Geraint

Dear Jackson. The whole koshirae is a reproduction. First question, is the blade anything better? If it is a genuine blade that for some reason has been kitted out in this way then why not shirasaya? For me there is not a lot of point in replacing one reproduction koshirae with another............ Your call, of course. All the best.

Dear Sherif. With just these to go on not a great deal can be said but guessing suggests that the first is gunto mounted but with a civil tsuba so possibly an earlier blade kitted out for the war, the second looks like a civil wakizashi. (This really is a guess but might be signed Sadayuki.) Not sure what Zyn is but using it anywhere near a Japanese sword might be a 'sin', fittings included. You might find it easier to post more images if you resize your photographs. Look forward to seeing some more. All the best.

Dear Ron. This might be a start. https://japanesearts...mission-of-mr-watson You'll need to scroll down to 'hadamono'. All the best.

Chris, another nice example, thank you for sharing it. Stephen, I'm afraid the answer is benign neglect. I see from my notes that I purchased the sword in 2009 and did nothing at all to the tsuba. It did not take anything like that time to recolour, perhaps four years? It has been mounted on the koshirae all this time and kept in a sword bag for much of it. The sword is stored in a fairly dry room in what is a pretty damp part of the world. You can see a slightly weaker patination where the seppa have shielded it. I am sorry to be so vague but having heard the same thing as Colin, ( and probably from the same source), I was expecting this result and thought little of it when it happened, just wanted to show it as an example. All the best.

Dear All. Just thought to share this with you. Some years ago I bought a very nice wakizashi in an attractive issaku koshirae, the sword was fitted with what was described as a polished copper tsuba. Now this tsuba is a good fit to the koshirae but I can't help feeling that it has replaced something rather more special at some time in the koshirae's history. However, on inspection the tsuba turned out to be a san mai construction, two thin plates secured to a copper core with a silver fukurin. I assumed that this might mean the two outer plates were shakudo and time has proved this to be the case. Not the best photographs, we are in the middle of a Cornish summer so it's raining, but you can probably make out the construction and the colour of the shakudo after some time of just leaving it alone. In hand the colour is a lovely raven blue black. The tsuba looks better on the sword and I have replaced the missing, rather small kozuka with a shakudo example to match. All the best.

Dear Jonas. I cannot help you with the signature but the state of the koshirae is not very good. It looks to be lacquer over horn fittings. Nothing wrong with that however; kozuka and kogai are rough replacements of what might have been quite nice examples, the overall condition is now rough with quite a lot of damage and some very unfortunate attempts to restore, viz the shoddy overpaint on the dragonfly kojiri. It might have been quite nice once but now............. Your cash, your call but this will likely be one of those that you stick in the back of a drawer after a day or two. All the best,

Dear Jake. Some of the indicators are: the flattened shape of the tip/kissaki, the poor shape of the tang/nakago, the mei/signatgure is cut rather than chased. the fittings are low quality, the hilt wrap/tsuka ito all crosses one way. If you want to compare with the real thing to get your eye in then have a look at, say here, https://nihontoart.c...th-3x-certification/ All the best.

Thank you Mike, an interesting story. It seems that Mountbatten brought back several swords, at least one is screwed to the wall in Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, a kaigunto in that case. It would be interesting to track down all his presentations. All the best.

Judging by the size of the nakago ana that first one must be for a nag-inata! Don't worry, I'll show myself out. All the best. (Just to explain the confusion a nag is a slang word for a horse in the UK and tsuba with large holes in them are often described as for naginata. They are always better when you have to explain them!)

Dear RJ. Can we have a first name please? This might be Bishu Osafune Sukesada. If you think this is in good condition then don't buy anything yet. Compare here, https://www.toukenko...&katana_A030320.html and in many other places. The hadori, if it is even that, on the sword you posted is at best amateurish, the shape of the nakago is odd and the boshi needs looking at. Does this sword have papers? If so then let's have a look. Personally I would walk away from this one. No, actually I would run. I see I have been beaten to it. All the best.

Dear Don. If you feel that then start having a look at horimono to compare with this one. Enjoy the journey. All the best.

Ah, I begin to see I think. Descriptions of hamon are not as precise as most sources of information would suggest. For a diagram one might illustrate a consistent hamon shape and some smiths do this very well. Generally speaking hamon are not quite so cooperative and once you move away from identified smiths with distinctive hamon patterns then everything becomes a little more subjective. Have a read of this thread for examples and comments. There is also some interesting stuff here, http://www.ksky.ne.j...sumie99/yakiire.html You might have to follow the links around a bit for this one. A lot of hamon descriptions are 'something or other with....' For example Mino den suguha is often described as suguha with fushi. As to toranba think high waves, the example we are looking at is more swells, so the description is suguha in places with swells, lots of ashi and yo which describes what is going on inside the hamon. Any use? All the best.

Dear Mark. You may have more success if you post this in the Wanted section, as opposed to the For Sale section. All the best.