ckaiserca

A kogai and a kogatana. The saya has spaces for both. I have been looking. I need something that matches or compliments the theme of a horse on the tsuba or the buffalo on the menuki.

Some quick photos:

It turns out it doesn’t actually have one. They gave me erroneous information. It only has a koshirae.

The sun-nobi tanto I just received arrived without a shirasaya. It does have a fairly nice koshirae. When I asked about having a shirasaya made while the blade was still in Japan, the vendor stated it already had one, but alas, it arrived dressed in its koshirae. So now I have a blade in need of a shirasaya, and I live in Canada. What is my best option for having one made? Thanks for any input you can provide.

Hello! The Hozon paper I just received shows the length of my blade. I read it as 1 shaku, 0, 3 bu ? Does the character at the end indicate that the sword is a bit longer than that? Thanks!

So the attribution for this sword is Kanesaki (兼先). Due to the tight Nioikuchi Gunome Midare and Jigane it is thought the blade is late Edo. So it looks older than it is at first glance. The blade length is 12.48 inches The Sori is .03 inches The width at the hamachi is 1.06 inches At the kissaki it is .31 inches The Kasane is .31 inches The Jitetsu is well grained Ko Itami Hada with Jinie attached

While I know that the blade passed Hozon, I have yet to actually see the paper. Apparently is was just issued on the weekend. It will be a surprise to me when I see it.

I just got notified that my second Nihonto in in transit from Japan. It will hopefully be here by Thursday. It is another sunnobi tanto. Photos from Aoi Art are attached. When I have it in hand I will post some more pictures. This blade passed Hozon in June.

I know that traditional katana dansu are made with Paulownia wood, but what is a good choice as a replacement for making a storage chest? I know that the wood needs to be as ph neutral as possible. Any suggestions for wood easily available in Ontario, Canada?

Am I wrong in thinking that it looks like someone removed something from the koshirae that was supposed to be there? I can’t imagine any other reason that the koshirae would be submitted for shinsa with a random piece of paper wrapped around it…

Welcome to the forum Val. There is a special forum category just for the military swords of Japan. You might want to check that out.

Hello! I am trying to source a print that depicts the story of the forging of “Ko-Kotsune” (Little Fox) by the swordsmith Sanjo Munechika and the Shinto deity Inari.

I have this box of fittings that includes a tsuba, menuki, fuchi, kashira, and seppa. I am sure there is a wide variety of how to mount things. Aoi Art has many examples of tosogu sets in boxes for sale. Looking on their site would give you some ideas.

Hello Forum! What are some good resources for a person wanting to study Japanese from the standpoint of collecting and understanding Nihonto? Thanks in advance for your input!

There is a thread on bokuto here:

I am in the process of discussing coverage for my collections. I will let you know more when I have more information.

Barry, There is a company in Canada called PAL that does insurance for collectables. https://www.palcanada.com/index.php/en-us/property-coverage/collectibles

Peter, If the blade were mine, I would not worry about the koshirae too much. I would focus on the sword itself. For many collectors, it is not at all important to have koshirae for a blade, as it it the blade that is the artwork that is important. Many collectors will only have the blade in a shirasaya (白鞘) or white scabbard, which is a very plain wooden saya made specifically to store a sword over the long term. Ideally, sword blades and koshirae are stored separately as they really require different environments. Sword blades need to be keep away from moisture to prevent rusting, and koshirae need some moisture to prevent splitting and other damage. I know of collectors who have climate controlled storage for the various parts of their collections. There is nothing at all wrong with taking the fittings that you have and removing them from the saya and tsuka altogether and displaying them is a kiri box on their own as a set of Tosogu. I have attached an example below. In the end, it will all come down to what you want, and what you can afford. When it comes to Nihonto, the old adage "You get what you pay for" is very true. You can even end up causing more damage than you fix if you go with untrained people to do work on your sword. You probably don't have access to the resources to repair the damage to the saya and tsuka on your own. The art and craft of making and maintaining the furniture of the Japanese sword is highly specialised. The saya that you have seems to have quite a bit of damage as it is missing some parts, and it is starting to split. The tsuka is also damaged. I can't 100% tell from the photos, but it looks like the menuki are missing and that there is damage to not only the samegawa (rayskin), but to the wood that makes up the tsuka as well. Having a professional do the work can be quite expensive. Having a new tsuka and saya made can cost around $2000.00 if you already have all of the fittings (which you seem to have aside from the menuki). Just rewrapping the tuska if it is possible will cost around $200 to $300. In the case of this blade, I don't know that it would be worth all of that expense. If anything is done, I think that It would be far better to spend any money on having the blade polished. Even the expense of a polish might not be worth it depending upon the quality of the actual blade. If you do have the blade polished, then it would be vital to have a shirasaya made for it. The cost of the polish and the shirasaya, plus a new habaki (which the blade is almost certain to need after polishing) is going to be several thousand dollars. I am nowhere near expert enough to give you advice on whether or not your blade is worth polishing, but I know that others on this group can give you a far more valid opinion.

Hi Peter, Your saya is also missing the Kurigata (栗形): The kurigata is a knob on the side of the saya for attaching the sageo (下緒). The sageo is the cord that is used to tie the saya to the obi (belt).

This was based on the estimated age of the blades and the fact that they were both mumei. As a general rule, Muromachi and Edo period mumei blades may not receive a Tokubetsu Hozon paper. This can change if the blade is really outstanding and can be easily attributed to a famous smith or school.

You can apply for both, but I did not, as I was guaranteed passing Hozon, but not Tokubetsu. It would have cost roughly $100.00 more if I had submitted for both and only passed Hozon. If it had passed both, it would have cost about $630.00 total.

The blade in question was in Japan already, so it only cost me an extra $300 (CAD) for the Shinsa. The other blade had no papers. Thanks for your input.

Finally some good news from Japan! The two blades (a Katana and a Wakizashi/Sun Nobi Tanto) that I had in for Shinsa since June have both passed for Hozon. I have to get some restoration work done on the koshirae of one of them, and also have to get a shirasaya made as it does not have one. So it will probably be a few more months before I actually have them in hand. I don't have a full report on the details of the Shinsa. I only know that they have passed at this time. I suppose that it will take another month or two before the Origami are actually produced. I have never gone through this process before, and really had no idea how long things take to happen. I will be curious to see the results for the Katana especially as it had two sets of older kicho papers. It was judged as Fujishima the first time and judged as Shitahara the second time.

This piece of fabric came to me by way of my grandmother. It is fairly heavy, and is quite detailed. It was used as a wall hanging in her home, and has a channel at the top that a wooden dowel goes through. It is sewn onto a cloth backing. Is this just a wall hanging or was it originally part of a kimono? I thought that it might be part of the sleeve of a formal kimono. The motif is cranes. I also see chrysanthemums and drums. Thoughts from the group?