Brian

It's definitely not real unfortunately. A decorative wallhanger.

Beautiful job Tom.

Calm down folks. Julien is nice enough to to engage here, that is more than many are willing to do, and the fact that Ray vouches for him says a lot in my mind. This isn't a witch hunt. Let's be polite, and maybe if you have questions, direct message or email is best. If you choose to post here, I'll be watching for rudeness or confrontation. I prefer dealers/sellers feel welcome enough to post here. Thanks for posting Julien and all the best.

Love that small teppo shaped one.

As Tim and other said , this is a kozuka (handle) and kogatana (blade) that was carried as an accessory/utility knife in the side of the scabbard of the sword. Basically call it a Samurai's Swiss Army knife :-) Sometimes the blades are forged and folded and have a small hamon, sometimes they are plain steel, hardened. They are collected on their own as well as with the complete koshirae of the sword. The blades aren't permanently installed. Sometimes friction fit with a slight bend in the tang, sometimes pine pitch etc. Often they can be moved or removed and are loose. Not huge value, but a pair like this would go for over 100-150 bucks. Nice little accoutrements and decently well made.

Why do so many of these lack the pan cover? Argh. I think 3 out of my 4 are missing that. Wish someone made blanks that could be hand fitted and altered.

No, nothing wrong with posting it...I just wanted to remind people that they have a wealth of knowledge there available anytime, and not to forget. All good.

Steven, There is no need to have the sword authenticated if all you want to know is whether it's genuine or not. It is. 100% Japanese antique tanto, a few 100 years old. Now as far as the signature is concerned, fake signatures were very common throughout the history of Japanese swords. It's thought there may be more false signatures than real ones out there. However that doesn't make a sword fake...just sometimes not by the person on the signature. Shoshin means genuine signature. However either way, the signature doesn't tell anything about the quality...you get fake signatures on any quality of sword. So the only reason to submit for papers would be to get the signature verified or not. But you don't need to do that expensive exercise if you just want to know if it's real or not. It is. Nice piece, especially being in shirasaya with the fittings separately. You can remount it in the fittings anytime in seconds. But it's best left in the resting scabbard with the fittings displayed with it. It's a nice item, doesn't need anything done to it at this point.

Guys, you literally have the English Token Bijutsu issues in the download section...for free.

Diameter? No...there isn't supposed to be a diameter measurement since they aren't round apparently, and those certainly aren't correct if they are giving a height, width and thickness. Just confuses the issue.

Yeah, I would also get generic ones from Namikawa and fit them yourself. It's pretty easy.

Bear in mind a proper polish is $150+ PER INCH. You need to decide if you are a militaria collector or a Japanese sword collector. Financially, you would need to appreciate the craft to spend money like that, as you can't do it just for the financial impact.

Good sword most likely. But probably belongs with someone who will spend the money having it professionally restored. This isn't a sword for someone who just wants a nice wartime sword. You could likely swap it for a decent Showato here. Will cost a lot to put the edge back (you don't sharpen a Japanese sword, it's somewhat of a by-product of a proper polish) so swap it out and get what you really want. This will likely be a stunning blade once restored. Yes...someone took off the edge deliberately. Very sad...maybe they had kids. Who knows. But it's not ruined.

Well worth a refresher read

You see habaki crafted to fit the hi, so no reason why seppa wouldn't match too.

I would never use glue on this. A good brazer can do a repair that would be fairly invisible. Looks for specialized welding services near you. I had an aluminium dagger guard (not Japanese) repaired by one, and you would never tell. They will identify the metal and match it.

That's an incredibly detailed, comprehensive, well written and well presented article. Well done, well worth saving.

Agree. Even if not fatal, that is not one you want to see on a blade. Strictly militaria now, it's job as Nihonto is over.

https://www.japaneseswordindex.com/emura.htm

And the members who so generously have submitted amazing articles to our downloads section. Too many of you to mention individually.

I honestly think there is little doubt the mei is fake. It just isn't done in the way that mei are done. Can't decide on the rest of the blade though. But the mei seems added for sure.

Impressive work (actually incredible!) as we would expect from Jussi. And so extremely generous...also as we would expect from this member. You're a star Jussi, thanks so much. Do you mind if I add it to the downloads section with the appropriate credit?

I'm with Malcolm that this saya was once covered by a leather combat cover and taken to war.

Karen, Short reply as I am a bit hectic. But the story is that towards the end of the Samurai era, when swords were banned, lots of makers were out of work. So they turned their sword fitting crafts to Western products. Using traditional kozuka like this, they sold to the export market who fitted cutlery to them, as Japanese goods were in fashion. Some dealers also bought up vast quantities of fittings, and remounted them with cutlery blades, for sale to the wide markets overseas. Yu find all sorts of quality in these products, but they are legitimate antiques and sometimes sold in sets of 12. This is a typical and nice example, and there is a market for them. Late Meiji period Japanese kozuka-handled French knife. Not top quality, but a nice one. Search Google images for "kozuka handled cutlery" for lots of examples.

I think the ladies and most of us men may have an issue with you there. Celluloid