DTM72

Is it Friday yet? I’m ready to go! May be an old man but I still get excited for certain things. No blue pill required. lol

The two characters are the signature of the sanity who made this in the factory, Masahiro The other 4 characters are Showa Ju Hachi Nen (Showa time period, Ju hachi is 18, Nen is year) 18th year of Showa = 1943 Post overall pics of the other one. Sounds like it might be WWII Navy. Lastly, there is a sales section of this board. If she should want to sell, there may be people who are willing to buy. Dan

Looks like the seki stamp. Commonly struck at an angle. As mentioned above, this is a machine made Army sword made in 1943. Being machine made and not in the original Gunto mounts, depending on condition of the blade it is worth $500-$1000.

It is that time of year again and the world's largest military antique show is coming to Louisville, Kentucky USA. http://www.sosovms.com/Show_of_Shows/ This year I was lucky enough to get my foot in the door and get 2 tables. There are 2000 tables at this show and it is sold out every year for dealers. I have tried for 3 years to get 1 table and have NOT been sucessful. Thank God for Mark Jones @Mark for letting me put stuff under his table these past 3 years. Mark is a 100% gentlemen and asset to Nihonto collectors. In the recent years the show has had dealers Mark Jones @Mark, Matt Jerrell @mdiddy with the assistance of @TnMike, St. Croix Swords @matthewbrice, Bill Rannow @brannow, and others who may or may not be on the NMB. This show is huge! Difficult to cover in one day. In the convention center just down the hallway is the second largest gun show in the USA; National Gun Day. http://www.nationalgunday.com/ This show is just as big as the Show of Shows (square footage) but has a mix of modern firearms, antique firearms, and military antiques, including Nihonto. Most who are unable to get a table at the Show of Shows, get a table at the gun show. <-- as i did the last 2 years. Not the "target market" but I still did well there. If you will be attending or will have a table, please sound off! If I tagged you above, please let our followers know you will be there.

Those are the upgraded option for the rayed dai-seppa. Would love to have a set that looked like that!

I was gonna type that, but decided to be nice. Good job Simon!

A longer strap with second button is certainly an option. Once a leather is properly tanned, it should be clear of any moisture. Leather should be oiled to prevent drying out, so I see no reason you couldn't put a dab of your choice of sword oil on it.

@Rivkin Will you be at the Vegas show this year? Loved the Papered Uda Kunimune I got from you last year. Looking forward to what else you have, if you are coming. If you are coming, you are invited to join all of us at dinner Friday night. Dan

Find a leather shop or "tack shop" <-- place that makes saddles. Take the leather seppa you have now and tell them to make another like it, without the strap coming off the side.

The fuchi ring with snap. This type is used when all your seppa and tsuba are tight. If you have a type 94/98 with leather saya and the tsuba is loose, you need the leather seppa with the strap/snap. Sorry, can't find a good picture anywhere of this type.

I threw this together quickly to show what suriage was done to this sword. Many times a when a suriage is performed, it is many years after the sword was initially made, and you can visually see the difference in the color on the nakago, or where the original file marks ended. This particular one does not show those usual signs so I would believe this was cut-down not long after it was made.

Looks to be the leather seppa with the strap/snap vs. the also seen fuchi ring with snap/strap. it just looks like it is not pushed through the hitsu-ana to where it would engage the matching snap on the saya cover. The usual case is the the leather saya cover and the snap/strap have shrunk over time and will no longer meet and snap.

https://nihontoclub.com/smiths/SUK693

It does look that way to me as well.

@omidaijo Roger Robertshaw

@omidaijo I would attend but I'm 1000 miles away. Sorry Roger! See ya Friday in Vegas. Dan

I really do need to take some good photos of that one. To me, as good as the koshirae looks, the blade is just as beautiful.

Already packing for the show.

Looks to be this guy. 1848-1864 https://nihontoclub.com/smiths/YOS1051

There were multiple generations of Kanesada from Seki (Mino). https://nihontoclub....a=All&school_nid=All Shodai (1st generation) worked in 1469-1487. The Nidai (2nd generation) had a specific way he wrote the Sada character which the picture above does not match. So, you are left with the shodai, sandai (3rd) and all the generations following. A guide to help you figure out which generation you have, can be found at the following link. https://www.sho-shin.com/kanesada.html Best way of knowing for sure is submitting for shinsa. Following the nihontoclub link above, the closest Kanesada to the dates you expected is KAN2094 (1624-1644) KAN533 uses a different Kane character so he does not apply. My opinion is that yours may be KAN2041 (1555-1573) <-- very loose opinion based only on pics of the nakago. Wishing you the best.

Sometimes, even guys need to have a period. Just saying. Very nice kaigunto.

Will you have this in Vegas next week?

Typical blade shapes. As Jean mentioned above, a past polisher may have tried to polish out the big ware' running parallel to the edge in the tip. Chasing something like that reduces the remaining yakiba (hardened edge) width or makes it disapper totally. Shobu-zukuri is more common in tanto, but some shorter wakizashi may be found in that style. <-- if this is truely a shobu-zukuri wakizashi, the fact remains that it has an ugly ware' in the kissaki and the overall blade quality is low and not work an expensive polish. Enjoy it for what it is.

Ryan, I posted your pics for you. I ONLY added pics of the blade as the rest does not help with identifying the blade itself. it is NOT uncommon to find the nakago (tang) is mumei (no signature) It is difficult to tell from the few pictures you have, but the kissaki (tip) is either cut-back due to damage, or it was intended to be shobu-zukuri shaped. Would need to see a better close-up of just the tip to see where the hamon goes...if we can see the hamon. The nakago is in rough condition and shows a little age, probably koto period. Looking at the hada (grain) of the blade, it is course and not a fine grain or pleasing pattern. Many katana and wakizashi were made in the 1500's during the warring period. Since demand was high, quality was not the highest. I suspect this was made during that 1500's time period. You have a 100% authentic Japanese wakizashi. Enjoy it, and maybe somewhere down the road, you can sell or trade this, with some extra cash, for a better quality piece in good polish. <-- if you are looking at collecting Nihonto (Japanese swords). If you just want to say "I own a Japanese sword, and it's 500 years old.", you got it. Feel free to ask any additional questions. Dan

Matt, Will Eric be bringing his wife?