md02geist

Drop to 800. Thank you!

Let's drop this to 900 and feel free to make me an offer.

Oh with successful sale a donation will be made to NMB of course. Thanks!

Thank you Lee, that is exactly the sort of information I was trying to convey but you did much more succinctly for me. I'm honestly debating selling this one because of the likelihood of where it came from.

Gearing up some funds to make a blade purchase, so I'm going to offer up this sashimono for sale. I picked it up months ago from a fellow NMB member from Europe and it is in excellent condition; estimated to be a few hundred years old. It came from an old kura in Japan along with several other items and was judged by several very knowledgeable individuals to be genuine. It is in good shape despite the age and seems to have been fairly well preserved in the kura. I was unable to track down this particular mon (the eight sided shape in particular is what eluded me) but as I understand it ivy leaves (the leaf in the middle is certainly an ivy leaf) were well known to be associated with the Matsudaira clan or the Shogunate and their various retainer families. Further discussion on it can be found here: http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/19580-sashimono-acquisition/ I am asking $1000 via paypal OBO, and price includes shipping and insurance within the continental U.S. Not averse to a partial trade plus cash if you have something I may be interested in? Never hurts to ask. I have no issue shipping it out of country but it may incur a few extra costs for obvious reasons of shipping being more expensive. Please PM me if you have any questions or are interested. Thank you!

Done sir, thank you!

I'm interested for sure. Thank you!

That's the one. Thank you very much! And thank you James C. for your input as well!

I was reading in a book and cannot for the life of me find it again discussion over a particular sword school that was known to make very very durable, strong, and robust "no frills" blades. It was rumored that a particular daimyo (I cannot remember if it was Uesegi Kenshin, Takeda Shingen, etc) equipped his bodyguard with swords made by this school because they were well known to be incredibly strong in battle (although as stated before, very no frills...beauty through absolute functionality). Does this ring a bell to anyone? I was comparing some different sword schools and wanted to go back to this one and look at examples to compare with others of the time, figure out exactly why they were known to be more durable. Sorry, I know this is very vague.

Fantastic info thank you!

Yes, precisely like that example. Was this something that was commonly done, and if so / not, when and where did we see textures like this appear? And how was it done?

Was all kabuto etc lacquer smooth like glass or did they ever texture it with brush techniques, adding stuff like a dust to it, or any other way?

That's a very good point!

I have no problem if it was an ashigaru. I just think that likely due to the condition and quality (and this was suggested to me by the seller, which I agree with although I admit I am not a professional but merely someone who has begun to dabble) it may very well not be a poor common footsoldier's weapon. Possible? Sure. Possibly not? Sure. I know there were samurai who fought on foot. This to me just doesn't seem like what a poor or mass issue peasant conscript would be wielding. Again, still possible of course. But I wouldn't expect the refinement here. Either way thanks for linking me a new movie to watch! I look forward to it.

I understand the triangular shape of it denotes it as a sankaku yari but I see a hamon along the edge, differentiating it from a lot of sankaku yari as I understand a lot of sankaku yari were not sharpened on the edge to slash with? This one clearly looks capable of slashing. I tend to differentiate ashigaru from samurai although I know that in some provinces ashigaru *were* considered samurai. The excellent condition, length of blade and differential hardening (and thus increased expense) and workmanship make me think this was no basic, impoverished ashigaru weapon (or if it was, perhaps it was given to them by a well off master). This is of course all speculation, mostly by the seller. If the original owner ever shows up on my doorstep and lets me know how he got it I'll be surprised (and calling Ghostbusters probably).

Picking up this yari. Information from seller as follows: Yari in Shirasaya (without the Tsuka) Signature : Mumei. Blade length : 26.4 cm or 10.39 inches. Mekugi : 1 Width at the hamachi : 2.49 cm or 0.98 inches. Kasane : 0.83 cm or 0.32 inches. Era : Late Muromachi period. Speculation by the seller is that it was likely samurai owned (due to condition and craftsmanship) and potentially utilized in a scouting unit or from horseback given the slightly smaller size versus some of the much larger blades (the 2' type etc). I really love the shape and workmanship of it and the fuller on one side gives it a very nice look to my eyes. The hamon looks wonderful. Not bad in my opinion for a first nihonto.

Yeah it didn't strike me as a noren, I did consider that though. Thanks Not averse to selling or trading if anyone is interested, feel free to PM me. I'm not married to it just yet. Not actively looking to move it but happy to entertain offers if someone is interested.

Don't have a dowel or anything that will work well but here are some more pics. You can clearly see the pocket plus where the pocket is sewn down the entire side.

Maybe, I'll look.

The entire right side is one large pocket. Not sure what you mean?

Awesome thank you!

I'm looking to make one myself for a reenactment group (casual) and trying to figure out where to source it to make a reasonable looking one without needing to be authentic.

So you could thread it directly onto a pole on the side

That whole right side (in pictures, side we were discussing) is one big pocket for a pole.

Very cool. What sort of rope do you use for them (thickness, material, etc)?