Henry Stewart

Peter Count me in please. Henry

Sir The only way you will solve this question you pose will be to submit reasonable photographs of the body of the blade,Nakago and Kissaki. I have noticed several of these small sellers appearing lately.and yes the price of these swords has been creeping upwards for some time. Henry

Sil L Sir, A word of advice. First; Strip the sword down to the blade only; Use your undoubted talent as a photographer to take good pictures of the whole blade left and rightsided. Photos of the tang (nakago) including close up. Close up of Hamon. For the time being forget the hada., and finally close up both sides of the Kissaki (point). That will give some of the subscribers a fighting chance about time and smith. Good luck Henry

Hello Chinese; Henry

Hi nickn Phone call saying I had letter from seller; Henry

Ted, thank you for your input; I fear you may be right. Ive been studying this blade for sometime now and its not making any sense,at least to me. The more I look, the more perplexed I end up,which I find an unpleasant state.The file marks together with the almost geometric precision of the Mei characters, coupled with the crispness of the tale all point together to a very modern blade. I note you say do not place emphasis on the August as a creative point,yet the kanji used are specific and where you might expect to find a date but the inscription relative to the name is to my mind in the wrong place. About the possibility of stamping, microscopic ex amination does not show any side deformity of the metal. Henry

Moriyama san Sir, Please accept my sincere thanks for your help; Henry

Moriyama san; Sir My thanks for your input to this puzzle; Its a conundrum. Whlst you clearly doubt its Japanese your uncertainty is accompanied by my own. The blade certainly gives an impressiion of 60 plus years of age and differs from the current P.Chen steel. IMO its not Tamahaganae,in fact its appearance is more of heat treated stock. If it is stock then I think its likely to be Japanese, wartime manufacture;although that part of the translation which you say is not a smiths name,still exites the curiosity as to what the kanji actually say.?? Henry

Moriyama san Sir, There is an amount of suspicion about this blade; I find it somewhat incredulous that a Japanese would take the time to inscribe a nakago, quoting as a lucky day and include the month in which his nation suffered catastrophy,its like calling a wonderful day,the day an earthquake struck. Have I totally misunderstood the thing. You say it is not probably Gendaito,could I ask you for an intelligent guess then please? Gendaito, showato, or bridge steel (rolled stock). Also is any importance to be attached to the file marks; It was me who asked Brian to post these prints; From the state of the rest of the furniture it gives the impression it was made in a hurry. Very untidy and unlikely the work of a skilled artisan? The blade however displays traits of skill but was oil tempered. enry

Thankyou Ray Good point Stephen Thanks Gentlemen Henry

Gentlemen Can anyone please supply me with details of a good Tsuka maker resident within the UK? Henry

Dr.Barrett Franco Rod Gentlemen, My thanks for your exellent help; Henry

Gentlemen Can anyone please advise me of where to obtain a plan or drawing of how to tie a Sageo knot on a Wakizashi Saya; Thank you; Henry

Hi Bob The Koto period is said to have ended 1530 when the (new) sword (shinto) appeared. I think this is correct. Henry

Steve Just let me find my camera and I will be happy to oblige; I have never been able to post photos; would you please send me your Email to stwreev1@hotmail.co.uk,and I will try and send you a set. Henry

Jon; If your idea of great = in excess of £2,294.00, sounds to me a great deal of money in this day and age. Still all things are relative; do you like the blade must always remain the leading question. Henry

Sebastien. Certainly sounds a good way to progress doesnt it. Wish I could identify the polisher, this is some polish. Henry

Sebastien; Yes indeed, the first thing you should note is the price (very low typically £200GBP).For a good blade this is a ridiculous price.(Wakizashi). Next the photos, typically no close ups or if there are,only one or two and then of inconsequential parts. No returns sale. If the price is less than half what you would expect,keep away.You may live to deal another day. Henry

Gentlemen You may recall I was waiting for a Wakizashi after purchasing two cheap but genuine Tsuba, well, its arrived; the Hada is beautiful almost museum quality and the Hamon is a magnificent midare/gunome almost hadori finish and is to almost die for, all topped off by the most wonderful crows foot fracture 4 mm back along the mune from the point. Not visible on the photograph. Ah Well,whats that saying about winning some. All that painstaking work right up to the final cold douse when the smith got the temperatures wrong and fractured the damn thing; yet the biggest mystery--why the hell has a good polisher gone to the trouble of giving it a very good final????? Henry

Dr.Brian Barrett; I have two almost identical pieces complete with 10' lances and fittings. They are smaller and much less substantial than "battle ready" Naginata, and whilst traditionally manufactured they were intended for celebratary costume drama festival parades,and I bought them as such. From a distance and to emphasise a point they do look the business but at best are worth a max of £200 in first class condition; its a clear case of the photo flatters to deceive. When you pick them up the first thing that strikes you is the total lack of weight. Ive noticed recently quite a few of these hitting the market together with some good looking Wakizashi,mostly in shirasaya that is until one sees the fatal flaws,many of which you need blade in hand to see. Ive just seen three on the trot; Henry

Joe. I am not a polisher as spoken of in Nihonto terms but am known for experimentation having worked for some 51 years with metals as an engineer (now long retired). I too wondered as you,whether any contemporary counterparts of the old Polisher had tried anything to see if there was perhaps a modern equivalent. I will say now that I found many different aspects to polishing one of these swords that it would be impossible to group them altogether,so I looked at each individually. The simplest seemed to me to be burnishing,at least as applied to the Mune and the Ji. I eventually wound up with a technique which comes from the world of shot-blasting. Using a very old tired blade which all available opinion was given as scrap,I applied a technique of what can only be desribed as 'rolling-milling',after about 2 to 3 hours the result was visually very pleasing. It shone very well; weight test showed no steel had been removed,and on the Ji Hamon was still visible and present to the same extent as the commencement. If you want to know further just let me know and I have some photos. The cost, well thats something else!

Joe Its too early, I cant even spell by own name !!!! Henry

Joe I cant find your stone either,but not only that ,I find even more confusing advice when you start to read up.. The Japanese polishing factor Namikawa Heibei sells a sword polishing kit, quite expensive, in which they include "operating instructions". This sheet mentions Uchigumori-do and its use;but no mention of your stone. Yet, when you read 'The Art of Japanese Sword Polishing' it mentions soft and hard Uchigumori,could it be your stone is a varient as mentioned in the book by Togishi Setsuo Takaiwa,as it appears there are several types of Uchigumori. It appears that which book you read,informs only the fact that there are several individualistic ways of using these stones.By the way,got any ideas on how the various types of uchgummori are identified? Hneru

Welcome Michael Sweeney; On the face of it you seem to have all the exhuberance necessary to enjoy your collecting. This site is indeed an exellent scource of information regarding Nihonto,and the vast number of contributors will in the main offer good help and assistance. You would be advised to read as much as you can before offering comment or question,then at least your post could be said to be an informed one,rather than just dreamt up. Good luck; Henry.

Thanks for your help Paul;It has now been released from detention on the grounds that it is an antique; Henry