Bryce

G'day Raffaele, Thank you for posting your blade. It is another example of one signed by Sadakatsu for his father. Cheers, Bryce

G'day David, I think Gassan Sadakatsu was still signing the vast majority of his blades right up till his death. His 1943 mei are not quite as crisp as his earlier ones, but still obviously in his hand. Gassan Sadakatsu mei not in his hand seem to be relatively uncommon and aren't restricted to his later years. Often the blades signed with his name, but not done by him, are atypical in sugata and kitae and I wonder if some are actually gimei? In contrast, I think you are hard pressed to find a Sadakazu blade made after Meiji 30 that was actually signed by Sadakazu. Also, while Sadakatsu was very consistent in how he signed, there is a lot of variation in Sadakazu mei. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Alan, I am not sure. Certainly there are plenty of blades signed by Sadakatsu for Sadakazu with his title. An example is the one posted by Surfson earlier in this thread. I will have a look. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, I have been going further down the Gassan Sadakazu/Sadakatsu rabbit hole. After a bit of time looking at the mei of Sadakazu and Sadakatsu you can distinguish between the shoshin Sadakazu's and the ones signed by Sadakatsu for his father. So far it looks like every sword made from Meiji 30 on was actually signed by (and perhaps made by) Sadakatsu. Many of these swords are also pretty much identical to blades Sadakatsu made and signed after his father's death. Many of the blades featured in this thread were actually signed by Sadakatsu. Here is an example of a blade made by Sadakatsu in 1921. I wonder if this was more of his marketing spin, the fact that he made and sold blades under his national treasure father's name, long after his father stopped actually playing a physical role in the production of blades? Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, I don't know anything about "island made swords". I was just pointing out that none of the koshirae was put together using legitimate type 98 parts. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Rob, I agree that from the photos the leather cover on the saya looks not too bad, but it has no clips or laces at the throat and if you look closely you can see the hanger has the same colour and lumpy appearance as that truly offensive tsuba and seppa, so all the koshirae were made together as a set. That makes it very unlikely that the blade will be authentic. Cheers, Bryce

I am sorry guys, none of that is real including the saya. Pull out any one of your own gunto and compare the small details. Cheers, Bryce

Thanks guys. Cheers, Bryce

I think I have it hito - one? Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, Below is the hakogaki from a Gassan Sadakatsu tanto. I would like to know what the kanji before shaku is. The actual nagasa is 30cm so just under 1 shaku. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, Here is a basic question for you. What is it that causes nie to form in some layers, but not others? In this Gassan example what are the likely differences between the two steels that form the contrast in the ayasugi hada? Cheers, Bryce

G';day Guys, I am not sure how these examples fit into this argument, but below are two examples of Gassan Sadakatsu's work. On the left is a blade done in ayasugi and clearly two different steels have been layered to create the contrast. On the right is one in masame using I assume a single homogenous steel with only the welding seams between layers visible. Cheers, Bryce

G'day David, I get what you are saying about the weak hamon, because it is broken up by the alternating layers of steel thru it, but it does have a certain "wow" factor. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, I saw a "Gassan Sadakatsu" tanto for sale on ebay recently. On the left is the nakago from a typical, papered Gassan Sadakatsu and on the right is the ebay example. I know which one I like. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys This is a 1943, custom ordered, Gassan Sadakatsu done in ayasugi hada. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, These came with a blade I recently acquired. This mei doesn't look like any of the other examples I have come across on the net, so I was wondering if it is gimei or maybe a later generation? Cheers, Bryce

G'day Andrew, I really appreciate your detailed and insightful reply. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Bruce, I pulled this sword out to figure out what we can see in this photo. The straight line is actually a short scratch. This is a good example of how photos can sometimes not show things that are obvious to the naked eye and other times seem to show things that aren't there. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, Another Gassan Sadakatsu. This one made in 1943. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, Which blade are you referring to about the double hamon, Luna's blade or my Kanemichi gendaito? Cheers, Bryce

G'day Dirk, Thank you for clarifying that. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Luna, I am afraid it looks to be some sort of reproduction/replica. The fittings look close, but not quite there, the tsukamaki isn't right. The nakago is very rough and the placement of the mekugi ana is very strange. The blade doesn't appear to have a hamon. Below are some photos of what your sword is pretending to be. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Luna, I hope I am wrong, but I think all of the small details are lining up to point towards this sword not being a "real" type 98. We need some better photos to be sure, including what Bruce has suggested, but also need a better closeup of the nakago and kissaki and assembled sword showing fuchi and habaki. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, Is it true that one of the kantei points of Osafune Kagemitsu is koitame mixed with small mokume? Tsutata san mentions the elaborate jigane in his description, so is this what Naotane was aiming for? The section of blade below looks to me to contain small mokume? It looks like one of us has to buy this blade and post better photos. It can't be me so it will have to be one of you guys. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Jacques, This section of the blade below I would certainly call koitame. You can't see any larger structure within it. Maybe it is just a trick of the light, but the sections I am interested in appear to have repeated concentric semicircles , which as someone has pointed out, maybe from repeated hammer blows which were not quite flat. Cheers, Bryce