Shugyosha

I think it's genuine, but it's wrecked. In that condition it could be anything - the shape and condition of the tang might give a clue as to time frame if unsigned, but beyond that...

Hi Omar, I've just seen your post. I think the last part of number 1 may be 磨つまし (migatsumashi) - 磨 means to polish or burnish. Unfortunately without the bit before it it doesn't mean very much. Number 2 is the date: 慶応 三年 - Keio san nen - third year of Keio but I think this is an error as it is written above as (and indeed is on the tang) fourth year.

Hi Benno, I think you need to post some more details, including some pictures of the entire blade and fittings (including any tassel which varied in colour depending on rank) and supporting paperwork. If the blade has a signature it will be beneath the hilt and you will need to take this off by removing the retaining peg - if it is more complex than a bamboo peg that simply pushes in and out then you might want to get some instructions as to how to remove it rather than damage it. Ultimately, it boils down to whatever paperwork that you might have or be able to discover that ties the sword to Teshima. Even without this, if it is a quality blade it may have some value but that will depend on the maker, its age (it might not be a wartime blade) and its condition. It is not unusual for older blades to be carried to war and one might reasonably expect that a higher ranking officer might have one of these or a better quality modern blade rather than the standard mass-produced blade. Otherwise, welcome to the forum and I hope we can have a look at a piece of your family history. If you are able to add your given name to your posts then you will be compliant with forum rules as we go by those rather than a handle.

Sorry Uwe, you are correct.

It might be "bu" as in weapon: 武 I'm not convinced that it is "Osafune" - the "fune" kanji doesn't look like 船 to me, but I'm struggling with the picture and could easily be wrong.

I think that there's perhaps enough patina on the tang for it to have been made or shortened as early as the mid 19th century. It looks like there was some rust near the kissaki as there is still a little minor pitting left and I wonder if the suriage was done to save the end portion of a corroded blade. What's the nagasa? I've no idea about the notches on the tang - they appear on some swords but, unless they are markings to help link a blade to koshirae, I've never heard a plausible explanation for them. For a cheap blade, it looks like it has some quality about it judging by the hada and it's hard not to like value for money. You might want to add some pictures of the detail in the hamon as that might help date it.

I don't know why, but everytime I see this thread title, I see this:

Maybe the second kanji is the cursive form of "Masa" - 正. There's an entry for a gunto smith in Markus Sesko's Swordsmiths of Japan: TAKAMASA (高正), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Takamasa” (高正), real name Yasuda Yoshitarō (安田芳太郎), born April 7th 1912, he worked as guntō smith The date is the 10th month in the 18th year of Showa, which is 1943 - so you have that correct. I'm not an expert on military swords so you will have to look to others for the meaning of the stamps.

Hi Chris, It means potato vines. It refers to the inazuma in the hamon of Satsuma blades and is a key kantei point for this group of smiths. Another suggestion regarding the kasane would be that it was made this way to meet the request of the buyer: Satsuma blades were well known for being of robust construction and perhaps it was made for someone who couldn't swing such a heavy blade. I can't see any sign of o hada or other evidence of overpolishing from these photographs. I'm pretty sure that, if I moved some stuff around, I could fit it into my sword chest.

Hi Dion, There's some good information here: http://www.nihontocraft.com/japanese_sword_papers.html#japanese_sword_4

I'm very much with John in that I like swords that were primarily designed as weapons but which are incidentally (accidentally will do too) beautiful. Some tasteful additions (well cut hi for example) can create a pleasing effect but on the sh!tlist are things like overdone horimono (too big, too many) and overly complex hamon or which are too wide and destroy the balance between hamon and hada. This extends to fittings too - if one of the Soten masters was making tsuba on my front lawn, I'd close the curtains and do the ironing.

Hi Brendon, The subject of the naming of blades is not as straightforward as "tanto, wakizashi, katana/tachi". Blades of different lengths had different names at various points in Japanese history. During the Kamakura period a "koshigatana" was worn - this is the forerunner of the tanto. Also, a blade called a "uchigatana" could be worn, these could be a little longer than the koshigatana and had koshirae with a tsuba and either were paired with a tachi. A longer version of the koshigatana could also be worn as a single weapon and was worn edge up and pushed through the sash as per the wakizashi. In the Nambokucho period, the tanto became a "sunnobi tanto" (a longer tanto) and was again paired with a tachi. In the Muromachi period there was a movement towards wearing two swords pushed through the sash and edge upwards as there was a move away from mounted archery in war and towards spearmen. In the Muromachi period the uchigatana surfaced again as a spearman's side arm. In the early 1500s there was a trend towards the use of katate uchi, a katana length blade used with a shorter tsuka (essentially still an uchigatana in terms of how it was worn) and with one hand. Later on this reverted to a sword for two-handed use worn edge upwards through the sash - the katana. This might be paired with a short sword, but the use of the katana and wakizashi as a badge of office or status didn't really take off until the Edo period. The demarcations of blade lengths we have today are largely based on the Edo Bakufu's regulations. Sorry, that's a bad precis of Markus Sesko's encyclopaedia of Japanese swords with a mixture of my own knowledge thrown in. It may not be 100% correct, so apologies for any errors, but it is quite a convoluted part of this subject.

Hi Brendon, The classic tanto form that predominates is hira zukuri - shinogi zukuri tanto are normally the tips of broken katana or wakizashi that have been salvaged or copies made by someone who doesn't know better. Other tanto forms popped up from time to time, but whilst most of the time form follows function, the Japanese were as prone as other nations to being turned on by novelty and the desire to sell/ own something out of the ordinary or may simply experimented with the less usual blade forms. Some links here to articles on tanto blade forms, cutting efficiency and the durability of swords: http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/tanto.htm http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/niku.htm http://www.nihontocraft.com/Suishinshi_Masahide.html There are other articles on these sites that you might find interesting if you have a hunt around.

+1

Hi Nick, Like you, my feeling is that, logically, yaki otoshi can't exist on one side of the blade only but that's just a feeling and not borne from any metallurgical knowledge. Consequently, I'd be looking for another explanation for the lack or apparent lack of hamon in that area: a false hamon where the kesho has worn off in one area only or maybe some scuffing of the blade creating a shiny spot that hides the hamon underneath or perhaps the hamon is more tired in this area than elsewhere and doesn't show clearly. I'm scratching around a bit.

What he said. Brilliant acquisition.

Hi Chris, Welcome to NMB. It's hard to say very much based on the pictures as, in order to get anywhere close with kantei I need good clear photographs of the whole blade plus some neon signs, flashing arrows and a good deal of luck... ...but the general rule as regards boshi is that in koto blades the shape of the hardened edge is a continuation of the shape of the hamon in the rest of the blade and in shinto blades it becomes suguba. This is what I think I can see in the picture of the whole blade. Also I think the overall sugata points towards kanbun shinto (1660's) having a shallow curvature, showing some difference in width from the habaki moto to the yokote and having a smallish kissaki. If you are able to take some pictures of the tang and maybe some close ups of the hada, hamon and boshi that might help with pinning it down. The hamon looks quite distinctive and is ringing some bells but I can't quite place it for now - shinto Bizen maybe. I'd agree with the comments above about the koshirae, it looks like a replacement tsuka, probably modern and seems too long for a wakizashi. The tsuba is an unusual size: for a wakizashi they are normally a little smaller than those for a katana or exceptionally wakizashi have aikuchi mountings with no tsuba. This seems to be a half way house - I'm not saying it's unique - almost every rule regarding Japanese swords has its exceptions and I come across something I haven't seen before with alarming regularity. How's the fit? If it's loose it might indicate that it wasn't made for or fitted to the blade but was added later to make up the set. I can't say too much about the saya but an absence of dings or scuffs might indicate recent manufacture. Best, John

Hi Jason, It may be something to do with the steel that was used. I had a Fujiwara Takeda blade that was similarly understated in terms of hada - it was there but it took some fiddling with the light and with angles of view to get a decent look at it. On the other hand, as an example of the other side of the coin, Mino blades often have hada that contrasts strongly with a darkish jigane...but as you say type of polish or being out of polish can play a part as can overall condition - blades that are tired often have a more obvious grain. I hope you don't find yourself put off too much by this, as you are far from alone - most collectors (including myself) have been through similar experiences. Best, John

Hi Chris, I think this is an excellent post on a well chosen subject. Ultimately, (stating the bleeding obvious) I feel that what it comes down to is that some people have access to items at what is closer to a wholesale price than others or can source items that are sufficiently attractive that this of itself creates price elasticity and they can be marked up accordingly. There are markets within the market: for example sellers of items on NMB often begin by pricing them at or near to what they paid for them from a dealer and, as you say, particularly with mumei shinto wakizashi, if they sell it is at a price rather lower than the dealer price. As such NMB has its own micro-climate to some extent and it is perhaps more of a "buyers' market" than elsewhere. As for the Japanese markets, perhaps the auctions are not efficient market places: a licence is required to participate and so there is a closed-shop that can only be accessed by a fixed number of dealers who are presumably known to one another and perhaps have business relationships going back many years. Were I in that situation I would be having conversations ahead of auctions to find out who was bidding on what and how far they were prepared to go and perhaps agreeing not to bid on certain items in return for a clear run at others. Also, it's hard to assess the impact of Japanese societal factors on this market in terms of the age, seniority, perceived rank of the bidders - it would not be too hard to imagine a situation where kohai defers to sempai as in other areas of Japanese society and perhaps some individuals benefit from this in terms of what is bought and sold and for what price. Also outside influences - the Yakuza have had their fingers in the sword pie previously and may have some influence here. A couple of things I have heard that might be relevant are that one reasonably well known shop indeed does have a warehouse full of items in various conditions that are pulled out and sold from time to time - it would be a surprise if they were the only one. Also that the new money in Russia and China is distorting the market to some extent as they are buying up better quality items. I'm sure others have better-informed views on this. Thanks for starting an interesting thread. Kind regards, John

Hi JP, I think Ray is talking about the one (fukure) near the mune in the first series of photos. The one at the habaki moto is comparatively trivial, maybe more of a kitae ware that has followed the line of the burl in the hada but it's still a little unsightly (sorry to the OP). Best, John

Hi Eli, Without NBTHK papers to confirm the signature, I would leave well alone. The owner could have submitted to NBTHK shinsa and either hasn't done so, if not why not? or the blade has failed and he is trying to make the blade someone else's problem. The same goes for the Muramasa tanto in your other post. The gold tameshimei looks like it was done yesterday and there is a market for handwritten papers that get used to lend apparent legitimacy to gimei swords so there is nothing to suggest that the papers actually relate to this blade or were made by any kind of authority - the kakihan doesn't look like any of the Hon'ami ones that I have as a reference. Save your money - at the price point of a genuine Tadayoshi or Muramasa you can have your pick of any number of excellent legitimate blades. If they are going cheap, it's because they aren't the real deal. Best, John

I've only used Matsumoto san once, but my experience was similar to Jeremiah's. Very happy with what I purchased and how it was described and the transaction went without any hitch or complication.

Hi, It's Tanba Kami Terukado. Here's the entry from Markus Sesko's eJapanese swordsmiths: "TERUKADO (照門), Manji (万治, 1658-1661), Mino – “Kanekado” (兼門), “Zenjō Fujiwara Kanekado” (善定藤原兼門), “Tanba no Daijō Fujiwara Terukado” (丹波大掾藤原照門), “Tanba no Kami Fujiwara Terukado” (丹波守藤原照門), “Tanba no Kami Terukado” (丹波守照門), “Nōshū Seki no jū Tanba no Kami Fujiwara Terukado saku” (濃州関之住濃州丹波守藤原照門作), “Nōshū Tanba no Kami Fujiwara Terukado” (濃州丹波守藤原照門), real name Mitsui Sō´emon (三井惣右衛門), he is also listed with the first name Sōkurō (宗九郎), Zenjō school, he signed first with Kanekado (兼門), after receiving the honorary title Tanba no Kami (丹波守) in the second year of Manji (1659) he changed his name to Terukado (照門), when the Ujifusa lineage (氏房) moved to Nagoya (名古屋) in Owari province, the local honorary title Seki-kaji-tōryō (関鍛冶頭領, lit. “master of all Seki smiths”) was transferred to the lineage of Kanekado, his successors did not continue the name Terukado but returned to Kanekado, dense ko-itame with fine ji-nie mixed with masame and masame along the shinogi-ji, suguha-hotsure or ō-gunome-midare mixed with angular hako-midare in nie-deki with a wide nioiguchi, interpretations in midare begin with a sugu-yakidashi, during his early years – i.e. around Manji – he applied thick and prominent sujikai-yasurime, they become finer over the years and appear as katte-sagari in his later years, first he applied a distinctive iriyamagata-jiri which becomes later a ha-agari kurijiri, he also worked in Ise´s Kuwana (桑名) and in Edo and also worked with nanban-tetsu, chūjō-saku". Welcome to the forum and best regards, John

Yes - they're usually assembly numbers so that the various components for the fittings can be married up.

Signature reads 義長 - Yoshinaga The period part of the date is quite cursive but I'm pretty sure it will be 18th year, 8th month of Showa so August, 1943. What John said regarding stamps. If there are none you may well have a traditionally made blade rather than a mass-produced one, so it looks like a good find. Here is the entry from Markus Sesko's eJapanese swordsmiths which doesn't mention him working as a gunto smith and so might back up the view that it wasn't mass-produced. "YOSHINAGA (義長), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Yoshinaga” (義長), real name Hoshiya Yoshio (星屋芳夫)". Best, John