Jim Manley

I’m struggling with this mei. It is lightly struck with a very fine chisel. Dated 1944 . My “guess” is Arimasa but I have 0 confidence in this . It looks like Mino-Seki work to me. ‘Thanks. Jim

Sorry Bruce, not a stamp, just a scuff mark. But here is a Teruhiro that has a stamp. jim

A bit of assistance would be appreciated . I’m thinking this is Masamura or Takamura? thanks. Jim

More pix. notice the Nobutaka, Star stamped and numbered 218. Signed tachi mei.

More photos

Here are 5 blades all by Yoshihara Kuniie I, three signed Kuniie,and one each by the other Mei’s he used, Nobutaka and Akihito. It’s interesting to compare them and note the differences as well as their similarities. No. 3, in the middle, signed Nobutaka especially interesting I think I’ll try to add a few more photos. Jim

A great question an an issue I certainly considered. Because the space is below ground and surrounded by concrete and steel (even overhead) the area maintains a temperature of about 63 degrees F / 17 degrees C. I only heat it occasionally when I have guests who might be uncomfortable. While it might not be visible in the photo, there is a humidistat on the wall. The humidity stays in the range of 48 percent. My thoughts were that minimizing variations in temperature and humidity would lessen expansion and contraction of the saya as and lacquer work. The area gets no sunlight and is in darkness most of the time lessening the possibility of damage from UV light. I have noted that newer shira saya’ s continue to contract as they loose additional moisture. As for the blades, I’ve had no issues of rust developing but am a devoted user of oil. I purchased several boxes of micro fiber cloths and clean every blade before returning it to its designated place. If you have any suggestions for improvements I would appreciate any thoughts you might have.

I started collecting in the late 80’s . We have a good group in St. Louis and we get together, show off and compare swords as often as possible. I’ve been most fortunate in that I’ve never had to sell anything. The COVID lock down provided an opportunity to catalog and organize the lot. I’m hoping some or all of the grandsons will show an enthusiasm so we can share them. jim

Sorry, I didn’t check my photo before I hit sent. The previous photo is the reverse side. I’m struggling with photos as all are too large to attach .

I’ll post a couple shots of the other side of the nikago too. I’m still working on the translation but I’m thinking a town or province. The ridge down the center makes it difficult to do decent photos. And I ran out of ohsigata paper.

Close up of the two sword brackets. The hooks are lined with self adhesive felt pads. jim

I built a fire proof lined vault in the man cave and lined it with slat board. Then we got to work in the shop and made wooden, stepped brackets which allow a blade in shira saya to be displayed adjacent to the koshirae. Blades having just shirasaya simply rest on slatboard hooks. I’m now gradually repositioning blades and grouping them by eras, and schools which is useful for study purposes . jim

I picked up this little Ken at the Chicago show a few years ago. I pulled it out the other day to work on the signature and found it’s Unshu from the early Kamakura. Jim

The Akihide has been the hands of at least 3 other collectors in St. Louis before I got it from Ted Kiss. I don’t know the earliest history of how it came to leave Japan but have to assume it was a GI bring back. But with a total length of almost 6 ft it would have been difficult to hide. The saya was split and the blade was out of polish when I got it. It’s an amazing piece when one considers the effort needed to heat and forge weld what was likely something over 20 kilos of steel when, Hikosaburo started.

Some Hada, and Hamon photos Jim