Geraint

Dear Jeremiah. That's some lovely reading there! The only snag is that once you have trained your ye you then have to find pieces that meet your newly refined criteria and a source of funds to go with it. Oh, and apparently drool marks on the pages devalues the books. All the best.

Dear Chris. Just for comparisons sake see here, Add to the clear differences the placement of the mei, even allowing for the fact that yours is hirazukuri the mei meanders down the middle of the nakago, one would expect it to be aligned with the mune. So you have a nice Shinshinto tanto in attractive issaku koshirae, what's not to like? Enjoy it for what it is, I certainly would. All the best.

Dear Nicholas. A papered wakizashi here to compare. https://www.aoijapan.com/img/sword/2020/20394paper-1.jpg All the best.

Dear Jonas. In the UK we have a saying, " Thanks, but no thanks!" All the best.

Forgive me if I have got this wrong but I have always understood these to be called haikan, not so? All the best.

Dear Dale. Paulownia? Didn't we have another piece just recently with the same question? All the best.

Dear Richard. First to say that I, too, really like the tsuba. The fact that it came back as gimei is a disappointment, most of all to you but I think all of us love it when a story comes good. I know that it's easy to speak after the event but if nothing else your post made me really look at the tsuba and particularly at the seppa dai. The handling of the nanako lacks a certain confidence here, notably around the hitsu ana. I have been doing a bit of digging and the first thing to say is that the images in my reference library are not as good as yours in many cases. However in the case of a really good tsuba everything about it is top quality, technically and artistically. I did find a lot of tsuba where the seppa dai has been defined by a cut border and the nanako runs up to that border. On tsuba where the cut border does not exist, like yours, the arrangement of the nanako is distinctive and very regular, in most cases it follows the outline of the tsuba in shape and that continues up to the seppa dai where it meets it continuing in that pattern. Once again in most cases the edge of the hitsu are within the seppa dai, where they are not the nanako continues in the same pattern as the rest of the tsuba. I have so for found one other like yours with a straight line of nanako toward the centre of the tsuba bordering the hitsu rather than the overall pattern but even here the regularity is pronounced. Not sure if this is just the result of your very revealing close ups but at least it set me thinking. All the best.

Dear Miguel. Welcome to NMB. The kozuka depicts a demon with a drum and the blade with it is nothing more than a paper knife. You have rescued these, now you are faced with the difficulty of knowing what to do with them. First step is to take of the habaki and lightly oil the blades. Clearly both now need a professional Japanese polish, some of our European members might be able to recommend who to use if you decide to go down this route. However, looking at the nakago of the katana it seems thicker than the blade which suggest that it has already had several polishes, given the depth of some of the rust patches it might not survive another. The koshirae looks OK for this sword. The tanto looks healthier and does not seem to be so badly damaged, more hope for this one. I like the mounts, though again they need some restoration. For now learn what you can from them and stabilise the rust as far as you can. Take careful advice and decide what you want to do with them. Enjoy! All the best.

Dear Pietro. After the Haitorei a lot of very skilled craftsmen suddenly found their livelihood under threat. Fortunately a thirst in the west for Japonisme came to their aid. Some items were sold as antique, some were made especially for export and a whole host of items were produced as examples of Japanese decorative art. We have all seen the cutlery with kozuka handles, menu holders and so forth. My Father in law had a beautiful Vesta case or match safe in iron with exquisite takazogan, clearly made by a fittings craftsman but a Western artefact. Tsuba shaped objects such as you illustrate do crop up mounted with small clocks and as Sebastien suggests, photograph frames. In this case I do not think this is converted, I can't visualise a seppa dai fitting with the design, but I suspect it was made as a tsuba shaped object with the frame, never converted from a truly Japanese object. Many years ago I came across an illustration of a pair of candlesticks, each formed by stacking twenty or so fuchi on a tsuba and soldering the whole thing together. Upset me for a long time. All the best.

Dear Steve. You are chasing the wrong rabbit. As Ed says there is no way to know if this sword had anything to do with the competition. Out of 250 smiths all were ranked and fifth seat is the lowest. The smiths subsequently went on to war time production and produced large numbers of swords between them. We are talking about the smith here, not this specific sword. As you say you are now intending to keep it then have it properly polished and enjoy it for what it is. It may be the spring board into an abiding passion. All the best.

Yes indeed! Quite a piece of furniture, it will add to the pleasure you get from viewing swords every time. All the best.

Dear Harry. Chris has called this one, it's a fake. Stick around and get your eye in, there is a heap of stuff to learn and a wealth of enjoyment ahead of you. All the best.

Dear Alex. It is, as you say, a kaigunto with the more desirable saya. It is not possible to say very much about this blade except that it is in a state that suggests a questionable polish. The kissaki looks quite long which does not usually support his suggestion that it's a standard blade. This is clearly not an area that the seller knows much about so it would be a gamble. All the best.

Dear Micah. Kofu ju or Efu ju Masa something, Hisa or Yuki? All the best.

Dear Jason. Yakidashi refers to a smoothing of the hamon above the machi in a Shinto blade, not the end of the hamon inside the nakago. There are few signs that your blade is suriage, the yasurime appear to be higaki, there is a single mekugi ana and the jiri is well finished. The kissaki is extended and from the lines it would have been originally a little more extended than it is now, look at the relationship between the ko shinogi and the ha in the kissaki. No yakidashi and midare komi boshi suggests koto, yasurime suggest Mino den. The kissaki suggest sue koto. You have not described the hamon and the pictures do not do it justice. What do you see here? Looking forward to where this ends up. All the best.

Dear John. This is a common mei for a Bungo Takada sword, usually called Fujiwara Takada in Shinto swords. For reference, https://nihonto.dilanhosting.com/archive/g80.htm All the best.

Thanks for this Dave, really enjoyed watching this. It does remind you how much sheer hard work went into producing what we take so much for granted in today's world. It also changes the way you think about what we lightly term factory made swords. (With apologies for those who can't get to see it. ) All the best.

Dear Uwe. No help with the tsuba I fear but the birds on the unusual fuchi kashira look like Japanese cuckoos. I don't think I have ever seen feathers inlaid into the lacquer of the saya before. All in all a really interesting koshirae. All the best.

Dear Uwe. Yes, it's an education making a habaki isn't it? Just one suggestion, perhaps a little fuller toward the base of the habaki? Keep at it. All the best.

Dear Jason. So you have an ubu mumei katana with an extended kissaki. Tell us what you can see, the photographs don't do much good. What about any sign of yakidashi? What does the boshi do? What is the hamon and any activities you can see? How about the nakago, what can you see there? From your study what time periods would you expect to see a katana of that nagasa with an extended kissaki? Looking forward to seeing where this one goes. All the best.

Dear Rob. My suggestion above was based on the memory of a written account which recorded that on a very few occasions Japanese officers were asked to go through surrendered swords to pick out the better ones. It is hard to account for the well written kanji otherwise as this would not have been done on a sword when carried, I think. While some Japanese troops were employed by the allies after the end of hostilities to combat local insurgencies I would guess the newspaper, dated in English, would be a post war addition, possibly by the service man who had acquired the sword. It's a nice thing and interesting to surmise but we will never know. All the best.

Of course this is just conjecture but I wonder if this is the result of a Japanese officer being asked to sort through a pile of swords at the end of the war and identify those of interest? I have never come across this before and find it interesting. (Only one coffee into the day myself!) All the best.

Dear Grev, I agree with Sebastien, the photograph does the mei no favours, coupled with some corrosion. It looks as if the image has been cropped and enlarged a little too much. The overall images do not suggest a cast tsuba to me. All the best.

Well the prices realised are up and there are a few surprises. Lot 5 for example. I imagine both the vendors and the auctioneers are very satisfied! All the best.

Dear Aliaksandr. This is an out and out fake. If you look at the mei you should be bale to see that it is not cut or chiselled in any way. Other indicators are the surface finish, the muddy feel of the faces and the piece of Shoki's hat that crosses the seppa dai. All the best.