Geraint

Lovely sword Laurent, enjoy it! Thank you for sharing the pictures with us.

Hi, It seems so far that what you have found is a Showato, ie a Japanese sword made during the Showa period so probably for WWII. Someone has remounted it to make it look more like a "Samurai sword", one clue being that the handle wrap all goes from right to left in the picture whereas a Japanese wrap would alternate, left-right, right-left. First sword? Start of something big? Many collectors have started with a chance encounter and gone on to be dedicated enthusiasts. All the best

Hi Mark. Second attempt at a reply, not sure what I did to the first one. You are certainly diving into this hobby/study, good for you. I suspect that the reason you have had few replies is that you have posed too many questions and without pictures there is a problem finding where to start. Hope some of this helps. There are some sixty odd smiths listed in Hawley who signed Munetsugu so pinning yours down may take a bit of effort. Koyama Munetsugu is as you say a big name, one of the biggest in the shinshinto era. Search the forum and I am sure you will come across him, especially the story about the naginata by him discovered in a Cornish barn not far from here...... (Can you hear the slight tone of envy?) This Munetsugu is usually associated with the Bizen tradition, not the Hizen which is very different, though like many smiths he was able to work in a variety of styles. There are several Hizen Munetsugu smiths, some working into the shinshinto. My library is far from complete but there is a smith listed in Hawley, MUN34 who signed Mikasa sanroku ju Sanjo Kokaji Munechika. Food for thought, not a million miles away from the auction house translation. Whatever the outcome when you get the sword some photos would be great and might well help other members give you the information you are looking for. Of course the date you give might only refer to the sayagaki....? In which case once again pictures will tell much. Looking forward to seeing the sword. All the best

Love it! Thanks for the pictures Peter, enjoy.

Dear Peter, Any chance of some pictures of the blade, the sugata looks very elegant and I love naginata. Cheers

Hi C Lewis. The hallmarks were introduced during the Meiji period but apparently from 1928 a mark indicating content was required so I suppose your piece is pre 1928. I don't think your Google and Yahoo searches contradict each other, the mark is an indicator of "pure"silver in that it specifies a minimum silver content, usually .925. Sterling silver is an English hallmark ranking for at least .925 silver with other metals allowed to add hardness to the silver, Britannia silver has .950 silver and is more rarely used. The marks from 1928 seem to refer to .950 as the Japanese standard. Hope this helps.

Thank you Curtis, A great little video and a new site for me too. In my opinion anyone who does not want to see their pupils surpass them shouldn't be in teaching. But I don't want to hijack the thread. Thanks again.

Glad you like it, if I get a chance I will do my best to photograph the complete koshirae. Geraint

Hi Ford, Great to hear from you. Can't believe that Kyle is 19 though Miriam is a Mum herself now. Anyway, back to tsuba... Thanks for your wisdom, if it is a Bakumatsu piece that would account for me not having come across it's like all these years and would also fit well with the rest of the koshirae which would seem to date from the blade's production date; 1864 according to the papers. You might even remember the sword, strong koshzsori and o kissaki with a waisted tsuka. Yes, I still look longingly at the Tomotsune tsuba from time to time, fancy you remembering that. Always thrilled to see your work, you remind me of a poem which I will try to track down for you. All the best.

Thanks for the thoughts so far, the reverse is very similar to the front and yes, some of the inlay is missing though the losses do not seem to be recent.

And before anyone says it, I am sorry, I unticked the signature box. Geraint

Gentlemen, I would appreciate your thoughts on this tsuba. It is part of the koshirae on a late shinshinto katana and although whoever made the koshirae went to some pains to integrate the tsuba by plugging the kogai hitsu with nekke gake gold to match the foiled habaki in other respects it seems to be an earlier piece. I have owned the sword for years but have yet to come across a similar tsuba. The plate is iron, 3mms thick at the seppa dai, 4mms where the lobes of the tsuba have been formed, two sukashi mon, one with a detail inlaid in a similar fashion to the rest of the tsuba in what appears to be silver. The decoration is a series of curved sloping lines and some dots with scattered circles. Some of the inlay is now missing. Size overall is 77mms wide by 81 mms tall. Mounted as it is as a katana tsuba I can make little sense of the decoration, however in one image I have inverted it and I am wondering if this is a representation of falling rain on what was originally a tachi tsuba. I am way out of my depth here, anyone care to add their thoughts?

Dear Joe, Why not have a go at oshigata yourself? The necessary Japanese materials are available or failing that you can do what I have attempted which is to use very basic western materials. Some of the results|I have found pleasing enough to want to frame and there is no better way of studying a sword. The close scrutiny required to make anything like a fair attempt is much more detailed than most of us do when viewing blades normally. Give it a go!

And the lower tachi hanger is on the wrong way around. If I was going down this route I would be tempted by the Phoenix head tachi koshirae on Aoi Art for considerably less, no blade admittedly. http://www.aoi-art.com/fittings/koshirae/05129.html

So we are back to the thread about unpolished swords without papers. One can't help feeling that there might be something interesting in all that "junk". I'll go halves with you on the posatage Ian.

Hi All, Another newish member, it has taken me a while to get around to this introduction. I have been collecting/studying for a while and have enjoyed good times with one or two of the board members over the years. I collect mainly swords though I find it hard to resist the urge to rescue almost anything Japanese that I come across, hence the clutter in my sword room. I will try to post a couple of pictures on the relevant thread. Geraint