Grey Doffin

Just my opinion, but I think you should hold off on the restoration until you know more about Japanese swords and how to care for them. Polishing a sword removes some of the skin of the blade (left behind on the stones) and after too many polishes the skin is gone and the inner steel (lesser quality) starts to show through. We call such swords "tired" and consider them seriously defected. Beginners tend to screw up polishes. It's not that they're purposely careless; it just happens that way. Eventually the sword passes on to someone else, who wants to have the blade polished. Take some time to learn something about Nihonto in general and your sword in particular. Bone up on sword care and etiquette (here's a link: http://www.nbthk-ab.org/Etiquette.htm Eventually you'll get to a point where you'll either want to get in deeper and have the sword polished or decide to leave well enough alone. This way the sword won't have to suffer too many polishes. By the way, the polish isn't necessary to protect/preserve the sword; it changes the appearance only. A light coat of proper oil properly applied is all that is necessary, whether the blade is in polish or not, to protect it. Thanks for hearing me out. Grey

Hi James, Could you tell us more please? I recently received the FTK Newsletter and there was no mention of the shows coming to an end. There was a rumor floating around the last San Francisco show that there would be no Tampa show in 2010, which turned out to be false. What specifically have you heard? Grey

Which tells us that the cutting test results were added to the blade recently. I think we have ample evidence that the test is a fake, added to increase the sword's value. Grey

The cutting test looks a bit wrong to my eyes also. There is a way to tell if the test was done long ago or yesterday. When a gold inlay is done the gold is finished off flush with the surface of the nakago. Since steel oxidizes and gold doesn't, over time the surface of the nakago around the inlay will expand ever so slightly while the gold will retain its original surface. If the inlay was done during the Edo period, you should be able to feel the different heights of the gold and steel. If the inlay was done recently there will be no difference. Grey

Oshu Aizu no Ju Masanaga. Hawleys list 6 smiths who signed this way between 1626 and 1804. Grey

Hi Jan, Unless I'm looking at a sword in my collection, it is tucked away. Too many things (the kid, the cat, the wife, visitors, and uninvited guests) can go wrong to leave a good sword out. Grey

Hi Paul, I stayed at the Ramada, Long Island City, just across the river from Manhattan. 3 1/2 blocks from the subway, $110 a night on hotels.com. Nice place and a good price considering it's NYC. There are deals to be had in New Jersey also but most anything I looked at on Manhattan was pricey. Take a flashlight to the show and if you can, plan to visit twice. The first visit will be overwhelming; the 2nd will be more valuable. If possible, get and read the catalog before attending. Grey

Very good Nihonto at very reasonable prices occasionally show up at gun shows. Very bad Nihonto (and even out right fakes) for way too much money occasionally show up at gun shows. Knowing the difference is why taking the time for study is so important. Grey

I don't think there is any reason for the JSS/US to stock the catalogs. They're easily available from the Met and other online dealers; no need for us to tie up funds in inventory. That said, let me add that the catalog from this show is definitely worth the purchase price; it is a very well done book. They're in print now and going for what will likely be the lowest price they'll ever sell at. After the show ends and the catalog goes out of print, the value/price will increase. Word to the wise: buy your copy now. Grey Doffin, JSS/US Publications

The mei on Brian's naginata is slightly lower on the nakago than the one on the Juyo naginata, but I think it is possible that Brian's naginata is slightly machi okuri (notches have been moved up). Even if this isn't the case I'm not bothered by the small difference in placement of the mei between the 2 naginata; the mei looks very good. Dotanuki blades are expected to be thick and wide, heavy for their size, and to have ample hira-niku (meat, clam shell cross section). Is this so with the naginata in question? Here is another Matahachi mei, from a blade that hasn't been papered but which I'm convinced is correct. Grey

Hi Brian, Here are some oshigata. The 1st 2 are from Yumei Koto Taikan by Iimura and the last 2 are a naginata from Juyo Token nado Zufu, #26, by NBTHK. Grey

Hi John, Why would you want to prevent 95% of the people on earth from bidding on your sales? I sell on ebay and better than half my buyers live outside the US, and they are no more likely than US buyers to cause trouble. Shipping is always priority mail so the post office gives me the boxes. I spend an extra minute or 3 filling out a customs form and paypal nicks me an extra 1% for their fee; otherwise there's no difference from selling to the US only. That said, if you want to sell something I'd like to buy be sure to limit your sale to US only; I don't want competition from other bidders. (Does ebay let you limit bidders to West 4th St. in Duluth, MN only?) Grey

None of the references in my index have the 3rd or 4th. Grey

Yes! Exactly. The rest of the nakago has been refiled as well. The dark spots are from the original nakago and the coarse file marks to the left of the mei are new. Grey

The nakago does look like it has been altered somehow; not sure exactly what. The mei reads, "Something Ju Masazane Saku". I'm sure somebody can supply the something. Grey

At the top of this page you'll find a link to a fake vs. real Nihonto article. There's also this one: http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=greyguy0 which I put together for my ebay "me" page. But neither of these guides will be enough. You need to look at lots of the real thing; study. Grey

I suspect it is Chinese also. Grey

Something on ebay caught my eye: a kyu gunto with a line of script lightly etched into the blade above the habaki. Probably just some patriotic saying or an exhortation to bravery, so don't go to great lengths to translate, but I'm curious to know what this is. Here's the link: http://cgi.ebay.com/VERY-NICE-Japanese-ARMY-KYU-SHIN-GUNTO-OFFICER-SWORD_W0QQitemZ120500206757QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item1c0e5f3ca5 Thanks, Grey

Hi Steve, Hawleys has a Rai Kunifusa from 1449 but It seems unlikely that a Rai School smith would have used Fujiwara in his mei. No record in my Index of a Fujiwara Rai Kunifusa (or of Rai Kunifusa for that matter). Grey

Hi John, We'll need to see better pictures before we can tell you much about your sword's value, age, and correctness of the mei. Once we've seen them and told you what we can, decisions can be made about restoration. In the mean time, without a handle the sword is in a precarious situation. Without the handle with the pin through the hole in the nakago, there is nothing to hold the tip of the sword away from the inside bottom of the scabbard, and the tip is very easily chipped or broken. You would be smart to cobble something together to work as the handle. Take 2 blocks of wood, whittle a recess for the nakago, drill the hole to match the hole in the nakago, and glue, wire or tape the 2 pieces together. Almost anything is better than nothing. Grey

He's wrong about the stamp, also; it's the Showa stamp, not Seki. I've never seen a blade made before Showa that had a stamp, and I don't believe it ever happened. The seller has a terrible bed side manner. Even if he were right, why piss off a potential customer? Grey

The point I'm trying to make here is that if the mei doesn't match any of the illustrated mei in the references (any of the smiths important enough to make it into Fujishiro, say), it is likely gimei. If we were talking about a regular mei (not gaku) it could be from a lesser known smith who signed Kanesada, but a gaku-mei needs to match someone important. Of course there are always exceptions. Someone performing o-suriage on a run of the mill sword once upon a time probably did do a gaku-mei for whatever reason, but I've never seen it; gaku-mei I've seen have always been big names. And there probably was at sometime a smith who didn't have a great reputation but who did fine work and one of his swords received a gaku-mei to preserve his work; that's possible. But, these slim hopes are nothing to spend good money on; the great majority of gaku-mei that don't match the references are fake. BTW, there are 2 variations of gaku-mei gimei. In the 1st a real mei from a broken or burnt sword is let into the nakago of a different, undamaged sword, and in the 2nd a fake mei is let in. Neither is something we want to collect. Grey

Gaku-mei and orikaeshi-mei imply importance; you don't go to the trouble to save the signature of an unimportant smith. If this mei doesn't match that of someone important the blade wasn't made by someone important and you can assume gimei. Grey

There were 2 methods used to preserve a mei if a sword was to suffer o-suriage: gaku-mei and orakashi-mei. Orakashi-mei is when the mei is preserved on a rectangular piece of the old nakago dangling from the new nakago, which is then bent back on itself and inlaid into a rectangular recess on the other side of the new nakago. On average, orakashi is less likely to be a gimei than gaku, simply because it is still part of the original nakago. A gaku-mei can come from any sword. Of course, any kind of mei can be gimei. The same caution taken with the mei on an ubu sword should be taken on gaku-mei and orakashi-mei. Grey

Thank you both of you. Grey