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Showing content with the highest reputation on 08/30/2021 in all areas

  1. This is as genuine as you get, the actual tassel photographed in Dawson's book page 159.
    4 points
  2. Tassels can vary in color, and with exposure to light more so. You actually may have found a reasonably rare tassel. Whilst the one on the right is certainly NAVY, the one on the left looks for all money like a late war NCO tassel. If you look at the thread on tassel storage, and go to my post, there is a photo of tassels in zip lock bags, Look carefully and you will see a bag labelled "LATE WAR NCO". These tassels replaced the normal leather variety on earlier NCO swords. Very rare in any condition.
    3 points
  3. I did not specify it, this is my fault, but there is no (to my knowledge) any touch-up polishing. Either there is a complete polish or no polish at all. It is a legetime question which I already asked myself at the beginning of my interest for nihonto.
    2 points
  4. If the blade in question is in good condition, I do not recommend polishing. the process involves removal of material. when we talk about blades that are hundreds of years old. This is not negligible, and will reduce its overall life expectancy. we have to think about the future generation. Can we have pictures of the blade to better judge? And needless to say that I advise you not to undertake yourself (or an amateur) work on this blade. cordially max
    2 points
  5. Here's a picture of several of mine that I made for the Warrelics discussion:
    2 points
  6. Dear Bob. I believe the motif in number 104 is wasp and antlers, I have seen a similar design before. Both very nice tsuba! All the best.
    2 points
  7. Wish I had one for everyone!
    2 points
  8. One thing to add about the regulations.....I do not have supreme confidence they were followed to a letter. For a start the idea of the tassel length determining if it was Navy or Gunzoku baffles me greatly. The lengths vary so widely you would have more luck identifying them by the number of strands in the tassel ends (84 according to regulations!)........ For example just between the three tassels they are all different lengths, one is original to the Kai Gunto and is significantly longer than other tassels.
    2 points
  9. Three navy tassels, note colour of rare zig-zag stitch example on bottom which has faded/washed out from use.
    2 points
  10. There are two sizes of brown tassels. See this link below for the whole story. See also post #68 for the info-graphic by @Stegel. What were the regulations for the Army civilian employees to carry swords?
    2 points
  11. Never discussed before, I have found these on late war NCO's, and had it confirmed by other collectors. All swords were equipped with a sarute or hole for a tassel. I don't know the exact date or model that the leather knot ceased, I am assuming after the pattern 4.
    2 points
  12. Neil, forgive me if I've forgotten, but I don't remember this. Have we discussed this before? Seems new to me.
    2 points
  13. @Kiipu Thomas Those swords maybe made at the local smith shop by the Japanese Gunto repair team sent from Japan.
    2 points
  14. Thank you Richard and Georges. Thank you Georges, especially , as in fact there are similarities between my tsuba Kakihan and Muto Masatoshi's one as found in "Shosenkenshu" book. Apparently Muto Masatoshi ( 正甫 )used this 正克 signature also, as stated in Haynes (H04601.0). I think I have found my guy!
    2 points
  15. Dear all, refering to this tsuba I have no clue regarding the school... Refering to flat inlays , It might be Kaga school but the global pictures could bring to Shoami School. Your views please.
    1 point
  16. I case anybody doesn't know it yet, that book is available for free here: https://archive.org/details/japanesenameshow00koopuoft
    1 point
  17. Re Item No. 104 George , Thanks once again for your interest in this thread and all the interpretations/explanations . I am sure that I speak for everyone when I say that without your input , this thread and indeed the NMB would be a much poorer place... Regards
    1 point
  18. Here is the link in case you wanted to see their reasoning behind using Haikan. https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/Japanese-militaria/type-94-katana-711219-2/ Ohmura also uses Haikan.
    1 point
  19. Dear Bob, when we see a wasp on tosogu it is often wordplay (which the ancient Japanese loved). One of the more common combinations is wasp and monkey which in Japanese are homophonous with “granted fiefdom” and “lord” respectively. So a monkey grasping a wasp means the good fortune of being made the lord of a fiefdom, but a monkey simply watching or ignoring a wasp means something like “don’t waste your opportunities”. See the following NMB thread for more info on that theme: https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/30375-ishiguro-masatsune-2nd-generation/ In the case of your tsuba Item No. 104, wasp can be read as Hou (or Hachi) in Japanese and deer can be read as roku (or shika). “Hou” plus “roku” makes Houroku which sounds like the word for the “stipend or salary” that a Samurai receives when starting out as a warrior. This makes your tsuba an excellent tsuba for a gift to a new Samurai. Darcy has another beautiful example and explanation of this theme here: https://yuhindo.com/goto-joshin/
    1 point
  20. Takeo Seki is fully trained and lives in British Columbia Canada.
    1 point
  21. You may want to post images for a more qualified oppinion as to wheter a touch up polish wpould be recommeneded both condition and value wise
    1 point
  22. I’m conflicted on this one as different features take me in different directions. Going with Sue Tegai. At least until I change my mind again.
    1 point
  23. Not everyone wants to hear gory and sensitive details about battles or the sadness of war. Please use your discretion and use the "spoiler" feature if sensitive info is posted.
    1 point
  24. Thanks guys it is 200 for the Japanese one only but i think this is OK? What sort of handle is on it? and is the tsuba a known type? Regards and thanks for reaching out Ken PS as per usual I will be making a contribution to forum in thanks for you helping me, I am not a contributor of knowledge but I find it fantastic having a group to ask questions too.
    1 point
  25. Thanks mate. Always one of our most consistent supporters!
    1 point
  26. Dale, I am 100% in line with Geraint. As far as I collect Tosogu, I never saw such fragile items mounted on swords. Purely aesthetic attempts therefore...
    1 point
  27. I have one with a similar palette, Aizu Shoami
    1 point
  28. Dear Dale. I think your questions answer themselves, though the examples I have seen have been stunning. Indeed some of them were the very first Japanese works of art that made a profound impression on me as a child when I saw them in our local museum. Major auction houses tend to catalogue these in a different section to the tsuba they list so for most people I would suggest they are a different class of item. All the best.
    1 point
  29. So, this begs the question, have some of the 3rd Version NCO swords (e.g., the "Pineapple sword", the segmented pattern wood Tsuka type, etc.) been known to have these medium-brown tassels attached? Is there photographic evidence from the war? And, please clarify if you may, I was under the impression that some late war Type 98's had these medium-brown tassels attached, instead of the typical company-grade brown & blue tassels. Also, I haven't yet had time to check out the info from IJA swords, or search this site for Neil's thread on Tassel storage, but will do that this evening.
    1 point
  30. Congratulations John. having just "tuned in" for the day I missed this most marvelous offering by Steve. Earlier I might have been the one who "got to it first" as Curran put it. However, its not all downside as I have other Nihonto bills to pay for equally enjoyable items... BaZZa.
    1 point
  31. Thanks guys and Steve. All completed. John
    1 point
  32. Thanks for the replies. I actually already have some goof off due to a child based art project on my kitchen counter.. Good times.
    1 point
  33. They look to both be Navy tassels, the one on the left has thinner straps usually seen from the 30's. These earlier tassels didn't all have colourfast dyes and would fade quickly. Telling apart the brown Gunzoku from navy tassels isn't easy these days. From memory @IJASWORDS swords has good examples of both to compare clearly.
    1 point
  34. Hi Geoff, I dont have a lot of experience with tassels but I have a few and have asked similar questions of memvers in the past. My opinion....firstly they are probably both Navy as the IJA didnt have plain brown UNLESS the person was Gunzuko and I believe some civilians 'engaged' by the IJA, had brown tassel (might need some clarification on the Gunzuko/brown tassel) In regard to colour variation, you will notice the left one is more worn and also lighter in shade. To me that means it just seen more wear, sun, salt and rain. Converserly, the one on the right is less worn and has a deeper 'newer' colour. I think navy tassel have many shades of brown due to the conditions mentioned above and also variations in manufacturing processes and materials. Just look at the many variations in the colour of the ito on kai guntos. I like them both Rob
    1 point
  35. Looks like the smith's name is Kanesada (兼定). The last character looks a bit funny. (This is a way of saying, "If I am wrong, I blame the bad handwriting of the swordsmith"). The other side shows the date. Shōwa 18 (1943) June. 昭和十八年六月
    1 point
  36. I think the Kunimune in the opening post might have the bottom kanji for Uda (宇多) showing above Kunimune, with first one missing. Still not a genuine Uda Kunimune signature either in my opinion.
    1 point
  37. Also I think the paper is neutral in that sense as it just states there is shumei with attribution, so it does not confirm the shumei attribution but instead goes against it and attribution in paper is as described before. The wakizashi looks quite nice to my eye from the little that can be seen in the few bottom pics.
    1 point
  38. Alban I have an image from an article published by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1912 of a Choshu school guard from the 18th century.
    1 point
  39. Thank you Luc, The ressei menpo, from momoyama / early Edo period is made of natural iron with yasurime, mustache and beard in silver lacquer and non-removable nose typical of the early Iwai school, maybe by Iwai Yozaemon imself ,the Tokugawa Ieyasu armourer, (we can dream .). An amazing feature of this menpo (which I haven't, yet, found on others) is that it doesn't have a sweat-draining hole under the chin, probably it was more intended for presenting an armor than intended for use in the field.
    1 point
  40. I'm another zip bag storage guy....only difference is that my tassel bags have a numbered tag that links to the numbered tag on sword. I keep the tassels in a drawer out of the light/heat etc.
    1 point
  41. This is the storage guide for silk items from the smithsonian: I keep most of mine on swords but the rare or already fragile examples I have stay in a storage box, away from light. Putting on and taking off a tassel is the most stressful thing to them. If a tassel is already starting to show signs of fragility best to store it safely rather then on a sword.
    1 point
  42. These Jinsen Arsenal swords were made in the last few months of the war before its end in August 1945. To date i have only seen them in the serial number range of 300k to 302k, so only some 2000 were actually made if you go by that. So they are 'rarer' than the more highly prized (and priced) 1st Pattern Copper Handled version, where some 6500 were only made.
    1 point
  43. Pictures added for posterity
    1 point
  44. Geoff, you made a very important point, once you start on the Gunto journey, your goals certainly evolve with time. After starting out with a couple of Gunto, I decided to learn more, and purchased the fantastic publication by DAWSON. My goal was then to collect every WW2 variation in Dawson's book, NCO, 94, 98, Late war RS , and KAI Gunto. As well as the tassels and sword belts and hangers. I achieved this, and along the way, found examples Dawson hadn't documented. To get to that goal, it took the space of a whole room, and it goes without saying, a bucket load of $$$$! A turning point was meeting a local collector that specialized in Gendai-to. It then became "all about the blade". This was further emphasized when I accompanied him to the DTI held in Japan. Whilst there I found a SADAKATSU with AYASUGI Hada made in 1933, polished with Tokubetsu Hozon papers. I was converted to collecting good Gendai smiths. So many collectors around the world have benefitted from my selling off a large part of what I had accumulated. So the journey was not wasted by any means. I learned a lot, have made and kept many friends, and importantly sold off swords at basically what I paid for them. So I hope the swords I disposed of, help a new generation of enthusiasts, that in itself is worthwhile. So at some time there comes a "life changing moment", like my SADAKATSU, that speaks to you and says, "this is the new direction I want to go".
    1 point
  45. There is a number on the saya the last I checked and the last time I've actually held the sword in hand was in Christmas when I went over to my grandparents house, and I don't think I'll take the handle off now realizing the risks of it. But I will look the next time I go over!
    1 point
  46. I'm personally into that combination of age and personality with swords. I also LOVE a beautiful type 94/98 gunto mounted ancestral blade. I wanted a Mantetsu because it seems the most recent and last militarily/war used Japanese engineering attempt to improve the sword. I prefer 26" and above nagasa. Didn't want a wakizashi originally but now have 3 (still not that into them). Didn't want a yari but now I have one...those make you want a naginata...the classic rabbit hole. I love non-traditional themes in fittings preferably attached to myth/stories/artistic themes. I've found I also love different bohi styles on blades and love the different ways to accent/decorate a blade. I still need an o-kissaki blade (preferably with naginata-hi) and will always be tempted by a blade with a red laquer bohi...always. Beyond that I really haven't gotten into a strong desire to focus on specific smiths/schools or even hamon styles as I find something to love in each. Prefer early edo and older. Would also love a daisho with personality and will always keep my collection at 20 or less swords. If I ever get to 20 I have to sell one to buy one.
    1 point
  47. From a moss-backed old timer... Learn the nengo Learn the Ju-nishi Learn the provinces Learn the common kanji used in swordmaker names (Yumoto) Learn the common order for information in signatures (Place, title, family name, artist name...) It is actually not that much to memorize compared to the amount of kanji one needs to read a newspaper. Besides the above when I asked Fukunaga Sensei what was the best way to learn to read mei he answered "Study Calligraphy" (as suggested above...) -t
    1 point
  48. Luc, Indeed, I look back and hope that the times we spent in Firenze can be repeated. Ian Bottomley
    1 point
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