Geraint

Dear All. A bit of morphic resonance going on here. It looks like a bosun's whistle but it's got nothing to do with one, they are not a Japanese phenomenon. A tiger and a dragon on a roof. The original post was from an Ebay link and you would be paying in excess of a thousand dollars for it on the basis of some small pictures. I think many of the late pressed kodzuka are based on well known designs and it seems that the example at the Caldwell collection sale must have been a good one. The assertion that these were made by Hirado Kunishige is a knew one for me, I would love to see some evidence to support that theory or is it simple extrapolation? "Looks like a bosun's whistle, they are European, must have seen one at Deshima so Kunishige." I can't see anything in this stylistically or technically to suggest that connection. All the best.

Dear Dan. This is one of those recurring designs that crop up from time to time, keep looking and you will see another. Of particular note is the rather good photograph of the mouth of the kozuka which shows the thinness of the metal very well. This is one of the indicators for a pressed item rather than a traditionally made one. Dale, (aka Spartancrest), has done some great work focussing on tsuba reproductions, perhaps we can do the same for pressed kozuka? All the best.

Dear Bob. Well I'm in the, " it's worthless and that I should send it to you right away!" camp on this one. I think it's a really nice thing to have found and you did well. If the blade has no hamon then that just means you don't need to worry about a polish. A little gentle cleaning and it's good to go. If you feel like it then some jewellery restoration at a later date perhaps. That and a nice kake for it. Enjoy! All the best.

Dear Juan. First of all, I like your sword. Don't worry about the tsuba, there is nothing left to concern you with that one. Any restoration of the tsuka will really involve at least a re bind and possibly a new core. Up to you but my feeling is keep until you really need to change. As to sugata. Hhmmm! The yokote seems to have been put in the wrong place by the last polisher, according t your third photo. Given that it should be a few millimetres back that makes the kissaki a little longer. You estimate that it has lost 100mms through suriage so 766mms at least, possibly more. You mention some mokume hada in the shinogi, which is rather narrow isn't it? The boshi is not what one would expect from a Shinto sword, (and by Kanbun Shinto is well established), neither to my eye is the hada. I realise that I am posing more questions than giving answers but that's how it goes with this study. Just to illustrate this you might like to work your way through this post. I am looking forward to what others have to say on this one but I don't think we have got to the bottom of it yet. All the best.

Dear All. Surely the gold tuft of hair on the sceptre is simply the tasselled cord through the handle, just like the cords on a sword bag. All the best.

Dear All. Setting problems to one side there are none the less some really nice things being shown. I am particularly drawn to No. 4 from Mauro, that lovely Namban and not a few from Grev's post, not to mention the original selection from Patrice.. If nothing else this is a very pleasant sharing of some treasures. Thank you one and all. All the best.

Dear Patrice. Only two to my surprise. .

Well, that brings back memories, I had one of those as a child. My first Japanese sword.

Dear Bruno. Well I really like your tsuba! Hitsu ana are easy to cinsider as a functional part of the design but they are also very much part of the design in some cases. These large hitsu ana tend to appear in Higo/Edo Higo schools, I will leave it to the experts to steer that thought. However it is also the case that sometimes hitsu ana are included in the design but fitted with plugs from the start, It seems to happen more often in later work from what I have seen. Often the size is diminished so that the hitsu would not fit standard implements. It is possible that this tsuba was so fitted from the beginning. I am interested that Patrice can tell hat the existing hitsu is cut on the side for the kogatana, I am not sure I can see that and would have assumed that it was for a kogai on the usual side. All the best.

Hi Mike. Well. First off, the length of swords is measured from the kissaki, (tip) to the machi, (notches where the habaki sits). Extrapolating from your tape measure I am estimating this as about 9"? Nice gold foiled seppa, silver foiled habaki and copper tsuba with a shakudo fukurin. Shakudo fuch kahira which I think show tea ceremony utensils. All in all nice thing. Are you missing one menuki? If so then finding a new pair and getting this re wrapped would be good and easy. Grey has a few pairs at the moment, https://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/store/Tsuba-&-Kodogu You will probably also want to get a kodzuka and kogatana to round off the package. Take some advice on this regarding the theme, keeping up the tea ceremony idea would be good. As for the blade, well you know it needs a polish and it is really hard to judge what damage there is from photos. Given the shape and state of the nakago I don't think it's any earlier than Shinto and I would guess Shinshinto. None the less a nice package. I would be tempted to restore this one, once again monetary returns are not the consideration. Most of all enjoy this little chap. All the best.

Hi Tom. The OP says 49.5cms so yes, ubu wakizashi. All the best.

Dear Al. A complete hilt looks like this. I can't see from your images if the fuchi kashira, that's the two metal fittings at the ends of the hilt, are there or not. The hilt on yours looks to have a full wrap of same, that's the skin covering the wooden core, and to be missing the menuki, the two ornaments under the silk, and the ito the silk wrap. Also the kozuka and kogatana, the little knife in the saya or scabbard. These things are a relatively simple fix but you should be prepared to send some money. Much more significant is the blade restoration. It is especially important that this is not done by anyone who is not properly trained, please ask here for recommendations before you go down this road. This will not be a cheap thing to do and you may not recoup your money but the satisfaction of doing it may be worth while. Here is a sword in polish, http://swordsofjapan.com/project/tadamitsu-naginatanaoshi/ Please don't do anything hasty, just that light oil for the moment. Please ask if anything is not clear, we are always ready to help. All the best.

Dear Al. Welcome to NMB! Your sword is a wakizashi, sword between 12" -24". It is 'out of polish' which means that it has suffered some neglect although in this case there does not seem to be any serious damage. Whatever you do do nothing to clean it at this stage, just a light oil. It is signed Nio Kiyotsugu, I believe. That means the smith called Kiyotsugu of the Nio school. It seems to have lost most of it's hilt fittings so you are now faced with some restoration choices but don't rush, take advice and wait for more suggestions from the other members. If the signature is genuine, and many are not, then it might be the guy who worked in Choshu in 1688 - 1736. Gets interesting really quickly, doesn't it?

Dear Mike. If I read your question correctly you want to understand which way around the seppa are fitted. Usually there is a witness mark, minor denting where one seppa sits snugly against the habaki. The seppa you show has been adjusted as Dave says, not common to need that much adjustment so it might be a seppa that has been added to complete the mount. The planishing marks, (the dents) should fit against the tsuba so that they are not visible, they are not for the habaki to fit. Here is a picture that might help. Hope that helps. All the best.

Dear All. Looking at the edges of the channels where inlay was you can see in some places the marks where the sides were closed onto the inlay to hold it, so my money is on this tsuba having complete inlay, now lost. All the best.