messedupmojo

Thanks Grey Understood - it was mostly purchased due to its connection to the WW2 Burma campaign - the fact it is older is a bonus. Understand what you are saying about polish - i think i'll just keep it oiled and in its current state. Certainly learning more about other schools seems a good idea before going any further Regards David

Hi Steve Thanks for the reply - I wasn't expecting the earth, i since realised bungo swords aren't the most desired - but relieved it looks OK at least! The pics were taken on a Canon 5Ds using a 24-70 and 100-400 lens, a tripod and a continuous lighting softbox - the 5DS gives unbelievable resolution but any modern camera would do - i think the trick is probably more diffused lighting through the softbox and a tripod to remove any wobbles/blur - both cheap and probably add much more quality to the shot than any camera/lens Regards Dave

Hi I have the following blade - i wondered what you thought about identification, authenticity and what to do next - is it worth polishing? It looks like its signed by 豊後住藤原統景 bungo ju fujiwara munekage but its missing the province of Bungo - in fact theres only a signature and no date either (should i be worried by this?) The hamon is suguha (hope i have that right) but its quite dull - the blade is incredibly sharp all the way down to the hamachi, the blade and the nagako is the same profile shape as the blade, rather than being flat like those found on gunto's - it certainly feels like it should be traditionally made rather than anything else The blade itself if 28 inches (71cm) and overall is 35 inches (89cm) The blade itself looks quite scratched up and i can see no obvious hada - in some parts it does look like small bits of mokume-hada, which would be the closest pattern i could think of - but this may just be staining on the blade or some other agent I'd certainly like you opinion on its authenticity and what to do next with it - it originally came in late gunto mounts thanks in advance David <---Mune side ------ hamon side----> <---Mune side ------ hamon side---->

John Many thanks for the clarification - in the interim i'd got a copy of the book and came to the same conclusion Kanenaga兼永 from Gifu appears to quite an important WW2 smith - so just wanted to double check it couldn't be him, however as you say its much more likely to be the first smith you mentioned Thanks for all the information, i'm slowly building my knowledge around signatures, kanji, etc - its much appreciated that you and everyone on here shares your time to help me along Kind regards David

John On the first smith you mention - from Gifu province, you've used the same Kanji as me 包永 for Kanenaga ( i assume this is the way its written in Markus Sesko's Swordsmiths of Japan ) - but on Nihonto club (and some other signatures i've seen for Kanenaga in general) the Kanji is 兼永 for Kanenaga so i had almost discounted him - when you say he signed nijimei does this mean he signed with only two characters on some - is the way he signed Kane 包 or 兼 likely to have changed between the two? Many thanks David

John Thanks for the information Kind regards David (sorry i should have put that before!)

Hi Some of you kindly translated the signature on my gunto and we got to 包永　Kanenaga I'm trying to further research this smith as there appears to be a couple of that name operating in the Showa period - to help i thought it would be an idea to get a better idea of date or province the blade was made I've tried to clean up the photograph the best i can as the blade is pretty rusty - but apparently a blue filter in lightroom works wonders (albeit still a little rusty in the middle) at the bottom the last 3 kanji are 1, 10, month (11th month?) Above that (4th figure from bottom) is it the Kanji for Year? - it looks a little more curvy than the way Kanji for year is written on my fonts At the top is it just the first figure that says Showa or is this also continued to the second figure down - i can see three clear apostrophe type strikes that dont fit with this? It then looks like a 10 and 6 before what i think is the kanji for year ( i may be way off) but would it be a huge leap to say this say 16th year of showa which would put it at 1942 Finally - i had a question about an Arsenal stamp - which i'm 90% certain isn't there - should all non traditional blades (of which i'm sure this is) have had some kind of stamp? As always many thanks for thoughts, opinions and your time in answering my questions

Hi Thanks for all the advice so far - i managed to get the habaki off which was stuck- and flaked the worst of the loose rust off. However i'm still unable to find any armory marks - i carefully took back the flakey rust leaving the colour and some rust in place to remove the habaki - but im now 80% confident that what remains cant be concealing any kind of mark Unless its tiny) Are all non traditional gunto's marked? is it likely there is no mark ? i think i remember reading somewhere that if a sword was rejected it wasn't stamped - perhaps given its later gunto mounts they got desperate?

I've tried to include a better picture of the writing on the other side - the bottom looks like "one" and "eleventh" month ? but the middle looks too corroded is there a way to tell if the blade is traditionally or machine made?

Hi I've taken a few more photos and also found another inscription on the back, which i couldn't see until i put it under quite bright light Sorry i also meant to say the blade is about 26" I also had trouble getting the habaki off - i can move it - but taking it over the rust will remove some of the rust - is this acceptable if done carefully? thanks for any further translations / opinions on age / maker and advice Kind regards Dave

Thanks - i will try and take some photos of the blade (which is not rusted but is quite tarnished) and get some pictures up here asap

Hi I'm hoping for some help identifying the signature on this Shingunto - i've searched through a number (thousands) of photographs of signatures collated by a number of online sites - but cant find any that match. The sword looks genuine, it certainly feels well aged and authentic to the WW2 era (hopefully) but i dont think that it would be any older than that. I cannot see an armory mark or any other stamps Any help gratefully received Kind regards David