tbonesullivan

Just got in another Type 98 with what looks to be an older traditionally made blade. This unfortunately is not in nearly as good condition as the one by Masahiro. The fittings are quite worn, though it does have a perforated Tsuba and aluminum scabbard. The Mei is 横 山 上 野 大 掾 祐 定 作 - YOKOYAMA KODZUKE DAIJO SUKESADA SAKU, which is similar to one listed for 6th Gen Sukesada: https://nihontoclub.com/smiths/SUK893 It is missing the 藤原 FUJIWARA before the name, and has saku at the end. I did find examples with that MEI online, and most have writing on the other side of the blade. This one does as well, but it looks to be a date, and the first two characters look to be 永正 EISHO. I'm pretty sure I see the character 月. However that would be way to early of a date for 6th Gen Sukesada. Not sure what is going on with the tang. The blade has some light pitting, though the Hamon is still visible, and looks to be either Gunome or possibly three cedars.

It definitely looks like a lot of Type 98s that I have handled, with a leather cover over a wooden scabbard. The wrapping on the grip is pretty much gone, but from what I can see there are no red flags. However as Dan C. said, much better close up and detailed pictures are really needed, especially if the handle can be taken off and the tang photographed. The tip of the blade is also important to check for the proper geometry.

No if only everything out there wasn't closed / delayed still due to Covid. I still haven't gotten myself into NYC for a Token Kai meeting.

Oh I've been bitten long ago. Getting to look at all the swords that pass through where I work is great. I haven't started a personal collection yet. Been waiting for "the one", though I have had my eyes on a papered Naginata for a while. Don't see those nearly as often.

Well, this is definitely not what I was expecting when I pulled the Tsuka off this blade. It does have a nice Hamon, and the fittings are higher grade, with a perforated Tsuba marked by GIFU 岐 Arsenal. I've tried to get some good shots, especially of the Mei, which reads 肥 前 國 河 内 大 掾 藤 原 正 廣 - HIZEN KUNI KAWACHI DAIJO FUJIWARA MASAHIRO. I deal almost entirely with Showato, with a bit of Gendaito mixed in, so I'm a bit out of my depth here. The tang does have two holes, but is in very good shape for a blade that is supposed to be from the 17th or 18th century.

Definitely looks like the last character could be Kage. If you search online you might be able to find other examples marked like that to compare the mei on.

Thanks!!! Oh thanks for that! Lookin at the second article, yeah his swords are signed a TON of different ways. That particular way of making the "KANE" character looks just like many of the examples in the article. Now I've gotta go look at a tang that is, as far as I can tell, Muromachi period blade in a Shin-Gunto setting. FUUUNNNNN.

I'm having a bit of trouble with the middle character on this one. I am fairly certain it is 兼 俊 作 - KANE TOSHI SAKU, but I have also considered 兼房 作 KANE FUSA SAKU. The "KANE" also looks a little strange, so that might be wrong as well. Any help you could give would definitely be awesome! Thanks!

三品 義明 Mishina Yoshiaki is on the Seki List. So 濃 州 住 三 品 義 明 Looks right.

I have seen these RJT fitted Swords referred to as Nagamitsu swords before. Is that just the style of the mountings? I currently have two, one with Stingray Sa-me and one with the waxed burlap.

The previous one we had just had the "Anchor" without the other marking, which looks like a "grass writing" 伊. I don't think that had a serial number either.

Just got in a Kai-gunto by Inaba. Didn't recognize it right away because the signature is really kinda messy compared to the last one we had, posted here: This one has the 伊 stamp under the anchor. I do not see any serial number on the blade. It's painted with 1 2 0 7, which matches all the fittings.

Looking at overall condition, and the presence of that oxidation near where it happens, I would say improper cleaning to remove the oxidation has made the hamon indistinct. Where I work we get a lot of blades that have a nice polish except for these few spots of rust that someone went after and ended up wiping out the polish in one area. It's very hard to make any judgement regarding this considering the condition of the blade.

Thanks! That would not be the first time I've gotten 関 SEKI confused with KUNI. Probably won't be the last. Looks like there were 3 KANEKADO smiths around the late 17th early 18th century. The Tanto it came with is Mumei, but definitely looks good. I'm trying to convince my friend to send it out for a better polish.

昭 和 十 一 年 八 月 吉 日 - I think the Kanji on the end means 'A Good Day" The mei looks to be ? ? 住 小 川 昭 清 作 - JU OGAWA AKIKIYO SAKU? Ahh, I see it's been completed while I tried to muck through it.

A friend of mine heard that I can "read Japanese on swords", so he gave me this Kogatana from a tanto setting he has to look at. I'm fairly certain the Kanji are 国 善 定 兼 門, however my knowledge of actual Japanese is 1 year of college Japanese about 20 years ago. KUNI YOSHI SADA KANE HIRO? I'm going to assume that it is a name, but many of those characters can be read in multiple ways. The last character alone could be MON, HIRO, KADO or possibly other things.

Thanks! Looks like there were three generations, with various different MEI, though none match exactly what I have. Hopefully NYTK can start having in person meetings again later this year, so maybe I could have someone look at it first hand, and not at my horrible pictures.

Oh wow! Thanks! It's got a 21 inch blade, so it's a Wakizashi. I wish the polish was in better shape. Came mounted in Type 98 Shin-Gunto fittings, with a leather covered scabbard, like several other older blades I've seen. Time for the researching. It doesn't look like it's been Shortened.

Another day, another Mei with that ONE character I can't get. I'm certain about the beginning, which is 筑 前 住 源 信 国 吉 or 筑 前 住 源 信 國 吉, depending on which form of "KUNI" I use. I found more with the second one way of writing it, though it is definitely 国 on the tang. So it would read CHIKUZEN JU MINAMOTO NOBUKUNI YOSHI ??? However, I found nothing on the last character. Most MEI I can find want the smith's name to end with 吉包 YOSHIKANE or 吉貞 YOSHISADA. That character looks like 枚 MAI or something else. I'm at a loss. The other characters are quite easy to read.

Here's a close up of the tang file marks. I also used my 16x magnifier on the hamon, which is a NOTARE / wave shape. I can see Nie along the transition, and there is some activity.

Definitely looks like MUNE. 宗 . I often get it confused with 京 KYO

I'm going to try to get a better look and picture of the Hamon. I'm pretty sure it's got Nie crystals along the edge, I've pulled Type 95 NCO blades before, and this shows no signs of being one. This is one I'd love to be able to bring into a NYC Token Kai meeting, but right as I was about to go to my first meeting COVID came knocking.

Thanks so much! "Grass Writing", well at least now I know the name of my pain. Yes it looks great, but I can't read it, any more than I can read 18th and 19th century letters written by quill. Some are easy, some are unintelligible. I haven't had any "Type 3" swords before, so this is pretty nice. We also got another signed 長 光 作 NAGAMITSU SAKU.

I've been having trouble with this one for a few weeks. It's got a somewhat "flowing" more script style of writing, which is something I'm bad at. The best I could come up with the MEI and the RJT list is 昭幸造 , or AKI YUKI TSUKURU, but I'm not sure about that at all. The other side looks to have a Nengo in Zodiac form, which I am pretty sure about: 癸 未 八 月 - MIZUNOTO HITSUJI 8th Month - 1943. But the Getsu character looks a bit off, and there's no Era marking. The blade is pretty long on this one, with a Nagasa 69.4 cm long. The tang has the "Star" marking, which I believe means it is Gendaito. Unfortunately the blade has been cleaned a bunch, probably post war, so I can't see much, but it does have WARE on the SHINOGI-JI.

Oh, I wasn't implying that at all. It was a good material for the time, but over time it can decompose. I also don't know if all used nitrocellulose, as most may have been cellulose acetate, which is much more stable. I've only seen the decomposition a few times on blades, so I would assume most were not nitrocellulose. They still use Nitrocellulose on very high end guitars to this day, saying it sounds better. I just like the look of the real ray skin over the celluloid.