Utopianarian

You are right. 1 mekugi and 1 screw. They also have a screw thru the kabuto-gane which might be used to mount

The museum must not think much of preservation of this sword. They drove a screw thru the Mekugi-Ana to mount it on the display. Knotts Berry Farms in Buena Park is literally a few miles away from the Trauma center I work at. Small world. I’ll have to check it out some time. I never knew they had that display. I used to go to the theme park there when the kids were little years ago.

I’ve spent hours looking at some of my newer blades under many different conditions and sources of lighting but it intrigues me that a picture under the right lighting can capture details that I never was able to pick up on until reviewing the pictures. Most of the pics however never turn out well but once every blue moon…. Kinda like Slender man in the background of a YouTube video or seeing Jesus in your breakfast toast. I have much respect for those of you on this board that have perfected this talent into an art form. I know Ray has a very informative thread on this subject.

Another pic mass produced oil quenched war effort sword. Low level smith

To add my brother also gave me my first M1 Garand with a lot of barrel left in it with matching parts which is rare…sorry getting off topic

You have a point Brian. Believe it or not it did fit very well. I did mention to my brother when I gave it to him recommended getting a Shirasaya to store the sword and a wooden one to display fittings. Glad I took pics before I gave it to him. I wish I saved the pics from others I had in the past on my old phones before we could easily transfer pics etc…

I gave that Gunto to my brother as a gift. He collects everything from The French and Indian war thru WW2. That was his first Gunto. He then ups me up by giving me a Harpers Ferry model 1855 percussion musket and a Rare Hitler Youth knife along with some French and Indian war stuff. He now is hooked on Nihonto ☺️

Absolutely Bruce. Here you go.

Yes has uchizori. Btw additional note: I had habaki verified because I thought it looked solid gold. The scratches had gold all the way thru and inside habaki was gold with no copper showing thru. I did a water displacement test to verify density- jeweler verified it for me. At least someone thought it was worth the expense to fit it with a decent habaki. Seems like the consensus for many here is it’s a muromachi or late made blade. At least the habaki is worth more than the blade I would guess

Thank you Thomas, I think you are absolutely correct in your assessment. I will continue to try to research the blade more. The hamon and boshi are hard to discern and are subdued which makes it challenging and leads to much speculation

Here is an example of Kunimitsu. It shows the Nioiguchi line below the hamon along the ha.

Maybe hadori polish was created by polisher to create more of a hamon since the nioiguchi is so close to ha which only leaves a thin hamon of only 1-1.5 mm from the ha. That’s my guess by reading some of Marcus sesko kantei 3.1 talking about nie and nioi and hadori can hide or add features. If taking into account that hadori polish was done to make hamon look wider due to excessive wear on the blade edge or ha, then the original hamon was hoso saguha by looking now at the thin existing nioiguchi line. The line however does not run off the blade but extremely close to the ha. The line has much reflective sparkling nie.

Thank you Paul I actually used this exact picture from a previous post to compare which to me appears as such. I can see sparkling ko-nie in the hamon and a bright nioiguchi (the line is set extremely close to the ha). I cannot make out inazuma or kinsuji. The nioiguchi looks like it is way below the hamon. The line is only 1-1.5 mm from the edge of the ha. The top of the hamon is subdued and has no line at the top like I see in most hamon.

The blade would have been a bit wider at the hamachi due to wear and polishes over the years but based on what I can see there is still a lot of boshi left and the hamon does not extend into the nakago and runs out right at the hamachi. So I am guessing the nagasa wasn’t very much longer. Also comparing with known existing examples that also would have seen much wear in varying degrees as well. I agree it does appear like Yamashiro work with what appears like nashiji hada. Does anybody confirm that this blade has this type of hada based on the last set of better pictures more focused on hada.

More pics

An odd note it appears like there is another utsuri along the mune on the blade as well as the traditional utsuri with a dark antai area between the two.

Motokasane 7mm let me know what other info you guys need regarding measurement etc.. forgot to add it has iori mune. I know most of the earlier tanto have mistu-mune but some do have iori-mune

Thank you Paul and Thomas. I will keep trying to get the best conditions and lighting over the next few days to get the best picture of the incredible nie and utsuri reflection and post the best of the pics. They look identical to the early kamakura blades that you often see online of awataguchi and rai school. It’s just so hard to get an accurate pic of that. Yes the blade is longer than most <10 inches in that time period but I know it’s generally the rule and there are other examples a little larger and smaller.

Nagasa 29cm motohaba 2.6cm nakago nagasa 9.5cm

Pic