ChrisW

Welcome to the message board! If you're able to make it up to the Morgan County Public Library in downtown Martinsville, IN on Saturday, September the 19th, I will be giving a presentation called "End of the Samurai Era: Meiji to WWII" during the Indiana Token Kai meeting. You are absolutely welcome to join us! The meeting starts runs from 10am to 2pm. I will have several examples of blades from the two time periods that will help with illustrating the changes of those tumultuous times.

$2900 + shipping! Here is a great chance to add a very nice longer katana!

That is a fair criticism! No disrespect taken. My opinion is that they are still likely as I've described because of the apparent age to the organic components. The silk, ray, and wood have aging comparable to other pieces that I know are original to the mid to late 1800's. The silk is no spring chicken, as it were. As with anything in this field, the educated opinions of the buyer are what is important. As for my claim of "daisho," within the very first sentence I say that someone went to some efforts to present this as a daisho. Not that it IS a true daisho. In the strictest definition of the term, these blades were not made as daisho since they are readily apparent to be from different smiths and different eras. Disregarding the strictest definition, most daisho we see are not such daisho and only the mounts are done in such a fashion to be presented as such. I feel that these mounts meet a minimum to pass that definition. If this were worn by a late-Edo samurai, no one would bat an eye and think they pass muster to be paired decently. Ergo, putting daisho in quotations. Thanks for your input! ~Chris

This is a ken, albeit with a poorly re-shaped tip. It could be corrected by a polisher, given there is enough hamon left on both sides to assume the correct geometry. I have five ken in my collection; so I've come to recognize the shape pretty handily.

I know this guy! He's a real scu.... kidding! Darin is a great guy and his taste in blades and fittings is impeccable. See you at the next ITK meeting. I've gotten my yoroi-doshi and orikaeshimei Tadamitsu back. Both are fantastic. Best of luck on your sale! This looks like a fantastic piece.

As of a few months ago, I stand corrected. Pictures to come in a few weeks after the next ITK meeting.

Just to bump this up for today and as a reminder: these blades are in polish and are 100% ready for Shinsa! Would be good candidates for the SF Shinsa next year!

It is antique; though not of particularly high grade. Looks to be a late-Edo (1750's would be my guess?) "working man's" koshirae.

Reasonable offers accepted.

Reasonable offers are accepted too!

More photos:

Hello again ladies and gentlemen, today I am offering up for sale a pair of swords that someone went to a good amount of effort to present as daisho. Type (Tachi, Katana, Wakizashi, Tanto, Naginata, Other) : Katana + Wakizashi (former tachi). Ubu, Suriage or O-Suriage : Katana is suriage, wakizashi is o-suriage Mei : (Mumei, Signature) : Mumei for both. Papered or not and by whom? : No Era/Age : Early Muromachi to Late Muromachi. Shirasaya, Koshirae or Bare Blade? : Full Koshirae for both. Nagasa/Blade Length : 27.5" for the katana, 22.5" for the wakizashi. Sori : 0.5" for the katana, 0.75" for the wakizashi Hamon Types : Very regular gunome that is borderline sanbonsugi for the katana and an irregular and beautiful Soshu midare-ba with notare for the wakizashi. Jihada : Itame for katana and itame with mokume for wakizashi. Other Hataraki Visible : Kinsuji, inazuma, Kaen. These blades have different hataraki present as is appropriate for their den. Flaws : Micro-scratches as is appropriate for blades in older polish. Minor pitting on katana near yokote. A few ware on wakizashi on one side. Sword Location : Canada to Indiana then to anywhere USA (will explain below) Will ship to : USA primarily, international contingent on laws of destination country. Payment Methods Accepted : Paypal, Cashapp. Shipping discussed below Price and Currency : $8000USD (Shipping included for USA buyers) + tariff import fees. Other Info and Full Description : Comes in full koshirae. On offer are a pair of antique blades that someone in the past, likely their last samurai owner, went to great pains to present as daisho. The wakizashi is likely to have been a tachi in its original incarnation since it appears to be completely or close to o-suriage. It is also likely to be of the Soshu tradition, given that it has an irregular Soshu-style midare-ba on notare hamon with an itame/mokume mixed hada. It possesses a very nice o-kissaki with nice kaeri and kaen present within the boshi. Beyond calling it Soshu, I am not enough of an expert to say what lineage it may belong to. This would make for a very fun submission to Shinsa, as it does not need any polishing work done to it! My belief is that this blade is probably an earlier Muromachi piece, perhaps late 1300's or early 1400's. This blade has three mekugiana, with two of them being plugged with silver. The bohi run deep down into the nakago. The katana is slightly suriage and appears to be of the Mino tradition. I predicate this belief on the fact that it possesses a very regular gunome that could be called sanbonsugi paired with a very wide-flowing itame hada. This blade is also in very appreciable polish and possesses only some minor old pitting near the yokote. What is interesting besides the workmanship of the metal itself is that this blade possesses two short bohi, one on each side, that terminate after only about 8 inches. This blade has two mekugiana. What truly makes this pair stand out though are the very nice quality fittings they come in. The wakizashi possesses a kind of habaki I have not seen before. As shown in the photos below, it is a gold-washed copper habaki of a three-dimensional carved dragon's head with its mouth open, evincing an image of the blade coming directly out of the dragon's mouth! The habaki for the long blade is a very well-made silver-plated one-piece with interesting vertical grooves that gives me the impression of a bamboo forest. The saya are both very nice gold-flake lacquered saya which are in need of some repairs as they are suffering from age and dryness, causing some longitudinal splits. They both possess very nice iron sayagiri and black horn accents. The shorter saya has a kogatana slot, while the longer saya has some beautiful ribbing along the upper portion. The shorter saya is missing a kurikata, which is the only thing absent from this entire package. The kozuka is a fantastic piece with a long dragon wrapped around a jewel of wisdom and an onishi on the other end; this piece is done in gold and shakudo. The kogatana blade itself appears to be forged and has a signature; though I will leave that to the new owner to deal with. Moving on to the tsuba, they appear to be a proper daisho for each other, with their presenting faces being the opposite side of the other. The tsuba are a matched set of the Mito tradition, prominently featuring a ‘land and sea’ motif as inverses to each side. One side of each tsuba illustrates a scene of farmers working their land with an oxen under the view of a gingko tree, while the other side shows fishermen at work in the sea or river, trying to bring their catch in with birds overhead. Accented in some gold on points of highlight, such as flowers, lily pads, the hats of people, etc. The fuchigashira sets from both blades are extremely similar and might actually be true daisho: with the fuchi from the wakizashi being signed. The silk wrap on both is similar and appear be the same color of silk, but one has faded more than the other so appear to be slightly different colors at first glance. The menuki on the longer blade is a scene of monks or fishermen in a boat. The wakizashi’s menuki are of three of the same mon in a set, possibly representing the Omodaka clan with a tie-in to the Tokugawa shogunate. Lastly, the seppa appear to be gold-plated; which is correct giving the amount of gilding and gold-leaf work present through the rest of the fittings. The only missing component is a kurikata from the wakizashi saya, which has apparently fallen off and been lost. It would be fairly trivial to match and replace this piece since the longer blade still has the kurikata on its saya. The other thing to note is that this blade is currently located in Canada with the current owner and I am performing the role of estate liquidator. There will be an assessed tariff fee to be paid by the purchaser and will be assessed once a final purchase price is reached. Since I am the estate liquidator, the swords will be shipped to me and then I will ship it direct to you! I am doing this at the request of the owner to protect their privacy. There are a couple videos of these swords as well as many more photos available upon request. If you are interested, please drop a message in this thread, then DM me here on the message board or email me at ChrisW7290@gmail.com First come, first served of course. ~Chris

Price has been reduced to $3000 + shipping.

A shame you had them removed! String wrap tsukamaki is a rather expensive option. I'm assuming that it just disintegrated beyond what you could save. A real pity.

I agree with Barry. In fact, I'll go a step further.. Shinshinto "Sonno Joi" Loyalist sword. The over-the-top hamon, the nagasa, the long nakago, and the lack of sori are a dead giveaway. The strong yasurime and lack of deep dark regular patina all point to this being a young blade.

Rarely is there anything ever definitive within the nihonto world. But these tsuba do look like they pass for a daisho set. Short of being signed and dated by the same smith, this is as close as one can get really.

Prices have been adjusted: 1. 28" katana in shirasaya. $2100 2. 19" wakizashi in substitute saya. $1400 -> $1350 3. 27" katana in partially restored gunto mounts. SOLD! 4. 23.25" o-suriage early to mid Kamakura tachi in assembled mounts. Off the market. I have decided to get this one put in shirasaya and papered. 5. 24.5" katana in remnants of WWII leather-cased mounts. $1800 -> $1700 6. 26" katana of WWII origin. No further reduction on this one. SOLD! 7. 17" wakizashi in American-made saya. No reduction on this one! SOLD! 8. 11.25" tanto in restored mounts. $1200 -> $1100 9. 26" katana of WWII origin. $1050

Hey Simon! Give me a little bit of time and I'll get back to you with a response to your inquiries. ~Chris

Loosely approximates what military mounts would look like from a distance... So probably carried by Gunzoku (civilian military contractors; think desk jockeys, military installation labor organizers, etc) but it might have also been carried by someone of rank who could ignore regulations. The first option is much more likely, given the quality of the piece. If an officer was of such consequence that he could ignore regulations, he'd probably have something a little more fancy. Third option? Civilian piece surrendered at the end of the war and taken home as a war prize. This is also very likely. Either way, nice find! ~Chris

Congrats on your first blade! It has a very attractive boshi with all the hakikake (I believe is the term for the swept gravel look).

I think the backstrap is a cast replacement. The badge on it looks soft and indistinct. The lines on the side look chiseled. The original should have been brass, so I think it was probably broken/damaged and then a cast copper replacement was made using the original; thus the weak appearance of the badge and the chiseled line trim.

I realized I had mentioned that it comes in shirasaya but had neglected to post pictures of said shirasaya, so here it is!

Additional batch of photos:

Additional photos:

Hello again ladies and gentlemen, today I am offering up for sale a very nice 29.5" mumei (but extremely likely Soshu Wakasa Fuyuhiro) katana! Type (Tachi, Katana, Wakizashi, Tanto, Naginata, Other) : Katana Ubu, Suriage or O-Suriage : Ubu Mei : (Mumei, Signature) : Mumei Papered or not and by whom? : No Era/Age : Early Edo, circa Genna to Kan'ei (1620-1640ish) Shirasaya, Koshirae or Bare Blade? : Shirasaya Nagasa/Blade Length : 75cm or 29.52" Sori : 4cm or 1.57" Hamon Type : An irregular and beautiful Soshu midare-ba with notare and sudare-ba elements. Ko-maru boshi. Jihada : Long flowing itame with masame. Other Hataraki Visible : Kinsuji, inazuma. This blade has all of their characteristic traits along with some Bizen influence as appropriate for the Soshu Wakasa Fuyuhiro lineage. Flaws : A small stretch (about 3") of shinae in the mune of the blade down low in the habaki area. Evidence of it having been bent and straightened. Some tiny ware as expected of a blade composed primarily of itame/masame hada. Sword Location : Canada to Indiana, USA (will explain below) Will ship to : USA primarily, international contingent on laws of destination country. Payment Methods Accepted : Paypal, Cashapp. Shipping discussed below Price and Currency : $3200USD (Shipping included for USA buyers) Other Info and Full Description : Comes in shirasaya with silver-plated habaki. A very nice and very long ubu, mumei katana that is almost certainly produced by 5th or 6th generation Soshu Wakasa Fuyuhiro. This blade is a long one at 29.52" with a WHOPPING 1.57" sori that gives this blade a tachi-like feel (Shinsa may even bear out and call it as such). The first-generation Wakasa Fuyuhiro (若州住冬廣) was an early Muromachi period smith. He was believed to be the son of the 2nd-generation Sōshū Hirotsugu. During 1st generation's life, he relocated from Sagami to Obama in Wakasa Province around 1460, founding the prestigious Wakasa Fuyuhiro school that lasted for 17 generations. The later Fuyuhiro generations picked up Bizen traits and blended that with their Soshu styling to create a well-regarded hybrid style. I predicate my belief that it is 5th or 6th based on all the aforementioned traits and apparent age; however, Shinsa may even call it a late Koto blade. I feel this is a possibility as I've seen some very well-perserved nakago like this one that ended up being late Koto. One important thing to note is that this blade is ubu which is always a big plus! Given that this blade is rather long and is in shirasaya in good polish, the price at $3200 is quite decent. The other thing to note is that this blade is currently located in Canada with the current owner and I am performing the role of estate liquidator. The cost of the blade includes shipping insurance, and tariff/import fees (as of 6/5/26) but may change as geopolitical situations change. Since I am the estate liquidator, the sword will be shipped to me and then I will ship it direct to you! I am doing this at the request of the owner to protect their privacy. There are a couple videos of this sword also available upon request. If you are interested, please drop a message in this thread, then DM me here on the message board or email me at ChrisW7290@gmail.com First come, first served of course. ~Chris