Late 18th to early century Japanese sword tsuba with relief decoration of all sorts of natural objects, including ginkgo nuts and leaves, pine needles and cones, mushrooms, cherry flowers, maple leaves and acorns. Subtle design in Japanese taste, couple of rust spots on the surface, beautiful patina, very tranquil piece. Height 2 9/16 inches.

Single 19th century menuki - Japanese sword fitting - depicting a twisting dragon clutching a Precious Gem in its claws. Great design and detailing, crisp work with gilding, beautiful patina. Length 1 5/8 inches.

Single 19th century Japanese sword menuki depicting water a shepherd boy playing flute leaning against a standing buffalo, a folded umbrella sticking out of his robe. The subject is bokudo - a theme of a perfect peace of mind, and one of the stages of a journey towards Buddhahood. Great design and detailing - see the face and skin folds on the back of the animal, beautiful dark patina, gilding. Length 1 5/16 inches.

Single 19th century Japanese sword menuki depicting a water lily bud with two leaves on stalks. Elegant design in Japanese taste, excellent work with superb detailing, bronze with beautiful coppery patina, in great condition. Signed with a single character KO on a plaque inside. Length 1 5/16 inches.

Single 19th century Japanese sword menuki depicting 7 shells with decoration on the inside. This rare subject is “kai-awase" - a Japanese game with painted shells, often depicting scenes from The Tale of Genji, as well as Genji-mon - crests representing individual chapters from the book, with 3 of them shown on this menuki. The aim of the game was to find the other half that would fit. Excellent work with superb detailing, bronze with silvering and gilding, beautiful patina, in great condition...

Pair of early 19th century Japanese sword menuki each depicting a pair of geese resting on a riverbank by a willow tree. Bronze with brown patina, overall in good condition. Length 1 7/16 inches.

Pair of early 19th century menuki - Japanese sword fittings - depicting water a shepherd boy playing flute leaning against a resting buffalo, and his basket by another resting animal. Did not photograph well. Great design and detailing (see the faces and ribs of the animals), beautiful dark patina, gilding and silvering. Length 1 inch.

Pair of 19th century Japanese sword menuki each depicting a pair of frolicking shishi in different attitudes. Nice design, bronze with gilding, overall in very good condition. Length 1 3/8 inches.

Pair of 19th century Japanese sword menuki each depicting a dancing shojo: one with a ladle and a fan, the other with a ladle and a cup. Shojo are mythical creatures living near the sea, and are particularly fond of sake. Nice design, bronze with gilding, overall in very good condition. Length 1 1/4 inches.

Pair of 19th century Japanese sword menuki depicting kaki fruit - Japanese persimmon - on branches with leaves. Excellent design in Japanese taste. Bronze with beautiful brown patina, gold inlaid dewdrops on leaves, in great condition. Length 1 1/2 inches.

Pair of early 19th century Japanese sword menuki depicting wild boars resting on rockery, one with young. Great design and detailing, bronze with dark patina, gold highlights. Length 1 1/2 inches.

Pair of early 19th century menuki - Japanese sword fittings - each depicting a pigeon in different attitude. Superb design, excellent casting and detailing - see the differentiated feathers of the birds, gilded highlights, beautiful patina. Comes with kiriwood box, fitted cushion with stretchy bands for holding menuki. Length 1 inch.

Pair of early 19th century Japanese sword menuki each depicting a pair of armored samurai in sword fights in different attitudes. Wonderful work, bronze with gilding, slight wear, in very good condition. Length 1 1/4 inches.

Pair of early 19th century Japanese sword menuki depicting egrets wading in a stream with swirling water, grasses and flowering water lilies. Elegant design, bronze with silvering and gilding, overall in very good condition. Length 1 3/8 inches.

Pair of early 19th century Japanese sword menuki each depicting a samurai with a weapon in different attitudes: one is wielding a sword, the other a naginata (a machete on a wooden shaft). Wonderful work, bronze with silver inlays and gilding, slight wear, in great condition. Length 1 1/16 inches.

Pair of early 19th century Japanese sword menuki depicting what appears to be different proverbs. The first one llustrates a sentence “A gourd against a catfish” meaning useless effort similar to trying to catch a slippery fish with a gourd. The other one depicts a puzzled man scratching his head by a samurai spear - I am not sure what this particular story is. Elegant design, bronze and shakudo with silvering and gilding, overall in great condition. Length 1 9/16 inches.

Pair of early 19th century Japanese sword menuki depicting lobsters on a bed of sea weeds. One menuki has Daikoku mallet on top (stands for wealth), and the other a character meaning long life. Excellent work with great detailing - see various textures of the shells. Bronze with coppery patina, gilded water drops on the sea weeds, overall in great condition. Length 1 9/16 inches.

Pair of 19th century Japanese sword menuki each depicting an undulating dragon among clouds in different attitude. Did not photograph well - photos came out too harsh. Excellent design, bronze with fire gilding, superb casting and detailing, beautiful patina. Length 1 7/8 inches.

Pair of early 19th century menuki - Japanese sword fittings - each depicting different hanaike - hanging container for flower arrangement, one made out of a bamboo stem, the other out of a hollow double gourd. Fantastic unusual design in Japanese taste, excellent casting and detailing, beautiful patina. Length 1 7/16 inches.

Pair of early 19th century Japanese sword menuki depicting young Yoshitsune and Benkei at the Gojo bridge in Kyoto. For an account of this significant encounter see H. Joly LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART, p. 82. Do not photograph well. Shakudo body, silver inlaid highlights, in great condition. Length of Yoshitsune menuki is 1 inch.

Pair of early 19th century menuki - Japanese sword fittings - each depicting a wasp in different attitude on a tube containing their eggs. Shakudo with gilding, fantastic design, superb casting and detailing, beautiful patina. Length 1 7/16 inches.

Pair of early 19th century Japanese sword menuki depicting two dancers - a samurai with sword, and a merchant with fan. There is a nice detail for a netsuke lover - merchant is wearing an inro suspended by a gourd netsuke. Elegant design, superb detailing with gilding, in excellent condition. Fantastic example of Japanese metalwork. Height 1 1/8 inches.

Pair of early 19th century menuki - Japanese sword fittings - each depicting a pair of pigeons in different attitudes. Superb design, excellent casting and detailing, beautiful patina. Length 1 3/16 inches.

Very unusual 19th century Japanese multimetal pendant in a shape of standing geisha holding an umbrella. Definitely made by a metalsmith who was engaged in making sword parts such as menuki and fuchi / kashira. Very clever design, superb detailing both on front and back, great quality inlays and gilding, in excellent condition. Height 15/16 inches.

Early 19th century Japanese kashira (metal pommel at the end of the hilt of a sword) with relief decoration of two shishi (Buddhist lions) frolicking among huge peony flowers. Superbly made piece with crisp metalwork, shakudo body with gilding, in excellent condition. Length 1 3/8 inches.

War fan, gunbai uchiwa, made of bronze clad wood, in the shape of a butterfly. In low relief on front and back the text Hachiman Daibosatsu, surrounded by generic family crests in the shape of quinces. Hachiman is a war deity. These fans were traditionally handled by samurai commanders to direct his troops in battle. It is also a symbol of power. Japan, Meiji era, late 19th century.

H 21.5 x W 15.75 inches

Some corrosion, good condition

19th century Japanese kozuka (sword knife) handle depicting a lobster and some fishing implements including a straw raincoat and a woven ring. Clever design of the terminus as a curled lobster, superb crisp work - see the fine differentiated textures of the crustacean’s body, ring and long strands of the coat...

Japanese circular jingasa with a gradual pointed top and curved rim in the front. Lacquered black with a crest in gold. The underside is lacquered red.

Jingasa ("war hat", a type of kasa commonly worn by samurai and ashigaru.
In the Edo period, the politics of display of sankin kôtai and other ceremonial occasions led to jingasa becoming more decorative in appearance, as was also the case for many other items of samurai arms, armor, and clothing...

Antique Japanese bajo jingasa, lacquered military hat for a horseman. Decorated with textured brown lacquer and with the Kyogoku family mon in gold. The underside is lacquered red with a black circle in the center and four hooks for chords...

An antique Japanese full length tanegashima rifle with working original matchlock mechanism. Hand made of high figure burl keyaki hardwood with original translucent lacquer finish. The whole length of the hand forged iron barrel is inlaid with a swirling silver dragon in clouds and the crest of the noble Tokugawa clan with six character mark which reads: 松平三河守 Matsudaira Mikawa-no-kami. Matsudaira refers to the Matsudaira clan...

Antique Japanese uma-jirushi, flag standard for battle. This uma-jirushi is a large inverted gourd surrounded by smaller gourds. The great daimyo, Hideyoshi Toyotomi (famous for being the second unifier of Japan) made the upside down gourd his uma-jirushi symbol. A large upside down gourd was placed on top of his flag pole and smaller gourds were added around it with each victory. Called "Sen nari hisago" or "thousand gourds"...

Antique pair of Japanese menuki. These small but detailed elements of a traditional samurai sword were originally made to hide the pins (mekugi) that hold the back end of the blade (tang) to the hilt (tsuka). Made in pairs, they were positioned on either side of the handle. These menuki are especially fine and depict two men, likely sages by their long hair. Probably they are the friends, Kanzan (the Zen poet) and Jittoku (a servant at a monastery)...

An exempliary Japanese 18th century Edo Period Myochin school iron somen (full facial armor). Constructed in three sections producing a very expressive fearsome face. The stylized curled eyebrows, bulging eyes, forehead wrinkles repouse in high relief.
The bulbous noise and upper lip is riveted on. The mouth section has two large rings on the cheeks and is hinged to the upper face portion. The chin has two cord pegs. The sides have iron coverings to protect he ears...

18th to 19th century Japanese sword set of fuchi (bordering piece between the sword guard and the handle) and kashira (metal pommel at the end of the hilt of a sword) with relief decoration of multiple monkeys pulling a rope tied to a huge branch with fruit, all on finely punched ground texture called nanako, which means “fish-eggs” as it resembles fine rows of caviar. Excellent quality multimetal work, gilding, overall in excellent condition...

Very beautiful tsuba in sentoku inlaid with shakudo, gold and silver by Jo-I, first-rank artist from the end of the 18th century. The funny subject represents a man driving demons out of his house by throwing beans on the ground. Excellent work, perfect finish. No restoration or hidden defects. Original patinas. 67x58x4 mm

An excellent shakudo tsuba inlaid with a "thousand flowers" decoration in gold, silver and sentoku...