Photo Credit: matsu-kaze-japan
Signed Antique Japanese Tsuka with Bat Theme
Buy It Now Price: $565 (price as of 2019; item no longer available)
Pros:
-This fantastic Edo era Japanese tsuka, or samurai sword handle, features a fabric-wrapped ray-skin handle, figural menuki fittings and bat-themed fuchi and kashira mountings.
-This antique Japanese tsuka measures a healthy 178 mm (7.0 inches) long, meaning that it once held a full-size katana blade.
-This piece undoubtedly dates to no later than the end of the Tokugawa shogunate, circa 1868. And, in all probability, it was made well before then.
-Bats were generally regarded as a good luck symbol in pre-modern Japan.
-This samurai sword handle has a highly desirable full-wrap ray-skin with emperor nodes visible. The ray-skin's seam can be seen on the ura (back) side.
-This antique Japanese tsuka is signed "Naoharu" by its creator! The best known samurai tsuba master by this name was the legendary Yanagawa Naoharu, who worked in the late 1700s and early 1800s. However, I suspect the maker of this piece was a different Naoharu. Nevertheless, a signed Japanese tsuka is much more desirable than an unsigned piece.
-The fittings on this antique tsuka are made from high quality metals: shibuichi, silver and gold. Shibuichi, a traditional alloy of copper and silver, was very popular with Japanese metalsmiths in the 18th and 19th century. You can read up more about antique samurai sword fittings in my well-researched article on the topic.
-I love the foreboding Gothic overtones of this Far Eastern treasure. If Dracula were a samurai, this is definitely the kind of sword handle that he would use!
-The workmanship on this piece is absolutely superb, bordering on museum quality. I'm amazed it is available for only $565. Regardless of whether you are a samurai sword enthusiast, an antique investor, or just a collector of Japanese curiosities, this prize is easily worth every penny of the asking price.
Antique Japanese Tsuka For Sale
Cons:
-This antique Japanese sword handle has a slight bump on the unadorned side of its fuchi (which is not visible in the photo above). A fuchi is the narrow metal collar that sits between the top of the sword handle and the sword guard, or tsuba (which is not present in this piece). However, this is a minor defect for such a magnificent specimen.
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