Geraint

Hmm! Interesting bit in the catalogue notes from the museum, "This sword guard appears to have been made at the Soten School of tsuba making in Japan. The Soten school was created by one of Masamune's students named Kanemitsu who was one of a select group of ten pupils. Kanemitsu is usually credited with having started the Soden School, which successfully combined Bizen and Soshu forging techniques." ??!! Nice tsuba, Yves. What do you think the primary material is? All the best.

Daer Yves. I like it, particulalry the way the floral decoration tumbles over the inner edge of the mimi in places, that adds life to the design. Also like the way the nanako follows the mokko shape in the outer area and then becomes vertical in the centre. All the best.

Dear Richard. Welcome to NMB. Your sword has, as you suggest been 'cleaned' really badly. For examples of what they should look like have a look here, https://www.aoijapan.com/ There are many other sites in the links at the top of the page for you to explore. Please don't clean anything else, have a look in the FAQ for care guides. From what I can see this stands a very good chance of being a shingunto, in other words a sword made around WWII. I can see hamon in one of your pictures but it is probably not worth the cost of a proper restoration, you may wish to have it professionally polished for your own interst but it's an expensive undertaking. Depending on where you are one or other of the gang would be happy to have a look in person and give you some more hints. All the best.

Dear Bruno. As far as I can tell you have shown us three swords, the first two seem fine to me but the third, the one you describe as Navy, is a Chinese copy and not genuine. Hope that helps. All the best.

Dear Steve. As usual we are working from limited photographs but I'm puzzled as to what makes you think this is Koto. Hamon is pretty typical for Showa and it as suguha boshi, nakago is original and unaltered and is also what you would expect from Showa. Where are you getting that Koto vibe from? Interested to know. All the best.

Hmmm. It's always tricky from images especially when we don't have the shot we want, nor any dimensions which would really help here. It is generally suggested that for a Sue koto sword from Bizen then the Bishu derivative suggests kazuuchi mono, however that assumes that this is Sue koto, unusual to find tachi from this period, no? And just for added fun almost all the Norimitsu lineage from the first/second generation are known to have signed Bishu Osafune. As you say, Hamfish, it appers to be ubu so what is it? I'm afraid that Imgur is playing hard to get at the moment for me but does the mei look too new compared to the rest of the sword? If so then possibly a late blade with gimei. Or just possibly something quite a bit earlier. Nick, is there not a New York based sword society you could show this to? Let us know how it turns out. All the best.

Welcome, Lee! All the best.

I'm guessing this one, https://nihontoantiques.com/ Yes? All the best.

Hi Henry. Welcome to NMB! Others here are much better at this than I am but so far I think your sword is signed 'Okada Kanesada saku', which means made by Okada Kanesada. Do you see any signs of smaller stamped marks anywhere on the nakago, sorry, the tang? The sword is in Shingunto mounts and was made and carried during WWII. Feel free to ask any more questions and to post some more photographs. All the best from another Celt.

Dear Paz. Just to clarify, the description that accompanies the sword is, "Shape : Wide and thick Katana with deep Sori, longer Kissaki. The blade is nice shape. Jigane : Itame Hada well grained with Jinbe attach. visible to see the texture. Hamon : Nie Deki, Gunome midare with thick Nioikuchi and many Ashi to the Kissaki. In the Ha, there are Sunagashi and Kinsuji from the Monouchi part. Boshi is Midarekomi style". (Excuse the profusion of capital letters, I copied and pasted the original!) This would not be a description of a Showato but it might describe a Gendai blade. All the best.

Dear Paz. These are long odds! Basically you are hoping to buy a sword by a well regarded maker from a very experienced dealer in Japan, without papers and with his express opinion that it is not genuine, and indeed his educated guess as to who might have made it. Yes? Then you are asking us to hazard a guess to support your endeavour. If you want to find out have a look at what a papered Kiyondo katana would fetch and then think how easy it would be for Tsuruta san to submit this for papers and how much he would make if it passed. It's a nice sword and if you like it buy it, but buy it as what it is being sold as. All the best.

Dear Paz. As regards shinsa standards this might help. http://nihontocraft.com/2015_NBTHK_Nionto_Tosogu_Shinsa_Standards.html Also if you have not already found it or bought the book this might be useful, https://studyingjapaneseswords.com/ The author is a member here. Of course in the 80 odd years of the Shinshinto period there would have been opportunity for someone to have suriage done on a sword from the same period but there are many reasons why you might find them. Some years ago there was an exhibition in London with a catalogue called, "The Beauty of Shinsakuto", while not specifically your period of interest there were several swords which were utsushi mono, copies of earlier msterpieces. Some of these were copied complete with suriage nakago and multiple mekugi ana. These were not meant to deceive of course, but in the Shinshinto period the same is possible. Add to that the possibility of passing off a Shinshinto sword as something older and more valuable by removing the nakago with the mei... I'm sure there are many other reasons as well. All the best.

Dear Alex. No guesses regarding papers but the top row, extreme right represents wakamizu, the first drawing of the well water at the NewYear. All the best. .

Dear Ron. The only question is why did you pick it up? All the best.

DearJack. Welcome to NMB. I am sure many people will offer suggestions but just for starters here are a couple. First off, information, https://www.shibuiswords.com/ Lots of good stuff here but as you will quickly see there are few if any rules in play and it is hard to understand just who made a tsuba without a lot of practice. Of course signed ones help and there are many for sale which have papers which attribute them to a school or indeed a maker. If you go to the Nihonto Info tab at the top of the page and then to Links you wil find a ready stock of usefull resources. Check out the For Sale section here and have a look at a couple of websites such as, https://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/store/Tsuba-&-Kodogu and http://www.nihonto.us/ As I said, many more to choose from in the links. Enjoy the journey! All the best. Geraint

Wow Chris. Instant collection. Off the bat the second one, wakizashi or tanto in civil mounts is signed Uda Kunimitsu. Good find! The first one looks interesting, possibly Shinshinto and obviously the other is a Shingunto but with the nicer pierced tsuba. Edit: For the first one try Bushu Fujiwara Sadashige, not too sure about the Sada kanji but someone will correct we soon. I think the date is in Bunkyu which is 1861 to 1864. If you can get all the shots more like the Shingunto, i.e. vertical with point up that would help. A lot depends on the condition of the blades so overall shots with habaki removed will help. Well, actually photos of everything, just cause we are curious. Lovely to have three swords to explore. All the best.

Dear MArk. I think you did the right thing. All the best.

Dear Dow. Given the type of sword it is most unlikely to be gimei. Why do you think it is? All the best.

Dear Wes. Welcome to NMB. The other side of the tang should have the swordsmith's signature on it, can we see that one please? Also full picture of the bare blade and the mounts. So far we have an early blade in WWII mounts judging from the tsuba. Looking forward to seeing more. All the best.

If I remember aright there ws an article in one of the Bushido magazines about a jumonji yari that Robert Benson owned and polished himself, I'll check it out later. All the best.

Dear Simon. As has been said it is a Japanese tanto, the saya is nice and the rest of the mounts are OK. As long as it's not being sold with an eye to the big name and it's cheap enough then why not? As has been said the mei is probably more of a tribute than anything, I have a Shinshinto tanto that is signed Ryokai and clearly has nothing to do with that school. We don't know how much you are thinking of paying which might change a lot of things. If you are thinking of starting to collect then, if nothing else, you can use it as a marker for how your knowledge is progressing. Let us know what you decide. All the best.

Dear Howard. I wish I could get yari like that to follow me home! It's a beauty, of course it needs a polish now that you know who made it............ All the best.

Dear Andrew. Well it is a Japanese sword though these pictures don't allow much more to be said. If you are not sure then the katana/wakizashi question is simple, if the nagasa, length from the tip to the notch on the back of the blade where hte habaki sits, is 30cms/12" to 60cms/24" then it's a wakizashi, longer tan that and it is a katana. Fittings look to be OK but the kodzuka looks quite nice, shame that it is actually one that has been repurposed as a table knife and then again to fit the koshirae. Look at the point where the kodzuka and the blade meet and you will see a rivet. Really can't see enough from these images to tell if there are problems with the blade other than that it is out of polish. If you are buying this from someone who knows what they are talking about, (as opposed to someone who thinks they know), then maybe, but don't pay too much for this, you will either be in for some serious restoration costs or you will have to be content with leaving it as it is. Oh, and someone else has already asked for a translation in that section of NMB. Hope this helps. All the best.

If the nagasa is now 35.6 cms then even when first made it would only have been about 40cms, so we are looking at a shinogi zukuri wakizashi of about 40cms. Might just fit with Oei? Doesn't mean it's not a nice blade and after all you would not be buying the sellers opinions on this one. All the best.

Well I wouldn't call it a fail, after all you have an attractive koshirae and as I said, displayed alongside the blade in shirasaya it should look great. Oh, and at that price you did well. All the best.