Geraint

Hi Jeremy. Just a suggestion; pictures of the blade overall will help to decide on age based on the sugata rather than just the mei and nakago. Cheers

Hi Denis. I think your remark that, "daisho relates to..." is significant, it relates to katana and wakizashi but is not the same as. I am sure that practitioners will correct me if I am wrong but I have been lead top believe that the perfect length is for the kissaki of your sword to be an inch off the ground if you stand up straight and hold the sword next to the tsuba with your arm by your side. Shorter man, shorter sword. (Different schools of sword art also preferred different lengths.) For your average short samurai a daisho in koshirae would suffice as the badge of office though the dai quite often is shorter than the 24" that we as collectors now use to distinguish a katana. The term chisa katana used to be popular to describe swords of this sort of length, though my wife came up with, "Wanabe wakizashi". (This is pretty much what Brian said though with more words because I'm like that. ) For what it's worth daisho with short katana are relatively common.

Hi Ian. Usually they are referred to as assembly numbers, lots of swords have Arabic numerals stamped on the tsuba, fuchi, seppa and other places which would make it easy to keep track of the set of fittings as they went onto a sword. The lacquer colour has no meaning that I am aware of and, come to think of it I am not even sure if the assembly number on the nakago matches the Arabic numerals on the other fittings. Must go and have a look at that. All the best.

Hello Heidar. Well, it's pretty unanimous and I'm in agreement. I can't quite see the quality of the mountings on your katana though the whole mounting looks rather nice, but the fittings on the wakizashi are of a low, almost mass produced type that is often seen. However it is an original koshirae and in no need of restoration so don't. If the fittings on both koshirae are a match apart from the kojiri then they should display quite well together as they are. Muck about with either and you will always have just that, a koshirae that has been mucked about with. If you are overwhelmed by the need to have a daisho then why not commission a set of ksohirae for both swords, keep the original with tsunagi and then when the time comes you can reunite the swords with their original koshirae. Alternatively buy a set of daisho koshirae to display and leave both swords alone. By the way it is extremely rare to get unanimous agreement on the message board, that is quite an achievement!

Hi Alex. It is not uncommon for habaki to be made of silver, given the skilled work required to make one the cost of the material pales into insignificance. Silver has the advantage of being a very nice material to work with. All the best.

So what we are saying is that Pete should overcome his understandable reluctance, spend a heap of money from his fittings fund, dedicate hours to producing the sort of quality that he would wish, not to mention straining any personal relationships to breaking point over the waste/use of time and resources just so that we can enjoy better photographs of his stuff? Have I got that about right?

Welcome Antti. Christian has dealt with the more difficult question; the first two are simpler. I don't think many people use a digital microscope but have a go and see what you see. It is often the case that fine quality work is confirmed by the fact that it survives examination under a magnifying glass, sometimes what looks good at first glance does not show up so well this way. The mark you question at the bottom of the nakago ana is just a way of closing up the size of the ana to fit a sword better. You are right, there are a number of ways of doing this and many of them look more elegant than this one, some are added at manufacture and are indicative of specific tsuba smiths, many are the result of the tsuba being adjusted later in life to suit a specific sword. As this tsuba is papered there is nothing to worry about. Having bought your first tsuba you have probably already contracted the disease so enjoy!

For what it is worth I would agree with you Thomas, though Chris clearly had a different view. From memory we have discussed the creation of new koshirae several times with varying opinions. I have a friend who bought a straightforward tanto in shirasaya and had complete new koshirae made for it. He enjoys it and no one will ever be the poorer for it except my friend who will likely never make his money back on the project. If the tanto was mine I would want to go down the route you suggest and retain the original koshirae as fully as possible but it's not my tanto and Chris has put a lot of thought into it I am sure. Each to his own.

Welcome Greg. Some thoughts for you. First the normal way of showing tsuba is as worn on a katana, the other way up from your images. Not a problem but something to bear in mind. Second, you cannot assume that the tsuba is late because it is made of copper, depending on the qualities of the metal some very early tsuba were made from copper or yamagane which would look like a copper at first glance. You are right in thinking that the tsuba has been mounted, the punch marks around the nakagoana were made to secure a good fit to the nakago of the sword. No attempt at faking anything, the punched line to the edge of the kodzuka hitsu would have been added to push the edge a little so that the kodzuka would not foul the fuchi or seppa when fitted. I am sure that everyone will suggest that you hold off until you have read a bit more. Also haunt the dealer websites which you can find listed in the links at the top of the NMB. There is a great deal to be learned from educating your eye, though not too much can replace studying these things in person so find out if there is a sword study group near you. You are embarking on a journey that will be great fun, fascinating and sometimes intriguing. There are bound to be some setbacks along the way, everyone has stories about the one they shouldn't have bought and the ones that got away, all part of the fun. Enjoy

Hi Rick. Love the mounts, especially the menuki. I can't throw much light on the question but most of the literature suggests that court mounted swords have much plainer shakudo nanako mounts, sometimes with family mon, rather than this style. Unless you have a burning desire to know more it would seem that spending the money on papering blades would be the way to go with this one. Whatever you chose, have fun!

Hi Mariusz. I have been racking (Wracking) my brains trying to find a reference but so far with no success. The wrappings are I believe from a leaf, not sure if it is bamboo or something else. If I ever do find the reference I will let you know. Just found this which confirms the m as hinoki; http://sayashi.com/articles/saya.htm All the best

Interesting question. I have looked again at the swords I have with metal kurikata and the answer seems to be that they may be glued to the wooden core which itself is glued to the slot cut in the saya but the shitodome lock the kurikata to the core as well, passing through the holes in the metal body and then through the corresponding hole in the wooden core. Hope that helps.

While the first two are pretty low level Nagoya mono, and the second has some questions to be answered about the "paint", neither is really a serious tsuba for the collector. Equally the Jizai mono needs some looking at but as these are by nature tourist pieces what are we expecting? On the other hand everything else looks perfectly genuine, setting aside any judgment about the relative asethetic merits. Look forward to seeing what you come up with John.

Hi Dennis. I think it might be the answer. Kogai do vary in size quite a bit, depending on the koshirae they are used for. Some tanto have quite small ones, is it perhaps the case that your tsuba was intended for either a small wakizashi or a tanto? You certainly don't want to be enlarging the hitsu so you are shopping for a kogai that will fit comfortably. Might take a while but Aoi Art are very good at giving full dimensions for their stock as I discovered when searching for a slightly smaller than average kodzuka to fit a koshire. Have fun.

Wow! That's a really nice saya kojiri. If your question is directed at the shape and style of the saya it is one that you come across from time to time. I have to say I would be a very happy collector if that one was mine. Here is a photo of one with a similar shape. (Well there will be one when I get a chance to photograph it. Sorry!) Not nearly as nice as the one you show. I have never come across a name for this shape or a reason but if I remember aright here is a rather stunning daisho mount in the Boston Museum collection with similar style. All the best.

And from a very basic level, thank you. I had never understood quite how these tsuba were mounted. Your description of a collar at the base of the tsuka makes so much sense.

And just to add to the mix I would be very surprised if that last tsuba were anything other than brass. Like one or two others I have succumbed to the desire to own one of these and the plate is certainly brass. It has been patinated to a subdued colour but on exposed areas this has worn off to reveal brass.

They are indeed beautiful, Jim. I assume we are looking for more than the fact that they are renderings of fan paintings?

Hi Dick. I think you are right to have concerns about the quality. Do I see a seam on the lower edged of the kashira? These look like reproduction to me from the images, the nanako isn't what it wants to be and the "inlay" looks like applied paint.. On the other hand what sort of quality would you hope to get for £200? I can't imagine that you would get much pleasure from owning these. Regards

Hi, Cryptic.

Shouldn't that be, "Rust in peace"?

Hi Adrian. Just posted a reply but it seems to have vanished into the ether. I think your sword is nice, I hate to disagree with Jean but the fuchi kashira and kodzuka to my eye suggest the rival generals at the Uji river. From the photos it seems that the fuchi kashira are better quality than the kodzuka, what do you think? I also really like the close ribbed saya, I really find that an appealing technique. I suspect that most tosogu collectors would prefer their pieces off a koshirae and in boxes or on a very good koshirae. There are finer pieces than yours but also much worse and if you enjoy the whole koshirae then good for you. Enjoy.

Hi Curtis, Everyone has covered almost everything in your original enquiry. It just remains to say that dating a sword by the material of the habaki won't work too well. Habaki are obviously made in a wide variety of materials and techniques but there are no hard and fast rules that associate them with the age of the sword. All the best.

Are we missing something? We know that Shinshinto schools made copies of o suriage Nambokucho swords. Tsuruta san suggests a Yamato school sword from the Nambokucho jidai as a first glance. Where is the problem? If the second mekugi ana was added to enhance the verisimilitude of an o suriage sword or, as Brian suggests for iai reasons we are still looking at a copy of an o suriage sword. I am reminded of some of the shinsakuto we saw in an exhibition in the UK some years ago. |Smiths striving to emulate koto works did so to the inclusion of multiple mekugi ana and o suriage nakago.

Hi Janusz Mariuszk is right about the quality of the horimono, it's not good. It is often the case that horimono were carved to hide flaws though I can't imagine a flaw that would be dealt with by this one. It is also the case that horimono were sometimes cut on shingunto and sometimes not well. Your sword seems to be earlier than showato judging by the nakago, but it may have had this added when mounted for service. I must admit that I can't make much sense of the bonji however while looking for an example I came across this one, http://yakiba.com/kat_yasatsugu.htm Not only is this much better quality but it seems as close as I can get to yours, my best guess is that it is Fudo but I am sure others will be able to pin it down. All the best