Archer

And some scrap processed tamahagane. I'm always surprised by how much those sword pieces go for eBay. There must be someone out there making a decent business turning old damaged blades into knives or something.

Thank you all for your comments. The feedback is greatly appreciated. I'm not so sure about it being a Uchine yari. I say that only because all of the examples that I have seen are much shorter than this piece. Geraint, I considered that it could be a repurposed yajiri. This could definitely be a possibility. I have not seen many yajiri that have a flat face like this does though. Most seem to have a center ridge that extends right to the base of the point with a six-sided base instead of eight like this example. Rokujuro, I tried to remove the point, but I can't get it to budge in any direction. The pin the holds the ferrule in place does not extend through the nakago. I can tell this because the ferrule is loose and I can twist it slightly. The pin must be short and just extends a short way into the wood to hold the ferrule in place. Anyone know what Smith Yasuyoshi may have been. I have been trying to find an example to match the style, but I have not had luck yet. Thanks again for your comments. Here are some more pictures to get a better idea of scale and to show the taper in the shaft etc.

I recently picked up this little guy. It’s only 37” long in total, and the point is just over 2”. When I received it, the cover (which I’m 99% sure is the cover) was shoved on the other end. When I pulled it off there was nothing underneath so I suspect the ishizuki was lost at some point. There appears to be a hole left for mounting one. Anyway, have a look at the pictures and let me know what you think. My only guess at the moment is a kago yari, but it’s definitely on the small end. Maybe it was a kago yari for a samurai woman? Would love to hear your thoughts.