D McCutcheon

gorgeous sword

yes sorry for you man but it is probably a good thing I really distrust ebay sellers, some are really on then up and up but very many are not and its almost impossible to tell.

I am myself fairly new to the board and nihonto collecting but from my understanding showato pretty much means non traditionaly made sword, that means as you said different steel and forming methods and quenching probably oil quenching, the seki mark and the fact its got a signature probably denotes that the smith took some care and pride in it so its likely to be a decent showato, it would all come down to the blade and the hamon hada etc how decent. May be worth checking through the military sword section of the forums.

hah yes I wish I was a better photographer or had better gear, I should do that try natural light and other light sources and just experiment

thanks grey good points those sadly the shirasaya that came with the swords been wraapped directly to the wood with gaffer tape that said at least its holding together so I can ship it safely, ill need to ask the polisher then about a new shirasaya and habaki at the time its polished, ill probably hold ontop the old one as its got the original ww11 surrender tags

Wow Jamie didnt realise id need to get a totally new shirasaya after a polish glad you said that and yes im planning to get this sword polished its actually not bad but it could do with a light polish. So it seems ill be waiting till the polishing to get new shirasaya but if I do that how will I post the sword to the maker of the shirasaya if I cant use the old one?

Thanks Peter so around 800 for both thats not too bad but still a decent chunk of change, as for what I want im torn I like the two part habaki with copper outer habaki with the gold washed inner habaki, but when you look around online theres some simply beautiful designs out there.

Thank you Hoanh Yeah I figured everything would have to be bespoke and ill probably need to send the sword too going to be a bit of a palaver to get it done I imagine. danny

Awesome my birthdays in september makes it more special Danny

hey thanks K Morita sama so the sellers translation is erroneous there no made for name of commisioner then swordsmiths signature, its just I shige fusa made this, then other side is the date year etc! Hah yes from the previous thread you translated nakago on this side to say - The mei says 'Aizu-ju Wakabayashi(family name) Shigefusa koreo kitau' the papers he sent were obviously without the first part of the family name and he made assumption it was the name of the swords buyer. Many thanks again Morita sama, it shows that you cant rely on just the dealers attempts at translation and the paperwork that comes with it Danny

hey thanks for quick reply Ill do that the old ones kept the blade in pretty good condition so why alter a winning combination just replace old one. I can always get the a koshirae set in bits and pieces over time if I want to . Thanks Jean and Ken. Danny

I have a lovely new sword and a partial translation of the nakago, I did a search and I believe the sword been discussed before on NMB. http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=14313&hilit=shigefusa. What I have so far is ni .oite - as for shige fusa kitavor.tan - forged kore.wo - this other side apparently says mid autumn 12th year showa 1937 Id really appreciate some guesses at least thats what the man sold me said itd be realy hard to get the neame of the person who commissioned the sword. I will try to post clearer pictures of the nakago though they may not be great.

I have a lovely new Gendaito its in reasonable polish but has a lot of surface markings and scratches probably come up well with a light polish. but the shirasaya while a historical artifact is cracked completely through the handle is too though somehow its still holding together. So I will need everything if I decide to go for koshirae including a habaki and its prettier than the shirasaya though im thinking shirasaya would be cheaper option just wondering what the prices of the work and the procedure would be for either option. Im in UK too so thats probably a big crimp on things too. Danny

I have just taken delivery of new nihonto its bright and shiny and I can clearly seem hamon my problem is the blades marred by what looks like water spills and blistering now the blades not oiled and the shirasaya is cracked on saya and hilt too. I do not feel comfortable holding the sword by the hilt because i am waiting for the thing to break, with the saya held together by gaffer tape Ill need to store the sword carefully to preserve the remaining polish and I notice that oil dries fast on my other swords. I have looked around at the various suggestions on oiling but im unsure if my oil drying up fast is usual and if not am I choosing too light an oil. Also the shirasaya is old and tired so whats the best way to go about getting new koshirae for the sword?

Lol soo true though at least you get to handle swords some dates dont get that far