cju777

All good—Paul Martin is serious. He’s very involved with the sword community in Japan and trying to do a lot with modern smiths at the moment to grow their public attention. Check out out his YouTube link, I think Facebook page and other media as well. I believe he’s a trained nihonto curator, previously for the British Museum or some other, I forget (one where they can specialize). Yes, common to make a paper saya if one doesn’t exist, expedient way to provide a protective cover or when shipping.

Nakago looks off/cleaned to me. He did have a really long working period and a good number of works so there is likely to be some variation. there was debate about two generations. Here is an example of my TH papered one to compare:

The Making of Modern Japan (a massive tome) by Marius Jansen has a couple sections on literacy which tracks with the Reddit post (in fact when I quickly skimmed I thought you had quoted part of the book). I’d need to search through to find the pages. It’s not a pulp history but considered a thorough treatment in the community. Don’t let the word modern through you off. It starts off just before the Edo period.

Hey Bridges, Are you just looking for a nice set of mounts? There’s a nice set (I think) in for the for sale section at about $500. Otherwise there can be incredible variety of what comes for the blade to determine if that is a good buy or not—traditionally made gendaito, oil quenched, machine made, old family blade of good quality, swords bought up by the gov’t including mass produced Muromachi era stuff, etc… Plus condition—does it need a polish, chip as you note, etc… I’m not mainly a wartime focused collector, just a couple pieces but don’t want you to end up with junk and the tsuka-ito then is the least of your worries. Would welcome photos of the blade to make a better call.

Great finds John, thanks for sharing.

Tom has been spot on and that is a great drawing. But to add one part of nuance- yes very common among well to do samurai or those with rank, if not even expected. However, the lower levels of samurai society, that would have outnumbered the highest (typical triangle type of hierarchy), often struggled to get their required two swords and all the other “symbols” of their position and could often be found poor or struggling. This dynamic worsened as the Edo period grew on, some great memoirs out there about destitute samurai toward the end. I only highlight to remind folks being a samurai didn’t necessarily equal being well off in society or even in any great position of power. Some different dynamics with earlier bushi (Kamakura and earlier) with smaller warbands and houses etc. so the requirements to be “samurai” were probably higher and more wealth concentrated, but I’ve droned on enough. Hope that helped with the answer.

Thanks! Wasn’t looking for an exact quote or to put anyone on the spot. Just a sense if it was months, or years! I’d certainly reach out if I decide to move forward on something. @Soshin thanks for sharing your polishing adventure!

Nice! How long is the queue these days?

Nice, love the pattern as well.

I think the signature is: Muramitsu 村光 And date I think, year 皇紀 (koki) 2600, 10th month, lucky day. Koki is the Imperial year system. 2060 is I think 1940. Disclaimer just what is says I can’t validate gimei or not.

Thank you Steve!

Piers, hat makes me feel a little better, thank you! Steve - very helpful, recognized a few more of the steel activity words. Much appreciated. My last attempt before the work week pulls me away from nihonto for a couple days, not perfect but I think is close enough for my level of understanding. Thanks everyone for all the help! Naminohira Yasutsuna of Satsuma Ubu nakago (full tang) with one mekugiana and higaki yasuri (pattern of lines crossing diagonally). There is a 4 character signature. Inscription references the late Kamakura. Made around the time of Bunpo. High koshi-zori, moto and saki-haba is rustic. Narrow shinogi shows/ funbari/is apparent. Presents a dignified ko-kissaki (small tip), itame masa[me] are straight/mixed for an irregular pattern forming ayasugi hada. Corse (tatsu) hada of faint whitish utsuri, ko-nie, soso-suguha (straight temper) streaky, mixed with traces of hotsure (brushed-looking) and uchinoke (small new moon shape nie). Manifesting characteristics of Ko Naminohira. Its superior/well-made features should be appreciated. Nagasa: 2 shaku, 7 sun, 7 bu length (83.9cm/33in). Very rare very precious.

Here is my progress over the weekend, katakana remains my struggle: 薩 摩國波平安綱 生茎 目釘孔一個 デ 檜垣鑢 ヲカケ四字銘 有之銘鑑 ニ云フ 鎌倉末期 文保頃ノ工ニ該當 スル者ナラン 腰反高ク元先ノ幅差アリテ鎬幅狭ク踏張ツキ小鋒ノ 凛々タル姿態ヲ呈シ板目柾ガゝリ処々不規則ナ綾杉肌ヲ形成シ 白氣映ノ 立ツ肌合ニ潤心ニ小沸付ク細直刃ヲ焼キ肌ニ絡ミテ打ノ ケホツレガカル等古波平ノ 特色ヲ顕現スル滋味掬スベキ優品也 刃長弐尺七寸七分余有之 珍々重々 Satsuma kuni Naminohira Yasutsuna ubu nakagô mekugiana ikko de higaki yasuri[me] wokake yong-ji mei )Ariyuki Meikan?) niunfu Kamakura makki, Bunpo goro no ???, koshizori kō ku moto-saki -no- haba zashi arite shinogi haba sema ku funbari tsuki ko-kissaki -no-rinrintaru shitai o tei shi itame masa[me] ga ri shosho fukisoku na ayasugi hada o keisei shi shirakeutsuri-no-no tatsu hada-ai ni jun kokoro ni ko nie-tsuki ku hoso suguha yaki ki hada ni X mite-uchi -no-kehotsuregakaru ko-Naminohira-no-Tokushoku o kengen suru jimi kiku subeki yuhin nari nagasa ni shaku shichi sun shichi bu yo koreari chin chin cho cho Naminohira Yasutsuna of Satsuma Ubu nakago, one mekugiana, higaki yasuri, four character mei, ????, ??. Made in the late Kamakura, around the time of Bunpo, ???. Koshizori of full/high [healthy] moto and saki-haba Xxx shinogi, funbari, ko-kissaki. Presenting a dignified appearance of irregular itame and masame here and there to form ayasugi hada. Faint whitish or cloudy utsuri. (describes hada and nie) tatsu-hada [course hada] hoso sugha in ko-nie ???. (Showing?) ko-Naminohira (characteristics?). Its superior/well-made features should be appreciated, blade length 2 shaku 7 sun 7 bu, very rare very precious.

Hey Bridges, Not sure if you mean if the motif was added to the fittings later or if that set of fittings were added later, but I do want to point out that with traditional nihonto, a blade likely had a number of sets of koshirae during its active period of use or even more than one at a time. The blade would be stored in the shirasaya and depending on the function put in a certain set of fittings. I am not a fittings expert but during the periods they would have to spend in Edo, there were certain requirements of style and even more so at Imperial or Shogun residences, etc... NMB member Guido has an article or two to download on that. And if blades were passed down, fittings were probably upgraded and changed with the styles of the time. You may have also been asking if those are contemporary pieces made now and added to the koshirae, that I can't answer. Skulls and bones have been seen as used though as folks shared above. Once you figure out the smith or find a rough period it was made, you can try and find fittings from that time period and have a set made up -- depends on how you want to define "traditional." Hope that helps!

Thanks Piers, my weekend project! That's pretty good for google translate, it really struggles with sword terms at times. I'll try and get something up by the end of the weekend.

And this is why the NMB is so amazing. Thank you so much @Nobody and @Bugyotsuji! Getting late here, but will send you some blade eye candy tomorrow.

Piers, Great point, should have explained the photos. What I wrote is how I would have taken it off the saya- right column top to bottom and then left column. That was hard to get in a single photo so I broke it up but now it doesn’t make sense with the text. I will try and adjust that. And thank you answering some!

Japanese Linguists of the NMB, I am working on transliterating a sayagaki from the written cursive script to actual text and looking for some help. This comes from Tanobe Sensei, and while I've picked up some of his style, a lot still eludes me. I have a background in Chinese, which helps me pick up the kanji... although some guessing since I can't read the context and the use of simplified now in Mandarin means they don't always look familiar... and I usually mess up the katakana quite a bit. I know it is a loooong one, but would appreciate any help, even just a tipper here and there on a couple of my "x's" below. Just looking for the characters, I am going to try my hand at translating once I get it all together. A couple of the key words jump out to me... it's the connecting language I am getting lost on. Also forgive me since I don't know where the natural clauses end... so one one long run on sentence below: (Right column top to bottom) 生莑匂玎孔一個デx鑪ヲカケx字x有xxxミ么フ鎌倉末期レxx填ノ工ニx當スル者ナラソ夊高ク之先ノ幅差アンテ鎬幅狭フ踏張シキ小xxスタルxxヲxシx匂xカマリ (left column top to bottom) x不xxxx肌ヲx成ツ白氣映 ノ立ツ肌合x心xx付x直刃ヲ焼キ肌ニxミテxホツカル寸古坡平特色ヲxxスルxxxスキ優品也刃長さ弐尺七寸七分xx々珍々重々. Did not include the date, signature, and Kao. I can work on that separate. I have transliterated and translated the top initial attribution, if that's needed I can drop here. And for everyone who likes blade pictures, I was going to post something once I get this all worked out... but those who help are welcome to a sneak peak! Cheers, Chris Many thanks! I had to break it up into four sections in the photos since keeping it full length made the kanji illegible. (In photo it’s left frame to right, but starting on the right side of each)

For a second I was expecting Ray to post a video saying he finally found it! Nice work, enjoying the lot of videos so far.

Fair, my initial reaction was not as measured as my post. Without starting another thread on the state of the NTBHK I do wonder if they are just getting flooded with submissions as the global shipping system is more reliable post-COVID, or what else might have lead to the more conservative approach. Certainly puts me off for the hassle and cost of sending things over for a bit. Or get things to Tanobe Sensei first, although not just sending junk his way.

I sure am! Since I've posted about them both before and just provided an updates to the thread, no need to hide out. Ray was spot on with Tanobe Sensei, I think a credit to his own study and work with the nihonto community. It was a nice message to end the year with!

I promised an update post-shinsa, although it's taken me awhile to get there... As with my other post, kudos to Robert @Keichodo for providing a great shinsa, sayagaki, and you name it services in Japan! A pleasure to work with. This blade received a Hozon paper to Osafune Morishige, but did not get TH, so probably a later Oei, Eikyo Morishige. Morishige (NBTHK) and Hidekage (NTHK) both worked in Eikyo period, so similar types of call and in the ballpark. Since I had the other piece out to Tanobe Sensei I asked if he could take a look at this one as well. Tanobe senei took a look and offered to make reference to Morikage of late Nambokucho. So all in all while I was hoping on a full Nambokucho attribution, the difference of a couple years/decades in the grand scheme, it's close but there is some question. I like this piece a lot and generally happy with the calls made. Will update once I get the full sayagaki. Cheers!

I promised an update post-shinsa, although it's taken me awhile to get there... and a curveball on this particular blade. First off kudos to Robert "@Keichodo" for providing a great shinsa, sayagaki, and you name it services in Japan! A pleasure to work with. The first part of this story was a bit of a disappointment this fall as the blade only received a Hozon paper to Echizen Seki and did not pass TH. This is easily one of my favorite pieces to take out and look at and I thought the craftsmanship was beyond that attribution. While I am not one to argue with papers and the panels a couple folks also felt I wasn't far off so I decided to see if Tanobe Sensei would be willing to take a look. Robert was able to get it to Tanobe Sensei to at least give me a last sanity check and agreed that the Echizen Seki NBTHK result wad a bit off. He checked over the existing sayagaki which made an attribution to Sa Kunihiro which he said was a reasonable attribution, but he that in his opinion the blade should be attributed to Sekishu Sadatsuna, son of Sekishu Naotsuna. This puts the attribution into the Nambokucho period like the Naoe Shizu green paper. He is working on the sayagaki and will update one I have that in hand and looking forward to his commentary. I'll also call out @Ray Singer for making a similar call, so a credit to his own study. I am by no means trying to tar the NBTHK, I respect their work and expertise in most cases, but highlight this example to show another example of some of the more conservative calls that seem to be the trend of late (I will update another post with a result that was in line with what was expected though). With mumei blades, we study in the realm of never knowing the whole story and a lot open to interpretation. It is interesting to me at least to have this particular piece with a range of attributions, all from respected sources. Maybe I should add in the NTHK-NPO in April for fun! Some obligatory photos to add to above...

Ahh too slow- Nobody beat me to it, at least I feel better with what I was thinking.

Hey Neil, I think you might have transliterated it wrong. To my eye the first character you have is actually the top radical part of the first character not a seperate, so a two character mei “ni-ji mei”. So more like 義肋 My background is in Chinese though, so take it for what it’s worth.