Jim Manley

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

I thought that posting these photos here would hit the group most interested in Gunto Smiths and that all would enjoy this O-Dachi. It is in Kamura-Otoshi-zukuri form with a nagasa of 111.5 cm (44.9") . It is signed Hikosaburo ju-hachi sai tsukuru. (Hikosaburo made this at age 18). The Ura says (In commemoration of the triumphal return of my brother Sadayoshi from the war against China. Before going further, we have to thank John Tirado for his unbelievable work in resurrecting the original saya and Nick Benson who according to his father did all the polish work. I'm sure all will appreciate the work involved in working with this huge, heavy blade. He brought out features, most of which can only be discovered with the blade in hand. I hope to bring this blade to the Chicago show next month, if that event occurs. However, my youngest daughter is scheduled to present me with another grandson at about that time....... we'll see. To give a sense of scale I included another blade, a Yoshihara Kuniie, 28" + in length.

This is my friend Howard holding the Saburo Akihide a few years ago. I’ll post the new pix on a separate thread.

The blade isn't rusty as it appears in the picture. I used a filter to increase sharpness and the brown tinting is a side effect. This will go off for polish shortly. I'm hoping to shoot pictures of the Saburo Akihide (45" / 114.3 cm) O-Dachi this week mentioned in a previous thread. It's a hand full and getting it positioned for photos is difficult. However, the polish brought out the best in it and I think many of the members, particularly the Gunto collectors will appreciate it. Jim

AHHH SO Masa Teru polished. ‘Thanks, Trystan. jim

I found this interesting. I was cleaning this blade getting ready to photograph it prior to sending it off for polish & found the original polisher had scratched in his name. I believe it is Masa ____ & possibly Saku? any help would be appreciated. Of further interest to the Gendai collectors in the group: The blade is signed Baba Akitsugu who also signed Baba Tsugukiyo. He was an RJT Smith making mid to high grade Nihonto. This blade was made in 1936. I don't know the reason for the switch in names. This blade was made as a dedication to a shrine and is inscribed as such. Perhaps Akitsugu was the name used when not making military blades? Jim

Sorry it has taken me so long to get an answer back to your question. Afraid the short answer is no, there are no accompanying / comparable fittings. I removed the tiger habaki shortly after I acquired the blade and had one made from black horn. I’m on the lookout for something that will compliment the habaki without creating a garish mess. jim

Ahhhh Ha! Thanks, huge difference.. jim

Could I ask if anyone has any information about this smith, Mid Edo, Thikuzen Sukeyoshi? I’ve attached the shinsa work sheet and I think something amiss as I can find no information about him. It is a fine big blade at 85.5 cm and has wonderful activity in the hamon as well as a beautiful hada. I would place the blade later in the Shinshinto jim

Hisamichi 1’st generation

I think the kikumon on the blade on the left has been added. Mon on the right is from a NBTHK papered Wak, 1’st generation Hisamichi. Blade in the left has not been through shinsa. I’ll post a follow up photo of the two signatures . I considered starting a thread for just Gemei signatures. We could possibly gain something from comparing multiple gemei’s to each other rather than to legitimate signatures. Jim

Wired funds for two blades, WAK’S, from a Japanese dealer on January 5, 2021. There was a customs hold which delayed delivery AND i was charged $112,53 in duty. The Fish & Wildlife Service put a hold on my shipment. Has anyone else had a similar experience? Anyway UPS tried to deliver them today, signature required. Hope to see them tomorrow. In the end from purchase to delivery about 8-9 weeks. Jim .

A few mon pix. Jim

One more. jim

I wanted to share these photos. So many collect Gunto swords and so few have them properly polished. Once polished the skill of the smith, at least the better ones, is revealed. So many have hastily done "war time" polishes which along with decades of neglect or abuse, hides their beauty.

Getting better, only missed by two years . Thanks. jim

Can I ask for a bit of help with this mei, please? I think I have the date at Showa 17, 1942. I am struggling with the very faint and sloppy smith's mei. I'm guessing yuki or yoshi masa? It doesn't have any stamps. Jim

A couple more pix of the saya, habaki and tsuka. Jim

Merry Christmas and happy Boxing Day ! First, I mixed up two seppa from another blade, a Takeuchi Kunihiko, that has identical fittings but is a larger blade. All the Kunikane fittings are stamped 79 even the inside of the fuchi. I found no armory acceptance stamps on any of the parts. I'm certain the military fittings were made for this blade. As for its provenance, Don Whitehead discovered it and I subsequently purchased it from a gentleman who said he'd obtained it as part of a payment for a diamond. There was a second blade as well. It was in a D guard obviously old, and I've always wondered if it was the real treasure. As you can see in the photo, the habaki was made with two ears that fit into the groves in the blade. Someone took great care in its construction and must have had the blade in hand. Jim

Detail on the Mon and drag of the saya. There are both Arabic numbers and kanji in the curved indent on both sides of the drag but they are too faint to be legible. Another oddity is that the tsuka shows significant handling wear. There is no damage to the tsuka ito but it appears the blade was carried but seldom removed from the saya. Likewise, the habaki shows no scratches or wear one might expect on a blade in "normal" usage. I'll endeavor to get more / better photos of the kai gunto fittings. All of the seppa, and tsuba are stamped 79 except 2 seppa which are stamped 42.