Bryce

G'day Volker, I think this is the same blade. I believe it is a daisaku by Sadakatsu. I havested these images from the internet somewhere. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Thomas, Thanks for posting this. It took me a while to find the time to have a good look at this. Is this a Masamune utsushi forged by Sadakazu? Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, I don't think it can be anything to do with military regulations. You find a very wide range of blades in military mounts. I guess it probably just comes down to the fashion of the day, but Sadakatsu was certainly welded on to his Showa period sugata. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Ray, Fantastic video! Have you (or can you) ever posted any more detailed shots of this blade? Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, Gassan Sadakatsu was very consistent in the blades he produced, but his style did change over time. Below is a photo showing three blades dated from top to bottom - 1921, 1940 and 1943. (Thank you to AOIJapan for the images.) His earlier blades produced in the Taisho period tend to be slimmer, shorter and straighter than his Showa period examples. Tsurata san has the theory this was because many were used as parade sabres. They usually have a nagasa in the range of 64-68cm, with a sori of 1.4 - 1.7cm and a kissaki around 2.5cm. Many are done in Bizen den. In contrast his Showa period examples usually have a nagasa of 67 - 70cm, sori of 1.8 - 2.2cm and a 3.0cm kissaki. The majority are done in ayasugi and masame. All of the 1943 dated examples I have seen are similar, but have a slightly longer kissaki around 3.5cm. Cheers, Bryce

Here is a shot of the hakikake boshi of the 1921 Sadakatsu. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, Here is a comparison photo with another Sadakatsu which is definitely very fine masame. 1921 on left and 1940 on right. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, Bamboo fence motif in solid silver gilt. Cheers, Bryce

G'day David, There are chikei, but I think they are following the underlying masame structure. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, You often see it written that Gassan Sadakatsu was a master of the Bizen, Yamato and Soshu traditions as well as the Gassan ayasugi. In his Showa period examples, ayasugi is most common followed by Yamato and Soshu, but I am yet to see a Bizen example. After researching examples of Gassan Sadakazu's work, I noticed that Sadakatsu went thru a Bizen phase in the late Meiji and Taisho periods when he was making Daisaku blades for Sadakazu. Here is an example of Sadakatsu's Bizen work from 1921, three years after his father's death. It looks to be imitating an Ichimonji hamon. The jihada was described as koitame, but I think if you look very closely it is actually very fine masame. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, Here is another habaki, which you wouldn't call a classic Gassan habaki, but I believe it was probably made by Gassan Sadakatsu. it is on a Sadakatsu blade dated Taisho 10. It is solid silver gilt, with a bamboo fence motif. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Jacques, The majority of Showa era blades by Sadakatsu have this style of habaki. This includes blades housed in their original boxes. At the very least, this suggests that Sadakatsu preferred to sell his blades with this style of habaki. It is a commonly held opinion that he made these habaki himself, but I don't know of any definitive source. Why would he be so attached to this one style of habaki? The logical explanation is that he made them himself and they are one of his trademarks. Andrew, do you know for sure that Japanese craftsmen used the fire gilding method which used mercury to make gold plate? I have read that Asian craftsmen may have used a different method which didn't use mercury. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Andrew, I would estimate that probably only about 50% of the Sadakatsu katana and tanto blades I have seen have a solid silver habaki. Here are some examples of foiled examples. Cheers, Bryce

The earliest example I have seen to date was on a blade dated Taisho 3. If anybody knows of any earlier examples please post them. Another question I have is why are some examples silver or gold foiled, rather than solid silver? I don't think it can be because of cost, as I imagine the price of the habaki is insignificant compared to the cost of commissioning the blade. Is it because a brass or copper habaki is more durable than a silver one? Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, Below are some examples showing the variation in Gassan Sadakatsu habaki. Left - 1940 solid silver gilt. Middle - 1940 solid silver Right - 1943 silver foil. Cheers, Bryce

Thanks Jacques. Cheers, Bryce

Thanks very much Koichi san. Suken and Goma hashi. Definitely symbolic rather than just decorative. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, The combination of a ken on one side and futasuji hi on the other seems to be reasonably common on tanto and even katana blades. Does this combination of horimono have any symbolism attached to it or is it just considered attractive/fashionable? Cheers, Bryce

G'day Frank, Thank you for posting the additional photos. My point with the ito is that most of the folds go the same way, rather than alternating as is normal. The kabutogane doesn't look to have any dimpling on the back edge which is very unusual. The blade is something different from the gendaito or showato ones you normally find. The nakago is pretty rough looking and the fact that it has two holes suggests it wasn't originally in this koshirae set. All in all it is a long way from the usual type 98 gunto. This doesn't necessarily mean it isn't a genuine world war 2 sword, but I don't have the expertise to distinguish it from an aged replica or fake. Hopefully someone else here does. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Frank, As Bruce said it is very important to see the nakago of the blade. Circled in red below are the things that make me pause. It may be that I am used to looking at high end examples and your example while not high end is still authentic, but it has enough unusual features that it needs a closer look. In summary, the kabutogane is unusual, the way the ito is tied is unusual, the chuso button is unusual, it is unusual to see a solid tsuba with a central chuso opening like this, the placement of the mekugi is unusual, the seppas don't fit together very well and the casting of the brass tsuba is very rough. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Frank, I hate to say this, but there are a number of things that look "off" about this sword. We really need to see some better photos of all the components to be sure of what it is. Cheers, Bryce

G'day David, Yes I agree you do see changes over time, both different ways of writing the same character and using different characters. In the case of Sadakazu though you see completely different ways of writing the same character at the same date and sometimes on the same blade. I also agree that authenticating the mei is only part of the process and you also need to assess the work in the blade. Unfortunately most images on the net aren't good enough to get a good look at the work in the blade. Cheers, Bryce

Thanks for that David, The example I posted is the same one from the book. It is dated one month later than yours. The date is written in the same style for both of these blades, and maybe derives from the grass script that Sadakazu used to date some of his earlier blades. It is interesting that it looks very similar to the style used on the mei of the number 3 kokuin tanto's discussed earlier. I think this supports the NBTHK's view that these tanto are shoshin. Why Sadakazu varied the way he signed so much and also the kokuin he used is still a mystery to me. I suppose the simplest explanation is that there was at least one other person (before Sadakatsu) who sometimes signed his blades. This sounds a little crazy, but maybe this other person sometimes dated the blade after Sadakazu had carved his mei. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, I found some photos of a similar katana to the one David posted with the Kikusui mon on the nakago. This one is dated Meji 18. Many of Sadakazu's earlier works have the date written in grass script. This one seems to have a variation of that. For comparison I have added shots of another Sadakazu katana with the same date. This shows some of the variation you see in Sadakazu's mei. David, any chance of you posting the date side of your blade? Cheers, Bryce

G'day Lucas, From these photos I can't tell if the blade was traditionally made or not, but I can see enough to know it wasn't made by the showa period smith Kanehide. It may be an optical illusion, but to me it looks like the munemachi and hamachi aren't aligned properly. If so this is a real red flag. Cheers, Bryce