Dave R

All the way round.

Swords did not figure largely in the Satsuma rebellion anyway, both sides meant business and they used imported guns for the most part, from entrenched positions and siege lines.

There are some well complicated blade sections there...

A nice piece indeed, though I understand how it rankles to have the price suddenly boosted on you. I suspect you had the last laugh though!

Thank you. Makes the illustration much more useful.

I was going to post elsewhere, but thought it more relevant here. In Western armies officers bought their swords privately, and NCO's had them issued, and the two types are distinctive and separate, but.... Officers swords for the (British) Imperial Indian Army sometimes turn up with the stamps and numbers seen on NCO swords. The best guess among collectors is that these are swords bought in bulk by the administration, and then issued or sold to native Indian Officers who could not buy their swords directly for one reason or another. I suggest that stamped habaki on genuine Shin Gunto possibly have a similar story behind them.

Well.... for some reason most of the photo's have disappeared from the page there, but I would say that some bits are original, and the rest much less so. There is a thread about numbered Habaki on NMB that is worth reading, they are not all Chinese fakes though most probably are.

Hiya Juan, this is why I advocate that these swords be referred to as Okashi-to (loaned swords)rather than Satsuma rebellion pieces. There is already a category of Satsuma style swords, and generally fine swords they are. Why the other type got given the name is one of those bits of history, along with Type 3's, Naval Landing Swords, and Kamikaze daggers..... and probably from the same date and the same reasons.....Post War dealers! If you are unfamiliar with the term Okashi-to it refers to swords held in armouries and issued out to lower class Samurai or Ashigaru as and when needed. There are other threads here covering the subject in more detail.

While searching for information of traditional blade manufacturing methods I came across this diagram. There are some interesting blade sections shown, but the captions stump me. I would be grateful if someone here could help. Are these the names of the smiths known to use these, or are they descriptive of the steels used. Picture is original size as downloaded, I looked at enlarging it but the definition broke up a little.

Funny enough, the binding is in classic Chinese military style, as in correct for a Ming Dynasty Dao..... and no I would not take a punt on that one.

You call it a "satsuma" sword, and I would have liked to see the mounts to confirm this. My experience and research tells me that "satsuma" style mounts are the mark of a blade considered to be at the end of it's usable life during the era when swords were weapons not collectable. They rarely if ever reward further work, because they were not considered worth the effort, even in an era with numerous polishers and craftsmen to do the job. I do like them, and consider them collectable as is though. But they are not diamonds in the rough with hidden potential. You were lucky to be able to remove the hilt, these are known to have sometimes been glued in with resin or lacquer because they were never going to be maintained further.

I keep going back to Ohmura as well, very well worth a look, but the research keeps moving on.

Just remember that useful as it is, and it is very useful, it is now becoming a bit outdated.

Correction, not sandpaper but some sort of very fine nodule'd same, shark has been suggested.

I see that one as more than a little dodgy as well.

Blade up or blade down?

I have a plain one of that style but not with cherry blossom ends.

Alas , no date. I have two signed blades from WW2 smiths, and neither is dated, which is a bit disappointing. I do wonder if there is some significance to the ommission.

Here is one of my own, a small Yari, bought on Ebay for the price of a large family Pizza because no one knew what it was! I think it's probably a Te-Yari or Makura-Yari, anyway I like it,and it was the first Nihonto I bought this century... Apologies for the poor pics, phone camera only.

Are you sure it's a Ken and not a small Yari, mounted as a tanto?

Nothing in Nihonto is ever straightforward!

A little addendum here that may be relevant. Many years ago I met one of the guys who had guarded Himmler just after his arrest, and wanting a souvenir he raided Himmler's suitcase and took the Wehrmacht penknife from it, and in order to avoid his theft being discovered then replacing it with another that he had picked up on his way through Germany, . Later he found out that every squaddie in the detail had done just the same. Someone had Himmler's penknife....... but no one knew who!

It's a bit like shoes, you need 2 pairs for work, and 2 casual pairs, and at least one pair for formal occasions. So you need a parade sword, a fighting sword and a sword for presentations and if possible a spare or two for the unexpected!

Personal opinion, I think you would be better with a complete new Habaki, whether two piece or one piece. The problem of fitting to the old piece of the habaki and the blade is a killer. A skilled craftsman might manage it, but you would be lucky, and it would cost as much or more than a complete replacement . I am also dubious as to the fit of the one you show anyway, I suspect a random replacement some time in the swords history. I have on a couple of occasions made new one piece habaki for my own blades, having originally had some training in silver-smithing back in the day. It is a real pain in the butt!

Thank you very much for your hard work in recovering this article. One has to wonder why such a useful source of information disappeared... You now know where I have some of my less mainstream ideas and opinions from.