Shugyosha

Hi Krystian, The theme looks a lot like that of this papered Akasaka tsuba offered for sale on the forum. http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/24912-mumei-sukashi-tsuba-attributed-to-akasaka/ Best, John

Hi Brian, The bits I can make out are: 剣術 - the first two characters of the left-hand column - "Ken Jutsu" 陸軍省 - The first three characters of the second column - "Rikugun Jyoo" - Army ministry The date is Showa (on the basis that it looks more like Showa than, Meiji or Taisho but it's not too clear) 9th year, 6th day of March. No doubt you'll get someone who can fill in the blanks shortly - but it looks more like an army training manual than civilian kendo instruction book. Best, John

Wouldn't want to saddle myself with that.

Hi Tatyana, It's this guy I believe (from Markus Sesko's Swordsmiths of Japan), the larger part in the bold font is the signature on your naginata: 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. Best, John

Hi Lukas, I'm with John - I doubt that this is a 600 year old sword and would have said later than 1600 based on the condition of the tang and the depth of the ha machi. The signature isn't necessarily a forgery, as there are a number of smiths using this name over a long period of time, however, if a later sword I would have expected more than a two character signature as that was more the vogue in shinto times so I would treat it as questionable. Also, I find it a bit odd that the seller should attribute it to the first generation and oldest rather than any of the others if not as bait to trap the unwary . Ultimately, if there are doubts, keep your money - there are lots of swords out there where it's not necessary to second guess the signature. Best, Another John Sorry, the other guys got in ahead of me!

Great work and a fabulous collection.

Unfortunately not. If you are able to post some pictures of the blade itself, it might be possible to have a guess based on sugata etc but this is fairly typical of NBTHK papers - not a lot of detail. Best, John

Hi Ed, The sword is unsigned - mu mei attributed to Taira Takada school. The bit you were missing is the "mu mei" part from the second column on the third photo. In the fourth column, starting five characters up from the bottom is the grade - "Hozon Token". The rest is standard stuff and not specific to the sword. There's some info here on reading kanteisho: http://www.nihontocraft.com/japanese_sword_papers.html#japanese_sword_4 http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/origami.htm Best, John

Hi Lex, The papers for the sword look real to me, they have the appropriate seals and they match the blade. There isn't a full signature on the tang as it has been shortened. What you have says "奥州住" - Ōshū Ju - "in the province of Ōshū" (Mutsu). The paper says that the rest has been cut off "Ika Kiri" and attributes the blade to Kanesada 兼定. There were a group of smiths signing this way from the mid 1500s through to the mid 1800s so it isn't a very definite attribution. There isn't a close up of the papers for the fittings so I can't help there.

Hi Ben, If you take Simon's comments to heart and really decide that it is of no interest, then I'll gladly re-home it for you. I'm assuming the origami doesn't mention a generation. Does Tsuruta san mention a date/ nengo period as that might give a clue as to the generation. Best, John

Hi Matt, Kasuga Daimyôjin (春日大明神): The numinous unit of the associated kami and buddhas/bodhisattvas of the Kasuga-Kôfukuji multiplex, Nara. and Hachiman Daibosatsu (八幡大菩薩): The god of archery and war incorporating both elements from shintô and Buddhism. From an article by Markus Sesko on Sue Bizen horimono: https://markussesko.com/2013/10/24/some-thoughts-on-sue-bizen-horimono/ I'm just off to look up "numinous". Best, John

Maybe Unshu (Izumo) ju Naga[?] Saku?? These are the kanji for Unshu 雲州. Best, John

Even older swords would have a polish from time to time, so it was possible to have a koto sword that was properly polished and sword testers had their own methods of fine-tuning a blade's edge beyond that produced by the polisher (Markus Sesko on tameshigiri). Also, presumably there was some incentive to check that a narrower and thinner sword wasn't going to let the user down when needed? Or maybe it was just the case that the prisons had got a bit crowded and it would be fun to check whether Great Grandad's famous sword was all it was cracked up to be. Another factor would be marketing: if you have a system for testing swords and the endorsement of a family of sword testers that a modern sword was equal in cutting ability to an old proven blade, the it's easier to sell swords. There was a close link between one famous smith (can't remember the name offhand) and the Yamada family who tested a number of his blades and one of Kubikiri Asaemon's own swords was by him. As regards sword making techniques - utsuri, a fairly common feature in koto blades, especially Bizen swords was pretty much non-existent in the shinto and shin shinto period - the Ishido school were pretty much the only ones producing it with any regularity. So some of the finer forging techniques had gone missing. There's some interesting related articles on Danny Massey's website - the Suishinshi Masahide one highlights durability issues with shinto and shinshinto blades. http://www.nihontocraft.com/Suishinshi_Masahide.html http://www.nihontocraft.com/Aratameshi_Nihonto.html http://www.nihontocraft.com/Nihonto_cold_weather.html Also, Markus Sesko's book on tameshigiri is well worth a read. Best, John

Duh - should have got this. "Sujikai".

Hi James, The school is Owari Seki and the Kanbun period started in 1661. So it puts it in the province of Owari around the middle of the 17th century. It's not attributed to a particular smith, though that there are six seals on the paper suggests that there weren't too many doubts amongst the shinsa panel about the attribution if that helps. There's some info on smiths working in Owari on Shoshin's website: http://www.sho-shin.com/shinto-owari.html Best, John

Hi James, Reading from right to left: 1st column - Paper number: 309 2nd - Meibun - suriage mumei 3rd - Forging pattern - mokume 4th - Hamon - Gonome 5th - Boshi - notare komi 6th - Nakago - 2 mekugi ana - Yasurimei - I'm struggling with this bit - sorry. 7th - Comments - Owari Seki, around Kanbun. Best, John

That's a nice pick-up! There's a similar one here on Aoi with a Kyo sukashi attribution: https://www.aoijapan.com/tsuba-mumei-kyo-sukashi-hanabishi-mon

Hi Andrew, Sorry mate - not a clue as this period isn’t my thing, but it does suggest that it’s something more than standard issue. Maybe the guys in the military swords section can help? Reposting it there might get a result. Does it have a blade or just fittings? If there’s a blade I’m sure they would like a look at that too. Looks like a nice pick up, enjoy! Best, John

Hi Andrew, It's this kanji 賞 - Shou = prize or reward. Best, John

Hi Chris, I think it's a certificate issued by Shibata Mitsuo. The overall description is: Tsuba, mumei, Heianjo. Best, John

You'll have plenty of choice there then! If you need help from time to time I don't mind doing that, in as far as I can, - maybe for the price of a small donation to NMB. But if you are basing a decision to spend money on the results or you need stuff that is time critical then you are better off looking elsewhere. There are way better linguists on the board than me. Feel free to drop me a PM if you don't get a better offer.

Matsumoto Masahisa It might say something else in Chinese though...

Hi Peter, I hope that I'm wrong or at least that you haven't spent your money on this - I strongly believe that it's a fake. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Best regards, John

The year takes the characters from the Chinese Sexagenary (60 year) Cycle: 壬戌 - Mizunoe - inu - water - dog = 1982. Details of how the system works can be found here if you are really interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexagenary_cycle Best, John

Hi Richard, I'm struggling with the photograph of the mei so take what follows in that context. I think I can make out 東 then there's a kanji I can't make out and then maybe 門. There were several smiths working in Bizen in the early to mid 17th century signing with 東多門兵 "Azuma Tamonbei" as part of their signature and it may be one of those. The work styles of these two might fit with the hamon I can see on this sword (From Sesko's Swordsmiths of Japan): MASANARI (正成), Kan´ei (寛永, 1624-1644), Bizen – “Azuma Tamonbei Fujiwara Masanari kore o saku” (東多門兵衛藤原正成作之), “Bizen no Kuni Okayama-jū Azuma Tamonbei Fujiwara Masanari” (備前国岡山住 東多門兵衛藤原正成), real name Azuma Tamonbei (東多門兵衛, the family name can also read Tō or Higashi), gunome-chōji, suguha with ashi, we know blades from the Kan´ei to the Keian era (慶安, 1648-1652), chūjō-saku MASATSUGU (正次), Manji (万治, 1658-1661), Bizen – “Azuma Tamonbei Masatsugu” (東多門兵衛正次), “Bishū Okayama-jū Azuma Tamonbei Masatsugu” (備州岡山住東多門兵衛正次), “Azuma Tamonbei no Jō Fujiwara Masatsugu” (東多門兵衛尉藤原正次), real name Azuma Tamonbei (東多門兵衛, the family name can also read Tō or Higashi), son of Azuma Masanari (正成), itame, gunome-midare mixed with chōji, chū-saku Best, John