bdgrange

To all: See you there. Stop by my table and rest awhile. Tell me what you have found. :D End of row five with Japanese sun ray flag on table. Bill delagrange

Not sure which major city you are near, but I would find the Japanese consulate and ask them. I would also go to the nearest major university and see if they might offer assistance. good luck Bill delagrange

very kind of you to post this. I will take my daughter to see this fine exhibit. thanks again Bill delagrange

How fine. What a story as well. Thanks for the time spent on the pics and for sharing this. kind regards Bill delagrange

This is the first attempt to sell a copy of a Yasukuni or gendai smiths work from a Chinese site that I have ever seen. Unusual piece as well but sig. doesn't come close.http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0349519004 best Bill de

Someone here once said: "if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it must be one." Looks good to me as well. Bill de

To all I just sent out a piece to be mounted in shirasaya by Mike Virgadamo 1 616 792 7510. He is in Pasadena, Calif. It is going to be done in honoki wood for a reasonable price. Do not know how much he has left at this time. His work is usually done from aged alder wood. They look good and he uses a nice horn mekugi. Have been going to him for years and can recommend without hesitation as they have always come out good and returned safely. Otherwise trying to find someone over here is really a pain, if they will respond at all. These are hard times and many could use some work. FYI Bill de

It seems to me I have been down this road before. I of course acknowlege your devotion, contribution, and knowlege. My own is colored by my experience and study. I still would recommend investing in work by different smiths, certainly if I intend to attempt and invest in polish, shirasaya and NBTHK costs now or down the road. This is just my own view point. WW2 gunto are facinating to me and the provenance many times is more evident than earlier works. kind regards Bill dd

What you say is correct but for katana length work. This has what looks to be a hand made blade and the mounts are of the lesser grade quality. The naval type dirk or tanto never seem to have a well finished nakago. Even the koto works so mounted seem to have no finish or yasurime. No stamps. Just rust or some faint yasurime present. Using the nakago as a recognition does not apply to these WW2 mounted dirks. Not that they do not have some lengthy messages like"made from the steel of the battleship Mikasa" but most do not. http://www.finesword.co.jp/sale/touken/gunto.htm This site is a treasure thanks for it. best Bill de

You did well. This is a traditionally made blade in navy mounts that are in good condition. These are rare as most are machine made with acid etched hamon. Bill de

Koichi This article is very good and I have saved it to study later. Thanks for this. I happen to have a gunto with the menuki in this very same placement. I also thought it might have been for a left handed officer, but now know better, I think. Bill de

With respect to Emura work I have owned a couple of Emura swords. One was very nice with choji hamon. The trouble with getting papers on an Emura is that no one knows who made the individual blade. He may have signed most but they were being made in a prison by inmates. There are theories as to the sig. being an indication if he himself made the blade or someone else. There being a short sig. and a longer one. I would never expect to see papers on one in any event. There is still demand in some circles and he is written up in Fuller and Gregory. I would not expect to go the route of being papered if the blade is a WW2 gunto though. Exception being Yasukunito, Okimasa, Gassan.............oops the list goes on. Maybe just Seki smiths not being papered or any stamped blades..............oops except star stamped. Heard from a reliable source that star stamped are now rejected by NBTHK. Just my two bits. In time tastes change and the edu. is a costly one. bill de

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0329366539 Response to Barry, et al. This one is all original and complete and in need of polish. It has the small w stamped above and below which is supposed to mean that it was made by either Takehisa or Haruhisa. It has nice sugata, looks koto. Muji hada and suguha hamon through to boshi.. No real problems. I like it. Strangely the tsuka ito is there and well done but the same is almost completely gone. Like it was eaten. I am cleaning it up with uchigo. I particularly like the history that is comming forth about these and the Manchurian railroad and Japans expansion in North China. Wonder how how all of those settlers ever got back home? kind regards Bill delagrange

I am certainly glad I do not have this listed for sale. Comments do influence what others think and do effect the sale price. Someone once said it does not matter what others say as long as they are talking about it. A lot of work to list and the pics do a good job of representation of the subject. It is interesting how we individually see things so differently. Bill de

I owned a fine Gassan Sadakatsu with the Minatogawa mon on the blade. I saw one with the mon on the habaki and not on the nakago but made by one or the Minatogawa smiths. regards Bill de

Just bought the one on e bay. Waiting for delivery. Will tell you about it when I recieve it. regards Bill de

Owned a Kunimori a while back and sold it for under $2,000, muji hada. These were not made at the Yasukuni forge and therefore are not considered Yasukunito. A Yasukuni blade will fetch a much higher price than one made and signed "Kunimori". He was making and selling blades on his own as well as working at the Yasukuni forge. To get $3,000. these days would be an accomplishment, demand being what it is. regards Bill de

Tried to send pic but 1200 wide was too much. It is well balanced and reminds one of a ko-tachi. The menuki are separated wider than I have seen before so must have been for the particular grip of the soldier. Here is the orig. listing but I have already fixed the saya with new lacing as well. The blade is pretty much o.k. and am working with uchigo powder. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0136748611 best Bill de

The Kanemichi is in good condition as are the mounts. It is non traditionally made with a Showa stamp. Kanemichi worked in Seki and had his own school and taught metalurgy at an institute in Seki. He made traditional blades as well and his workmanship overall would put him as med. to high grade depending on the sword. He had many students producing swords for the war effort. The second piece shown here is not stamped and is a traditionally made blade by a well rated smith, Kiyo kane. It is clearly the best of the two and the condition is also very good. kind regards Bill de

This is a good idea and there was a group dedicated to these swords that is now gone. More and more are showing up. I study and collect traditional nihonto and am delving into ww2 pieces. Just purchased a Kazunori, dated 1943 primarily because of its length. It is in leather saya. The nagasa is 23 in. and short by ww2 standards. This places it as a wak as to be katana must be 24 in. It is Seki stamped as are all of the blades by this war time smith, I believe. I am curious as to whether it was intended to be used as inf. or perhaps tank corps., or air force. In that it has leather cover I see it as dedicated to field use. The koshirae is standard shin gunto. Still the length would indicate other intended use perhaps. best Bill de

reads: shino arare (instead of zen) a nickname for Kunisuke, thanks to H. Watson. So this could be an added mei for kawachi no kami kuni-suke Setsu 1624, Kunitomo mon Osaka. However it is the Go of a famous tanto by Samonji. Or then would read bamboo hail as the name or go, which I think this is, and maker is therefore unknown. Good research Bill. I knew you could do it Bill de

Do not know if someone else mentioned this, but the design is of "horsetail" a type of wild fern. The kozuka should be easy to find and perhaps the kogai. regards Bill de

Phrase your request and be as polite as you can. Make it so that they do not have to say "no" which they will avoid doing. Usually they will just not respond, if pressed. This would be done so not to be impolite towards the buyer. They will respond to questions of the condition and should without hesitation. IE: offer suggestion A or perhaps B and they then present a C............... My experiences have been good but a little frustrating as they do not make quick decisions. Read it back a couple of times before you send it with some of this in mind. best Bill de

Here is one example of the well made perhaps special order.http://www.nihonto.com/2.7.07.html bdgrange

This is a different signature than what I am used to or that I have witnessed. This was perhaps signed by a student, or daimei. The rust looks unusual and may be due to the carbon content of the steel. Just observations. Akihide is a respected smith and I would be happy to own this to study. Bill delagrange