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So, what is there not to like about a Kai Gunto? And what is there not to like if it has a MINATAGOWA JINJA blade? Here is a January, 1943, MASANAO. A colleague recently commented that war time blades normally have a badly cut nakago, this one proves that some are cut pretty nicely.

Dear Brian. You are asking a question that is impossible to answer. You say that it is by a certain maker and ask if it would be worth upgrading the status; it already has papers. So far so good. If the flaws in the shinogi ji, which by the way would be described as kitae ware, or forging flaws, are what you are asking about then welcome to the world of Koto, these are not serious. However you don't even tell us if this is a katana or wakizashi. I assume that it is a katana. So, you have a katana with papers by a known maker which is suriage but still retains it's mei, it seems to be in good polish and we can assume shirasaya but what about koshirae? It is being offered by a friend who you, 'really trust and respect', so what is the question? You trust the seller, you can afford it, (I hope!) and presumably you like it. So buy it. A lot of people will tell you that you can get a better deal but at the end of the day regard this a s a hobby which is going to cost you. The rewards in terms of satisfaction and delight are tremendous, they are worth the money. You will study this and learn a lot about swords from owning it, it will start to create your mental map of the history of the sword and Japan. What's not to like? Will you be able to sell it and make your money back? Who knows? Do you really care about that? In effect you are paying to rent a piece of history and high craft, if not art. It will bring you a measure of joy if it can be owned without too much financial pressure. Let us know what you decide. All the best.

Gentlemen, Some of the " old timers " on this forum will remember me. My Name is Ron Watson. I am 74 now and since my son & grandson have no real interest nor money, I wish my modest collection of Japanese Art Works to go to those who have a serious interest in preserving and studying the ARTS of the SAMURAI. I will start off slowly with three items and we'll see how things progress. I will try and add a items a week . At that rate I should finish in about a year. My entire collection is available and I do NOT plan on hanging on to but an item or two which I have promised as a keepsake to my son & grandson. I did many articles for the NMB and I believe that most of these are Archived, ... so if you scan thru the articles and see an item I have not yet listed, an email to : 766watson@gmail.com will get a reply. All sales will be FINAL and payment by International Money Order or Wire Transfer to my bank. I must warn you however that given the WORLD"S confusion and being totally frustrated with SHIPPING RULES, ... I will only ship within the rules of CANADA to International Buyers. I will not use CANADA POST as our Post Office is no longer reliable for anything which will cut and / or possibly fire a projectile ( even if ANTIQUE ). For all other items I can use CANADA POST but will have to quote individual shipping costs for both Canadian and International BUYERS. I believe Air Canada Cargo will handle or possibly Fedex but I am not sure of Fedex. Anyway Buyer is responsible for shipping and shipping costs. The First Item : Katana Sword in newly custom made Saya with period Fittings ( Fuchi, Kashira and Menuki ) and Waterwheel Tsuba of nice iron. The Fuchi Kashira with gold and silver on a Shakado base ( unsigned ) Tsuka is new and wrapped with good quality same and silk. Katana is signed : Yamashiro ( no ) Kuni Heianjo Ju ( Nobuyoshi ) Nagasa : 71.9 cm Sword Shape : Hon Zukuri Jihada : Ko Mokume Hamon : Choji Midaire Era : Late Muromachi ( 1490 - 1510 AD ) Period : Sue Koto Boshi : Kaeri-Fukashi, with Mune-Yaki extending back over the mune for about 14cm. Sunagashi is prevelent, as is occassional line of Kinsuji The Shinogi-ji has patches of hitasura spaced evenly along its entire length. APPRAISED and papered by Kotoken Kajihara in 1984 Photographs may be seen by referring to an Article I did for the NMB by typing in the search box " A Favorite Sword Ron Watson " This article is archived by NMB and was done in 2010. For additional photographs please email me. PRICE $ 10,000.00 US FIRM

On a whim this evening I decided to lay out three of my Type 97's to compare their sayas - photos attached. In the first photo, from Left to Right: Toyokawa arsenal with black lacquer saya, Toyokawa arsenal with lacquered shagreen (shark skin) saya, Tenshozan Forge with lacquered ray skin saya. In the second photo, close-ups of the sayas' surfaces from Top to Bottom: Tenshozan Forge with ray skin saya, Toyokawa Arsenal with shagreen saya, Toyokawa Arsenal with black lacquered saya. I find the various Kai Gunto saya types interesting.

I just purchased this kodzuka and pair of menuki attributed to Araki Tomei. No certification. They are superb whether by him or not and of the quality I expect. Anyhow I share the videos. John

So, I just got one of my Type 97's back from my local Koshirae repair guy after he performed a Tsuka re-wrap. This is a Hattori Masahiro (of Takayama Forge fame) Kai Gunto that I purchased a few months ago. The Ito was torn and was generally in bad shape - needed a re-wrap. Randy has a solid reputation for doing excellent Koshirae restoration work and I'm very happy with the results (and his price was very reasonable). I'm fortunate that he resides in my area, so I did not have to ship the sword to him. Attached are Before and After photos.

The problem is that there is no name at all for this variant. In his article Unveiling Rinjiseishiki Sword in 1940 (a very good read, BTW), Nick states: "This word, "Rinjiseishiki", was a social buzz word in 1938, as even the new coinage issued to conserve war-critical metals were called Rinjiseishiki Coins, reflecting an overall shortage of raw materials caused by the China Incident of July 1937." and after explaining the Uniform Regulation "loop hole" that allowed the creation of the variant, he says "If "Rinjiseishiki" is too much of a mouthful, now we can call it a "Type 98 Wartime Variant Version", as it was approved by the emperor as a package with the Type 98." Much of our lingo is for ease of communication, so I like "RS" as well. Much less typing!

Had a few RS swords with Sarute. This one is original, still has traces of the "bronzing" finish used on many outfits.

I have 5 Rinji mounted swords ranging in quality from the steel scabbard type through high quality lacquer mounts up to one-off private mounting....NONE had/have a tassel. All those (maybe 12) I have seen in hand also had no tassels. Maybe we can have some feedback from members on this...did your Rinji (or should I say 'Alternative') swords have a tassel when you found them, or did you put them on? I'm not saying that they never had tassels, but just that I have never seen an original still in place. Regards,

Never seen one that has basket weave and the sukashi style. Any thoughts on provenance on this one

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

Kanekado. Grey

I like the look of the kaigunto, too. Here's my 3. Top to bottom - mumei Koto blade in leather-covered shagreen saya, mumei Takayama-to in combat saya, Seki stamped Yoshishige in standard saya The shagreen:

I've been in this forum for several years now and I have seen a lot of interesting and great Tosogu. However, I can't remember ever seen old Koshirae here. All of them were from the Edo period or later. For this reason I would like to show you a Uchigatana Koshirae from the Momoyama period. A koshirae for a single handed sword that would have been used by a warrior on horseback as an auxiliary weapon to a tachi. Examples of these are very rare and sought after. The tsuka has a very nice hourglass form and is rather thin with black lacquer same wrapped in asa cords. The matching fuchi kashira are in a light shakudo, possibly shibuichi which matches the material of the tsuba. The ko kinko shishi menuki show good form with good patina. The tsuba is punched with star designs on the surface which still retain quite a bit of black lacquer from the fighting days. The kurikata of the saya still has its Momoyama period fittings which are carved from one piece rather than being a central piece with seppa. This style is known on high quality pieces during the sengoku period. In all a very rare and high quality piece. There are some flea bites to the saya lacquer and there are some minor spots of old urushi repair that are not noticeable and actually add to the beauty of this very well matched and restrained samurai piece. Kindest regards

Very good photos of your swords Neil. Great sword.

Greetings, it’s been a while, I hope everyone is healthy and safe during this pandemic. I recently purchased a kyu gunto and I believe it is a Murata Do in Mukade Giri Maru style.

always be type 3 to me...lol

I will bet that most Nihonto enthusiasts have seen this film by Akira Kurosawa (1954 B&W, subtitled), but perhaps not all newcomers. It is just about my favorite movie and gives a lot in understanding the culture of Japanese society in the late Muromachi Period. I've just finished reading (again) my copy of Seven Samurai written by Joan Mellen published by BFI Film Classics. I think I may have gotten it thru Amazon five or so years ago . Anyways it is a very interesting commentary on Kurosawa, his film and viewpoint of Japanese society of the time. I highly recommend this enjoyable read. Best Regards, Mark

Beautiful kai-gunto swords. I have two, both in almost perfect condition.

And a remake of it. What movie did Clint Eastwood make as a spaghetti western wher he played town bosses against each other was that few $$ more? Made from Yojimbo.. It tells the story of a rōnin, portrayed by Toshiro Mifune, who arrives in a small town where competing crime lords vie for supremacy. The two bosses each try to hire the newcomer as a bodyguard. Bruce Willis made one too set in the 30s

It was interesting to learn, a while back, that the western Magnificant Seven, was modeled after the movie.

Hi Brian, is your sword the same sword shown in your link, lost double Hi to many polishes? BEST

Re. Item No. 112 Hi Evan and Patrick , Thanks for your contributions / kind words on this Tsuba. As I say , this is a relatively new area for me and so any help or advice would be gratefully received . I think that there are in excess of fifty Sukashi Iron pieces still to be posted on this thread , so , if you have the time , please come back and look every so often... Regards

Ron ol boy so good to see you post again. Year or two on ya but hardy a fraction of your collection. My son had some interest, but not the caretaker want to keep. Wishing you the best in your quest.

Love it, Geoff! The old gal now has a pretty new dress! Ha! I once read that the Samurai used to replace the ito on their swords once per year, so a gunto getting new ito is well within normal practice. At least you will always have the "before" pics if the gunto ever changes hands, you can provide the photos in the sale to have full disclosure and pass on it's war history.

Hello Dieter, no, the Koshirae has no papers but that is not so important to me and especially not necessarily meaningful. Providience is much more important to me. The Koshirae comes from the collection of Andrew Mancabelli. I bought this Koshirae from him just before the Yamabushi antiques website was closed. He was and is one of the few who offer antique Koshirae at all. You can check out some koshirae from him at "Kokusai Tosogu Kai - 7th International Convention & Exhibition 2011". Two of them were also offered on the webside "Yamabushi antiques" at the same time as the one I have shown here. Or check out who Andrew Mancabelli is. Kindest regards

Me too I have a similar one to Rob's I thought that it's shibuichi... I have another one, that I suppose to be made of shibuichi too, and its color is very similar. I made a photo of the both. I think the goose is made of shakudo, the difference in color is obvious. So the plate is shibuichi, isn't it?

There's a reputable sword polisher in San Francisco?

Also, a new pair of menuki (authentic, not replica) were added because one set of the gunto's original pair of menuki was missing. I wanted the menuki to match, so I removed the remaining menuki from the Tsuka and added the pair of matching menuki that were spare parts harvested from a salvaged Kai Gunto tsuka I had in my inventory.

Bruce, unfortunately I just recorded makers names and dates from any and all sources I could find that had star stamps. I am attaching some images and description of the mounts of some of mine that I used in my article for the NCJSC newsletter. Image 1 Typical mountings1Type 98 typical mounts.docx

Yea f**k this Rin Tin Tin mumbojumbo Sorry for the opinion this is fine looking sword in type 3 mounts wink wink.

More about 800 years. Probably this guy? https://nihontoclub.com/smiths/SUK158 Or this guy: https://nihontoclub.com/smiths/SUK159 Still, a fantastic sword!

Agreed. Love Katchimushi, and the style of your particular tsuba. The dragonfly head is too small for a Kogai-ana, but somehow reminiscent.

https://www.touken-sato.com/event/katana/2012/04/K-kobizen_sukekane-01.html Sukekane　助包

Agree with Dale, very nice one. I especially like the dragon fly!

To me it looks like someone just “customized” the tsuba post war by cutting it down. Just my guess. Tom

Hello Mark, Thanks for showing us this book. I just found / bought one in "like New" condition for 15 dollars . I did not think of a book of "commentary" for this samurai classic. Had one copy there that was in "acceptable condition " for little over 8 dollars . There is so much to learn/gain in these commentaries. On DVD Videos, THE CRITERION COLLECTION 's Seven Samurai ( and many other Kurosawa movies) has audio commentary, too... , and, are quite informative and is time well spent. Amazing details can be learned. Thanks for posting... Edited/Added on 9/10/21 - Did you know, even though Akira Kurosawa had Toshio Mifune at TOHO Studios, Akira Kurosawa never made a " Miyamoto Musashi " Movie. It was Hiroshi Inagaki that made the movie ( Trilogy ) based on Eiji Yoshikawa's novel "Musashi". Just a trivia about Kurosawa.

Here is a blog entry by a fellow collector, speaking on flaws on old blades. I'd recommend giving it a read: https://blog.yuhindo.com/fatality/ Trust what Darcy says, man knows his stuff!

Yes, that's what I was thinking. The kabutogane and fuchi look civil, so likely re-fitted with the Army tsuba/seppa and leather covered saya.

First thought - you are very lucky to own it!

Sorry I am late to this thread, but I wish to add my Owari vote. The maru mimi is a head scratcher but Owari (kanayama) will have such niku sometimes that it can appear almost a maru cross section. From your image it is a little hard to tell. Akasaka, even later ones, will reliably have nakadaka (higher in the center) but yours is dished boasting a thicker mimi. Kodai Akasaka were made small, but even then they were generally 7,0-7,3 cm where Owari (Kanayama, because yours reminds me of that particular production center) were smaller. And finally, most Akasaka makers had some version of yose tagane markings much different than yours. In fact, I rather associate those tagane marks in yours with Kanayama, because of those I own that is their look. Won't typically see those in Akasaka. My 2cents I have attached an image of a small Kanayama tsuba displaying those typical tagane marks. Best Regards,

Akasaka, moon and pine with bats (the moon is the circle, not a crescent IMO). Had a similar-ish one a while back.

Item No. 112 Iron Sukashi Tsuba 7.50 cm x 7.42 cm x 0.59 cm Subject of crescent moon & bats ? School unknown . Beautiful , silky , dark patina on iron . This is a recent addition to the collection - any ideas about subject ? This is all new material to me and I know there are a lot of Iron Tsuba specialists out there , if I could kindly ask for some assistance ... The piece seems to have been valued at some time - it has its own high quality custom made box . Thanks !

Many of them are carbon steel, the blades vary widely in these from oil quenched mill steel to the finest Gendai by top smiths of the era.

Yes, Navy officers dirk. Most of these are non-traditional blades with etched Hamon. The tangs are generally blank, the Sakura in the middle of the handle is the Mekugi and is a threaded design. http://ohmura-study.net/908.html

Good morning all, and yes it is a good morning. A couple weeks ago I posted my concerns about a recent Tanto purchase being stolen while in the care of the USPS. Well it arrived yesterday safe and sound. I want to thank all of you here that responded with their support. I also would like to thank the seller Volker from Germany for the great transaction, the extraordinary packing and the follow up with me and DHL. Let me say to others that may end up in the same situation, Don’t Give Up, Stay On The Shipper, Don’t Except that they Can’t Find Your package and close your case. I filed 5 claims on this package with the USPS. I had the claims expedited two times. During all of this the USPS sent me Two emails stating that they were sorry but my package was untraceable and lost. I then reopened my claims and made two calls to Consumers Affairs and filed claims with them. During this time Volker was also in touch with DHL. I believe that if we didn’t stay on the USPS and had accepted that they Couldn’t Find It I would have never received it. I still believe in being Pro Active in cases like this, when something doesn’t look right or feel right, get on it right away. If you feel it may be missing post pictures here so that all the good people can be on the look out for it if it should surface and most of all DO NOT EXCEPT THE SHORT ANSWERS THAT IT IS JUST LOST. Stay on it and push it. Again thank you all for your support, thank you Volker for the sale and all your help. I am Now the Proud New Caretaker of a beautiful blade that has finally found its way to its new home. MikeR

Might be 😀 John

I think you were bit too fast to pull the trigger Kirill. As we are spread among multiple time zones and countries it is different for others. I was actually just looking into this when you posted the answer. I can't claim that I would have guessed it. I would have guessed Senjuin. Based on my limited info I could gather from the OP. However as you posted the example by school founder that made my guess kinda impossible. I looked into Tanobes Yamashiro book and there is oshigata of Jūyō blade by Sadatoshi that has quite similar looking upper portion as your hint there. Ayanokōji is fascinating and not too commonly known school, I am puzzled how Sadatoshi is appreciated very highly but rest of the school almost falls into obscurity.

The drum shipment was several years ago, Mark, so no COVID to deal with. My consulting company had an account with DHL, so I just got a quote from them, something we did several times a week. I think the drum took about nine days to arrive from New York to Hawaii. It wasn't until my office manager handed me the $3500 bill that I knew there was any problem. I started with my account manager, who blew me off, saying that the invoice didn't come from him. So I went up the line, until I was dealing with some faceless idiot, who totally ignored anything & everything that I sent. I asked our lawyer if I should pay the $225, & he recommended against it until DHL made the correction. That never happened, & I never paid the $225. Of course I terminated our company's account, too.

Where to begin? There are several statements presented here as fact that are simply wrong. Ford is obviously the best person to make corrections but I’ll give it a try. 1) While there are chemical treatments that can turn copper black, they are not Japanese patina treatments. 2) Shakudo color depends on the gold content of the alloy and this changed over time. Older shakudo contains between about 1 and 10% gold, a trace of silver, and a trace of arsenic, the Ag and As being impurities. Some lead and iron are sometimes found. The shakudo I’m most familiar with is about 5 to 7% gold and is basically copper color but with a tinge of pink before it’s patinated. I’ve never seen brass or gold colored shakudo. 3) Shakudo does not have a high content of silver. Copper and silver make shibuichi and the color varies with the concentration of silver only after patinization. 4) Kuromido is an alloy of copper and arsenic that also starts out copper colored but turns dark brown to black when patinated. However, kuromido does not acquire the “crow feather” black of shakudo. Hope this helps.