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neil listed a EMURA in type 44 mounts. so ill post a Emura in type 98 mounts, complete with leather saya cover, long company grade tassel, number habaki and pierced tsuba

heres another rare kyu in its original leather bag, complete with orginal 2nd ashi too. the Mon is alomost gone but it looks like Imperial

Swords in worse condition have been brought back to life. I would say follow Dave's advice and get Mr. Hayashi to have a gander at it. Who knows? Its most likely not worth the effort, but let the togishi be the judge of that!

David, I would really help to get clear, close-ups of the blade tip, and maybe one or two clear close-ups of sections of the blade, with any attempt to see the temper line (hamon). Like the other guys say, this could be something really interesting or Chinese crap, nothing in between! Even if the blade turned out to be fakery, like John said, the fittings are special. Haven't seen that family mon (crest) before and I can't say I've ever seen a dust-cover seppa on a Type 98 before. Even so, it's rare. Like to see those close-ups!

Hi, here you have a NBTHK certificate. The relevant informations are as follow: A kanteisho (certificate) B subject (here a katana) C signature (here 備陽長船藤原祐盛); the sword also report the date of forging (文政二年二月日 should be february 1819) D the dimension of the blade

Hello, I recently acquired a Sukemori blade, could you please read me what is written on the certificate? thank you very much in advance, I am attaching pictures of the blade for your viewing pleasure.

David. Too me, your sword appears to be severely shortened (o-suriage), as the very end of the nakago-jiri (tang) looks to have a partial mekugi ana (hole for mekugi pin). If this is the case, then the blade was (crudely) shortened by several inches, and has suffered most every other form of abuse as well. Depending on where you are in California, I would advise getting the sword to Jimmy Hayashi in San Francisco to take a look, possibly open a window. Harunaka Hoshino and others in the bay area could also provide an assessment.( Harunaka has a somewhat spurious reputation, but knows Japanese swords well)! Mr. Hayashi would definitely be my first choice. Your sword from the photo's shown, does not look particularly promising, however, you never know, and the suggestion mentioned above would be the least expensive and most definite way to find out. The Koshirae , as mentioned is higher grade, present sword could be a lower end replacement for original, but then...many possibilities! Good luck, and let us know what you find out. Dave M.

Hello, May I propose to you to look on the KINKO MEIKAN the TERUTOMO signatures, p379. From various discussions with experienced people, it seems that TERUTOMO was the main preparer of OMORI TERUHIDE in order to face the requests of clients. If so the quality should be above that which is figured on the pics. I own myself a FK from OMORI TERUTOMO which got TOK HOZ, and the work is totally different. The kao, to speak only of that, is different from KINKO MEIKAN ones. IMO it should be a copy. Best Marc

IF it's real....and it's still 50/50...I would consider the blade as a tsunagi....something to hold together what are a nice set of mounts. But it is still a nice package, so look after it.

Dear Dave. I think they have every right to be confident, its a blade made by their own smith, Kokaji. At least they can be sure that it isn't a Chinese copy. All the best.

Of course a few of you might remember this - one of his earlier offerings...

Hi David Yes, an authentic Type 98 Shin Gunto, the blade is an old one in pretty rough condition and the Nakago (tang) has been altered quite crudely. I suspect this may have been originally mounted in Kyu Gunto mountings which preceded the Type 94/98. This appears to be a mount of good quality, I can see a family crest on the Kabutogane (end of handle) and what appears to be a rare dust seal Seppa that provides extra protection to the Saya (sheath). If you could get some more photos of this it would be appreciated as they are fairly rare.

so to completely up stage Neil in a form of frindly rivalry here is one. all numbers matched, the habaki, the blade, the tsuka, saya and evan the shakudo foiled seppa. the blade mumei but looks simular to neils yoshichika.

I was a knight fan and grow up with old medieval movies with Errol Flynn and other Stars of the time. We had only a black and white TV in the 70's. And on weekends after the muppet show on saturday some 50s and 60s movie came on TV. My friends loved Winnetou but i was this knights guy and wished nothing more than a knight sword. As i was 10 my uncle gave me a rusty "knight" sword. It was one of these deco swords from the "Neckerman" catalogue. I was so happy. And i was sure this was a real one. The years gone by and with my first earned money after school i bought a saber from the french- german war. And so i came into the collectors hobby of blanc weapons. I lived in a small village with no antique shops and no public interest in antiques. So my interest was gone over the years. I sold all my stuff. And as ebay starts in the 90s i saw this beauty. and bought it not knowing what it is. I thought it must be very valuable with all that gold and silver. The blade was in bad condition but my experience from european swords was that this is patina and a sign of value and provenance. I really had no clue of Japanese weapons (ok nothing changed in that). But my love was awakened. And i start with the book " the samurai sword" my only book over a long time. I bought over the years many "gunto". All of this swords were mass produced. No star stamp, nothing important. I bought and sold the swords and collected Tsuba because i liked the motifs. But my knowledge didn't rise. In 2015 - i think i came to the NMB. This was a catalyst for me. For more interest and more knowledge in Japanese swords. So I'm a youngtimer in these hobby and i hope i get old to see and learn more. Btw i sold my first sword the kai gunto several years ago for a very less price. Sometimes i think i should had keep it. My last 50 cent on the story is, that today it is all more easy. You get in 5 minutes much more information than in the times before the internet. Now it is not important where you live and which friends you have. If you are interest in something you get the informations you need. Knowledge is so important in these hobby.

add a photo from the Book

Darcy's offerings are truly top-shelf. Thanks, Brian, for starting this thread. You're right, we do need to expose ourselves to high(est)-level items, whether in blades or tosogu, lest we begin to see the merely good as great, and the "merely" great as magnificent. In fittings, Darcy does favor the soft-metal side of things; however, he occasionally throws a bone to some of the early iron works. Fortunately for me. https://yuhindo.com/nobuie/

It's a religious symbol that can be added to a a crest. I didn't recognize it until Piers mentioned it.

MAGNIFY https://www.touken-matsumoto.jp/swords_hires.php?prod_img=KA0360-hri.jpg BEST

Mark, They are best regarded as a piece of art. What distinguishes good fittings from the ordinary is a combination of materials, composition and level of skill. Some of the finest metal workers to exist, not only in Japan but world wide were making the fittings for swords. Take a look at some of the examples here and on websites such as Darcy's and you can see the incredible skill employed in their manufacture. It is much like visiting a gallery of fine paintings.

I'll pm you David. I may still have his contact #. Mr. Hayashi is almost always at the San Francisco sword show as well as many other good sword information individuals. Worth a visit if you can, normally in Aug., will probably return this year depending on Covid situation. Also a good place to match up an appropriate tsuba for your sword. No better way to match up replacement parts than "in hand." Also, no one is suggesting you have a blade worth several thousand dollars to polish, but only to economically take a look at what it may be or have been. There are a few of us, if not many, whom try to realize, and appreciate historical/sentimental value in a Shin gunto, and not necessarily the value judged as whether it is mere trash if it is not a pristine big name Gendaito. Your Grandfather left it to you, cherish it... Dave M.

Thank you Dave. I am having a hard time finding contact info for him. Any leads? I've found plenty of mention of him but no way to contact him.

Hi Teisa, http://www.militaria.co.za/articles/Soten_Study.pdf

Never seen that one, but looks like a rice plant(Ine).

Hello all, Out of shear curiosity only, I bought a mumei Wak from Kumonjo off ebay, for a whooping sum of $168 bucks. Total rust bucket, no habaki, junk saya, no tsuka. Anyway, clean it up a bit and low and behold it is a folded steel blade, straight hamon, punched ana [not drilled], no real flaws to speak of sans the rust of course. Uneducated guess by the shape & patina on the nakago, 1800's, certainly not any older for sure. Not at all worth putting another dime into it, or even taking pictures of it.......but it appears by all accounts to be a real Japanese blade, most likely mass produced, probably for conscript military use?? Anyway, thought I'd throw it out there for you folks. Mark

I still believe it’s real but badly damaged. Boshi was massacred, so was nakago. What we’re seeing as a nakago here is actually part of the blade. Poor thing was butchered.

You never fail to find great stuff to share Pete. Thank you once again. I wonder how many members have blades polished by Mr Bowhay or have stories to share about there experience with him.

Yas I would not sell my example for anything. 7,000 is a cheap price for such a long time tradition. Thank you so much for the extra information. The workers are very skilled. I don't know if the paperweights are still being made? Or what years they were produced? I see a lot of these “Compliments of NYK Line” souvenir of a cruise line circa 1920’s for the Nippon Yusen Kaisha Line. They were given away as advertising at the time - a hundred years old now. They are better made than the cast 100 yen piece.

Can you take close ups of the blade itself? Tip, temper line, ...etc. I have a feeling we may have something interesting here. It must have been a very long sword once (the tip of the tang shows the remain of what was possibly the first hole, so long sword, ō-kissaki... very interesting.

Dale. The paperweight box says Seikodo. Seikodo is famous as a specialized workshop for making kettles for "Sadou". "Since Edo period, now it's the 10th, the atelier which specializes in making 茶の湯釜 Iron Tea Pot and 鉄瓶 Iron Kettle. In order to keeping excellent quality, even now, all works are handmade and the works are supported by only a few workers." http://www.seiko-do.com/about.php?lang=en That's why the paperweight is worth it and is being put up for auction online for 7,000 yen. Luxury goods! The paperweight I presented the image on starts at 100 yen.

Try this thread with pictures showing the Mon in more detail facing upwards:

It would cost in the $100-$200 range, plus round trip shipping - not too much in the grand scheme of things. Hoanh

Yas - it is a real wonder that a lot of 'no longer useful' metal objects survived those times - the world losses more than lives in all conflicts. It is a great pity that we can't seem to lose conflict. Ten more years and that paperweight will be an antique, but it already has much to tell. I have a small database of tsuba shaped paperweights, they are an interesting subject in their own right - if they are not trying to be fakes. Here is something unusual in a bad way https://www.jauce.com/auction/m475525520 Izarae (Lit. to clear/clean a cast piece) gone too far! [hardly an "Excellent Product"] Looks like it was worked on by an angle grinder! Back to paperweights I have one of these that I note turn up every now and again https://www.jauce.com/auction/371174105 Even though clearly a paperweight copy of an early Christian guard, I do enjoy having mine, as it too has a history behind it.

Hello I have this iron tsuba with Masayoshi signature but I can'nt translate the two kanji before no ju Can anyone translate this and say to me what type of tsuba (I think edo mokume tsuba ???) dimensions: 6,4 cm/6,1 cm - thick: 0,4 cm Thank you Bernard

Hamish, good to see an EMURA in '98 mounts, as many are in RS (type44) mounts. And what a NICE blade you have! My '98 EMURA (no date no stamps), also has numbered blade, and numbered fittings. Keep the GENDAI blades coming!

Reminds me of a Halloween pumpkin.

according to the sale page it sold for approx $ (AU$129,700.00)

Renowned for their cutting ability, (Mori) YOSHICHIKA, was selected to make swords for the Japanese Imperial Guard. Some of his blades even have cutting tests engraved, where they were tested on pigs, (dead ones I hope!). From my research, there were father and son, (Shodai and Nidai) YOSHICKICKA. This blade was found in very old 'D' Guard mounts, so it is Shodai. There is however no date, no stamps. He resided in Tokyo, and made swords in the Taisho and Showa periods. Rated as a 1.5 million Yen smith, he is regarded as a high-grade Gendaito. This example exhibits mokume hada, gunome-midare hamon?, and habuchi. I would appreciate seeing other other examples of YOSICHICKA work and mei for my research.

There are absolutely 'jeep spring swords' (that is the term that I hear more frequently used) made by diggers to be sold to US servicemen and there is no doubt that these are mixed into collections and estates as genuine wartime swords (which they are in a sense). The diggers also used to make and sell flags to the US servicemen. There was demand and they created a supply. I agree that it is near impossible to pick these out too. I use the term 'island swords' as a catch all for the many weird and wonderful variants, whether collaborator swords, prison camp manufactured swords, the spring swords Dave mentioned a sword repair team creating, indigenous copies, souvenirs, digger made swords.... it's just a catch all term, pretty broad. Most of these swords are one of a kind, but there are a few repeated patterns. My only requirement to call these an island sword is that there has to be appropriate age/patina to not be dismissed as a recent fake. I make no claim to which swords fit into which category. I think the only ones that are really all that possible to define are the ones inscribed with the Javanese 'mei', since there are historical accounts of the steel works on the island producing swords. All others are a guess. I have no doubt that some of the swords described by Snowy and the diggers are included in this mix. Conversely, I was sent a 'Japanese' sword and an officers map satchel with a full history of it's finding by the Australian veteran. No financial interest, sword was only sent to get more information. I don't disbelieve the story. It's not glorified and there was no financial interest. It was left behind in a Japanese complex and found by the Aussie. It's another island sword, cruder than Japanese make but looks a bit like one. While I can't say for sure, I like to believe that the story was genuine and see no reason why it wouldn't be. So I don't discount that there are at least some swords that may have an origin other than the souvenir swords made by diggers. How to pick which is which, well I think that's about impossible. Fun to speculate though, as long as everyone recognises it is only speculation.

Punctuation is not their strong point. They mean Japanese bedroom interior has lamp, katana sword, and pillow. The 3 unrelated.

Time is money, as they say...... Time (money) invested in researching, designing, procuring materials, building, fitting, etc.... Once you calculate all of that, you realise that you are better off buying one. Mostly, they are not expensive :https://www.accessdisplays.co.uk/cat/glass-display-showcases/wall-mounted/ Of course, they could become high-end too: https://en.katana-case-shi.com/product-page/刀展示ケース-漆-urushi-の複製

I guess ill mark this thread do not read !!Warning may cause high blood pressure!! Newbies do not do this!

Absolutely agree with John. This whole thread - yes, whole thread - has been an exercise in hubris. I've been having swords polished for 50 years "at a distance". Now I sit at the feet of a qualified Master, hear his wisdom, and see the result in my swords and compare this to the last decades of me chasing polish around the world. To continue this little contribution would result in a polemic. Yes, I've seen these discussions on the internet now for 25 years at least and nothing has changed. Well-intentioned people all over the world are murdering swords on a daily basis, even in Japan. I don't know where else to go in this. It would be lengthy and brutally frank. To finish off, the base philosophy of the Board is that we DO NOT discuss amateur polishing, DO NOT advocate the practice of amateur polish in any degree whatsoever. I endorse this view with my entire heart and soul. I've heard all the arguments and they don't stack up and the preponderance of discussion about amateur polishing causes a warp in my sense of being tending to depression. Seriously. BaZZa. EDIT: Been mulling over this while watching TV. I just want to add two words - shitaji shiage.

This is delving into dangerous territory, in my opinion if you wish to pursue something like sword polishing you do it one way: apprenticeship in Japan under a recognized master. Why this keeps getting brought up, questioned or challenged puzzles me.

Jean, I think you may have somewhat missed my point. Sorry, I should have been more clear. In the journey to get to "professional" from "amateur," one must practice. And one must necessarily practice with precious stones and even more precious nihonto. In being trained by a Japanese master through years of careful mentorship and apprenticeship, I would imagine that there are fewer irrevocable mistakes made to what are technically irreplaceable (whether juyo token or rusted mumei) historical artifacts. In a way, I was echoing Barry's concern that self-taught or even "half-taught" amateurs will damage better and better blades over time.

Jon Bowhay sword polishing interview...

Greetings from Montreal Canada, most of you know me here from posting over the years and for those of you who don't here it goes; Welcome to Nihonto Art. Although we live for all aspects of the art of the Samurai, the word Nihonto itself means "Japanese sword" (as you all know by now), which is our specialty. Founder Nick Ricupero has fostered this lifelong passion as both a collector and dealer. His high regard for such a timeless art means that each piece is hand picked and carefully selected. We make an effort to search out the most interesting and unique items we can find and as a result have a very diverse inventory spanning the past eight centuries. He uses his personal taste as a means to choose items and all of our artifacts are directly sourced from Japan. Come and check in with us from time to time to see what antique Japanese swords for sale have been recently added, if there is a particular item that you would like to acquire and does not appear on Nihonto Art please let us know and we will seek it out for you. "I truly believe I have the best job in the world, connecting collectors with these pieces brings me great joy and to be a part of finding a caring home for each item we sell is extremely fulfilling." Thank you in advance to all who take the time to check me out. Warmest regards, Nick Ricupero www.nihontoart.com www.nihontoart.ca www.facebook.com/nihonto.art/.

A friends film won best documentary “My documentary 'The Art of Imono' gets nominated for 3 top categories at the Shorties Film Festival: Update: Won Best Documentary! You can watch it here: http://vimeo.com/edwinlee/imono

The official family shrine of the Ikeda Daimyō, Kibitsu Hiko Jinja 18 October 2020, our sole live firing this year. No public. Only large guns, 10 Monmé and above, not a full demonstration. A dedication to the gods.

I was referring to shodai Yasutsugu as he did utsushi to tribute Sadamune. But the patina on the nakago looks shinshinto.

I meant first gen yasutsugu who did faithful utsushi of Sadamune