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Dear Bob, your tsuba Item No. 111 depicts the Dragon King’s (Ryujin - king of the sea) messenger presenting the two Tide Jewels (one can make the tide ebb and the other makes the tide flow) to Takenouchi no Sukune. He was an advisor to Empress Jingo and helped her in defeating Korea using these Tide Jewels.

At first glance, it looks like a nice, old kotō sword, from sometime before the mid 1500s. Originally it would have been slightly longer than it is now, and it was shortened (from the tang end) to its current lenth. This is common, especially in older swords. One sign of this is the abrupt, horizontal cut-off on the tang. Another is the extra hole added to the tang (so that the new handle would fit properly on the newly-shortened sword). I say "at first glance" because there was a revival of old sword styles beginning in the late 1700s or early 1800s, whereby smiths deliberately copied old sword styles. Your sword could be one of these revival styles. Forget about the fittings for a moment, as these are almost certainly later additions/creations, and while they are valuable on their own, and valuable to the ensemble, they aren't necessarily contemporary to when the sword was first made. In fact, they look to me like they were made/assembled in the 1800s. Its not a good, or bad judgment. Its just a way of saying that in this case the sword is the thing to focus on. (The little metal bits in the handle - "menuki" - are in the shape of folded fans). As above, there are some nasty fingerprints on the sword, which will hopefully come off with a very gentle wipe of a soft cloth. As Pietro says, microfiber (Microdear) is the best. There is a nasty weld opening in the sword which usually means the sword wasn't made by a grand master swordsmith, but don't freak out about this now, and definitely do not try any polishing on this sword no matter how tempted you are. Limit your restoration efforts to the wiping with the microfiber cloth. The next step would be to either show it in hand to someone knowledgeable about swords, or send pictures to a properly trained polisher to find out more about professional restoration. Your sword is much older than WW2. Age doesn't always equal value as there are a million variables that determine value, but so far it looks interesting.

Dear members, i was wondering what you guys think of this Kake i made. i know it is very simple but it serves the purpose and the focus is on the sword itself. if someone is interested let me know i could make more of them in different wood colors and sizes. Best, Ciro

Looks like 竹下宏國作之 - Takeshita Hirokuni saku kore (kore [w]o saku).

An interesting piece I handled recently (NFS). Smaller naginatanaoshi wakizashi in kaigunto koshirae.

Here is a (Kojima) KANEMICHI,1941, and Seki stamp. This is a high-grade Showato blade, which the original owner thought enough about to put it in an aluminum saya, with the rare extended drag. Thanks to Slough for the page from his book.

Check out the thread below where this smith is discussed.

Chirs I do not have all 8 types of the NCO sword, but I do have quite a few Type 95 and Zohei-to（造兵刀）， not as many as John or Stegel though.

Item no. 111 - Tsuba in Shakudo with shibuichi , gold , copper and shakudo highlights 6.47 cm x 5.70 cm x 0.42 cm Subject of General being presented with sacred pearls by an oni ? With signature of Hamano Hiroyoshi ? A possibly rare piece of work from an artist who apparently died young 1810 - 1835 . Can anyone verify signature , also the theme features possibly a well known tale ? A nicely made piece , as one would expect from this School.

D, That's quite a story! Any idea who buried it? Seki Kanemoto is listed as an RJT qualified smith, so there is a chance this blade was made the traditional way. Any chance of finding a star stamp above the smiths' name, possibly around the hole? Any other stamps visible around the top of the tang, even on the back edge of it?

What a lovely Kai Gunto, the extended Ishikuze is a nice addition.

And to see just how much information can be transmitted by a kinzogan, please check out https://www.nihonto.com/about-the-characteristics-and-rules-of-kinzogan-setsudan-mei-with-a-focus-on-the-yamano-family/ Don't be too quick to buy a blade just because it has a gold orm silver inlay.

very nice Ray

Hi Jake, Watch out for fake NCO's swords - they are the most faked of any type of Gunto. Most of the fakes seem to come from China. The first version Type 95 NCO swords are the most commonly faked (the ones with the brass tsuba). This sword appears legit to me. It's the 1st variation of the 2nd version Type 95 characterized by a plain iron tsuba and top-latch release mechanism (note: the 2nd variation, less common, of the 2nd version features a side-latch release mechanism). The 3rd version of the Type 95 is nicknamed the "Pineapple sword" due to it's having a wood tsuka with cross-hatch pattern cut into it, and there are even later variations of it featuring a different style of wood handle. Anyway, these Type 95 NCO swords are usually sold in the $800 - $1200.00 USD range. I have seen some sell for as high as $1600.00. And then there's the very rare copper-handled NCO swords - those sell for thousands of dollars. They were the very first of the Type 95's and less than 7,000 were produced, if I remember correctly. You can find decent Type 98's and Rinji Sieshiki's for around $900 - $1200.00 if made by a Seki smith or a low-ranked swordsmith. The Type 98's made by RJT smiths go for more, sometimes a lot more - often $2000 - $3000.00+. Then, there's the swords that come with ancestral (family) blades and they can be quite pricey, as well. Also, the Type 97 Kai Guntos (Navy swords) can be expensive, though you may still be able to acquire a sword with an arsenal blade (such as Toyokawa) for under $1200.00. I have only skimmed the surface here and I am giving estimates based on what I have seen and experienced with buying swords over this past year. I am new to the hobby, as well. I'll learned a lot about the hobby and about Gunto collecting since the start of the year. Good luck and happy collecting!

All i have is Hirokuni made. Please fill in blank before his name. Also trying to find Hiro kanji in E swords dont match any idea on which i should look under.

A while back I think Chris Bowen said that Hirokuni was actually a smith named Yasukuni and that he used Hirokuni as his RJT name.

Yes it is Inaba, see Naval Swords NMB Downloads page 90 +

Ben, don’t give up hope just yet. I had a similar experience with a fairly valuable tanto in silver issaku koshirae which was being returned from the US to the UK after polish. It was sent by USPS express post, which should have taken 3-5 days. The tanto was posted on the 24th April and did not arrive until the 18th June. On the website, it was tracked leaving LA, arrived in Brazil and then disappeared for a couple of weeks. It then reappeared in LA, went to Salt Lake City, Chicago, and New York, before finally leaving America and disappearing again. After almost a month of travelling across international waters, it finally arrived in the UK. It’s quite a stressful experience, so I can sympathise with you, but try not to give up on it, and hopefully it will appear again.

Thanks go to all of you, Morita San, Steve San and Kyle San. What a great surprise that it was made by Iwamoto Konkan! I will have to show you both sides of the tsuba. The other side is iron and very different from the side you can see. The tsuba is the two types of metal welded together right down the middle. I haven't seen that before.

The Type 95 is authentic and was made by Iijima. It is a late war production piece and it is in really nice shape. This was the last production run from this factory and the highest I have seen is 162827. I think @Stegel & @Shamsy would like to look at it too.

Don't be quite so quick to use DHL. I had a custom o-daiko (large taiko drum) made on the east coast, & shipped via DHL. Their quoted $225 seemed a bit high, but I agreed, anyway, only to get a bill for more than $3500! I sent them back a copy of their quote, & an offer to pay the $225, which they ignored, so I ignored them, & they finally quite harassing me, two years later.

Returning the sword. Got a remarkably better one from Stephen on the site. Will literally be treasured. This one is riddled with evidence of an awful amateur polish

I have a feeling I saw it somewhere, but can't find anything in my library... Help is appreciated.

To me, it has the feeling of being as described. Of course that's just an opinion, but it's a lovely set and typical of what was actually used, and not put together for collectors. I can see why you like it so much, and I'm glad you shared it. Thanks Thomas.

Hi Christian, Hello all... I watched Akira Kurasawas's Biography, and, the Seven Samurai with commentary , and, The Technical Advisor for the Seven Samurai was Muniyuki Myochin , the 51st for the Myochin Family. But, as you say, since it is a fictional.

There is such a thing, and if you have been discussed here on the forum. In the pictures it can be a little difficult to distinguish between the two. The zoheito tend to have a bit more curve in the blade and shorter nakago.

Hi Jeremiah, yes, shibuichi is the least poetic of the alloy's names, and actually inaccurate in most cases to boot. 朧 銀 can be read as either Oboro-gin or Rō-gin , hazy or misty silver.

Bob, when I opened the page I first looked at the image, saw the fish theme, and thought ‘Iwamoto work’. I had not heard of Asai before, and looked him up. It seems that Asai Ryōun was the early name of Iwamoto Konkan… With regards to the hakogaki, it should be read from left to right. So what you have would be read as ‘Asai Ryōun gyotaku meijin Ryōkan monjin Edo Yotsuya jū’ (浅井良云魚拓名人良寛門人江戸四谷住) In terms of translation, it should be interpreted as ‘Asai Ryōun (浅井良云), master of fish prints (魚拓名人), student of Ryōkan (良寛門人), resident of Yotsuya, Edo (江戸四谷住)’ .

Nice set ! The mei says Asai Ryoun, 浅井良云

Brian, you are getting at something important, I think. One of my gripes is the lowering of standards in education (testing and grading for example) that I believe promotes incompetence. Education has become too "touchy, feely" imo, where no student fails. On this forum, I appreciate it more when advice is given bluntly and honestly - then, one knows where improvement is needed. An honest "F" sends a clear message; whereas a phony "B" does not.

Used UPS a few weeks ago Bought a $2600.00 valued sword. Was bullied into using UPS by the auction house 3rd party shipping with them guaranteeing me a long delay and maybe problems with USPS for my item. Paid $660 to ship it with duty and brokerage fees from Florida to BC Canada Like WTF man ??? It's a racket like the mob now because shipping is a circus at the moment unless local.

Please consider registered mail. https://www.stamps.com/usps/registered-mail/ It has its own room, when you drop off at PO, each time it's handled it has to be signed for and noted who did it. UPS store is a racket, they rip you off in price. One of the few things I've lost was via UPS store.

Item No. 108 - Iron Tsuba with gold 76.9 cm x 7.12 cm x 0.56 cm Subject of peony and shi-shi in sunken relief cave or caverns. Signed Yoshihiro- age unknown. Could this Yoshihiro be from the Myochin lineage ? If so it would be of considerable age but somehow it feels younger in the hand. High grade workmanship all round with painstaking details on the rock carving and a highly animated shi-shi almost leaping free from the plate. The peony, eye and bud appear to have been carved from solid gold . The plate itself showing pleasing grain structure , not untypical of Myochin , hence the question above regarding artist school. As usual , any comments , help or corrections gratefully received.

As always, a beauty, Neil! And in one gunto, it has items for three files - Showa stamped blade, Dot on Nakago, and Patented sayajiri. Thanks!

Have I posted this one before? No idea, but with Australia's lockdown laws, I am looking for something to do. I picked this up ages ago from a collector that didn't like the polish, his loss is my gain I guess, I LOVE it! A Hokke Saburo NOBUFUSA, no date, in my view a very good smith. It also helps being in mint mounts as well. I acknowledge the page from Slough's wonderful book.

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/

Dear Alban, instead of kendo gear, I believe your tsuba shows a samurai. What you are seeing as a "men" or kendo helmet is actually the sode (shoulder armor). I think that your tsuba shows Kanemitsu or Tomomori.

Item No. 75 - Fuchi Kashira in Shibuichi with gold , copper , silver and shakudo Subject of ancient flowering cherry tree - Tsuji school mid edo , 18th cent. Provenence - G.H.Naunton Collection W.L.Behrens Collection Lundgren Collection , no.282 Published in - W.L.Behrens Collection by Henri L Joly , Volume 3 , plate LXIII , no.2394 All the above is quite impressive , especially for a F/K set that appears to be an associated pairing by different schools. The style of the blossoms differ , as does the colour of the base shibuici. To me , the design does not ' flow together ' between the pieces and there is also the matter of a signature appearing in the underside of the kashira ( unless it was just a fitting instruction , like ' this side down ' ). As usual , any comments please ?

Love the buffalo details. Small alteration below. 長州萩住友次作 Cho-Shu Hagi Ju, Tomotsugu Saku.

As requested

This video just happened to pop up as a suggestion to watch. I felt compelled to see a "rare 1 million dollar katana". At first glance of the cover picture, I was already thinking that the fittings looked like junk, but was hoping to be surprised when watching the video. It took me to the 14 second mark to know this sword was junk. Gotta give props to Mike Yamasaki for being kind to the gentlemen. lol

I sent a sword to Woody for polishing. Shipped it through the UPS Store. UPS in Las Vegas delivered it to the wrong address and can not locate it. A few things I learned. 1) When you ship from the UPS Store, they are technically the shipper. UPS will not file a claim from the customer (shipper). The only folks who can file a claim are the shipper (UPS Store) or the receiver. 2) Make sure you note signature required and pay for the appropriate insurance coverage, 3) Contact the receiver right away when you get the notification that it has been delivered. Even when it states signature required, it looks like they won't collect a signature. And since you are not technically a shipper, you're not going to be able to get a copy of the proof of signed receipt. 4) Good luck with updates and follow through with the UPS store. You have to keep calling them and be a pain in their butts for them to follow up. Luckily, Woody has been a good partner in helping me file a claim for this. Hopefully I get the sword back. Its not looking too likely.

I once met a man who had collected 25 such swords... BaZZa.