Lee Bray

Ah, I overlooked Mr.Rose's comment on the burn mark and bend and stand corrected.

Page 167 of the above book. As Thierry described above, cast iron plate made by a tetsubin-shi - caster of iron tea kettles. "It has an inscription: Tosa Kuni Ju Myochin Munetoshi, and was taken from his original work." "Unfortunately the example by Munetoshi has not been recorded so far." Apparently casting was very expensive due to the amount of charcoal needed. It goes on to say, "Not enough attention has been paid to cast iron fittings. This is one of the best examples found so far."

Whilst John's opinion is a valuable tool and a great resource(seriously - no condescension on my part), I'd have to say that one picture of a stain on the monouchi taken from a distance should not dismiss the sword. It may be heat, it may be rust, it may be some muppet decided to try and cold blue the blade and had second thoughts. I just noticed the admin crop of the pics so maybe the details were viewable earlier but I wouldn't write it off just yet because of that.

A table and soft cloth or paper would be better for taking pictures. Next time... Looking more at the shape of the nakago, perhaps it was altered to fit later police or military sword mounts. The mark/character on your tang maybe an identifier whilst in the armoury to keep blade and fittings together while being worked on. Pure speculation on my part - the tang shape reminded me of this thread - viewtopic.php?f=15&t=10246&p=85747&hilit=police#p85747 Even if this were the case and you have a traditional blade altered to fit military/police fittings, I still don't think the blade looks worthy of major restoration. The kissaki geometry looks altered, the cutting edge seems wavy - indicating bad polishing, the nakago is, sorry to be frank, unsightly... I still think you're looking at the top section of a katana, so at the least you probably have a traditionally made blade and not a modern fake.

It looks like a very crude shortened wakizashi, made either from a broken katana or longer wakizashi. You're not going to be able to judge school, smith, etc from the blade in its current condition. The blade itself is not worth restoring, in my opinion. If this sword means a lot to you, and, as you say, you've been trying hard to study and read up on the subject, I suggest you don't hang it upside down from a steel nail on your wall.

Yes, sorry, should have clarified...18k was the highest price that one had sold for.

A polished and papered Tadatsuna wakizashi sold for 18k through Shibata so I hope those fittings are worth a heck of a lot. 17k on a gamble which won't pay off even if it's good...weird...

I suggest if you're going to have someone look at your sword objectively then don't use the guy who sold it in the first place.

My Cantonese friend says the mei means 'jewelery' or 'pearl'.

George, they should name a terrier after you... The design seems to me to be humourous. A wandering, itinerant monk scratching his name, Tou, onto a sign post or similar. The original graffiti artist. To me, this is a humourous dedication to Tou with perhaps a slight poke at artists signing gimei.

That Mutsu no Kami Tadayoshi naginata is great...I've been looking at it since it was posted and drooling. A high price for a naginata but very reasonable compared to his other works - Tsuruta-san would have to remove a couple of zero's from the tag before I could buy it, though. I've handled a Shodai Tadayoshi naginata and it is a very intimidating weapon.

More than likely no. I have a similar Meiji period police tanto/dirk and the tang is more or less identical except for the markings which are probably just assembly numbers. The blade is not traditionally made and is through hardened as opposed to differentially hardened(hamon).

The offset teeth and smaller serrations are seen on saw blades, such as this one on a Leatherman multitool. As for cutting ropes, that type of double edge and offset teeth jam up in rope. A single row like the one below cuts a lot easier. I own both and use the second for rigging, my occupation. I'd say neither the wakizashi nor kogatana serrations were designed primarily for cutting rope. I don't know anything about Japanese saws of the period to comment whether they utilised this serration pattern at the time but given the carpenters tools inlaid on the saya, I'd think the wakizashi serrations are made as a wood saw. Maybe a gift for a retired carpenter?

Isn't everything we post here 'in our opinion'? At least unless we explicitly state the source from where it came. I think some are reading too much authority into peoples words and perhaps reacting to it. We all write here with our personal opinions and we all judge each others writings based on our opinions of the words and writer. As to gimei, I see it as black and white. Which do you prefer? Some one, some the other. Both are valid and without either there wouldn't be the accompanying shades of gray in between. I see the argument for mumei blades of high quality and I see the reason why mei are important to some. I see no real reason to draw lines between the two. KM - if you read that book an hour a day, try looking at the title in more depth... Humour...

Thanks for taking the time to document your sword, Ron, and explaining the appraisal.

As to the goofy gimei aspect, would the information that is known on signatures today have been prevalent back in the early days of making gimei? I can understand that after sword appraisal became popular(mid/late Koto?), more information became condensed into the books of the time and therefore later gimei artists had something to work from and so create more believable signatures, but earlier? Would a 12th/13th century gimei artist know how Munechika signed? Would his clients?

Possible kesho yasurimei on the last picture? Blade looks big and no taper. Either Koto(Nambokucho ?), as Keith suggests or maybe ShinShinto copy. It looks in reasonable condition if Nambokucho but just pure conjecture on my part based on my impression of size from the pics. Can we get some measurements of the sword, please? http://www.shibuiswords.com/terms1.htm - scroll down a little and there is a guide to measurements.

While doing some quick research for my previous post, I came across this link. http://web1.australianmuseum.net.au/ima ... asu-Sword/ Note the text - "Kaneyasu was noted for the peculiar style in which he signed his work - the characters of his name can only be read properly in reflection." The two mei appear differently struck but I'm just adding the link for comparison, not stating gimei, especially as the above link says nothing of papers or whether the mei is genuine. Edit - http://australianmuseum.net.au/Sword-of-Friendship - Interesting side story to the above Kaneyasu, and another pic for comparison.

Welcome to the kanji illiterate club...there's a few of us around... You're correct that some kanji are missing. The nakago looks suriage so some of the mei is lost. Mutsu (no) Kami is also a title given to some smiths, eg. Hizen Mutsu (no) Kami Tadayoshi, Mutsu (no) Kami Kaneyasu, etc, etc. The first example - Hizen Tadayoshi - the smith works in Hizen province and is given the title, Mutsu (no) Kami, which I believe means 'Lord Of Mutsu[province]'. Hizen is on the far Western end of Japan, Mutsu is the North East... ...I've yet to learn how the various titles were bestowed. So your mei could be the province or could be a title. I don't know if there are differing kanji to differentiate between the two. Also, would Mutsu province be written as 'Mutsu (no) Kuni' ?

This is very true but I think it's more applicable to established beginners in the field as opposed to outright beginners. Once you know you have a passion for the study and appreciation of the sword, then progress to good swords. When you're a rank beginner, how can you know what a good sword is? Ok, it costs 10k and a NMB member said it was good...not particularly a great way to learn, in my opinion. I've said before, the thought of an outright beginner owning a decent sword as their first piece scares me. I don't think that a first sword should be a rusty clunker that cost tuppence from ebay either, as I don't think that will inspire much passion for the sword initially but a low end piece in reasonable polish and low end mounts is a good introduction to the field.

Pure speculation on my part, Moss, so don't get too emotionally distraught but perhaps the discrepancy in the hi near the mei could explain the cleaning and possibly spurious signature? My thoughts being a previous mei was filed off and a new one added. The yasurimei on the nakago ura look sharper and more defined which makes me think the mei side has been altered. The lack of definition in the hi termination could be caused by losing steel in that area from filing the nakago. I could also be entirely wrong and it's just wear from 500 years of tsuba interaction.

No , I have a zinc alloy wakizashi which has no bohi, as in the above picture.

Mine doesn't but I daresay both are available.

The hamon makes me think zinc alloy training swords. But based on that one pic, it's impossible to say for sure.

Are you saying you just had it polished? If that's the case, surely the polisher in Japan is in a much better position to answer your questions?