Japanese (?Maybe Chinese?) Signed Tsuba Help

[LostDutchman]

Hey gang.

This piece came off of an antique mall buy sword... I'm wondering if anyone can translate the inscription on the Tsuba.

Thanks is advance.

[LostDutchman]

other side.

[GHP]

Cast repro, I think

Bushu juu Masayuki
武州住正幸

Masayuki, Resident of Bushu [Musashi Province].

--Guy

[Brian Robinson]

Is it magnetic?
Lots of traces of what looks like casting flashing/webbing. If that's what it is, then yep..a fake.

Brian

[Stu W]

Cast repro, I think

Bushu juu Masayuki
武州住正幸

Masayuki, Resident of Bushu [Musashi Province].

--Guy

I agree with Guy on this one being a cast reproduction.

Regards,
Stu

[LostDutchman]

It is magnetic. I spoke with a dealer who specializes in these as well and he told me it looked like an original to him. He also gave me the same translation. He called it a "nice Kinai tsuba".

The mystery continues.

Matt

[GHP]

It is magnetic. I spoke with a dealer who specializes in these as well and he told me it looked like an original to him. He also gave me the same translation. He called it a "nice Kinai tsuba".

The mystery continues.

Matt

Hmmmm .... tsuba are not in my area of knowledge; hhhhhhowever, how can it be a "Kinai-juu" tsuba when it is signed as a "Bushu-juu" tsuba? Kinai is a location.

Yes, tsuba were cast (and apparently Kinai-ju signatures were also cast from what little I've just read on the internet) -- but I cannot believe that a Japanese craftsman sold this tsuba with the flashing not even cleaned off.

--Guy

[nickn]

is it casting flash or dirt we are seeing
try cleaning the tsuba with a toothbrush
mei looks cut rather then cast??

[GHP]

Compare with these Ko-Kinai and Kinai school tsuba.

--Guy

[GHP]

...
mei looks cut rather then cast??

I'm not sure, Nick, check the seventh stroke of 武
-- just before the upturn.

[LostDutchman]

is it casting flash or dirt we are seeing
try cleaning the tsuba with a toothbrush
mei looks cut rather then cast??

The stuff inside the curved parts is caked dirt and not metal... It comes out with some work. I'll post pics when I'm done.

[LostDutchman]

With a few minutes of scrubbing with a toothbrush.

[GHP]

The stuff inside the curved parts is caked dirt and not metal... It comes out with some work. I'll post pics when I'm done.

Welll, whydidn'ja say so? Now THAT's a horse of a different color!

YouTube

--Guy

[checkit]

I have a few questions -

01 - Looks like a casting line right down the center - so what is it?

02, 03. 06 - these look like raised bubbles - is that an optical illusion?

04 - what is that?

05 - And what is this stuff that looks so much like flashing?

06 - Is that a lamination, or a casting wrinkle?

Pictures can be very misleading, that is why I ask for clarification. The key point to hand-carved versus cast is that if a Tsuba is hand carved, every minute detail is on purpose.

I will say one thing - the Seppa Dai area is perfectly flat, seldom encountered on a cast Tsuba, even of the period (and if this one is cast, still it is an older Japanese cast Tsuba - they did make cast Tsuba, you know).

[GHP]

...

01 - Looks like a casting line right down the center - so what is it?

In my earlier so-called "research" as to this tsuba's maker, I found that these types WERE often cast, some better than others. The flat seppa-dai might be due to filing after the casting.

--Guy