RichardP

Basswood is easy to work with, and can be sourced in pretty large blocks for relatively little cash:

Very handsome! Can I ask what modifications you made to the drawers? Did the drawers come with sword racks?

Ian looks at the Type 95:

Chogi?

Hello all, I found this Rai-school blade with a kinpun-mei over at e-sword.jp, and am puzzling over the curious windows cut into the handle. Why was this done? All I can think of is that this was intended to keep the kinpun-mei from rubbing off when the tsuka is removed/replaced—but It seems like there would be simpler solutions, like recessing the interior portions that might make contact with the mei. Is this a common modification? Regards, Richard (https://www.e-sword.jp/katana/2210-1040.htm)

Interesting. (I’ve wondered how shinsa panels dealt with questionable tameshi-mei on otherwise sho-shin blades.) Regards, Richard

Thanks for the distinction Piers (I read the attribution as being to Hisamatsu-Matsudaira nobility, but you’re quite right it just mentions “family”). Cheers!

https://www.toukenkomachi.com/index_en_antique.html Gorgeousness and gorgeousity! Sure LOOKS like a pre-Meiji daimyo’s kake—to my ignorant eyes—but that seems like a heck of a claim to provenance…

Never knew tachi kake came in such a variety of forms! An attention-getting companion piece to the standard deer-antler katana kake might be a tachi kake made by articulating a deer spinal column, using the pelvis as the base, with its natural “cup” to hold the kashira…

Another one here: https://www.nihonto.com/11-11-21/

Any pics of the boshi? (Dunno if wakizashi from this smith/school were characteristically signed katana-mei, but hopefully we’re not looking at a katana that’s been shortened from the wrong end.)

Hi Matthew! The sori (curvature) on this blade seems pretty dramatic. Extreme sori—coupled with a rough looking tang—is a potential indicator that a blade has been re-hardened (a blade that’s gone through a fire and lost its hamon may be put through the hardening process again without first re-straightening it, resulting in the existing curvature becoming exaggerated). Or the sword could well have been made that way, or your camera is distorting the amount of curvature, or I’m just seeing things… As a rank newbie, my observation is worth very little and if your post was in regards a potential sale I wouldn’t have stuck my nose in at all. But if you’re just conducting research for a friend, the possibility of “saiha” is one you might explore, even if only to rule it out. Lots of posts about it on this forum, here’s one:

Hey all! Here’s a link to an old post showing construction of the display cabinet: Cheers!

Just received this beautiful hanaire, purchased from Axel Roovers’ website (qualitychanoyu.com). His original pictures of this piece are far better than mine, and can be seen here: https://qualitychanoyu.com/2020/08/28/toko-kaneshige-bizen-vase/ Axel was great to deal with and was attentive through the whole sales process, including shipping from the Netherlands to the US—I’d encourage anyone interested to peruse his website!

Is this the koshirae known as the Good Taste-Cutter?