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No problem, there is a story that I heard, but I've never been able to find any scholarly references to back this up (so it may be total BS...) The Shishi is all powerful except that one small insect that lives in its fur can burrow in and eventually kill it. Supposedly the nectar of the Peony carried by the dew kills the bug. There is a Buddhist saying "Shishi shinchu no mushi" that basically means it's the little things inside of us that will destroy us instead of the things outside. With that understanding, the pairing of the Shishi and Botan (Peony) would mean overcoming our inner doubts and fears (but again, I have no scholarly reference to back up this interpretation).

I know what you mean Bruce. But next time anyone came with a crude made sword which we discuss as fake or island made and he brings the story that sword was captured bei G.I. Joe from a Japanese field smith who cuts the platoon machinegun in two pieces and shows a report written by captain Joe who said it is all true... 😂

I came across this auction and although I can't read the documents attached with this sword the translation of the description has some interesting information! https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/l638857617 It states: "Since you cannot take it with you before boarding the special attack aircraft, it will be handed over to the mechanic and returned to your family. There are documents of the proof of the Special Attack Units. It seems that the mechanic said that the kamikaze aircraft on which this person was aboard had passed away without the Hinomaru due to lack of supplies at the end." If this is to be believed then there would never really be a need for pilots to carry anything shorter, and further put the nail in the coffin about the "pilot/tanker" sword myth.

JP i never saw a sword made by a ww2 field smith. And i never saw a sword made by a ww2 field smith from spring steel. Its a nice story. But only a story that is not proofen.

As long as everyone (dealer & buyer) is fully aware a sword is Gimei then there isn't too much of an issue if the buyer likes the sword. The trouble begins once any ambiguity from a dealer comes into play, or even vice versa where the buyer purchases a known Gimei from one market (Japan) and then tries to flog it to another (western) as genuine. You would have a Gimei removed if you wanted to submit to Shinsa.

The fifth leg provides an additional anchor point on steep slopes and was used for ploughing fields in pre-industrial societies.🤪

I’m with Anthony and Piers, at large! Kino offers currently an quite nice armor (restored) for ¥450.000,-. From time to time you can find something authentic (and even handsome one) in this price range. Adding an Nodowa and all the little pretty things, however, could quickly become more expensive

According to classical Chinese thought. There is a very narrow bridge over a ravine to reach paradise or heaven; on the far side are fields of flowering peony bushes, with Shishi lion dogs playing among them.

Hi Stephen, the pairing symbolizes Regal Power - the Shishi is the King of beasts and the Botan (Peony) is the King of Flowers. Semper Fi...

That’s exactly what I was thinking about when I read this Steve! Between this kind of blade and POW made blades, it makes me soften my approach to questionable Swords when they show up.

Hi! I would say 3000$ and up for a simple okashi with a Zunari kabuto. Anthony

Recently I spotted a wakizashi in Shirasaya at a local auction and decided to take a gamble. No-one showed much interest, perhaps because there were no Shinsa papers and no koshirae. I made a mental price limit and bidded towards the top end of that. Surprisingly the bidding stopped with me. Gulp! Osaka, Tamba no Kami Yoshimichi? Several people have since looked at it, with no especially negative comments so far. Plenty of Sudareba. Opinions differ as to which generation, but on Sunday my sword Sensei commented that he could see traces of early work in it, possibly shodai. The Mei does seem to correspond too, but I know there are many gimei out there. He advised submitting it for NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon. If it passes shinsa, I have a very nice koshirae that is looking for a blade, and I just wonder if they can be married. It's a wide mihaba, and those last 5 centimeters... hmmmm... and the problem of the mekugi position arises. Long-term winter project ahead to keep me warm? 😅

This is a link to a little film we just finished up. It features a fairly typical Soten tsuba that I gave a bit of TLC to. It may be a little basic for the specialist audience here but you may enjoy the images anyway, and they're really big and you're all getting on a bit now so eyesight is no doubt not what it once was 😆😉

Hello: I am enjoying this forum and am very pleased to have found it. Thought I would post some pictures of the NCO sword that I picked up earlier this year. The serial numbers on the blade and scabbard match. Appears to have been well carried. Now I just need a correct sword knot for it. Steve

I really fail to see what the problem is here. As collectors we see all sorts of variations on the type 98 shin-gunto, and indeed the rinji seshiki, some of them well provenanced though very odd indeed . We have documentation and references for swords being made in China for the IJA, not "field made" but made in factories and workshops appropriated by the IJA and manned by sanctioned skilled professionals sent out from Japan by the Army..... Fuller and Gregory mention a factory in Peking/Beijing banging the buggers out made from Chinese rail stock. We have documentation and references for Seki factories using old rail track in Japan as well. Ohmura has a whole section about the blades made from lorry springs Why are people getting their knickers in a twist over this.... There was a war on, raw materials were in short supply, and the priority was rifles aeroplanes and artillery not swords ! I could say more, but I am trying not to wind people up or be insulting or personal about this. It's not a radical theory, it's a matter of record!

JP, I don't think they could have found enough old automobiles to scavenge enough springs to make 180,000 Type 95s. Are you saying, instead, that the factories that made 95s could have been using the same raw steel that auto manufacturers were using to make springs?

More possible is the repair team smith uses a local blacksmith shop to make the sword if they can instead of made the sword on the field.

Brian, I’m not necessarily talking about this site in particular. For example I remember an article by Jim Kurrash where he advised it was better to buy a mumei sword than a Gimei one. And John is right. There isn’t any issue in buying a Gimei sword, so long as buyer and seller play it fair. I own a Shodai Sukehiro. Possibly (likely?) Gimei. Well it is still one of the best looking sword in my meager collection, so you won’t ever find me criticizing Gimei, mumei or Suriage.

In the movie "俺は君のためにこそ死にに行", there is a pilot when he going for last mission, he gives his Gunto(full-length )to his father before take off. It's at 0:50 in this clip.

There is absolutely no doubt but that they were professionals in the field, that's why they were sent out there! ... So where are these swords,.... at the bottom of the bay, or with their families, or totally indistinguishable from any other Showato gunto! Given that there is documentation for these swords being made and the expertise of the craftsmen, I am a little puzzled as to what point you are trying to make.

Author of the shinto taikan is Iimura Yoshiaki

Loved it, you have a voice suited to do the job too, 'a voice for radio' some may say! Thank you Ford

This motif is referred to as "oxen released to the peach orchard" (桃林放牛図) or "returning horses, releasing oxen" (帰馬放牛). It goes back to the legend when King Wu of Zhou defeated the Yin, he returned the war horses to the place they were taken from and released the oxen, who had carried war material, to the peach orchard. That way, he was demonstrating the population that the war was over, for good, as horses and oxen for war would never be needed again.

Adam, you are amazing! This doesn't prove that your menuki are a set. The item in your menuki is a flower not a hossu (fly whisk)... You have some serious Cognitive Dissonance or integrity issues.

Sure wish id seen it....id done much more. Tks Stephen

Hi Juan, None scheduled that I know of and there will be none until the pandemic abates and people, especially Japanese shinsa teams, can travel. Grey

I would suggest that the repair team swords would be much better made than the others mentioned, we are talking about a bunch of professionals in the trade here.

"Just for fun" have you tried a magnet on the tosugu? I got a gunto koshira recently, original and from Japan, and the fuchi, kabutogane and menuk of standard patterni are plated iron! Late war, substitution of material, and I wonder how common this would be.

I bid on this one Sunday night just gone (Jauce) it went for about $85, what do you think? Look familiar? I lost the auction by about $5... Dale R (Spartancrest) alerted me to your example. Very surprised it had popped up just a day or so after! I love the theme, I have one example.

I don't think there has ever been a "gimei swords are junk" attitude here, or with most collectors. Shinsa will fail them yes. And very high end collectors will avoid them. But in general, buy the work and not the name. Plenty of very good swords with gimei signatures. Nothing wrong with gimei unless you are a person who needs papers for all their swords.

Ox. Look at the widerrist (dont know the englisch wprd). Its not a goat and not a sheep. Die fith leg is that thing to make small ox'es 😂

I had so wanted this but i know it will go beyond my means. Hope a member wins it. https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/k468278322? Check size

Try and get an armor box with it, which will be useful to place/seat your armor on. If you aim for a so-called 'complete' set you'll be very lucky to find anything, and even if you do, it won't be cheap. As Anthony says above, go for a simple dou and kabuto at first. Even that will look good. You can build from there to something that looks gradually more impressive. If people ask you what you want for birthdays etc., you will know what you want next. A Sangu set please! A Nodowa! I would really like a set of Sune-ate! Oh, a Menpo might be nice.... I need a Maedate. PS You'll need a stand too. There are various options. The cheapest will be to make it yourself.

Ultimately, I cannot really imagine how we would ever differentiate there swords from the dozens of 'island swords' that we have seen. Is there any real way to tell? Was there a stamp, an engraving, a particular 'pattern' proved commonality? It looks like there is little info so doubt we will ever find out, but I would dearly love to know.

I think JP is bang on. Remember in Japanese culture giving gifts is integral and some might find a certain smiths swords as lucky or offer long life etc so to gift a sword by this smith (who we will call Nagamitsu for this explanation ) was considered a truly great present. Now if this nagamitsu smith only made 50 swords then some might be damaged beyond repair, lost of just polished away. So when you only have a few swords in existence in the world and these are already gifted to someone, how then will you gift a Nagamitsu sword to all your other worthy friends? Well, you get another smith to aquire or make quality swords and then get him to sign them as made by the lucky Nagamitsu smith. So even gimei may very well be a sword made by a very good smith then signed at the request of the client. You don't argue with powerful clients.

Just a few more pics in better light. Also some pics of the tassel and (what looks like a sort of paracord?) sarute for @Bruce Pennington I bet it has been there since the war. Tassel is in great condition. Till the next sword comes along...thanks all.

recumbent water buffalo

Yes, I completely agree with you here Greg. Handling and care has been a major concern of mine. I am brave enough to admit that when I first got the sword I actually had nightmares in my sleep about destroying it by some careless accident. I believe that through research and knowledge passed to me by the collector I purchased this from (who has become a friend) I am in a position to be a good "caretaker" of this piece. One question I did have for the experts here. Is anyone able to read the sayagaki?

The jūtōhō (short for jūhō-tōken-rui-shoji-tōtori-shimari-hō 銃砲刀剣類所持等取締法) only states in article 18-2 that a person who wants to produce swords has to apply for a permit in accordance with the bijutsu tōken-rui seisaku shōnin kisoku 美術刀剣類製作承認規則, the “art sword production approval rules”. In the application, the smith has to declare the type and number of swords to be manufactured, including the number of “shadow swords”. I couldn’t find any limits mentioned, but maybe there are “guidelines” that are not on public record, as Steve suggested, and/or the smiths exercise anticipatory obedience ...

All I can add is playing a bit around more in Photoshop with the pictures, to make yours look picture look like the one in the book and put them side to side. If this is of any help, see attachment.

May I just express my thanks to all who have contributed their knowledge to this. I am constantly reminded by the depth of people’s research and understanding, how little I know.

Congratulations Piers. It's certainly the same compared to the tang that Jacques showed us. Picking up a sword in a book is a rare luck.

Are the relief carving, ladies and quails on back, a later add? There is a strange scale issue on both sides. Is the lady kogo other tsuba like yours, same exact theme, with quails on other side? Quail grass and moon are a classinc theme in painting, seems to be autumn theme if I am right. Shibuicki can look a certain color when newly patinated, I am always fascinated by brand new patinated shibuichi, but once it gets old and silver has tarnished, the color would tend to be more brownish, darker and also less interesting, but it's easy to see it's copper silver alloy with a close look, because clean metal color is different, kind of pinkinsh color, and also the pattern is visible under magnification, we can see the crystalline structure showing both metal are not perfectly melt together. Weathered brass, I mean, rokusho weathered brass, and copper have much warmer color, but some other process can bring brass quite a cold color, looking like old shibuichi, same for copper, old copper pipes are good example. first appears to be shibuichi, my guess is low silver shibuichi, under magnification you can see crystalline structure here and there, but actual color is looking some copper pipes or rain-oil-gaz patinated brass, real color is a very bit lighter. Second seems to be kuro shibuichi, color on picture is far too light real color is much darker shakudo plugs are almost black, I used a white reflector on surface, it's polished surface. there is a very very slight nashiji structure visible under magnification, some very fine relief dots on it, nit like the shibuichi pieces I saw.there are small scratches showing metal color copper, very bit pinkish, the sekigane and dress are copper.

NBTHK attribution to Echizen Rai 52.6 cm mid 1300's Nambokucho Koshirae next to sword

Unfortunatly i lost some of the oshigatas i made by storing it in the cloud (i cleaned up the storage - it seems i do it very carefully). These are the six oshigata i have found in record for some of the swords in my collection. Maybe you find it usefull and you have selfmade Oshigata? I would enjoy it if you show it. The NMB has a very good remembrance in the world wide web. Making these oshigatas is a good training for me to study the details of a sword. From left to right: 1. Muromachi Sadanobu Wakizashi 2. Muromachi Mino Wakizashi (mumei) 3. Nanbokucho Kuninobu Tachi 4. Koto Senjuin (possible Uda) Wakizashi 5. Koto Chikushi Naginata 6. Gendai-to Morinobu Katana

http://yoroi.co.jp/english/english/history.html http://yoroi.co.jp/english/english/product-2.html

Hi Bruce: Based on my limited knowledge, I believe that my NCO sword is a "third type" Tokyo 1st arsenal with the thinner brass tsuba. With the blade tip down, the markings are, from left to right: Suya company, Tokyo arsenal inspection mark, Kokura arsenal. I have attached a better picture of the fuchi of my sword. As to the sword knot, I have seen plenty reproductions for sale on ebay. I've attached a picture of what I believe is the correct vintage one that would be the one to find. Thanks, Steve

Here are mine. I've left out some by Hallam students and others that have an aperture but may not be actual hitsuana Some will be revival pieces and the odd repro Normally I like to show big images but I'm restricted by NMB size rules but I don't see this as a problem in this case as I believe the outline is shown OK

Many tachi tsuba would fit the request.

Here is an int. Pdf about Swordhunt's in modern Japan.. https://minpaku.repo.nii.ac.jp/index.php?action=pages_view_main&active_action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=2846&item_no=1&attribute_id=18&file_no=1&page_id=13&block_id=21 Best