kyushukairu

Hello Chris, is the blade traditionally made?

Can you send me a picture of the reverse of the single menuki please, Marco?

Does anyone recognise the design of this tsuba and are able to place it into a particular school? Although my initial thought would be Choshu/Bushu, the rim is reminiscent of an Owari piece, in that it is almost square and has prominent tekkotsu

I got a few different characters, John Unshu matsu ju 雲州松住 Sadakiyo 錦枡定清

Toshinobu (寿信) but as Brian said, it looks somewhat questionable

Thank you for your kind words, Ian. Perhaps you would like to give a talk in the future? Cheers for adding the link, Brian. It's much appreciated! You would be very welcome, Axel. The meetings usually last from 7 - 9pm, but we sometimes go for food/drinks before/afterwards to a local Japanese restaurant. Ian has not verified the exact topic of his discussion, though it will be advertised on our facebook page in due time. The format of the meetings has thus far been to begin with a presentation and then to open up for discussion. Members usually bring along items to match the theme of the talk, so there will likely be lots of items to look at and discuss with other members. If flying to Belfast, I recommend the City airport, which is a short bus ride from the city center, the International airport is about 45 minutes away. The university at which our meeting will be hosted is a 15 minute walk from the city center. The university is also a very nice place to visit and there is a botanical garden right beside it.

I would like proudly to announce the next Token Society of Ireland meeting, which will take place on 24th May at Queen's University, Belfast. At our next meeting we will be joined by Ian Chapman [ http://nihonto.uk/ ] who has kindly agreed to give a guest talk on nihonto. We serve to connect collectors across the island of Ireland, encompassing both Northern Ireland and the Republic. We welcome everyone, from novices with a keen interest to veteran collectors who wish to impart knowledge and share anecdotes. If interested, please contact us either here, or through our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/tokensocietyireland/ For an informative talk on Japanese swords, and discussion in a relaxed environment with like minded please, come along to our next meeting. We look forward to seeing old faces and welcoming new members into our community.

You were quite right, Stephen. Masa is another reading of this character, though in this case it happens to be 'sho'

The era is Eisho (永正) which is 1504, Allan

Nice. I have fuchigashira with the same theme as your tsuba Thierry, though I thought it was Tomoe Gozen and Minamoto no Yoshinaka. I always had my doubts, however, as Yoshinaka died before Tomoe gave birth

Hello all, I picked up this rather nice contemporary tsuba, which is signed Koichi (公一作) a day in August 1990 (平成二年八月日), however I haven't been able to find any information on the smith. I don't suppose anyone is familiar with the artist, and could enlighten me as to where they resided, whether they are still active, or any other relevant information? A friend suggested that it was possible that this tsuba may have been entered into the NBTHK competition, in which case, if anyone has access to the results from 1990 (which I believe were published in the Token Society Newsletters), I would very much appreciate if you could confirm my friends hypothesis. Yours authentically, Kyle

Hello Ray, You may like to know that the theme of your Goto tsuba is 'setsubun', which is a spring festival. The old man on the omote is throwing 'mame' or beans to ward off demons, which is represented on the ura with the kanji 'oni'. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setsubun

The Choshu piece looks like 過高 Sugitaka? and I agree with John on 継

James, it's technically a tachi due to the length. To be considered such the nagasa must be 2尺3寸1分 (27in), and this one is 2尺3寸4分 (28in).

The blade is early muromachi, signed Bishu Osafune Morimistu (備州長船守光), though I'm not concerned with it in particular. It's widely acknowledged that bone koshirae are low-grade tourist tat, but occasionally one finds a traditionally made blade inside. My question, rather, is why nihonto were placed in these mounts. For example, perhaps this was the initial practice, but then it was discovered that foreigners bought them in virtue of their mounts, and so cheap steel blades were mounted instead. This is mere speculation, of course, though I'm interested if any one knows of any documents which shed light on this practice.

Out of interest, has anyone ever come across a decent nihonto within bone koshirae? I discovered this signed tachi in tourist fittings, though I'm curious as to why an antique blade would have been mounted in cheap fittings. Perhaps they mounted flawed blades, or the value was so low of nihonto that it was economical to export them like this? Does anyone has any insights to explain this?

Hello Grev. Nice collection! Is 68 still available?

Hoanh, yes, it's mitsumune (see munemachi photo). Is this indicative of a particular era or school? I just posted the registration paper for clarification of the signature. The reason why I have it is because I'm living in Japan and purchased the sword here. Thanks for clearing that up, Mr Morita. It's interesting because where I live now isn't too far from Hyuga (modern day Miyazaki) Hoanh and Mr Reid, I think you gentlemen may be correct. On nakago 'A', if you look closely at the file marks you'll notice that they are consistent from the bottom of the nakago until the third ana (from the bottom). And although there are other file marks above it, they only appear on one side and look like someone attempted to file it but then stopped. My question is why would someone later sign it? Could it possibly have been done by the person who shortened it? Kyle

That's interesting about denoting han. I don't suppose you remember where you read it, or could suggest a source, Mr Farrer? Boris, when I first began researching it I first thought it may have belonged to a merchant, for the following two reasons. Firstly, the flamboyancy of the tsuka, and secondly, because it's a chisaikatana and merchants weren't permitted to wear full length swords. However, the menuki threw me as it's definitely a Clan's kamon. There were two possibilities as to whose coat of arms it was, Goto being one, and the other I forget. Thank you, Mr Schiller. Is that actually the name of the style, or is it just a description (my Japanese is pretty limited but I read it as simply, 'different coloured hineri wrap')

Hello all, I'm fairly new to this forum, and would like to thank you all for the wealth of information which you have contributed and continue to do so. I've already learnt so much in the short time I've been a member. The purpose of my post is that I recently purchased what I believe to be a Soshu no Masatsugu wakizashi and would like to learn more about it. My first question is whether anyone can provide me with any information on this smith, and secondly whether the signature is correct/real. Thank you in advance, Kyle Shuttleworth

I also forgot to add that I also believe it to be a chisaikatana, as it has the length of a katana, but the blade it self is much shorter than the saya. Though I suppose it's also possibly a mismatch...

Thank you for your responses, gentlemen. Unfortunately my sword collection is in the UK whilst I'm currently residing in Japan, and I don't have any further detailed pictures. Mr MacDonald, I will happily send you photos of both sides when my swords and I are reunited. However, that may not be until August when my contact ends. Mr Helm, she has indeed had a hard life. I actually acquired the wakizashi at an auction, for the princely sum of £50. She was without fuchi or tsuba, and suffered from a disheartening amount of surface rust. The only mon is on the menuki, and the habaki is a double copper piece. The idea that the cloth was used for the means of cost-cutting makes sense, though I don't think it's actually brocade as there is no pattern. It's just plain material. I have included the only picture that I currently have of her (alongside a sabre collection - I apologise to the nihonto purists) Kyle

Hello all, I've had this wakizashi in my collection for quite some time now, but still have a few questions. Although I realise it is not of superior quality, I do believe it to be quite unusual as I am yet to encounter another like it. There are two features which stand out to me, firstly it's wrapped with two separate pieces of silk, and secondly, underneath seems to be cloth (perhaps hemp) rather than ray skin. I'm really just looking for any information on whether this practice was representative of a particular region. Also I believe the kamon on the menuki to be that of the Goto clan, which would suggest Kyushu? Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance. Kyle