Geraint

Dear Dale. I'm afraid I would go the other way on this from Marcos. European style mounting so calling it a guard would be appropriate, returning to tsuba with the advent of Japanese style mounting of the Shin and Kai gunto. All the best.

Dear Michael. As always it is you who have the sword in hand and we are working from photographs. Here are two points to consider. You are adamant that the sword is suriage but why? One image we don't have is of the nakago without the habaki but from what we see here suriage is not evident to my eye. Your diagram of the sori measurement still has the tape running from nakago jiri to kissaki whereas it should run from the mune machi to kissaki, as per Stephen's post on your other sword. Would that change things? As regards the fit in the shirasaya, does the nakago fit well apart from the small gap? In your image of the whole shirasaya both parts seem to align well, if this is the case wit the blade in place then it is most likely the right shirasaya. The habaki appears to fit the blade well but sometimes the habaki can become a little damaged where it fits the machi, bruised a little, and this can result in the ort of gap you illustrate. Just as an aside, Shinto Kashu swords tend to have a distinctive nakago jiri, have you come across this yet? Keep up the good work and enjoy the journey! All the best.

Dear Robert. I have to agree with Gwyn and Brian, this is at best a modern reproduction of a Shingunto, a WWII army sword. The shaping of the blade, the exaggerated pattern in the steel, the detail of the fittings, the way the hilt is wrapped, all confirm this. Not to worry, stick around and find out more. All the best.

Dear Michael. Congratulations on your first sword. First of all a reality check. Do you seriously think that having purchased a library, travelled to a sword show, bought your first blade and allowed yourself to be photographed studying it intently you are not obsessed? It's too late, my friend! You may have to hold back a little with baby on the way but it's never gonnna go away now! The type of sori is hard to see in most blades in hand, the diagram Stephen linked to will help and so will looking at lots of swords where there is an accurate description. As this is a Shinto Takada sword torii sori would be expected. Minor point but it matters, this is a TAKADA sword not Takeda, they are often dismissed as functional not artistic but that is a whole can of worms I'm not getting into. It does, however, make information a little harder to find. I hate to add to your library list but if you do not have them might I recommend the volumes Art and the Sword, published by JSS/US? I'm sure Grey could sort you out with these. In particular Vol. 4 has a lengthy essay on Kyushu Shinto. Excellent information and wonderful oshigata, (and just to confound my earlier statement I note that there is a sword by Yukinaga which is described as having shallow koshi sori). Enjoy! All the best.

Dear Ron. Welcome! As to your questions, well, here is an example which is not papered but guaranteed, to compare with the Kunihide wakizashi, https://www.aoijapan.net/wakizashi-ohbori-izumi-kami-kunihide/ I think I'd take a gamble on this one. I agree with your friend, they are two nice swords. Both swords are in polish and in shirasaya, which is good. The only degree of certainty that you are going to get on whether the mei are genuine is papers from one of the known and respected organisations in Japan. Our opinions don't really count. If you are buying from Japan then the question is do they have papers already? If so then we can add nothing, if not then the question is why not? It would be helpful to know what the seller says about them and who the seller is. Look forward to seeing where you go with these. All the best.

Not to put words in your mouth John but did you mean wear from the tsuba above the habaki? Thanks for sharing Ken. All the best.

I believe the menuki are male and female dolls, perhaps origami. I was reading something recently about this motif and have seen it at least twice on tsuba. If/when it comes to me I'll let you know. All the best.

I would agree with Brian though, given the chance I would have both. However when looking recently the prices of the first book are pretty steep now so given the differences the new book is perfectly good. Enjoy! All the best.

Dear Jake. There was/is a Japanese dealer whose site always seemed to have two or three yari mounted as darts. The clear suspicion is that a short koshirae, made yesterday, helps to sell a yari. Normal yari koshirae are notoriously difficult to transport and poles are often cut down to ease this problem, most likely what happened to the yari in the link. All the best.

Dear Roy. First of all, that is a lovely naginata you've got there! Now to the imponderables. The available listings tend to indicate the main period of a smith's work and they are often compilations of what is available. This means that although a smith is given as working predominantly in Kanbun period in fact his dates of production might span quite a time before and after the limits of the reign period specified. For example according to the sources you provide the second generation ends thirty years before the third starts; this is clearly not the case. Another factor is that many smiths changed their mei over time, often this reflects an elevation in their honorary tittle, in many cases it indicates that they were working in different parts of the country and so forth. I have a yari by a smith who worked in Edo, then moved to Odawara following the daimyo for whom he worked and then back to Edo. All this is to suggest that the lists are not to be taken as infallible, especially with regard to date, that new information adds to our knowledge as time passes, that mei change according to what is happening in the smiths life and in the family for whom he works and so on. Now the gap of thirty nine years is a bit of a reach here but, as I am sure you already know, this is a smith about whom not much information is available. I assume from your question that the naginata is not papered so you are left with a slight conundrum. If you can find papered examples of the mei then you can compare handwriting. You might consider sending it to shinsa and seeing what current scholarship suggests, or you might just enjoy it for what it is and keep your eye open for references to this line of smiths and see what you come up with. You have a research project on your hands. Whatever you decide to do enjoy this for what it is and enjoy the search. All the best.

Dear Johan. Brace yourself, making shirasaya is a tricky activity. I'm sure you know this already but absolutely no sanding, all finished from the tool edge to avoid debris scratching the blade and rice glue to avoid modern adhesives staining or rusting the blade. Might I recommend 'The Craft of the Japanese Sword' as a very useful book. As you are about to find out it is perfectly possible to make a new tsuka fit an existing nakago, including the mekugi ana so an unaltered nakago does not confirm that it has only had one tsuka in it's life. Shortening is done for a variety of reasons but only in rare cases to allow a blade to be mounted in a specific type of koshirae or a new koshirae. All the best.

Dear Irwin. Let's assume this is ubu, mumei and Shinto period. If so then it is a katana not a tachi. If it's what you are looking for then go for it. All the best.

Dear Henri-jo. First let me say that I agree with Chris about your approach to study, it's great to see the detail that you are pursuing. You are right to say that examining the blade in hand is much better but your drawings help. It is always a problem to pin down a date from just one feature such as a raised shinogi, what can be made can be copied and various revivals through sword history looked back to the old masters and copied them. You say, "taking into account the shinogi which extends into the nakago which is rather typical of Bizen." Your intent may be lot a little in translation here, for any sword with a shinogi the line would be expected to continue into the nakago, the fact that your blade has a raised shinogi would tend to make it more prominent but I do not think you should rely on this as typical of Bizen. You are clear that the sword is suriage, do you think the whole of the original nakago is lost? In your photograph of the mune near the nakago there seems to be a considerable thinning of the blade above the nakago. This raises the possibility that the blade has seen many polishes and that might effect the shinogi, with that in mind chech this part of the blade to see if the raised shinogi is an original feature. Unlike Chris I do not think there is anything about the sugata that I would call Kanbun Shinto, and as you are clear that it has saki zori then that, with the midare komi boshi would suggest Koto Muromachi, wouldn't it? With a nagasa of 62cms as it is you should be able to get an approximate original length which might help. Your last question asks if this is suguha and I would say no, sometimes hamon can be simply described in one word but often you will see that Japanese descriptions say things which are quite a mixture of terms, something like, ".. a gentle notare with some angular gunome, tobiyaki and profuse sunagashi, becoming more regular with nijuba in the monuchi." I think your sword would need a description like that. Enough of my random ramblings! Keep up the study and enjoy. All the best.

It's looking very good James. Bookshelves, always more book shelves. All the best.

Oh yes! An accidental arrival but it is a Mino den katana/tachi with an iron tsuba, clearly battle damaged in WWII and mounted as a Burmese dha. Worth almost nothing but can't ever let it go. It started me on a journey of discovery for which I will always be grateful. All the best.

Dear Rob. The blade is o suriage so the nakago you see now is a part of what was originally the blade itself, hence the rather smooth surface and the clean cut nakago jiri. New mekugi ana are drilled and the surface looks quite different as you observed. All the best.

Dear Ciro. What Ken was asking for is a picture of the whole blade without the koshirae, something like this, Also, please describe what you can see in the hamon and boshi. All the best.

Dear Eric. The fittings are not standard WWll ones but it is not that uncommon to find swords in simple civilian mounts with the addition of a hanger for use in the war. Your sword might have had a leather combat cover over the saya. Personally I would leave them as they are. All the best.

Well this one is signed tachi mei, which makes it interestng. Yoshi something. Again condition, lack of sizes and so forth make it hard to say more. Enjoyed seeing them Georg and I am sure others will add much more information for you and your friend. All the best.

Hi Georg. Not naginata naoshi but a standard hira zukuri ko wakizashi, assuming that it is more than 30 cms nagasa. I can see why you like the koshirae. All the best.

Hi Georg. Well the blade is signed Kiyonobu, again quite a pleasant koshirae. I don't think this is katana length, is it? Might be worth looking up Mino Kiyonobu, from memory he sometimes does a hamon that looks like what we can see of this one. All the best.

Hi Georg. This one also appears to be suriage and possibly Koto, can't see much and dimensions would be a real help but, again, quite nice koshirae. Tsuba signed Shoami I believe. All the best.

Dear George. I think all of use are screaming internally about those nice finger prints near the kissaki. We are lacking dimensions and a full picture of the bare blade but from what little we can see this looks like an o suriage koto blade in what looks like very pleasant koshirae. The tsuba is signed Yamashiro no Kuni Fushimi ju Kaneiye. All the best.

Dear George. That's a sweet Kaigunto! All the best.

Dear James. Looking great! As a matter of interest why did you scrap the idea of the low stand for your armour? I think it would look good and if you are canny you can have some low concealed drawers underneath it, just right for swords......... Looking forward to the rest. All the best.