Peter Bleed

Cory, Great thread so far. Thanx. I want to start by being serious. This is a serious sword. It deserves being treated seriously. To heighten that point please let me be ironic. 1) Oh crap, another one of these! You know people give me these things all the time. Send me an private email, I'll tell you about it. Don't beleive those other guys OR 2). Go ahead son, relax, just put the needle in your arm. More seriously, Cory, you have been blessed. Enjoy this sword. learn from it. Talk to others, find more(!), join groups, buy books. Welcome aboard! Peter

This has been a surprisingly interesting discussion. Thank you all. My first impression was that this was a nice looking nakago - - and an ugly blade. I guessed a bad gendai with suspicious tang. Ted convinced me it might be older than I thought. The forum is certainly working. Thank you all. But even polished, I say this is an ugly sword! Peter

Previously overcleaned cast iron? Peter

I am sure that what you are seeing is not "core steel" but simply the remnant of a shortened tang. The edges were cut part way thru and then the nakago was snapped - and partially smoothed. Peter

Friends, I beleive that Koa Isshin swords have been discussed on this list and other venues, but usually from a techincal and aesthetic perspective. Please let me ask about their politcal importance. I am reading Yoshio KODAMA's biography "I Was Defeated" (What a guy; yakuza, class A war criminal, and supposed richest man in East Asia!) and note that he claims to have helped organize and operate a couple of "nationalist" organizations in the late 1930s with names that included the word "Koa." These included the "Koa Domei", the "Koa Seinen Renmei" and the "Koa Seinen Undo." Does anyone know if "Koa" carried particular political impact? Was it a neutral description for East Asia? Or was it essentially about Japan's domination of the Continent? The obvious connection to swords is whether or not Koa Isshin blades were created with explicit nationalistic and warlike political intent. Peter

Thank you all for the responses. I think Barry's example is proof positive that this style is a "type", a regular pattern. I have to agree with the dealer that Barry contacted. These are NOT like other Ainu fittings. The fact seems to be that these fittings are always associated with very low quality blades. This convinces me that they were not made for samurai. They are, indeed, attractive and well crafted, but a great deal of "mingei" has those qualities. Kiseru? How would a pipe go in there? The fact that Ainu carved wood and that these fittings are wood does not make them Ainu. Peter

Let's stay serious, friends. This koshirae is NOT "hade". It may not be particularly sabishi, either, but that is a taste issue. This koshirae is well made but rustic. We have all seen lots of Meiji period stuff, but what would be the market for a rig like this? I wonder if it might not be the sort ot sword used by "matagi", the prfessional woodsmen and hunters of the Edo period. Peter

Dear Friends, I am hoping that I may use a no longer for sale, but still visible koshirae on ebay to beg the help of this list. Please look at item 250765324904 and give me a name for this style of mounting. I am sure several of you will think/tell me that these are Ainu fittings, but I am as sure as I can be that they are NOT Ainu. I have never seen this style of mountings either in photos of Ainu or in catalogues of Ainu material culture. They just ain't there. They are certainly are a type, tho. plain wood with swirling ratan closures, and deer antler fittings. Almost invariable for shoto. I have also never seen them presented in books on koshirae. What are they? Peter

Sorry, I was not trying to be difficult. I just have no skill with image manipulation. I have tried to outline the features I am focussing on. Thank you John for posting the VOC logo. But while I was at it. I have also (crudely) outlined the area where the two dragons meet at the bottom of the tsuba. On many Namban tsuba, - as well as on a great many European smallsword guards - this spot on the center bottom is covered with a grotesque face. John compares these to Chinese taotie. But look at how the dragons meet. I see a square-eyed, broad nosed face in that intertwined mass. Peter

Dear Friends, Thanks for the interesting discussion. Let me show you another tsuba. This is not auriculate, but well-made and symmetical in that it presents a pair of dragons "affronte" (thank you John, gotta love those arty terms). Look at the dragon claws at 4:00 and 8:00. In both I see the VOC logo. Is this merely my imagination or was the logo presented there by the artist. Was he hiding it? Or am I pushing too hard to wonder if he was presenting the VOC as a grasping foreign system? The rendering is less than perfect, but the artisan was probably less than expert with romaji. Beyond that the tradtion of placing kanji in images was well-established in East Asia and supported by the license of grass writing. John asks the the right question. Just because I can see these things (and Piers agrees), does that means that they were intentionally introduced. I am leaning toward beleiving that they WERE intentional, if only becasue they are NOT universal. Most karakusa foliage Namban tsuba seem NOT to have VOC's. So there's the challenge. Go look at your Namban guards. Do you see a VOC Peter

Friends, Allow me to ask anothrer question about Namban tsuba. I enjoy auricular Namban guards becasue it is easy to see in them evidence of cosmopolitan sword culture. Some Namban tsuba had explicit "VOC" markings, suggesting that they were made for men who were associated with the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, the Dutch East India Company. Recently, I have convinced myself that some Namban tsuba had more subtle referents to the VOC in their undercut floral elements Please look at the design inside from the round-eyed, long-hair fellow on the side of this auricular tsuba. Is this a VOC design? Peter

Like many others, I read about "Sgt Coldy Bimore" in Saga Magazine in 1965, and even tried to do some research - way back in the pre-net era. Balancing what I did not find against what I was hearing from people who were in Japan at that time, I decided that fiction was the only accurate way of approaching what had appened. My story was called "National Treasure". You might enjoy it. Peter P.S. What do you suppose the Sgt's real name was, Gordon Vimorray, mebbe?

I'll be there as well, Chris. I am glad you are making this happen. Please sign me up for at least one table and a couple of shinsa slots. Is there anything I can do to help? Peter

Jim, I am new to this forum and still trying to figure out how it works. But do I understadn that you are IN Japan? Now I am quite familiar with the isolation that one can find in Japan and that a source of English comments might be comforting and useful. But I urge you to find a local sword club and bring these questions to them. Peter

A few years back these swords were being offered out of China - - for very reasonable prices. I am SURE this blade originated on the Continent. I think it is inconceivable that it could have come from Japan. Uncontrolled excavation of Kofun just do not happen. The trouble with these blades is that are a conservation nightmare. You pay your money and watch the blade disappear into rust bits. Peter

Ford, I, too, have watched these videos repeatedly. They are enthalling. Thank you. A part of me would love to see more basic issues treated - how to make takane, basic patination, workspace design - but seeing the high-level artisanship of inlaying and forming a tiger's head was fabulous. I also great enjoyed your use of English names for some steps -butter of gold, indeed!. This helps to expand our understanding. Thanks! Peter

Jock, Thanks for calling our attention to this sword. I agree with Brian. This was certainly reworked for kyu-gunto usage. There will come a time when swords like this are appricated as legitimate reflections of trends in Japanese history and sword usage. They once were treated like damaged - even destroyed - goods. There seem to be no signs that heat was involved in the reshaping, but can you imagine the force that must have been involved. This seems like a very collectible sword. Peter

Others have pointed you positively in good direction. And we all make mistakes. But let me just add, "GREEN! What were you thinking?" Peter

An interesting read, indeed! Thank you for bringing it to our attention! Peter

Dear Friends, I beg the permission of the forum to present for discussion a blade I purchased only last weekend - and one of two kata-kiriba blades acquired that week! The blade I hope the forum will consider worth discussing is in something like an aiguchi style tanto koshirae. I beleive it is basically of shaped antler embellished with wire including both twisted elelments and small circled filled with red (?) dots of lacquer. The fuchi/koiguchi combo appear to have been carved from the "nubbin" base of antlers. The tsuka and saya sections are dyed a patchy brown. The fittings that compare to the fuchi-kashira, koiguchi, kurikata and kojiri are green. I have never formed an opinion about color combinations, but now that I have seen this sword, brown and green is my LEAST favorite color combination. Overall length of the koshirai is 41cm, 16.5" The blade is a markedly curved with a bevelled - "kata kiriba" - edge on the concanve margin. Under the stain there is a fair Japanese style polish and I THINK I can see a hamon. It also has visible garin. It is hand forged. It has an antler habaki. The blade length is 19.5 cm, 7.75". The blade is held in the tsuka by a mekugi. The gun slick I bought the blade from suggested that he had removed a "black" peg, but with great sensitivity he had replaced it with a section of bamboo chopstick - probably something he got with a serving of General Tsao's chicken!. The nakago is covered with fair rust and has and X and three lines - obviously "13" and I noted that that number is also carved on the inside of the fuchi. The obvious first question about this blade is, "Is it Japanese?" I am sure that it is old. It is NOT a modern Chinese repro and to my eye it looks Japanese. At the same time it is NOT well made enough to made enough - or old enough - to be a "Kubikiri". No heads could be collected with this blade. Is this a "samurai sword"? Well, mebbe, but I wonder if it might not be a Shinshinto bonsai knife! Peter

There are a great many bad Kunikane signatures out there, largely because the Kunikane 1 successfully started a long line of smiths that survived and was supported by the Date family. There were 14 generations in the main line. They practiced the style of the founder and enjoyed official support. The middle generations produced mumei swords that went right into the armory of the Date family. (Sendai meikan lists NO legitmate signatures from the 4th to 10th generations.) After the Meiji Restoration those unsigned swords were sold to an antiques dealer - apparently in Sendai - who had them signed --- mainly with the Master's name. Dealers refer to these as "Sendai Atobori." They can be viewed as "school"swords, but those "after signatures" are being removed nowadays. That is, they are being treated like "gimei." I am as sure as I can be that the sword that got this discussion started is not the work of Kunikane 1. Peter