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P.08 said:
I like the one on the left. Is it katana size?
I have this on an O-Tanto. I love the Oni.
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yes the one on the left is the right size for a katana.
the other one was for a wakizashi.
 
How do you know that you are buying the genuine item? It seems like they would be even harder to know about than blades?
 
Triton said:
How do you know that you are buying the genuine item? It seems like they would be even harder to know about than blades?
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Well made modern tsubas can be valuable. Telling the difference compared to a Chinese is no problem. Many tsuba are made from iron and will have a patina, if you look at enough you can make a decent guess.
 
Triton said:
How do you know that you are buying the genuine item? It seems like they would be even harder to know about than blades?
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Triton said:
Are there books and references as well?
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apart from what is mentioned by P.08 there are some things that fakes and the chinese stuff wont hold a candle to.
understanding some of the techniques used to make things helps to discern poorly made fakes.
yes a few books dedicated to fittings exist a few of them can be found on ebay and amazon.

study both old and new as well as sand casting and other casting techniques as modern imitations and fakes are made from casting either iron or copper or brass at times.

the old hand crafted stuff will have small tooling marks engraving and such.
other things you can look for are documents most NBTHK papers can be trusted.
 
Triton said:
How do you know that you are buying the genuine item? It seems like they would be even harder to know about than blades?
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There is some written information in English. Your best bet to ensure you buy a genuine antique Japanese Tsuba is to go through a reputable dealer. Tsuba along with other fittings are like swords, the better the quality the more expensive they are. But there are generally pieces for all or most budgets. If interested I can point you in the right direction.
 
Whew well thinking about it I already have plenty of expensive hobbies, as intrigued as I am I had better not! šŸ˜ƒ
 
P.08 said:
What is that a 6" kissaki?
Lets see some menuki
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That style of Tanto is known as Osoraku. It was first made by Shimada Sukemune mid 1500's. He carved the characters O So Raku on the blade which can be interpreted as "scary", "Fearsome", etc.

I can post some menuki tomorrow.
 
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