Lance

That does seem unusual, assuming it's made from traditional Honoki wood and without actually seeing it my guess would be too much oil on the blade. If it's in your safe vertically? the oil could run down the blade and pool in certain areas. The main concern I could think of would be a chance for dust to get caught in the oil, and scratch the blade wihen removing or inserting the blade in the saya. I'd try using a lighter coat of oil on it and keep an eye on it for a while. Hope this is of some use. Regards, Lance

My understanding is the activity in your picture is considered kinsuji when inside the hamon, outside or above hamon it's identified as inazuma. This part's making alot of assumption from one picture but here goes : It looks to be a very old sword (Kamakura-Nambokucho) possibly, the hamon may have been higher in that area, and the kinsuji was within the hamon. After repeated polishes the "regular" part of the hamon didn't go through the blade with the same strength as the knisuji, and it was left behind to become inazuma. Regards, Lance

I don't believe Peter was really calling anyone "dipshits" . What I took away from his post is that these types of collectors shouldn't really be dismissed as there's a good likelyhood/potential that some of these people are going to be where the next generation of sword students/collectors will come from. Also, except for swords that were made for shrine dedicationss most of the old Juyo swords were made for battle, and used/carried. There's an old saying I remember reading somewhere, that a sword can last one battle or a 1000 years. An oversimplification maybe, of a weapon becoming a family treasure or heirloom after a sanurai carried his weapon through his career or a campaign. More so if it was a very good sword to begin with or the use of it helped raise the standing of that family. Regards, Lance

Looks similar to a set of fittings in Boston museum, I think they've been published in a few books too. 19th century. Otsuki school, Matsuo Gassan. Emasciated dog-wolf in reeds of Mushashino/Mushshi plain. (dark lonely place, usually depicted with skull or bones in overgrown grass, I think a place of exile) pic and link below. http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/f ... shino-9897 Hopefully I'm wrong but yours look like there's a possibility of them being later/modern examples. Close up pics focused on the menuki themselves and the backs would help Regards, Lance

I don't really see "gun nuts" being hostile to swords, most collectors/hobbyists of any sort will understand another's enthusiasm, even if they don't share a particular interest in that field. People without this peculiar mindset don't really get the drive to collect anything, it doesn't seem to matter if it's a sword or a comic book, or pottery; it's just odd to them. I've actually made quite a few decent sword and tosogu purchases at local militaria/gun shows; some even from dealers selling old and new firearms too. For the most part all are friendly, Sellers of antique swords, medals, uniforms fighting knives and sabers etc. all set up right next to guys selling new "tactical" rifles, and everybody gets along fine (and buy from each other too). If you didn't think you'd be slumming (joke) a weekend trip or two a month to local militaria/gun shows eventually turns up something good or better, and you might come across other collector/dealers of Nihomto too depending on the show. Regards, Lance

Aside from Nuwa, the female menuki could be Kwannon: Goddess of mercy, coincidentally Jason mentioned a female or feminine looking figure, Kwannon (female) is also referred to as Kannon (male) http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/kannon.shtml http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanyin The other menuki looks to be a Nio (temple guardian) usually come in pairs since as guardians there would be one on each side of temple doorways. http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/nio.shtml The fuchi looks to have something to do with a festival called Setsubun that takes place in February(?) where beans are thrown out windows or doorways to scare off evil spirits/demons; the little gold dots on your fuchi look like beans with the gold and red Oni comically running each other over to get away, with the third just an outline already escaping. http://www.omniglot.com/language/articl ... rowing.htm Hope this is of some use. Regards, Lance

Couple links below from Ninja Museum in Japan, and an image o an iron claw https://www.flickr.com/photos/marley1/1434678435/ http://mie.portalmie.com/en/exploring-m ... index.html with video ( pretty impressive, and looks like it would be a neat place to visit just wait for the sound effects! ) My impression is the likelyhood of finding authentic examples are very slim, far less than finding a good sword as there were y probably very few made in comparison,. Regards, Lance

I can't cite any sources (don't remember where I read it) but I think it had something to do with a smith's (real or imagined) lineage/association with past sword making schools or famous smiths and promoting themselves as part of that tradition. Regards, Lance

Since it looks like you'd be recreating a more formal or reserved type of koshirae, maybe a good way to go would be menuki in the form of shishi or shishi with peony? I think gold or shakudo, one solid color without highlights or accents would be pleasing, (1 1/2 to 2 inches seem like they would be a good size for a smaller wakizashi too.) Below are a couple swords with white/cream ito, from Nihonto.us http://www.nihonto.us/MUMEI%20WAKIZASHI%20MP.htm http://www.nihonto.us/HOJOJI%20MASAHIRO%20WAKIZASHI.htm Hope you're successful and post pictures of your project once it's finished. Regards, Lance

I really wish I could remember where I saw this in more detail, I do remember seeing images of some of the tools for cleaning the inside of a saya; they were basically an assortment of small chisels or files attached to a long rod so they could reach all the way down the inside of the saya. From what I remember the process they were used more like a plane, removing a very small amount of wood from all inside surfaces. On some tools the tip curved backwards so removing wood was done with a pulling motion. I imagine it would take a lot of skill/training to be sure it was done properly in order to really make it safe for reuse on a freshly polished sword, as well as not damaging the saya itself. Just for reference, Under tools on the page below are some chisels used for saya, these don't look to be the extended ones I mentioned, most likely those would be something sayashi would have made for them, or make themselves, part of the special "bag of tricks" http://www.ryujinswords.com/saya.htm Also found this, (actually a link from a post in another topic from this message board) from the late Jim Kurrasch http://web.archive.org/web/200411080145 ... ansaya.htm Regards, Lance

I'd guess the concern has more to do with a freshly polished sword and old saya, not koshirae in general. With original ikoshirae you wouldn't know what kind of dust, dirt, or oill residue might have gotten into the old saya over the years, so using it on a freshly polished blade (almost) guarantees the chance for damaging a new polish. Aside from having a new saya made I do remember seeing a method for cleaning (koshirae) saya with extra long tools that a a sayashi would use to reach all the way inside the scabbard instead of splitting it like a shira-saya, which would damageg the lacquer/rayskin etc. p.s. admit toI belonging to the camp that prefers keeping koshirae with the sword as long as it's original and not too far gone: for example even if the sword was Koto and the mounts Edo (or even gunto) this was the last set of koshirae the last "real owner" used, the last part of it's history as a real weapon. Maybe it's overly romantic but even if the sword was already a treasure or an heirloom hundreds of years old, this was the last "uniform" the sword had where it was a weapon first, a badge they may have trusted their own lives to .... even though the blade itself can still be a work of art, the original mounts give that extra connection to a time when it might been called on to fulfill it's real purpose, however terrible that might be today Regards, Lance

Looks like Bishu Osafune Suke ,with the last character cut off when the tang was shortened, probably Sukesada REgards, Lance

I saw this in person a couple months ago: happened to be speaking to a dealer at a militaria show in Allentown PA when one of the people from the auction showed it to him for an opinion and I gave some info too, while it was a better than usual example, and the fittings were very good quality, especially considering how small it actually is, tsuka and fuchi are smaller and thinner than an index finger (missing kojiri though) the info given wasn't quite as enthusiastic as this, maybe someone else was more impressed. Regards, Lance

Looks to be masame hada and a wide shinogi, maybe Yamato school? Below's a pic from a Yamato Hoshu school sword to compare Looks like a nice find, hope this is of some use, I'm sure someone will provide more or correct info if I'm mistaken about school. http://www.sho-shin.com/yam12.htm Regards, Lance

I noticed this too, and would say this could point to a trader rather than slave........... A slight(?) possibility for it depicting an African: My impression is the Japanese sometimes depicted the "Southern Barbarians" with a sort of amused disdain, or a curiosity, especially in sword fittings. In the images provided above, the Africans are shown carrying umbrellas, providing shade for their masters. On the original tsuba the person's carrying a gumbai (war fan) a symbol of rank, something that the Portuguese traders probably didn't/couldn't carry as a badge of authority? maybe a joke, as Japanese culture (in general) probably looked down on both master and slave equally? maybe reaching a bit. I don't know if I'm going to be able to convey this properly, but I'd like to chime in and say I think there are some aspects better than what is normally seen on average Namban tsuba, the quality/thickness of the gold seems better than the thin numome usually seen. , the iron seems to be better quality than either the featureless plate with flat inlay usually attributed as Hizen or the intricately carved plates that sometimes seem to be cast (obviously some are but I think some get mislabeled as cast due to their condition making them seems porous) The carving, even though naive, doesn't seem crude but purposely softened, similar to Higo Jingo carving, and the inlay over and around the seppa dai, looks like the type of work they did too, except a little thicker. Couple images below to show the type of silver numome I'm referring to compare, some of the pics came from member's sites, hope they don't mind: Regards, Lance PS don't consider myself anywhere near an expert but I do seem to have been cursed (blessed?) with encountering an unfairly large percentage of pretty good swords over the years with Namban tsuba,

Below are some links to some good dealers:, http://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/ http://www.nihonto.com/itemsale.html http://www.nihonto.us/ http://www.bushidojapaneseswords.com/fuchi-kashira.html Also I believe there's a member here, David McDonald who does tsuka work, he did one for me some years ago and I was very happy with the results. The general consensus I've seen here on the board was having a koshirae built is almost always a money losing proposition, so if you were going to go that route it would probably be best to find fittings that you would fully enjoy whenever looking at or handling it. Also something else to consider: If you're looking to save money a single fuchi and a horn kashira might be a good way to go, (and still traditional.) Orphan fuchi usually sell for less than a complete set, so you should be able to get a better quality piece for the same money. single fuchi below http://www.bushidojapaneseswords.com/sw ... -page.html Regards, Lance

If the attribution was to Shiga-Seki, it would be judged as being made by someone of that group, but for whatever reason they couldn't/wouldn't pin it down to a specific swordsmith within them. Below are a couple links that should help to familiarize yourself Shiga-Seki and Seki School in general. (I think at least one of website owners are members here too) They describe it far better than me; but a few indicators towards Seki would be a pointed (togari) gunome hamon with sunagashi in the low spots (valleys) the hamon, a relatively narrow shinogi compared with the overall width of the blade. Supposedly Seki/Mino steel has a more whitish color compared to other groups like Bizen Yamashiro, etc. but I've nevr been able to really recognize the color difference successfully, even when pointed out. htp://www.users.on.net/~coxm/?page=oshigata_sword_k90 http://yakiba.com/Kat_NoshuKanenobu.htm http://www.users.on.net/~coxm/?page=late_mino Also I'd reccomend picking up a copy of "The Connoisseur's Book of Japanese Swords" I believe there's a copiy or two for sale in the for sale section on the message board here: As a guide to identifying different traits from various schools throuh history it should be a perfect book for you to learn more about your sword and to understand how it was attributed, and you can use it in the future with any other swords you might see or acquire in the future. Regards, Lance

My understanding of traditionally made swords used for ia or tameshigiri; the tamahagane or methods used aren't necessarily inferior, it's just that the materials used are targeted more towards durability and predictability of forging rather than the activities of hada and hamon one would expect to see in an "art sword" I don't think your sword would be inferior performance wise, you're just less likely to see the same types of activity in the steel if it were polished to an art sword level. The "better" tamahagane (different composition to produce certain effects within steel) used in forging works with a higher artistic and aesthetic level that would go along with the cutting and durability of the sword made for a martial artist. I've also read part of the higher cost is that these require more time and there's more risk involved, when "pushing the envelope" the chance of a failure in quenching/creating hamon is higher. A better sports car analogy would be a street and a track version, the track version doesn't have unnecessary things like leather upholstery, radio, or air conditioning,, etc..but what matters, the motor and suspension are the same. Regards, Lance

The post below might be helpful, describes a gift of dried fish or abalone given on auspicious occasions and a symbol of long life. Called Miizuhiki or Noshi-awabi?. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=14694 Regards, Lance

Dug out a couple Muromachi tsuba and took some quick pics; After mentioning the integration into designs, it got me wondering if the gourd on the Onin tsuba was a clever use of Udeneki or am I just reaching? Interesting topic, hope to see/learn more. Regrds, Lance

Looks like Soshu Ju Masahiro, There were multiple generations who used that mei starting from late Koto period, pictures of the blade with overall shape and some close-ups of the hada and hamon might help some of the more knowledgeable members to narrow it down some. Regards, Lance

Just sent paypal payment along with a note for shipping address, thanks! Regards, Lance

I had a tsuka that was lacquered to look like leather, but really made using some kind of paper folded and wrapped with lacquer applied over it; was very well done and except for the wear spots I'd never have known. I've also seen some examples that were said to have been made using hemp (string) Due to the stands visible, if not leather I'd say your's has some kind of string underneath? As Joe mentioned, from the tsuka it looks like an older sword mounted for war-time use, probably by adding a hanger and leather cover to saya. Regards, Lance

Mark is correct, I contacted them when they first started charging a fee on shipping to asked why: Their answer was they were trying to crack down on sellers who were avoiding the usual commission fees by listing items for next to nothing and charging super high prices for shipping.......all of it was really done to protect the buyer added income for Ebay was just a side-effect. Regards, Lance

I'd agree with Adam's mention of Kanefusa/Ujifusa, hamon looks similar to hako midare, uniform repeating pattern suggests Shinto period, maybe one of the Mino Kanefusa smiths/group? Regards, Lance