Stephen

no no not mine i used Louies pix of a blade he has for sale. hes a togi and some may be his but im sure a few are getting worked on. I have nothing to show off with.

really there's not much more to tell, pix did not show if the hamon stays that way, I don't see any funbari , so it could be Shinshinto....tell the truth it needs to be seen in hand. You can try one last shot like this to see if you can show any other hamon shape. anyone else have anything to add other than its just mass produced?

also need pix of Kissaki, any open areas not coverd with rust, full shot of the blade with no fittings, sugata.

The blade shows age, the hamaci shows us theres room for polish, the hamon is suguba(which is a clue as most bizen where choji but not all) the nakago jiri is bizen which goes with the mei, it is also ubu not cut down which helps with the value. In the late 1500's there was a mass prouductions of bizen blades which used Bishu Osafune as has been pointed out. so after i do some reading about who used suguba homon in Bishu ill get backt to ya, dont sell ehe blade short because some make it out to be Kazuuchimono (mass produced ) ....photo shop is not needed we know what it says. pix is still not facing the nakago but off to the side. is the rest of the blade in all rust? if the hamon changes from suguba to choji id like to see it and if you can see any actvity between the rust such as grain pattern. edit to add cropped and rotated pix

From Fairhaven Good morning Stephen, The sword presented to the town by Ambassador Ishii on behalf of Manjiro's son, Dr. Toichiro Nakahama, on July 4, 1918, was stolen from its display case in the Millicent Library in September of 1977, during regular library hours. It has never been recovered, though from time to time the library has been contacted by investigators when stolen swords are found. A replacement sword is now on display in a more place. Some interesting notes on Manjiro are that he is credited with introducing both the necktie and the sewing machine to Japan and he appears as a character in the Stephen Sondheim musical "Pacific Overtures." The current Emperor of Japan visited Fairhaven in 1987 with his wife. He was Crown Prince at the time. Fairhaven see many Japanese visitors each year because of the Manjiro story. Christopher J. Richard, Director of Tourism, Fairhaven, MA

lets not get our undies in a bunch, veg oil is not going to cause ruin, do a search here and youll see its what old choji was made with back in the day. John must not have been reading the whole thread all ready fig out its Bishu Osafune Sukesada. Jamie and Lee lets tell him what we see from the new pix, hows the hamachi, what is the hamon? lets work together to pin point the blades work.

nice search Charlie, takiing off part of the link gives us more on the City and John Manjiro, too bad about the sword guess my last three letters to the town was in vain, should have checked here first. lol http://manjiro1.tripod.com/

Before Sir Ian posted on another thread I was doing a search of Presentation swords. I ran across this, some may find it a bit long but I found it a nice mid afternoon read. brings to question what became of the sword, what was the sword, that and one member of the party went on to be President of the States made it interesting to me. be sure to click on the link for the pix, and to wonder just a few years later how they must have felt about that day. http://manjiro1.tripod.com/sword1918.htm

Welcome Jamie feel free to share one of your prized swords, show and tell is always a good introduction as to whom you are and what you collect.

Ian dont be so hard on yourself, you give much more good info than goofs, do you think this could be a gift to some up and up in the 20 Century?

3in1 or mineral oil, in a pinch veg oil as long as its all wiped off and not put back into saya or tsuka.

Daimen Your doing fine, alot better than other Nubi, if you have a scanner you can place it on it and cover it with a dark background and scan it. Please full tang shots. Reading back yes the blade can be restored to its full glory and you'll be very happy with the results. its going to set you back money wise and it may never give you full return, but you will have saved a bit of history. please tell me you have oiled it down a tad. awaiting tonights pix.

Daimen photo of the mei with out photo shop also, the date side looks like it may be that old. very interesting find. just a hunch (and ill take Ian's word for it as he has the history of these) this may have been a presentation sword to some diplomat in the early 20th Century?

Damien I would like to see the area under the habaki, it often shows activity of the blades work, it protecting the area from corrosion and rust.

in the room with keith on this one, its getting to be a bit much.

one of the recommend polishers is highly trained, the other service varies greatly. Lets see the full nakago and area under the habaki.

Hawleys has ten pages of Sukesada's X twenty per page(with some of the repeats of dif ways signed) its very hard to narrow down, thats why we need to turn to the blade, we on the forum cant give you answers with out a better understanding of what activity of hada n hamon it has, the mei also is the the best cut Sukesada ive seen so it may have been added to sell the sword. in Nihonto open one door theres ten more, please dont relay on members to open each one for you.

this is the a better pic your Don Q I'm your sidekick Sancho...in our quest for gendaito to be honored now, not in a hundred years.

the sword maker the school covered many Gen.

Gerorge a noble quest, can i be your side kick Sancho didnt like my post on false stars??

Bishu Osafune Sukesada

Ian really youve never seen same coverd tsuka on a tachi? seen a few prestaton swords like that, and as you have said mostly Menji era as this looks to be, but sure they did it a lot longer ago than that. scan from Sword and Same. cant remember what was on the first ed The Japanese Sword: A Comprehensive Guide ? old timers working brain i have.

oil the blade ASAP please, wipe oi on wipe off, wipe oil on wipe off, wipe on leave it, light coat, not hard wiping but best done in one direction up the blade. Looks like it might have a great potential, I'm sure well all want to see the nakago. First things first try to knock down red rust, it never sleeps.

just because it has a stamp doesn't means it had an one before someone got there greedy hands on a good looking stamp less blade. 10 or 12 years ago JSS/US ran a bit on Star Stamp blades, in the next few weeks they came out of the woodwork on Ebay, some with a very bright steel showing star and not even the same size star as the ones shown in the article. They (whoever They are) have been putting out gimei gendaito for some time.

Japanese Military and Civil Swords and Dirks by Fuller & Gregory A MUST have book for those interested in Japanese military swords of the Showa Era.