Mister Gunto

The sword is currently in Japan, in a Shirasaya mount. (I just happened across the pic in the seller's ebay listing) And the rust looks fresh. Maybe someone was messing around and hit it with another blade? Looks too recent to be old damage.

Interesting question. Its complicated by the fact that over the past 70+ years, we have no way of knowing how often the guntos were pulled apart and potentially put back together minus some of their original seppa by various owners.

Thanks guys. The impact ding is apparent. I just never had seen that odd spider webbing cracking before. Looks weird.

I came across this photo of some damage on a katana being sold online. I'm not so much interested in the sword, as to just what would cause this weird damage? It looks like the blade took a hit after being polished, and fresh rust has settled in. But what would cause that weird crazing or spider-webbing in the steel? It's like the surface steel is cracking. Have any of you seen something like this before? Just curious.

Andrei, Nice hamon! You can certainly get the blade polished, but it will be expensive to do so, at least $1000 or more.

I agree, hold onto it. That sword is a part of your family's history. Once sold, its gone forever.

Here's a leather sarute that's obviously a field replacement on one of mine. Definately seems to be original though.

What a cool tradition!

Vajo, Usually, at least in the USA, buyers and sellers are bound by the rules of the website they make the transaction on. So on the major sites, like eBay, Gunbroker, sales made through Paypal etc. etc., the site has a record of the transaction. If the buyer does not received what he paid for, he can submit his complaint with supporting documents and get his money returned. Smaller sites are more shaky. Some enforce their rules, others leave it up to the members to resolve thing between themselves (or not). On some places like Craigslist, and in private sales, you are usually ntirely on your own when dealing with problems. Although if you have proof you paid and the seller cannot provide proof of shipping, you can go to court and file a lawsuit. That can be a long and expensive process though, and with no guarantee of success. As for insurance here, the insurance will pay up to the total the item was insured for, but not anything more. So if you bought a $1,000 sword, but went cheap on the insurance and only bought coverage for $100, and it was lost or damaged in shipping, you could only get the $100 paid in claim. And the insurer has the right to demand you submit proof of the value you insured the item for. So one would have a pretty hard time getting paid for a claim of $5,000 on a $50 Chinese replica sword made out of stamped sheet metal bought online.

Great work!

Great article!

I'm not experienced enough to guess at the blade's age. But it looks good and I like those mountings. Very nice piece.

Some pics of the opposite side.

Some more photos. Taking them outside seems to help a lot. I'm thinking the tang was cleaned at some point. It reminds me of some old bayonets I've seen that have had chemical rust removers applied. The lowest hole seems punched, it's larger and irregular. While the other two look more uniform, like they were drilled. The camera makes the ware on the blade really jump out. When viewed in person, only the large L shaped one near the tip really stands out to the eye. On the plus side, the blade is really well balanced and feels good in the hand. Neither too heavy nor too light. Again, obviously it's not some lost masterpiece blade. But I do like it a lot!

Ken, the Habaki is slightly loose, unless I press it up against the blade. It seems pretty old, and shows a lot of wear, so that may be part of it. I'll take some photos tomorrow out in the sunlight and see if that helps. The fires are pretty much done, but for a while, there was a lot of smoke in the air. Luckily none of them were close to where I live.

At least the fakers have a sense of humor too.

Hi Peter, Here's a pic of the card and the copper Habaki.

I'll try to get some better pics of the blade.

Thanks Grey. The blade is polished, but has a few small scuffs about halfway down on one side. I'd assumed it just hadn't been handled very carefully by previous owners, and the saya-gaki had gotten rubbed by repeated handling. It came without papers from a dealer in Japan (just got a photocopy of the registration card). Regardless of who made it, I'm curious if the blade appears to actually be from the Muromachi period or not?

Ray, would that be the name of the man who polished it? I'm not familiar with what is normally written on Shirasaya.

Some shots of the koshirae. Looks old to me. And the saya has a odd little upturn at the end that I haven't seen before. I do like the colors. Random red on black splatters. The Tsuba looks old. It's unsigned and unmarked. The plugs in the two little holes are made of wood. I found out when I washed the oil and gunk off it, and it actually gave me a splinter. The Kami spirits are alive in this one. The Menugi is a Dragon swimming (or flying in the clouds) past what I assume is Mt. Fuji. One of them has the tip of the Dragon's tail broken off, so I could remove it from the damaged wrapping. Handle is in bad shape. But it still holds together.

The Shirasaya

More photos:

Hi Guys, I've been lurking far too long here, so time to start posting something hopefully worthwhile. So here are some photos of what was sold to me as a Mumei Muromachi era katana. Came to me in a Shirasaya mount with the original Koshirae included. (Apologies in advance for any terminology screw-ups or misspellings. I'm still learning.) The blade's been polished a few times, I'm guessing it's Suriage by now, perhaps O-suriage? About 65.3 cm in length now. Three holes in the tang. The blade still seems quite nice to me, although the kissai seems a bit narrow, and perhaps was re-made during one of the polishings? There's some ware in it, but nothing that (to me) seems extreme. No cracks in the blade. The hamon doesn't run off the edge anywhere that I can see. No signature, or perhaps it was lost when the blade was shortened? Obviosuly this isn't a premium piece, but for my budget, I'm really happy with it. Plus it's my first Muromachi (I hope), I've been wanting to get a sword from that era for some time now. I'm not sure if the kanji written on the shirasaya contains any useful information? I'm unable to read it. Any assitance would be greatyly appreciated.

That new link worked for me, thank you! Very nice collection! I especially like #5 there. Beautiful blade.