charlesf

See thread 'South Manchuria railway company presentation tachi',October 11th 2014 in Military Swords of Japan started by Medina San1.

Could this be a Mantetsu tachi? charles.

Greetings from the UK,I registered to bid in this auction as I was interested in the Emura which at first sight looked OK but the more I looked the more convinced I became that it had a recent 'commercial' polish,I may be wrong but it just didn't fit my eye,so I kept my powder dry and bought the Nidai Minamoto Yoshichika a few lots further on,it's chipped and stained but looks a sleepy lot and an honest sword at half the price of the Emura! regards, charles.

I also read 'SUKENOBU' which would be Toki Sukenobu who made some nice gendaito. charles.

Note that I did say that these were the photos I had to work from i.e. they were provided by the auction house,sorry if you misunderstood,is English your 1st language? charles.

Thanks Marcin (and Bruce!),I can't do that because it doesn't have a sim card and I don't have the special tool to open the tab where it's inserted,I'm currently exploring Google Drive to see if there's a simple way . . . . . . . . . don't hold your breath! Meanwhile,for your entertainment,here are the photos I had to work from,two swords and a saya,the sword with the military hilt is the Nagamitsu housed in a modern-ish iaito say which is not bad,it's a nicely shaped slim saya unlike the clunky Chinese repro's,sadly the tsuba is a horrible alloy casting. The other sword is quite interesting,70 cms nagasa,narrow suguha hamon and what appears to be mokume hada,it's a wide thick blade,nice long kissaki and once I managed to remove the hilt the tang has a dark patina and four mekugi-ana.I don't think they are all old but it's hard to see if any are modern or recent additions,they all look aged.Saya is an old very dark brown textured lacquer,tsuba a thin iron ko-sukashi,I'm thinking that it could be shinshinto or Dotanuki ???????? Wishful thinking LOL!

Auction swords arrived today,the Nagamitsu,as feared,has been 'cleaned',unfortunately with a drill or similar fitted with a stout wire brush which has blurred the lines of the blade.The shinogi is now rounded as is the mune the only saving grace is that there is sufficient meat in the blade to save it although the nakago has been buffed enough to almost remove the file marks.The overall shape is good with a well formed kissaki and the hamon appears to be intact. Apologies for lack of photos,I'm trying to figure out how to transfer them from my Nokia3 to Chromebook . . . . . . . Duh! charles.

Isn't it possible that for the posed photographs the sword employed was an artistic prop to help create a martial impression? charles.

There can be no doubt that this is from the workshop of Ichihara Nagamitsu,the way the kanji has been cut shows subtle variations of those recorded on JSI,for example the 'Naga' has three strokes to the right of the vertical stroke rather than the usual two and No.8 has three,all cut from right to left,my example has the top stroke cut from left to right,also the lower component is curved not straight. Small details but evidence of an individual creating his own mark whilst using the instantly recognisable Nagamitsu signature.

Managed to pick this up at auction and am waiting for delivery,images are those provided by the auction house and while the tang looks to have been cleaned my interest was piqued by the variation of the signature and the fact that it is dated,apparently unusual for Nagamitsu blades,hope you find it of some interest. charles.

Chandler, I have a two character Emura which I posted many years ago to be told by one of the sites 'experts' that it was a fake because it didn't appear in the Emura oshigata listed on the Japanese Sword Index.However the two character mei was included in the original version but for some reason has been omitted from the current edition,I don't know why. Funnily enough after having my sword slagged off a well respected member offered some swords for sale on behalf of a non-member and one of them was a sleepy niji mei Emura! The 'expert' refrained from commenting! The sugata looks typical Emura,stout base gradually narrowing,mine has distal taper too,nice hamon which should reveal ashi and the mounts look to be of superior quality,all in all a really nice bundle! I'm afraid I can't help with the question about quality/number of characters,unless someone finds reliable source material it can only be guesswork. Thanks for posting,regards, charles

Mick,it depends on what you are looking for,are you looking to buy an antique sword,a WW2 gendaito or a WW2 military sword? Are you looking for papered blades,fully mounted blades or out of polish blades with potential? We've all had buyer's remorse,I get it all the time when my auction purchases arrive and I discover something that the auction house has not noted in the description. The joys of online bidding! Might I suggest going to arms fairs,I used to visit and also take stands at midlands fairs 30+ years ago,the London fair was also good but I've lost track since moving to t'frozen north. Regards, Charles

Please read my post properly,I asked if it was reasonable to suppose the same relationship that Obata had with Kobayashi Yasuhiro which was that of PROFESSIONAL SWORD TESTER. It would also be extremely naive to turn a blind eye to the politics and finances involved in the world of Japanese swords which have existed throughout history,so kindly climb down from the saddle of your high horse. charles.

Thank you very much! charles.

A few questions about Minamoto Yoshichika,would be grateful for any help and comments that members might have,thanks in advance. Shibamishima.Yoshichika is said to be 'from' Shibamishima,a Google search shows no results however there is an area of Tokyo called Shiba and I wondered if two names had been run together i.e. Shiba and Mishima,being Mishima street or district.Can anyone clarify? Yoshichika and Nakayama Hakudo.Would it be reasonable to suppose that they shared the same relationship as Obata/Yasuhiro,Hakudo demonstrating blades in exchange for swords for personal use?The sale of 490 tested swords to members of the Imperial Guard must have been a considerable boost to Yoshichika's bank account. Imperial swordsmith.In 'Samurai Swords for the Material Battle' the author suggests that the Emperor 'called' Yoshichika to Tokyo (from where?) and made him an Imperial Swordsmith,a fact that I cannot find to be corroborated anywhere else. Hakudo's personal swords.I recall reading somewhere about one of Hakudo's personal swords,long blade either 29" or 31" in what I can only describe as toppei koshirae,is anyone familiar with this?I don't mean the YouTube uploader with the shiny hakama. Thanks for any help/links that you are able to provide. charles.

An interesting blade but the 'nagashi' (polisher's marks) are questionable and the patina at the top of the nakago looks a little 'loose'. charles.

Some years ago I bought an Emura in auction at Stamford,I had been sent on a 'mission' by my pal Yorkie who declared his non-interest when I told him about the signature! In type 98 mounts the blade was in good polish and had a really nice choji-gunome hamon,cost about £300 + train fare from York and back,it was a good sword so I'm not sure how the signature thing worked out. One of my current Emura has the 'Chounsai Emura saku' signature which I reckon to be a custom order with slight koshi-zori and a narrow gunome hamon bordering on juzuba in Suya sword shop mounts. charles.

A truly international endeavour . . . . For sale in the UK. Sold in the US. A great addendum provided by an Aussie! Thanks and regards, charles.

Kyu-gunto was 'passed'. Nagamitsu made £1,100 hammer. charles.

A taster . . . . charles.

Whilst not really my thing I was quite impressed by Lot 3564 in Toovey's upcoming sale on 26th November of edged weapons,firearms,medals and militaria. There is also a heap of gunto,one 'Nagamitsu',see; https://www.tooveys.com/online-catalogue/firearms-and-edged-weapons charles

Steven, Tachi-mei is a sword where the signature faces away from the body when the sword is worn with cutting edge down. Katana-mei is when the signature faces out with cutting edge worn up. charles.

Jan is referring to a different sword in another auction ; charles.

This is the 'Toshihide' from the Mike Noel collection sold by Dore & Rees ? regards, charles.

Never mind,you've kept your powder dry for another adventure. Did you see the Cadmore Hideaki has resurfaced? best regards, charles.