Geraint

And there goes this thread! All the best.

Dear Kyle. Just to add to what Steve has said, the sword is in WWII mounts with a pierced tsuba/handgurad and a silver mon/badge on the hilt. These are more unusual features and make the sword more interesting. The leather cover on the metal scabbard indicates combat use so your grandfather is much more likely to have acquired this in another way. Many swords were destroyed immediately after the war when for a time they were proscribed and handed in to the authorities. For a Japanese person to have retained this, brought it out of the country and given it as a gift would have been very unlikely. Did your grandfather serve in the war? If not then perhaps he acquired it because of his interest in martial arts. A wonderful piece of family history. Take a slow journey of discovery and don't do anything to it other than a light oiling of the blade, not the tang. Interesting sword and we look forward to seeing how this turns out. All the best.

Dear Martin. Welcome, please add your name to all your posts as we all do here. I am not sure what you want to hear about your sword. It is a perfectly genuine antique sword, an unsigned wakizashi in older polish with low end but genuine mounts which is papered to a Takada school smith. I think Teruyuki of which there were four generations between 1650 and 1800. The Takada school is not generally highly regarded, it is suggested that they are not art swords. I have always found that a rather strange statement and individual swords are often very good. Hope this helps. All the best.

Dear Kevin. (Bye the way, you can auto add your signature to all posts in your profile.) If nothing else this has given me some profitable time looking at my limited resources on matchlocks. As is often the case there is much information but not exactly what you want. Brian and Jan are heading towareds the side of this being genuine and I would be delighted if that were the case. Here are a few points to consider. The stock, certainly recently refinished but it is not made of Japanese oak which is the usual material, it seems to be Beech but hard to be sure from photographs. The trigger guard, heavy proportions and the way it is fixed to the stock looks pretty rough, the gauge of the metal in the ring behind it is also a concern. The pan cover, is it brass? The thumb lever to open the pan seems at an odd angle. The barrel protector, again is this brass? It seems to be a poorly fettled casting. The brass butt cap, gauge, finish and the large size of the pins all concern me. The breech plug, looks remarkably clean and new for a gun that is at least 120 years old. The pan, do you think it has ever been fired? Please don't take any of these ideas as more than they are and I hope that Jan will be able to reassure us on all of them, they are just what concerned me and led me to suggest a reproduction. I know that Dixie Gunworks used to sell a reasonable reproduction and I am sure that other companies have done so to. The Dixie example is quite close in style to this one but not identical. Here's hoping for a positive response from Jan and from your gunsmith as regards the shootability of it. All the best.

Dear Kevin. Others much more skilled than I will chime in but I suspect that this is a reproduction. Not the lack of signature but other features suggest this to my eye. It might well be a shootable version but you need to let others assure you of that. All the best.

Not so sure we are going to see a signature on this one..... Hope to be wrong. All the best.

Already featured in the translation section, http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/28426-katana-mei/ All the best.

Dear Trevor. Roger is a great person to be in contact with and will steer you well on this one. Whatever the outcome of his examination this is a very nice piece and I would suggest you do as little as possible to it with regard to restoration. As David says it is signed Hizen kuni Tadayoshi but it is also signed tachi mei which all helps toward the school. If Robert comes back with a positive then you might need to start thinking about polish and papers but for now just a little light oil on that blade and enjoy it. All the best.

Dear Dwain. Not sure what you mean by recovery, do you mean restoration? If so then ask yourself why a seller should have two very similar swords with strange shaped nakago both covered in nice fresh rust which seems to be uniform across the blade and nakago, both now in USA but from Japan. When you have answered that one then your question probably becomes irrelevant. All the best.

Dear Michael. Welcome to the board. Your suspicions are quite correct, this is not a Japanese sword. It is most likely a Chinese fake. If you want detail then please ask and we can give you a long list. Hope your next one is a great find. Enjoy. All the best.

Dear Logan. Just to be clear you are absolutely right, this is a Chinese fake, Brian is referencing the seller in his reply. All the best.

Dear Robert, The brass curved inlay looks like a type of fence found in Japanese gardens so perhaps this is a tea house? All the best.

So, "Made by Sukekuni who is the third generation Sukenao." Sounds good. All the best.

Dear Erwin. Have a look at Mishina Yoshiaki. All the best.

Hi Christian and welcome. Are there any stamped marks on the nakago/tang? If so they would help us confirm what Mark suggests. All the best. P.S. You can auto add your signature in your profile.

Dear Luis. Compare here, https://yuhindo.com/otsuki-mitsuoki-tsuba All the best.

Dear Peter. (Sorry, post crossed) Can we assume that you bought this through a business contact whom you have known fro 15 years and not from a teenage sword dealer? I think Michael's reply was a very good one and do please accept that we would all love it if you had found a masterpiece for your collection. It is understood that these NBTHK papers should not be relied on, especially for significant smiths. It should also be clear that no one can give an accurate assessment of your sword from a limited number of relatively poor pictures. If after examining the sword in hand you are confident that it is genuine then the thing to do would be to submit it to a shinsa. However before you do that take several long hard looks at the blade and the work. Is the hada typical? Is the hamon typical? Can you find another ubu tachi from this period of this length? Is the nakago jiri right? Tom suggest that you send an oshigata or a photograph to the NBTHK for their opinion, I do not think they will confirm the validity of the papers without seeing the blade in hand at a shinsa. As Michael has pointed out the odds are against this being by the man you hope but until you get a proper Japanese opinion then we are all guessing. All the best.

Dear Dan. I fear the answer to your questions is contained in the tittle of your post, it's a fake. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. What made you assign this to the Namban group? All the best.

Dear Jerry. It would seem a perfectly reasonable approach to have the hilt/tsuka rebound. From your images it is missing menuki/ornaments under the wrap and the kashira/pommel cap. One way aroumd this would be to have someone who knows what they are doing to source a pair of WWII menuki and have a horn kashira fitted. That would look just fine and allow you to display the sword. Have a look here, Tsukamaki.net (Sorry the link doesn't work, highlight and right click). I am sure that others will recommend craftsmen who could do the job as well. If you have not yet removed the habaki/collar around the blade then do have a go at that, there are threads here about how to shift stubborn habaki if you need. As Jean-Pierre says just keep the blade lightly oiled and don't let anyone touch it with their bare hands, common cause of rusting. Enjoy! All the best.

Dear Neil. Bearing in mind two things; first that we are doing this with very little to go on and from photographs of an out of polish sword, and second, that, "I know nothing!" Given the length and that we could reasonably assume to gain about another 10cms if we imagine the sword before suriage then that would put it at about the right length for an early Muromachi blade. . If this is so then we are in the late Nambokucho/Muromachi period as suggested by the previous owner. Of course it is possible that more has been removed and that the grooves are a later addition in which case, as Chris suggests it might be earlier. It certainly warrants showing to somebody knowledgeable in hand and probably a polish. Looking forward to see where this goes. All the best.

Dear Emilio. If you are thinking of buying this sword then don't let the fact that this particular Kanesada changed his name stop you. Another example is here, http://www.nihontoantiques.com/archive/g76.htm The sword on Aoi Art has NBTHK Hozon papers and is with a good looking koshirae, enjoy! All the best.

Dear Neil. If the need to know is important then shinsa is the way to go. If a consensus will do then can we have the dimensions please? Whatever the outcome it's a nice find! All the best.

Dear Bryce. Always good to see a Kanesaki, yours has a great deal to see, much more than one I own which has a very tight nioiguchi and little activity. I agree with what has been said above but wanted to add a couple of things. Examining a sword in different lights is always a good idea, I know that most of us keep them safely inside and only get to see them under artificial light, (Well, I'm in the UK, might be different for you guys.) The second thing is to suggest that you have a go at an oshigata. I do mine with very limited materials, thin art paper and a range of ordinary pencils. In order to get anywhere close to what is actually happening you need to really look at the sword and I find that helpful. All the best.

Dear Geoff. I am not entirely without hope that this may be Japanese but in its current condition and, with respect, rather gloomy photos asking for any attribution to a school is a non starter. The sword has had a hard time and taking good images is an art in itself. If you want a better guess then pictures of the tang might help but you don't mention a signature so I assume it is unsigned and even if this does turn out to be Japanese then it falls into the category where it is most unlikely to warrant restoration. Best option would be to show it to an experienced collector in hand, perhaps we have members in the Melbourne area who would be willing to have a look for you. All the best.

Yep! Fake. Number on the habaki, rough tsuba and menuki etc, etc. All the best.