Eric Santucci

Kurt K, Good question - I asked myself that very question when I purchased a wakizashi that was hirazukuri with a yokote. Apparently, it is very odd, but it does happen from time to time. I should say that this is only the second blade I have ever seen like that (mine being the other one). I will dig up some pics and post them later.

Sure, glad to help. Thanks for the compliments on my tsuba. I am not really a fittings collector, but at times a variety of tsuba and menuki have spoken to me over the years and I have added them to my small collection. Mike and Cyrus over at Tetsugendo.com had a similar tsuba available about 4 months ago - with constellation in mist, but no moon. It was also quite nice and Akasaka school too. I don't see it on their site anymore, but you may want to get in touch with them to see if they still have it or can acquire something similarly for you. Best of luck, Eric

Hi, I have this beautiful tsuba with moon and constellation in mist. Unsigned, but NBTHK Hozon to Akasaka school. Alas, this is from my personal collection and not for sale, but thought to share to give you additional ideas. Regards, Eric

The horizontal safes I posted are also designed for small areas ( under bed, in a closet, etc). This makes them desirable for those that don't have a lot of space to store items and can't fit a large several hundred pound (or 1,000 pound safe like that Browning) in their rooms. (By the way, I do agree that Browning is nice if you have the space and the infrastructure to support it). The MonsterVault safes are reasonably priced. They essentially run around $300 or there about depending where you get them from. The Wardog, on the other hand, is considered top of the line by many and thus the hefty price tag.

There are some great horizontal safes on the market these days. Try searching for MonsterVault (under bed safes) and Wardog safes. http://www.wardogsafe.com/sporting-platinum.html http://www.monstervault.org -Eric

Tom, These might be a bit rare, but this is the third example to have arisen on this message board since October. By joining this board you now have two further examples to add to your piece and the original you have seen in the Dawson book. Further, you also have a price reference to compare it to since the 3rd example is for sale now on the board. (I do recommend taking a close look at that one for sale now on this board...) 1st: http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=20337&p=183603&hilit=manchurian+tachi#p183603 2nd: your example 3rd: http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=20744 Incidentally, the fact that we have seen three in such a short time period further illustrates what an excellent message board this can be. It is certainly nice to be able to bring together this kind of knowledge on a seemingly rare piece.

Thank you David, good luck with your menuki as well - hope to see them in person some time next year. They are a wonderful set!

Gents, Sorry for the late reply (lots of Halloween activities with the kids this weekend). Regarding the papers - we are in the middle of the "unagi" story right now, which will hopefully end a little differently. They simply papered to Mito; however, Mike and Cyrus feel strongly about a specific attribution to a maker and it is under discussion with NBTHK now. Whether they paper to a specific maker or not, they are a gorgeous set, so I am pleased. They will actually be removed from consignment soon as I had decided to pull them from the market. Once I get them back in hand in the month ahead I will start a new thread and take some macro photos of them. Robert S., your koshirae is outstanding!

Hi Stephen, Yes, they are listed on their site now. Use the top level nav on their site to access Menu > Fittings > Menuki. They have a nice write up on them as well as details about possible attributions. The unagi design is rare in general and these are in particular a very well made set with extremely fine detail and highest quality shakudo. Hi David, I had Cyrus submit for papers since I bought these menuki through them originally. Process was easy and I recommend them.

David, These are a great set of menuki - I know exactly who you got them from. I was thoroughly looking over the pictures when they were posted for sale several months ago. Glad they went to a good home. Reminds me of my unagi menuki. You may remember these from our table at the Baltimore show last year. They just papered in Japan several months ago and are with Mike and Cyrus now (on consignment). Attached a pic for everyone's viewing pleasure. Congrats again on a great set!

Thanks Stephen. Sometimes gut feelings are the best kind.

I’ve seen a lot of Sadakatsu blades (own/have owned several). I have no opinion on whether it is shoshin, but I'd like to share some of my observations: 1. The mei looks very finely cut, as does the yasurime. This would be typical of a Sadakatsu blade. 2. The Kao has a very long upward stroke on the right, which is atypical of Sadakatsu's mei. 3. It has been noted before that by 1940 there were one or more students making swords for Sadakatsu; therefore for swords signed by students there may be some variation in the mei. (Note: I am not saying this blade is made/signed by student). 4. In my opinion, the quality of the pictures do not give us a good idea of how far along the “older war polish” is in this case. In my experience a non-ayasugi, less-than 27 inch, older war-polish Sadakatsu without mitsumune, shirasaya, gassan-style habaki, and NBTHK papers would likely go for somewhere about the original asking price that was offered. @ Stephen: what makes you think the file marks were recently done? (I don't have an opinion either way, just wondering what methodology you used to come to that conclusion). Thanks

Brian asked this same question and I am curious too: Any ideas as to why the seller would not post photos of the nakago? (Note: this question is not meant to imply the sword is not a genuine Sadakatsu; I am merely curious). Thanks

Stephen, That used to be my Tatsuyoshi sword that you referenced on Swordpolish.net. I had it custom commissioned via Chris Bowen. When I made the difficult decision to sell it, I had it posted on Swordpolish.net for a bit and then directly sold it in 2010 to John Kurata at Ricecracker.com You may want to contact John if you are interested and see where it ended up after that. His work was spectacular and very underrated by most collectors I came across in the US. Several years ago when I sold that piece the love for his work was not that strong and it ended up selling for a fraction of the price it originally cost. It's nice that Tatsuyoshi-San is getting recognition for his swords these days, but I am quite sad he passed on.

I will be at the show on Saturday for the day and possibly Sunday as well. I will have several swords from my collection with me including several tsuba and sets of menuki. Some of these items will be for sale and other items just for study. If anyone is interested in an advanced list of the items, please contact me via PM here and I will be sure to connect with you at the show. Thanks, Eric

Last email received from Brian Chan was also a few weeks ago. I had inquired about getting some new stands created for me since he mentioned the existing ones left in stock needed a bit of work to get the parts to fit nicely. I haven't heard back since then unfortunately.

I had a modern tsuba/seppa set made for a martial arts grade sword (Japanese style by American smith) about a year and a half ago that is very similar in design to this. It consisted of a highly polished small black horn tsuba with essentially one thicker solid copper tsuba on each side that were almost the same diameter. I then had two smaller seppa made as well, so overall the entire piece consisted of 5 parts. My reasoning for this was to add strength to the softer horn tsuba by backing it with some metal on each side. This set is actually up for sale on some other message boards that deal with less traditional blades and fittings, but I can post a quick pic here if anyone is interested.

Brian Chan replied with an email early this morning to me, Curran, and Daniel. :D He had been occupied with some other events, so was not able to reply originally. He mentioned that he is pleasantly surprised these kake are getting such attention now. He did have some remaining stands available, but noted that the acrylic varied in thickness so there was not such a snug fit. Therefore, he inquired as to whether he should do a new batch of these if there is interest. I suggested he post here on the board to see how many folks would like to order, so hopefully we will see another quick update soon.

I emailed Brian Chan this morning and will see if I can get a response from him. Just a reminder that it is the summertime here in the US which means a lot of people are out on vacation around this time, so it's possible he may just be otherwise occupied at the moment. I also noticed that when I copy and pasted his email directly from his web page the "@" symbol did not copy over into the address, which means it invalidated the email. I had to physically add the "@" symbol- so perhaps some emails went out to him and never reached their destination due to that small technical consideration. I will keep the board posted.

Hi Piers, No offense taken! It is all good. Just wanted to clarify exactly what the local was thinking. Interesting info provided on the term "karasu" in general - the language and expressions are a forever-long learning experience for me. Thanks again for looking into this for us and all of your information; it is invaluable to hear information like this directly from the locals there and receive this rich amount of information to discuss; I know I am very much appreciative of it.

Piers, Was he upset at the notion that someone was referring to U-jo has Karasu-jo because those are two different castles and he was annoyed that someone would mix them up? Or is he saying that "Karasu-jo" in general is an offensive term overall? The reasoning I ask is because any internet search will clearly show that Karasu-jo is used as a reference for Matsumoto Castle, while U-jo is being used to reference a different castle in Okayama. Further, just to clarify on the "some internet shop" comment....the translation of karasu-jo was made by more than one person/place (not just an internet shop) and at least in the case of my blade being translated it was originally noted by someone who is a quite well known authority in the field.

Piers, thanks for that info and for contacting your teacher, much appreciated! That pretty much answers my original question about the U-jo vs. Karasu-jo and the nature of Nagamitsu's presence around there. I had originally thought that he was perhaps inside the castle forging swords and doing something interesting, but it appears the consensus is that he was just forging swords in and around where he lived by the castle. Makes sense. Interesting about the info you found via the blurb on Tsuruginoya too. Experts will have to weigh in on that for us. Gents, Regarding the Aoi Art blade - I see what Chris is pointing out in the blade. Typically Tsuruta-san will notate large flaws though (and if the nakago were cracked that would be a huge flaw). Someone can always email Tsuruta-san and ask him about it if there is interest in that particular blade; he will provide an honest answer. Thanks to everyone for their research and comments on this thread, it is has been very enlightening!

Thanks Chris, Yes indeed, took me three years of searching to find this blade and 1+ years for restoration. Definitely worth the wait and the "hunt" was quite fun too.

Thanks Rich and Tobias for your additional information and details on the subject matter, much appreciated. Greetings Chris, I was merely hastily pointing out of the past belief and association (albeit proven incorrect as we now know) of the Nagamitsu/Emura/Okayama Prison connection and tying that as to whether the kanji was being read as U-jo (associated with Okayama area) as opposed to Karasu-jo. I realize that there is substantial information now available to contradict the original assertion of the prison connection and it has been proven false as noted on Rich's site in the following link (inclusive of your research on the subject as noted within the page as well): http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/nagamura.htm For sake of clarity and to avoid the usual debate or perpetuation of the false prison connection, I should have left the word "prison" out of my original statement and simply said "Okayama". I stand corrected in my original confusing word choice. Thanks, Eric

Looking on Rich Stein's website, the example he gives that is similar to my blade is the following: Example "O.": Bizen (no) Kuni ..Karasu.. Ichihara Ichiryushi saku Made in Bizen Province near Karasu Castle by Ichihara Ichiryushi Dated December 1943 - (Nagamitsu blades are rarely dated) Just a note that he is stating "karasu (jo)" here as well. If Rich is on the forums, perhaps he can weigh in on my original question about the castle - whether we are talking about U-jo or Karasu-jo - and what purpose Nagamitsu may have had there during that time in the war. Nevertheless, it is interesting to see another blade dated the same as this one though!