ROKUJURO

NEVER touch a blade with your bare fingers! It looks like a variant of a (damaged?) SANKAKU YARI.

Hi Patrick, I think you are correct with your suspicion that some of the TSUBA had been exposed to high heat. The flaking surface supports that. Generally, there is a lot of corrosion on these TSUBA so I get the impression that they could not be sold in Japan and so went into export. More details would be visible if the photos were made on a dark background (please see my PM).

A better photo (vertically tip-upwards) with a dark background would help. Light source from the side.

Jan, for a comment, we need photos correctly oriented (tip-upwards, especially the NAKAGO) and close-ups of the NAKAGO without HABAKI. At a first look, the blade does not seem to be stainless steel.

The KOGATANA (= blade) photo is upside-down. It is chiselled and read tip-upwards. These inscriptions are not those of the makers in most cases. All photos should be made on a dark, non-reflecting background for better contrast (not white).

Steve, these are probably not HIS swords, so it was a comment on the seller, not on the blades. But you can be sure the blades are considerably more expensive at this seller than in the original shop.

To prevent bleaching out in the sun, wash textiles with cold water. That is logical!

With these out of focus photos any comment is just guesswork, in my opinion.

When did these kind of TSUBA appear first? I don't remember seeing them 20 years ago, so I personally think that they are all recent copies, made with modern tools and techniques. From a craft point of view, they may appear well made as silicon molds and new casting technology yield good results. But there is no artistry behind it, in my view. They are way different from the opuilent TSUBA I used to see in the black COMPTON catalogue.

Piers, If they are cast, they are not really "hand-made", strictly speaking. Smaller differences would then mean "not the same mold", which is well possible in a shop which produced numbers of similar items with several molds. I could imagine these candle-holders to have been standard equipment in any Japanese household before they had electricity, so possibly EDO JIDAI after all?

It is perhaps a modern camouflage version.....

Bruno, sept années après?

Dale, the Wizzard of Archives, would certainly be able to provide images to determine the school/tradition!

MOTO KASANE 8,7 mm! Wow, that is heathy! Nice sword!

It is GINKGO.