Geraint

Oooohhh yes! Never seen a tachi tsuba quite like that one. All the best.

Dear Stephane. I agree with George but with one caveat. I have a koshirae where the mekugi is not a screw fitting but simple two tubes which are a friction fit to hold them together. This will not bring you joy in your possession. All the best.

Hi Adrian. At this stage your sword appears to be about right for the period. Unfortunately the sword in your link is quite another story. While the mounts appear superficially similar and they are both tachi mounts, they are of a different type and though both may have been made for the coronation they are of two very different qualities. Your sword is Imperial only in the sense that it may have been worn in the presence of the Emperor. It would be helpful if you could give us some close ups of the hilt fittings and the scabbard hangers as the are not typical for this type of sword. Looking forward to seeing them. All the best.

First time I have seen yasurime applied with a fly cutter! Run, run fast, run far. All the best.

"Check the depth of the hole with a bit of wire, for tsuka and saya." Checked this out just recently with a friend's sword and it proved the point, if you will pardon the pun. It seems to occur quite often with shorter swords. I have a wakizashi of some size which has a saya several inches longer than it really needs to be. Perhaps it has a practical bearing on how the sword was worn and perhaps also how it would look if part of a daisho. All the best.

Dear John. Nice koshirae if that makes any difference to your choice. All the best.

Dear Grev. I can see why the are the shape that you describe as billhook as this trues up the shape of the hitsu ana. However they seem to be separate pieces on each face of the tsuba rather than a single piece inserted, is that so? All the best.

Dear All. I certainly have no wish to spoil anyone's enjoyment of this tsuba so if you love it don't read on. Look at the shape of the anvil, look at the way Munechika's hand grasps that rather odd looking hammer, look at the way the clouds are rendered, particularly on the reverse around the fox, never mind the fox, look at the hammer on the reverse. As far as composition goes, the tsuba was clearly never intended to be mounted but I think the face would have benefited from a seppa dai. If it is to your taste then you are not alone, at the hammer price was 4k Euro then with commission etc it will have cost someone the better part of 5k. It's an impressive piece of work, nice theme, nice tsuba in some ways but not a masterpiece, surely? All the best.

Dear Steve. Some will say that o suriage Shinto is a no right from the start. As this has it's torokusho I assume it is in Japan, if so then there is a question mark. I notice now that some dealers have taken to having their swords re-papered and then show both the old style and the new NBTHK paper. In most of the cases I have seen so far the sword is ubu and signed and both the papers agree. Of course if they did not agree then we would probably only see the current papers. Assuming the sword is o suriage, (and after all why would Kunisuke ever make a katana that he did not sign?), then given it's current length what would it's original nagasa have been? Does this fit with known Kunisuke katana? I'm afraid I can't make out very much from the images but does the description of the hada and hamon sound like Kunisuke? You are clearly drawn to this sword so perhaps ask the question about papers. Would the seller guarantee current NBTHK and indeed submit it for you? If the answer is no, then you are buying an o suriage Shinto katana, you can effectively disregard the papers and the price should reflect these factors. Looking forward to hearing what you decide. All the best.

Hi Steff. Yes, this is the place alright. If it is a bare blade then an overall picture as well as details of the point area and the nakago, (tang) will be useful. If in mounts then we will start with that. Looking forward to seeing it. All the best.

Hi Mark. If it is genuine then Kofun period. The style is called shokaku tsuki kabuto or battering ram helmet. Similar examples are in the Tokyo National Museum. If genuine it is in remarkable condition. I have seen one similar in a friend's collection and he had it as a reproduction of a helmet of this period. Perhaps that would be the way to buy it; an interesting example of the type but not a great archaeological find. All the best.

Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZw35VUBdzo All the best.

Dear Peter. Speaking as someone who has just a week or so ago picked up a friend's sword and gone, "Wow! Nice menuki" I would agree with Chris. Love to see the results when it's done. All the best.

Dear Roger. Don'y get too excited about the price but see here fro some information on your tsuba. http://www.shibuiswords.com/EDLkoikeyoshiro.html I have seen the suggestion that the shape of the hitsu ana on yours suggests an earlier tsuba. All the best.

Dear All. If any of you has the catalogue of the Festing - Backhoff sale in 1993 there is a very similar tsuba described as, "Of oval form, with slightly raised rim, carved in relief with breaking waves, inlaid with scattered fans in cloisonne enamel, the rounded rim with karakusa in shakudo hirazogan." The description goes on to add that the cloisonne elements are clearly a later addition. Apparently the tsuba had hakogaki by Kazutaro Torigoe attributing it to Nishigaki Kanshiro II. They also give references to Tsuba Kanshoki p 163 and Higo Kinko Taikan p 241. I don't have either of these volumes. I think you need to show this to someone who can advise but I agree that this one should probably get it's own box and perhaps a trip to Ford for some professional restoration. All the best.

Thanks David. I like it! Seems you should be looking at the Sue Koto Kanesaki smiths. Wouldn't it be great if you could tie this to the one who founded the Kanesaki line in Tottori? All the best.

Hi David. I for one would love to see images of the whole yari. Interesting starting point for your research is here, http://to-ken.uk/onewebmedia/UK%20Sword%20Kanesaki.pdf All the best.

Dear James. In many cases the sword will have been cleaned before viewing, thus removing the oil. In any case much better to be safe than sorry, simple precautions prevent costly accidents. All the best.

Dear Stephen. I know where you are heading with this but for this sword there are NBTHK Hozon and NTHK Yushu saku papers. Here it is, https://www.aoijapan.com/wakizashi-gold-inlay-kin-zogan-muramasa/ So suriage with kinzogan mei and still a fair old heap of change for 3million yen. All the best.

Dear Didier. Almost every rule or guide for kantei should include the word "usually". The narrowing above the nakago and the worn machi are a sign of the number of times a sword has been polished but a well used sword might acquire these in quite a short time, or a neglected one that has been rescued. A treasured piece might survive for many years with few if any polishes. (I once convinced myself that a Nambokucho Aoe daito was Shinshinto for the same reasons.) Similarly katateuchi is a specific type of sword from a specific period and not simply a matter of length. There are numerous guides to the lengths of swords relative to time periods but once again there are exceptions and variations galore. All these things make it frustratingly difficult to identify a sword when it is mumei and ubu but I always console myself with the thought that this is what makes this study so fascinating. I suppose it is also why kantei sessions are generally run with blades that are typical of the smith and period. Enjoy your sword. All the best.

Dear Brandon. Welcome to NMB and thank you for sharing your excitement, it's always a great time when you get a new sword. If you click on the FAQ link at the top of the page there is some guidance on caring for your sword. You are correct in your translation of Yukimitsu but with just the name it will be a difficult task to narrow it down to a specific smith. Enjoy the sword and may it be the first of many! All the best.

Dear Jim. This is a civilian sword from a period earlier than WWII. It is a wakizashi, the name for a sword under 24" in length from tip to tang, and it is in handachi or half yachi mounts. The side knife is a kozuka or little hilt and a kogatana for the blade. We all want to know what is on the nakago or tang. Just above the guard there is a small peg that passes through the hilt. If you can use a blunt instrument to push this out, have a look to see which side is larger and push toward that, then you should be able to disassemble the sword, taking note of the order in which the fittings come apart. If you can then get us a photo of the whole blade and one of the tang then perhaps we can help some more. All the best.

Dear Yuri. What made you buy this? Have you ever seen a habaki like that? During yakire the blade curves first forward and then back to form the lovely sugata we all know. Now imagine if a part of the blade had lost it's hamon due to over heating. What would happen? The sugata of this blade is unnatural, a very peculiar straightening from the mid point to the kissaki. Even if you find a continuous hamon and spend the money on a polish you are still going to end up with a blade which has no grace. Sugata first. If you want to remove the habaki several kettles full of boiling water, each followed by cooling in cold water will help but I don't think you are going to be delighted by what you find. All the best.

Dear Ken. I wonder if the rounded segments are original and the rectangular sections were cut to allow the insertion of soft metal cut to shape for kodzuka and kogai? I cannot recall seeing these shapes as they stand anywhere else. All the best.

Dear All. Just few random thoughts sparked by Jeremiah's post. I do agree that a well done mei has a beauty all its own. The calligraphy is distinctive between different makers and one can recognise certain styles from certain hands, e.g. Chikuzen Moritsugu, Shigetaka and so on. However a mei on a nakago or a piece of tosogu is not the same as a signature done with a pen or pencil. I "sign" my work and while the size varies depending on the size of the piece there is a consciousness about the cutting of my "mei" that puts it on an altogether different level to the scrawl that is my pen signature. The mei is a part of the craft, it is carefully and skilfully executed. Of course the content can vary for a host of reasons; new honorific, adoption of a Buddhist name, change of place of work, new name based on kanji taken from a superior's name and so on. With some smiths there is a conscious change of style to take into account; kaku Tsuda and maru Tsuda for example. My basic point remains, there is a deliberate and thoughtful approach to making these marks that is absent from our signatures. I am sure that we have all at some point in our collecting history had that piece which is, "signed by a really famous guy", and that we have all clutched at the straw, "well my signature has changed a lot over the years", in defiance of the evidence that our beloved piece is in fact gimei. However I think we need to separate any association between our signatures and the crafted and often beautiful mei on the works we love. All the best.