Brian

No, the "miracle polish" is just a mild abrasive paste like Flitz or one of the others. No acid. That kissaki pic has me doubting my own opinion though. There are just some glaring things that do not look good to me. The direction of the hada, and the fact that it seems to flow off the blade in places? It is hard to look past that ugly acid-washed look though, so hopefully the camera is making it look worse than it is. See if you can get a pic of the kissaki in natural light without the flash from a bit further away? Also...do you see nie crystals in the hamon at all? I am pretty sure the mounts are original and genuine though. That tassel and combat cover are too well done and aged to be modern. A few more pics of the nakago from straight on, at a bit more distance so that we can get an idea of the shape? Brian

Hi Ron, At first glance, with that extremely vivid hada, I think many people are going to call "fake" as a first instinct. However the lines, hamon, kissaki and real-looking koshirae including the tassel make me look twice at it. What it looks like to me is a Gendaito that has been heavily acid washed bringing the hada out too much. I am not sure if it is more subtle in person, and the combination of the flash and white powder make it so visible, but it definitely needs professional work to bring it back to natural looks. If I had to make a call, I would say WW2 Gendaito with acid wash. The white markings on the nakago are just painted arsenal or issue marks, and are fairly common. I hope I am not wrong and it turns out to be a fake Regards, Brian

Odd.. :? When I look him up on the Nihonto Knowledge Base http://www.jssus.org/nkb/ it shows SAD706 as Gendaito, and yet Hawley's shows him as 1624 as you stated. Must be a small error in the NKB? Brian

If you have "Cutting Edge" then there is a bit in there about it. Basically they start the holes on either side, using special awls and chisels. They usually don't meet perfectly in the middle, so punched holes will not be perfectly round, and may have a ridge in the middle. They can be slightly oval or even square occasionally. (I have pics of a square ana I want to post about sometime) Not too difficult to spot once you see a few. The irregularity helps the mekugi to hold tighter apparently, although this was not the primary reason I am sure. Brian Edit to add: the mekugi ana seems a breeze to do when you consider some of the fine sukashi cutouts on early tsuba I would love to know how they did those. Did they have fine saw blades, or use horsehair coated in abrasive materials like I have heard (but doubt)

Considering we are studying a Japanese art, where most of the references are not in English, you should be used to these stumbling blocks by now Milt :lol: Brian

Hi, Looks like a very nice forum. Good luck, and well done. I'll add it to the links page on the next update in a day or 2. Regards, Brian

Hi Dingo, Please remember to sign with a first name, thanks. Afraid I can't make out much from the drawing. The spacing of the kanji is important to make out the signature. See if you can get a photo of the signature to post? Some of the more experienced guys here can see kanji strokes in a photo that the rest of us easily miss. A second hole just means it was remounted at some stage. Could be early or just a WW2 sword remounted later. From the looks of it, it may have an additional stamp above the signature? If so, it might be an arsenal sword, but we do need more pics. Regards, brian

Martin, Looks like it is in a nice polish. To be honest, I have no idea why the second mekugo ana. It looks to me to be ubu nakago, and I doubt it was mounted in the 1944 pattern Gunto mounts. One of those exceptions that proves there is no absolute rule? Brian

Great advice, and I might like to turn it into an article on exporting/importing Nihonto if that's ok. It is very important to label and prove beyond doubt that the sword is an antique (older than 100 years) or the other categoary that Darcy elaborated on. Just listing it as "antique Japanese sword" is not enough, and will often lead to high duties and an inspection of the sword with possible damages ensuing. As a side note, here in SA, antique swords incur a 14% vat on the total price including shipping, and also a small clearing fee. The total is calculated at the current exchange rate, plus an extra 10% added for no other reason except they can. You don't want to pay any more than you have to. Brian

Hi jeff, Welcome to the forum. What did the tsuka look like that came with the blade? Did it have the extra mekugi ana at the bottom? If not, then this would lead me to believe it was originally a Gendaito mounted in the 1944 pattern mounts? Brian

Yeah..I wouldn't mind reading the book. Will keep a lookout for it. Reminds me of when I was in Kyoto recently... we were in a ryokan in a non-descript part of the city. Walking back to the hotel one evening, we were walking past a really plain, ordinary looking warehouse-type building in the middle of nothing much, when suddenly a door opened, and 6 very well build guys in identical black suits came jogging out, and took up positions on either side of the street. Then a garage door opened up, and a black merc with black tinted windows came driving slowly out of the building, with the 6 guys positioned on either side of it. The car drove slowly down the street for about 500m, and those guys at the warehouse did not move or take their eyes off the car for a second, until it turned a corner eventually in the distance, and only then did they disappear back into the building. Must have just been the family saying goodbye to their visiting grandmother :D :lol: Brian

Ted, The torokusho (registration document) in Japan just says that a sword is registered legally there, and is supposedly traditionally made. They don't verify signatures or make any comment about importance or value. It is purely a licence that says "this sword, identified as such and such, is legally owned and licenced" basically. Here is some info on the process: http://www.nihontokanjipages.com/japane ... _laws.html regards, Brian

Ted, The f/k are horse riding impliments. The kashira features a saddle, and a riding crop. The fuchi shows the bit and other horse "tackle" (I forget the names) Just a quick reply while working, I'll look closer in a bit ('scuse the pun ) and see if i can tell you more about the rest. Brian Here is a Japanese saddle:

From a few websites: I remember reading somewhere that when a shirasaya starts to split, just dabbing slightly warm water on the splits with your fingertip and letting it soak for a while will soften the rice glue, and you can then clamp it again and it will stick. Can't remember where I read it though, so maybe I was mistaken. Brian

That is a "bit" steep in my opinion. Together with the sellers fee, they pocket a whole bunch of change. Hmm. So is the tax payable even to buyers from other states and countries? I wouldn't expect this from someone as highly regarded as Christies. If their sale attendances drop, they only have themselves to blade, and I can't see many sellers getting decent prices for their items. No-one wins here. *sigh* Chaos

Rémy, Try and save them with some jpg compression. You have a couple of megs worth of pics in this one post Rather link to the original pics or use imageshack if you have a large number of huge pics. Here is the kissaki pic above saved with some compression, at 1/5th of the file size:

Curran, It is probably me who needs the dunce cap for not explaining more clearly what I had done. I thought it easier to read the mei if the contrast was enhanced a bit and it fitted on the page without scrolling. Ludolf..nice work. I think those are clearly a great match, as good as you can ask for. Brian

Nice site Martin, some great info there. The rice holdings per Daimyo are also very interesting. Gotta compare them with the amount that some of the top swords were valued at in those times. Thanks. Brian

Just tried to enhance the contrast and size a bit.. Brian

Charles, You can get them from any gunshop. Used in gunsafes to protect the metal inside. Personally, I am not a huge fan of dessicants. They do the job well, but by taking moisture out of the air, they can dry out wood and leave it prone to cracking. Just don't use too many, and you should be ok. There are too many brands out there. Just call your closest sporting goods store, and they should be able to hook you up. Camera shops might also have them. Look up dessicants online, and you should fine hundreds for sale. Regards, Brian

Mike is regarded as one of the good sellers, and the fact that his auctions attract more bids than others, shows that others see this too. This thread: http://www.militaria.co.za/nihontomessa ... =yamaguchi also confirms this. As always, read the descriptions very carefully. If he says it is very out of polish or rusty or no guarantee of no fatal flaws, then he means it! Brian

Sounds like Max knows this particular katana more than he is letting on? Brian

Wayne, The NCO swords, being totally machine made, are of course only really of interest to Japanese militaria collectors, or those collecting military swords of Japan. I used to see these on eBay a year or 2 ago going around $350-400 regularly. With the current interest in Japanese swords, I have noticed these climbing rapidly on eBay and on militaria websites. They now go around $500-750 depending on condition and matching serial numbers. I would expect a fine condition one like yours (assuming matching numbers) to go around $750 if you are lucky. Personally I don't feel they are worth that..but it is the current trend among the militaria guys Regards, Brian

Rod, The links page has a link to an excellent article by Guido Schiller on Rich T's page: http://www.nihontokanjipages.com/japane ... _laws.html Should tell you everything you need to know. Regards, Brian

Interesting comments, and likely very accurate. The one thing that I am unsure of is whether or not this would have been a battle measure with that zogan on it? It looks from the groundwork to have had quite a bit of nice decoration on it. Now on a sword that you would be handling often with dirty hands and lots of friction, would you place decoration on a part that is going to have much use and abuse? I would think the silver would wear very fast if handled every day. So maybe this was during a time where there was not much use, and it was more a higher quality mount that was not meant for everday use? Also curious whether or not that kashira goes over the back of the cover and lines up the ana, or if it was a later addition? Regards, Brian