ROKUJURO

When the corrosion is heavy and no HAMON can be seen, there is sometimes a fire involved.

Jack, there is always a possibility that a was in a fire and damaged. Blades should always be presented tip-upwards, especially the NAKAGO. This would make reading a signature easier.

No, I cannot see the signature. You need to post a close-up photo of the NAKAGO, tip-upwards, dark background, light from the side. But on the other hand, as the blade is Damascus steel, we don't need more photos, it is clear that it is not Japanese.

Mark, welcome on board the NMB! Your sword is signed KANETAKA, who may have been the worker or smith who made it. The photos are not good enough to guess if this is a machine made blade or a traditionally hand-made (water-quenched) one. Good focus would be necessary to see details, and a dark room, light from the side and a dark background would help a lot.

Difficult to say for me what was first - YAMAGANE or iron in this kind of TSUBA? But I don't remember the so-called SAOTOME TSUBA being made of copper. Referring to the HITSU, this TSUBA could have been made pre-EDO. I have seen these TSUBA made from small parts (= single spokes) that were fitted into the MIMI rather than cut out of a solid blank. Age of my below pictured TSUBA: No idea, I guess early to mid EDO. In any case, it must have been a lot of work! Compare this one with 64 petals (Diameter 94,5 mm)!

Piers, these are intersting and valuable ideas! But we shoukld not forget that our ancestor craftsmen were inventive and even ingenious. Grinding with stones is a neolithic technique as well as drilling, and all iron-working cultures found ways to use similar tools. Coming back to early iron TSUBA, we see that piercing/SUKASHI techniques were dominantly executed with chisels, and only the finishing was done by grinding and filing. If I remenber correctly, in his videos, Ford Hallam showed the use of small grinding stones in his work - not his invention, but learned from his master. Just remenber AKASAKA TSUBA with heavy chisel traces (not removed or ground level!) on the inner side of the MIMI! Files were used much earlier than metal saws in Japan, so we should not look at iron SUKASHI TSUBA with the notion of our present technologies. And there is another point we often forget: Working time was no issue in former eras. The goal was the finished item, and people were not paid on working hours but on the quality of the single workpiece. So "working slowly" is just a picture in our brains as we live in times where speed is dictated by machines. When a beaver is gnawing down a tree, he rarely looks at his watch - he works until the tree falls.

Jack, we are all learning! No sweat! The question is what you can learn from items like yours. After a while, I think you will want to "upgrade" a bit to be able to get more information out of your treasures. That is basically the fun in collection items like these: We want to know who made them and imagine/speculate who might have carried them.

Jack, as mentioned above, this seems to be a broken-off piece of a longer blade. The tip has been ground by an amateur, and all features - HADA, HATARAKI, SUGATA....) are lost. It even might have been in a fire, considering the surface, or have served as agricultural tool. Just looking at the NAKAGO, it might have been a WAKIZASHI of some age, but in this condition, there is little chance to determine the exact age or tradition/school, I am afraid.

...images without TSUBA, SEPPA, and HABAKI, please? On a dark background?

It is a very good idea to have the blade checked carefully first and NOT TO ATTEMPT a DIY POLISH! Low viscosity mineral oil will help a bit, but CAMELLIA oil would be best. After application, removing the excess is important so no oil gets into the SAYA.

This boar is very close to those in the "Asterix and Obelix" comics! (before dinner)

Hamish, as far as I know, there were several clans who used HANABISHI KAMON.

MITSU KE? Just an assembly mark, as mentioned before.

Alexander, welcome on board the NMB! What are you looking for? You managed to post here, so it will not be more difficult to post in the "WANT TO BUY" section.

Marcel, could you please make a photo of the NAKAGO (vertical, tip-upwards) without HABAKI, showing both MACHI?

Charles, I am not an expert on KACHU, but as far as I know they are traditionally made of thin iron with a lacquer coating. Different colouring could be a result of combining parts of different origin, but not necessarily. The gold colour may be an effect of different layers of URUSHI, in this case a metallic component (gold ot copper powder) could have been coated with transparent URUSHI.

Ilya, the photo (or the "MEI") is upside-down, and the characters cannot be read (at least not by me). Without seeing the rest of the blade, this looks like a bad reproduction. I hope you did not buy it.

Sebuh, it is not a TANTO but a HANAGATANA, as stated in the description.

Hi Adam, very nice picture! You can avoid reflections in case you have a dark room or a photo box. Btw: It is NAKAGO, not Nagako.

Adam, some images are really good in my opinion. It is as you say: TRy different angles and lighting, use a dark background for good contrast, and find the perfect focus. Your results will guide you!

Not only for you Erik!

Hi Erik, some of your photos are really good! Generally, making photos of swords isn't too difficult, but some practice can be helpful. Meaningful images should be: - well focused, not foggy or blurry - made with a plain dark/black, non-reflective background for good contrast (not white or bright) - made in a dark room, using spotlights - made with light from the side (may not apply to HAMON photos) - made directly from above (not at an angle) - made with correct orientation (straight vertically tip-upwards, especially NAKAGO photos) - without HABAKI, showing the MACHI and NAKAGO JIRI - made in high resolution to see details like BOSHI, HAMACHI, HAMON, HADA, NAKAGO JIRI etc. - presented as cut-outs so very little background is showing One main thing is to know what the important features of a blade are and how to capture and present them. It does not depend so much on expensive camera equipment or on special skills, but more on observing the results. You will find that only really good photos will contain enough information to help with the identification. Kind regards, Jean

Matthew, a GUNTO WAKIZASHI? That must be quite rare! The KANJI on the TOP end of the TSUKA are from the craftsmen who made it. Usually, they are not related to the smith. Unfortunately, I can't help with reading.

Charles, what did you mark on this last photo? No details visible! I would be extremely surprized to find a sword from late Heian to early Kamakura times in military mounts, but who knows? Diamonds have been found in the rough.....

Charles, does the handle have a tight fit or are TSUBA and SEPPA a bit loose? When you speak about age-related flaws, how old is the blade? It is better to make photos on a dark, non-reflecting background so we could see HAMON and HADA