Grey Doffin

Hi Joe, Someone with more experience repairing koshirae might have a better idea but I would try rice glue. It is reversible, if necessary, and won't do any damage. Grey

I have owned a similar tsuba in the past and have seen at least one other. I don't know the theme and have no idea which, if any, school this could be attributed to, but there must have been some sort of organized or purposeful turning out of these tsuba. Maybe someone could ask Jim Gilbert. Grey

Hi Joe, What are the kojiri and koi-guchi made of? Grey

CS, When I said no earlier than Shinshin-to I was going by the sharp file line on the nakago above the mei. Seeing that there is a lot more nakago than what I saw 1st, let me change my mind. The blade has been shortened and could be older. Your pictures are too small to see much detail. Any chance we can see larger ones? Grey

CS, You were told correct about the signature, I believe, and also about the difficulty in determining which Kuniyuki it is. More pictures of the blade and one that shows the whole nakaga (tang) with the signature will help. What I can see of the nakago indicates Shinshin-to at the earliest. Best of luck with the Roadshow but don't take their appraisal to the bank. Every appraisal of a Japanese sword they've ever shown on air has been goofy. Grey

Hi guys, Something unusual has shown up (at least I can't recall having seen it before); thought I'd share it around. From Fuller & Gregory's Japanese Military and Civil Swords and Dirks: "Small paper labels are sometimes found stuck on Showa period lacquered scabbards which have been fitted with leather combat covers. They are rare and only two types have been recorded. (i) A circular blue and white label in English and Japanese. The outside reads 'The Seki Cutlery manufacturers Society. Seki Gifuken. Japan. (Passed)'. One has also been found stuck on a blade tang. The use of English and inclusion of 'Japan' seems to indicate an export item which is clearly not the case with a sword. Possibly they are pre-war but were used up on swords after the cessation of normal Japanese exports to the West." I'll skip the description of the 2nd type of label since it doesn't apply here. The sword is obviously Showa-to, unsigned, and unremarkable. The label is interesting, though. Grey

I can remember hearing of a NBTHK shinsa in the US before my time, possibly somewhere in the Southwest. I came down with my bad case of Nihonto in 1983, so it would have had to have been before then. Martin, you could email Andy Quirt, Bob Benson, or another of the Silver Backs (see links) to see if they know. Grey

The mei in the 4 oshigata aren't clumsy and Brian's sword has a clumsily cut mei. Could Brian's be gimei? Grey

Hi Chad, Sorry for bad news but this is a recently made fake, most likely Chinese. Grey

I think Moritoshi. Grey

In a straight line. Grey

Hi Swami, Your yari's signature is more properly read, "Yamashiro no Kami Fujiwara no Kunishige Saku." The date reads Bunsei 4 year, 10 month, 11 day. Grey

Hi Andrew, I was willing to look but the 1st picture is too large, takes too long to expand. I'm afraid I'd spend the better part of a half hour waiting for your pictures. If you took smaller (digitally) pictures and cropped out the useless background you'd get more response. Grey

Gilles, hawley's has him (KAN 2643) as working in Mino , 1865. He didn't make it into any of the references in my index. Grey

"Mano Masayasu Kore wo Kitau". Mano Masayasu forged this. Grey

Hi, whoever you are, This time buy books and study first; then look for a sword to buy. Grey

Hi Steven, The mei looks wrong. Tentative, weakly cut, clumsy, just wrong. Grab a book of oshigata and look closely at every mei in the book. Then look at the mei on this sword. Maybe you'll see what I see. And that lower horizontal stroke: why is it cut twice? When we tell newbies to buy books and study before buying blades this is what we're getting at. After looking at thousands of real signatures the fake ones stand out. So the reason I think this is a gimei of O-Sa, rather than a real signature of one of the other smiths who signed Sa, is because it looks wrong. It doesn't look like someone's signature; it looks like a crude attempt to copy one. Grey

Hi Joe, I don't think it matters to anyone other than yourself what you do. No damage will be done to the blade so no one can carp about that. There are no Gunto koshirae that will be separated from the blade; once again no problem. If you want to put together a set of koshirae for this blade choose what pleases you. Nothing you choose will be appropriate; only Gunto or shira-saya fits that bill. Whatever you choose will be worth less as a unit than the individual parts were when you put them together, and together they will add less value to the Gendai blade than you paid for them, so go into this realizing that it isn't a money maker. Otherwise, have fun. Grey

I'm not sure that the kissaki has been broken; what we're seeing may just be foreshortening due to the photo angle. A picture of the kissaki from straight on should decide this one. Grey

Hi Don, The koshirae is WWII but the blade is earlier, and it used to be longer. Grey

Steven, While it is possible that this is signed by one of the other smiths who used Sa as a name (11 total in Hawley's), because the mei is a bit crudely cut I'm guessing that this is a gimei of O-Sa, one of Masamune's 10 students and a very important smith. Pity the nakago has been so brutally cleaned. Grey

Rich, Just my luck I'd be around the corner. Grey

That isn't origami; it is the sword's registration paper from the Japanese gov't. It tells you only that it is a sword and that it has been registered; it says nothing about quality, correctness of mei, age, condition, etc. Grey

Arnaud, If you crop your pictures, get rid of the floor, you should be able to post. Any digital camera software will allow easy cropping. Grey

Thanks Ron, Sounds like exactly what would be done to a bent sword. I don't own the gun in question but saw one this past weekend. I was curious about the procedure; now I know. Thanks, Grey