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Dear All. Very pleased to have received this one in the post today, much better in hand than the rather sketchy photographs would indicate. The patina appeared washed out in the photographs but is a lovely deep brown, there are scattered silver and shakudo inlays of shells on the carved wave background and the obligatory dragons and sacred gems. I have long fancied to add one like this to my collection but assumed they would be forever out of reach. Somehow this one slipped through the auction net and is now mine, just wanted to share it with you as I know some here are interested in this school. Enjoy! All the best.

Interesting, Marzio. Sgt. Jesse W. Scott. Born 1924, in Kentucky - enlisted in Ohio in 1943. Died 20 Dec 1996. The 873rd was an Airborne Engineer Aviation Battalion that fought most of the big campaigns in the pacific and were stationed in Japan until 1946. They were primarily responsible for repairing bomb-damaged airfields. Looks like Sgt. Scott picked up the sword 13 Dec 1945. pic 1 = their unit patch pic 2= part of the battalion, probably the Philippines (Could he be in there?) John C.

I think the mei is: 越 前 住 Echizen ju 記 内 Kinai Dragon Tsuba? :-)

Very nice find, Geraint, very good condition as well.. Here is my tsuka:

As noted above looks to be (in Sesko) .... KANENAO (兼直) , real name Ishihara Kanenao (石原金直), born May 25th 1908, he studied under Amachi Suzuichi (天地鈴市) and worked as a guntō smith. He was from Gifu, Kamo-gun, Tomioka-mura (Mia-ji). Looks to have made both Showato and gendaito. Has blades with Seki and Sho-sakura stamps. Oshigata show mei of: Ishihara Kanenao saku (Seki); Seki Ju Ishihara Kanenao saku (Sho); Noshu Osugi Ju Ishihara Kanenao saku (Seki) [Osugi 大杉 maybe a village]. But looks like your blade was remounted is older fittings. There is also another Kanenao (in 1940 record: KANENAO Yasu Kyoichi (兼直　那須　京一) also in Kamo-gun, Tomioka, but probably another village. But no other record of him.

Hi all, Something a bit different, koto wakizashi length blade, 59.3cm nagasa, 1.2cm sori, mounted in nice fittings and same saya. Gimei to Soshu-Ju Masahiro. All fittings matching stamped numbers and on tsuka throat. Have to say I do love the same saya on some kai. Adam

Supposedly a gift from John Yumoto. https://www.ebay.com/itm/196519151172? John C.

Afraid not, confidentiality prevents me from giving out any contact details of any member. But I emailed him, pointed him here, and said if he's willing to contact you, he can do so here. That's the best I can do.

I believe that the blade is a genuine nihonto. The registration card in the first picture shows that the mei is 兼直 (Kanenao) and the blade length is 65.2 cm. I can see the same mei on its nakago.

The theme of moon and monkey is often seen on Niten Ichi Ryu koshirae, but as kodugu not tsuba. The iron moon and monkey tsuba have always puzzled me since they don't look Higo and are normally put into the "Shoami" bucket by the Japanese. Here are some examples of moon and monkey menuki. Also another menuki set in an article by Fred Weissberg, at the bottom. https://nihonto.com/miyamoto-musashi　/ And a set of kurikata and soritsuno in another article by Fred. https://nihonto.com/10-1-20/ The cult of Musashi has always been strong and continues today. I suspect most of the later Edo period Niten koshirae were commissioned by the Noda-Ha (Kumamoto branch) of Niten Ichi Ryu Hyoho, but also could have been created by the Edo Higo (Kumagai) kinko-shi for members of the two Edo branches of Niten Ichi Ryu Hyoho.

濃州住長光作 - Made by Nagamitsu in Noshu. 昭和十七年 - Showa 17th year (1942)

His name must be 遠藤公之 - Endo Kimiyuki. His smith name may be 一文字(Ichimonji) or 一文字天秀(Ichimonji Amahide). Ref. https://www.nipponto...swords3/KY328240.htm

長州萩住人 - Choshu Hagi ju nin 友次 - Tomotsugu

Hi there Ian! Why do you say that; should I be disappointed in the answers? Maybe it’s not what most people here want to see, and I do apologize for that if that’s the case - but ultimately it is or was a functional blade that someone clearly felt some sort of attachment to at one point or another and re-mounted in different fittings. Ultimately whether the stamp was removed for possession purposes, or the blade was fitted with antique or modern koshirae, or the blade was used for martial arts or not; I’m honored to continue whatever the humble story of this item might be, Showato or otherwise. One day I’ll get a Shinto or even Koto Nihontō, and I’ll be sure to ask or even purchase one from the community. But, in the meantime, I’m not disappointed by the answers, I’m just glad people took the time out of their day to help me

I'm not worried about the tassel GIs did a lot of strange things to them. Read up on how to remove the peg that holds the tsuka/ handel on. We'll walk you through it.

It could be the mark of Kuwantung Army Ordnance Branch Depot

I've sent this link to the email I have listed in file. If he has any interest, I am sure he will respond. Brian

This very much looks like a war time oil tempered blade with date and stamps removed, used for martial arts.

The source of the pictures you posted of Type 95, serial number 71, can be seen via the link below. Hope this helps. Type 95 Nco Copper Hilt

On the first tsuba, I think the device on the left is a Kamon of three kiku blossoms. This is a kamon of the Kusunoki family. Kusunoki Masatora was an official in the Oda Nobunaga administration (Papinot page 335). Here is another example.

No decorations based on rank except an original General tassel, without distinct provenance it's impossible to ascertain from mountings alone if a senior or junior officer owned a sword. The curved Tsuka is more often seen on early Type 94, as it follows the initial IJA specification drawing that was given to sword shops and Koshirae makers. An officer could bring in a sword to a shop and the Koshirae would be made to fit it exactly, it was a matter of money on what features would be included. Additionally senior officers were known to own multiple swords. Occasionally with some of the better makers, the owners surname will appear on the fittings.

尾州犬山住兼武 = Bishū Inuyama-jū Kanetake

I have only one pair of vintage menuki in my collection thus far. It depicts a famous Zen koan (see below) and appears to be shakudo, but is mumei. It's a motif that I hope to collect from depictions in paintings, tsuba, kozuka (Soryu antiques is offering a beautiful one), netsuke, and other Japanese arts/crafts. Josetsu (I can't confirm that this is "the oldest ink painting in Japan."

No long commentary this time, would absolutely appreciate any thoughts you have on dating/attribution (I’ve done my own research, but frankly I better just defer to the experts) ————— Purchased a Nihontō on consignment, from Japan. I especially enjoy what appears to be the original koshirae, but I would love your opinion here too. Word of warning, the blade appears to have been polished multiple times, and the kissaki is chipped. Side note: I had such a hard time compressing the photos - the image quality (and thus size) was far too large…hopefully the quality turned out ok.

Hello, everyone. I'm sorry to bother you. I want to ask if anyone knows the owner of this knife? Does anyone know his email address? I want to contact him.Please let me know if you have his email contact information. Thank you very much. I hope you can help me.

$595. After an online discussion with a friend last night, I decided to offer up one of my Hayashi Plum Tree tsuba towards paying down the Juyo tsuba previously discussed. Size: 78mm x 75.7mm x 5.6mm (taper to 5 at mimi). --For me, this is a favorite design. If interested, please PM and ask questions. Located in SouthEast USA.

A beautiful kai-gunto, that would surely deserve some closer shots. Thanks for sharing! Didier

More pics

Hi Adam, I love Kai gunto's too, and this looks like a good one! congrats! Tom

Never seen that article, cheers.

Dear All. Thank you for your contributions and to Okan for sharing his tsuka. If you are not familiar with Kunishige then this excellent article of Peter Dekker may be of interest, https://www.mandarin...ary/hirado-kunishige Edit to add: Alex, our posts crossed but I do remember that tsuba well. As for the dragon theme you are right, an NBTHK article says of him,'For an artist, Kunishige did not much vary his motives (sic) because almost all of his works show this subject of a tamaoi-ryu.' (trans: Markus Sesko) Having said that Okan's rather wonderful fuchi kashira show shachihoko, perhaps more suited to the space. All the best.

Very nice Geraint My avatar is from a Hirado Kunishige tsuba, now lives with Ken From memory, read dragons was a popular subject of that school.

Well, I finally made it onto Wehrmacht Awards and saw the other Hideki Tojo dedication sword posted there. It certainly appears there is currently a cottage industry of forgery going on in Japan; taking possibly genuine Gendaito - or more likely unsigned blades - and then inscribing both a famous smith and an even more famous recipient. I've already said I think the 'Yamato captain sword' is a total fake and outlined the reasons why. I also saw someone taken for $6K on Yahoo - hence this original thread. And now the one on W.A. It was posted by someone who was so very sure of it papering (because he knew "the leading expert on gendaito in the US" who had authenticated it, and then, when it got pink-slipped as 'gimei', whined about the validity of the Japanese Shinsa. 🤔 I truly believe that, if a sword appeared on auction "signed by Kiyamaro and dedicated to Freddie Mercury" some moron would still buy it for mega bucks.

It appears to be mapping the Southern advances of the imperial army from the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo toward Shanghai going from top to bottom... This would presumably place the date somewhere between the capture of Shanghai in November 1937 and the Japanese surrender in August 1945. This was most likely produced around the peak of Japan's military dominance circa November 1937 - December 1941. Very interesting item you have found.

Thank you Vincent, that looks genuinely Japanese now, please excuse my wrong assumption. But as others wrote, the blade may be quite late.

Sorry, my English is not good, so I often use the wrong words.

@Brian @Bugyotsuji I am thin ice and probably need my eyes tested but is that a left handed gun? The cheek rest is on the side for a normal right handed shooter as is the lock (only partially visible on the other side?) ….and is the geometry correct for a percussion lock? Is that a frizzen I see and the remains (?) of a cock with the top jaw missing but jaw screw intact Possibly depicted with the lock facing away to avoid all the work in actually carving the complex lock….or maybe the now absent Kogai had it facing the other way with lock visible. I know I know stop being pedantic🙂🙂 OK…I’m waiting to be made a fool of! 🙂

Agree, this looks like a British type flintlock converted to percussion. I wonder which artist saw one and decided to put it on a kozuka. Very unusual indeed. The whole left handed thing may be that the artist wanted it facing the other way and just copied the right hand features onto the left side. I guess we'll never know, but it certainly is interesting. Maybe one of a kind.

Interesting kozuka. One thing must be said though, that this is not a Tanegashima. It's probably a muzzle-loader, maybe even rifled, but a later percussion-cap gun, to be fired from the shoulder, possibly an imported gun with that decorative butt. Also the mechanism seems to be for a left-handed shooter, a rare object.

Yasurime is of late type (shinshinto and later, though yes, there were some Kanbun examples supposedly worked like this, but its exceptionally rare), it is also done very sketchy - the lines are not parallel, the cuts are shallow, there is not forceful look expected from shinshinto, it was not patinated when finished and since then though patina is present, there are areas which remain patina free. I vote for WWII production.

Thanks guys! I'd say he's happy with David's idea. He doesn't know anything about swords and is just happy to know it's old. It was in leather saya, but the tsuka was reduced to same' only, no metal fittings, no ito. So, I'm walking him through ideas on how to retro-fit the tsuka to something he would like.

Grandma used to always say "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all"

Thanks to you all. As a small "bonus", hidden between the wood and the metal of the scabbard, there was this small note:

Some more that I found on an old NMB thread. Odd Mon Left Column 進藤 江副

To answer to the topic... I will! I had in hand a fabulous sword, I was sure it was Kanemoto, ...and the meï was kanemoto judged gimeï. It it wasn't for the Kiyomitsu, I would have buy it. By the way, I really like your tanto. beautifull bright hada... Don't feel shinshinto to me...but who knows. Kindly Eric

It doesn´t matter if it is Koto, Shinto or ShinShinto. All that matters is: it is a Japanese sword with an inscription and a fair price tag. And Dee likes it.

Well Reinhard, I've already been accused of such by others on here so I'll tell you what I think. A woman joins a group of predominantly old men and when she doesn't act like Mary Poppins and fights back (admittedly sometimes being crude in the process) then 'she can't possibly be female and has to be an impostor'. That's about as sexist as it gets. Anyhow, thanks for your deep and meaningful insights about gimei. Dee

Gimei is gimei and that's that. "nihonto-museum" is no valuable reference at all. And yes: Guido is a real character, always was. Sadly enough he is not able to participate anymore. As for you , "Dee", I have my doubts who you really are. Playing the "Lady-bonus" here for somebody else ? reinhard

It depends on the item. But I am a historical guy opposed to an art appreciator. As my main interest in the hobby are ōdachi and old naginata, I am filled with joy seeing them. Last summer I saw several rusty and blemished ones at various shrines and other places. To me they were much more exciting than most of the National Treasures I saw in several museums. Of course if they have been restored to full glory then they are absolutely amazing. Still purely from my heart I would most likely choose a historical ōdachi over extremely amazing sword regardless of their status, or perceived difference in the skill of smiths etc.. It is quite extreme view and I am fully aware of that. Even for regular sized swords I have noticed I am starting to have extremely quirky things that I am looking for or avoiding.

Anyone who thinks the idea that de-tipping a knife is an effective solution is kidding themselves. The dedicated perp will just invest in an angle grinder and put a point on it themeselves. Its just crazy some of these knee jerk reactions that will have no bearing on knife crime per se. The problems are far deeper and embedded in the communities where these crimes are being committed.