Geraint

Dear Ofek. Didn't you do well! I think both koshirae are interesting, the tanto looks to be in very nice mounts and I have to say I like the wakizashi mounts a lot. I would suggest shinshnto for the tanto and I would get it polished. Not so sure about the wakizashi but if nothing else a tsunagi for the koshirae, Enjoy! All the best

I think Oleg was right first time. Refinished saya and duff tsuka but the blade itself is sound as far as I can see and the niju habaki with pierced mon is nice so if you want to rescue time for polish and shirasaya. All the best.

Hi Alex. Short samurai = short sword. It is not unknown to find a daisho where the dai is shorter than what we would call katana length. In a way that answers both of your first two questions but as the badge of a samuraI was the daisho then a wakizashi would be carried. Sometimes one finds katana/tanto daisho, from memory there was a shinshinto example in one of the London auction houses some years ago. (Festing sale?) The reason usually given for the reduction in length from tachi to katana is that tachi were intended for use when mounted but were too long for foot combat. That being the case ubu Koto tachi would have been a problem carried as a katana which is why so many are suriage and why at certain periods, copies of koto suriage swords were in fashion. Does that help? All the best

Dear Mike, Just to add to what Jussi has said, Hawley lists two generations, both of whom used the "no Kami" title at times. An article in the ToKen Society magazine, reproduced from Rei magazine says that the existence of three generations has been established. Either way the sword needs to be looked at by someone knowledgeable and in hand. The first generation was a son of Horikawa Kunitake and a student of Dewa Daijo Kunimichi. They also make polearms, (one naginata in the V & A museum in London). I am sure members can advise you about sword study groups and other things depending on where you are located. Enjoy! All the best.

Dear Petr. Well certainly not Showa. The nakago and shape suggest Soshu school ko wakizashi. Time to go slow, not sure where you are but if there is a local study group worth showing it to someone. Above all please don't attempt any restoration yourself. Looking forward to what others have to say. All the best.

Dear Gordon. If I was to hazard a guess I would say that this is a pressed kodzuka. These are usually dismissed and seem to have been made for Western markets. Tell tale signs are, rather blurred details, erratic gilding, no undercuts, no sign of inlay. The give a way would be a shot of the mouth where it is usually possible to see that the plate is very thin. Colour is always tricky with images but the brown toning might suggest patinated copper rather than shakudo. Hope this helps. All the best.

Dear George, The sword mounting is a type called hoso tachi which is specifically for court wear. The mounting style is very slim so while it does look small it may be a normal size sword. We will never know what the blade is like but you can do a search for images of hoso tachi and find some examples. All the best.

Indeed he was Jim, not to mention the bendy kodzuka, ko gatana and kogai! Can't help thinking that drawing this would be tricky. Thanks for the link. All the best

Dear Michael. A nice find. Jean is spot on with dating but the koshirae is pleasant and well worth the cost of a good re bind. It should be easy to tell if the saya is not original, looseness around the habaki or lack of alignment would indicate this but sometimes tanto have saya that do not match the blade so worth checking. Enjoy. All the best.

The brass plate looks as if it might have been engine turned, perhaps a European piece adapted to the tsuba. The wire net seems to have a mesh that gets larger as it moves toward the rim. Intriguing. All the best.

Dear Chris. I don't have an oshigata for this smith but the nakago jiri is atypical for Bizen work. The brass habaki isn't good either. Hopefully someone else can supply an oshigata but I suggest proceed with caution. All the best.

Hi Ken. Absolutely right though in this case I am not so sure that the oshigata is wrong as I can't see exactly what happens to the hamon in the photographs. I think the second part of your question captures the point, we wonder if it might be. Then other factors come into play don't they? With the example in question there are no other indications as far as I can tell. The example sword, assuming the oshigata is accurate, certainly seems to have a very abrupt ending to the hamon which looks odd, perhaps this is more an indication of the fashion for replicating shortened koto blades, perhaps the sign of a second rank smith but it certainly doesn't look good to my eye. If nothing else I have just spent some time looking through most of the oshigata on Aoi Art and at least it's made me think a lot more about this particular issue. All the best.

It seems that as a rule so would Tsuruta san. http://www.aoijapan.com/wakizashi-sokanansei-4-6-gatsu-sakujitsu-saku Typos all round! All the best

Hi Iain. I know that Tsuruta san has described this as shinogi zukuri but what do you think? In the oshigata the hamon does seem to end quite suddenly but this is less clear in the photographs. In this case we can be sure that the nakago is ubu and therefore the answer to your question about smiths resigning a blade after suriage does not enter the discussion. On a broader note in certain cases we find that a smith who performed suriage might inscribe that fact on the nakago, something to the effect, "I Fred Blogs have shortened this katana by Joe Simkins". I have never come across a sword where the suriage was done by the smith who made the sword in the first place. As you are studying the tanto page you will see that very few of the blades, or at least the oshigata end in the rather nice neat way we might expect, even when clearly not suriage. Hope that helps, I am sure others will chime in here. All the best. Just crossed your post Grey, did you mean to write hirazukuri?

And very good it is Jean. Grev mentions that he has a copy of this one. Perhaps we should find a way to get the two of them together over a pile of Namban tsuba and see what they both come up with? All the best.

Dear All. " Peter said in another post that this was O-suriage koto, but this tang doesn't look very koto". If osuriage then the entire Koto tang could easily have gone meaning that the new nakago would not look as old. Unless efforts were made to replicate the age of the nakago then you might expect it to look 'of the period' in which suriage was performed. The fact that it might have been an old family sword does not necessarily mean that the family would know very much about swords, nor that they would hesitate to send it to war with their son, nor that they would feel the need to find the best craftsman to engrave such a message. I am sorry that this does not add much to our consensus about the sword in question. All the best

Hi John. Sounds to me as if you already know what you are going to do. No one here will tell you not to do it but...... A possibly gimei katana with recently assembled mounts of average quality.......? Personally I would have had a hard time letting that Echizen Seki in Higo koshirae go. Just as well we are all different. Whatever you decide I hope you really enjoy the sword you ends up with. All the best.

Dear Ofek. I think I would be reaching for my wallet on this one. All the best.

Dear Jamie. I am sorry that you are disappointed by the sword. I can't see quite clearly from your photos but the tsuba looks to have been attacked with a round file to make it fit. I assume that the fittings do not have matching numbers? How is the fit overall of the blade in the tsuka and saya? You mention that there is evidence of a locking catch in the shirasaya, which I assume to mean the wooden liner for the steel saya. Is there a suitable cutout in the metal fitting for the scabbard mouth? I am clutching at straws but if all the other parts are a good fit then it night be that a replacement tsuba has been added to an otherwise associated koshirae. If all this is not the case and you want to contact the auction house then the catalogue description is a problem. They made no claim for the provenance other than what it is so not much to go on there. As for the description of the sword they itemised the blade and described it as in fine condition overall which it seems to be. I am very much afraid that they would say that the description was correct. I have never tried to return anything to Bonhams and one would hope that they would give yo u a sympathetic hearing but I would not hold out too much hope I am sorry to say. I do hope that this does not put you off completely. Next time buy from one of the more respected dealers of the For Sale section here. All the best.

Does not the texturing of the ground for both the fan stalks and the menuki suggest nunome zogan? All the best

Dear Mike, Not much to add except that the fuchi is almost certainly iron, and that I would go for a rewrap with perhaps a better horn kashira. Looking forward to your next one. All the best.

My pleasure.

Hi Joe. The exhibition was brought to the UK by the Token Society and was a very memorable event. The opportunity too study such an array of work by some of the best gendai smiths was truly awesome. I believe the same event hosted a rather special display of work by Sumitani Masamine who appeared in person. That was quite special! I can still feel the weight of an extraordinary omi yari that he had made, on my mind if not in hand. Hope the attached helps. All the best.

I have a copy of the translation if you need some pages copied Joe. All the best.

Not like this one? http://www.japanesesword.com/AntiqueSwords/Swordsunder2500.htm