truelotus

I am interested in no 4 & 5 however, how much does it cost to ship it to Indonesia ?? Donny

I already got it, Superb work, Randy I really love it ... many many many thanks Donny

count me in !! this is a rare treat !! many thanks for the effort !! Donny

yea I know I was being lazy could you help ? thank you in advance Donny

and it's getting more murky when we consider shumei, kinpun mei, or kinzogan mei as I am aware, families like Hon'ami do add gold mei on the nakago bearing the name of the smith they thought making the sword

don't mean to do that, either - I got it pretty cheap I mean it's good base to be repolished and used as training sword :D

thank you for all of your input I already received the sword, and it's a mumei shinto blade in gunto koshirae - true nihonto in quite good condition too bad someone (incredibly stupid one) carved kindergarten-kanji-version of mei on the nakago

darn, I missed the announcement T_T

what a waste of good fuchi kashira

yea, I can imagine it, thanks Ian I really appreciate your opinion. Too bad we live half a world apart, If only I lived close by, I would send it to you for closer examination

F*** !! I really hated when someone did that to a nihonto ... truly destroyed the sword !!!! no wonder it looked very odd

this just crossed my mind is it possible that the sword was actually MUMEI, then someone with too much time, wanted it to be more expensive and carved something on the nakago ?? Donny

agree, Jean ... the whole package seemed allright, as there are no Indonesians capable of making gunto koshirae, so basically the chance that this was fake is somewhat low but I cannot say about the mei, looked weird to me, also

thank you, but still difficult for me to see the resemblance, this one seems like a bag to protect the tsuba - and mine is an integral part of the tsuba Donny

here's the rest of the sword we can see clearly the koshirae is of true type 98 shin gunto, missing only ishizuki (scabbard tip)

dear all thank you for your input this was belonged to an old gunto in indonesia, whilst I am aware that there are lots of chinese made gunto out there, the koshirae of this one seems genuine. The owner said he sanded the nakago parts to see the kanji without knowing it I still believed the sword is genuine, though the nakago is somewhat dubious here's another in correct position

yeah, it is easier to ask ... could anyone help ? thank you in advance Donny

thanks for your opinion, Ian - I really appreciate it anyhow, since it was covered with lacquered leather, it is indeed possible to scrap a bit and do a radio carbon dating on the object ?? (just curious, but I won't do that for sure) :D

quite possibly ... judging the piece, it's pretty old - but then, edo era spanning for almost 400 years. Judging from the effort put into it and the details like flattened area in seppa dai, I believed this was not a theatrical costume piece, as this one is truly functional, it has steel core so, there's a possibility this one is genuine late muromachi tsuba, then ?

thanks, Joe

Hi I know I was being lazy, but please help :D thanks in advance Donny

see, I'm not the only one who taught it was resembled ... well ... that thing :D Donny

ouch, you made me feel guilty about ketsu-ana thingy before I never thought it would represent something sacred as Amida Buddha ... pardon me on that did you happen to have the pictures of the catalogue, especially on the specific page, Ian ? thanks Donny

more pics

wow, I don't really expect this much attention from you all let me share my thoughts on this piece, WARNING - I may be wrong Thanks, Ian ... I open to the possibility of leather, or even papers, crumpled to make the texture, and later lacquered with brown-gold urushi. See pic below we can see that the rim is lacquered black, and the seppa dai area were flattened, means this was meant to be mounted the way it is this is not a mokko tsuba, decorated with lacquer with intention of preserving original tsuba within. The coating was done intentionally as part of the tsuba decoration, I think I promised a friend I would mount a browniest and darkest nakago thru it and take a good pic :D OK then, I would sell it to christie's for USD 10,000 ... thank you (just kidding) I have seen cast urushi tsuba before, but not this kind of decoration, is there any reference to it ??