Matsunoki

OK Dan, sobriety has returned so I will answer. First I will explain that I am not a purist “blade man”. I collect Japanese swords in their complete state with untouched koshirae. Expensive blades in shirasaya are not my thing. That means I can tolerate blades that are not in perfect polish. I prefer the polish to be Japanese but old and a bit scuffed is still fine. I will also buy swords where the blade has perhaps been cleaned inappropriately at some time provided there is no serious damage and provided most of the detail is still clearly visisble…usually there is a nice koshirae involved to justify the purchase, or it’s a really desirable package….ito maki no Tachi etc. So….to answer….i do not buy blades in the state you illustrate thus I don’t need to do much to them. I have used oil (sometimes WD40 type) and various toothpick type things to dislodge any thick encrustation and then simply keep applying gun oil and eventually the rust becomes black and inert and that’s fine. I have persisted with repeated uchiko but frankly it takes forever and I usually resort to just oil again. I have some success with that method though….recently on a Showa Tanto…but it makes your arms and hands hurt like hell! However, being honest and going back over 40 years in the UK all sorts of stuff went on largely fuelled by the type of ignorance or impatience or over-confidence that is being discussed here. We have never had sufficient polishers over here so you can “fill in the blanks”. However using unqualified “improvers” back then was not limited to the “ignorant”. I was well aware of Token Society members seeking unqualified assistance……and some members even trying it themselves……but times have changed so we will leave sleeping dogs alone to continue sleeping.

I’ll reply tomorrow. It’s Friday night and I can hardly see the keyboard🙂 cheers.

Child helping a heavily treasure laden Hotei cross a river under a full moon. Not sure if it’s a specific story.

That came across wrong!!!! I meant his suggestion was a seriously good idea…..NOT POLISHING BLADES!! I thought I’d quoted the whole post! Sorry folks. I’ll go stand in the corner.

Really wish I’d seen this earlier☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️ Beautiful koshirae. Got any more?🙂🙂 Congrats to buyer and seller!

…….now that is a seriously good suggestion.

Being realistic, I don’t think we as a Forum can do anything that will significantly change things. It is the restriction on the number of swords that a modern smith is allowed to make that creates the difficulty so perhaps we should be looking to lobby the Japanese Govt. to change these restrictions? ….but in reality….it would be to no avail. It is bizarre that artificial restrictions are imposed on some of Japans most talented artisans that are admired the world over. I wonder if the NBTHK or any other Japanese sword organisations have tried?

Dan, there was a time when I half thought of you as type of modern day Darwin with your theories about cast tsuba and battling on in the face of adversity, hostility and ridicule…..but I did admire you for battling….although not when you resorted to KMA etc. But surely, given your experience with tsuba you must realise the vast difference between the finish that is applied to swords compared to iron tsuba. The weeks and weeks of careful skilled finishing work that produces a geometrically perfect highly refined work of art. The knowledge that different stones work differently on different blades. Couple that with the many ways swords are constructed and the assorted steels involved and the different approaches that that requires……again …….surely you can see the difference? Polishers study and practice for many years and even then some never become masters. Put simply, it is very very easy to inflict unrecoverable damage to a blade, nowhere near so easy to inflict that level of damage to an iron tsuba…..unless you are a total idiot. Please convince us that you do have that understanding.

I assume you identified the blade before you set about it? Please tell me the school/age/smith etc involved. …..or did you just set about it in total ignorance?

I believe I have read somewhere on this forum that there is simply no place on this forum for anyone practicing or advocating amateur polishing??????

Do you not have sufficient imagination to make the mental leap to understand that the link I posted is just a simple way to try and explain that treasures can be found anywhere…..including eBay. I believe that blades have been purchased from sellers such as Komonjo (widely regarded as frequently doubtful (sometimes unfairly imo)) that have gone on to gain high level papers??? I can’t be bothered to try and explain further…..you seem to lack basic comprehension skills or you just like arguing for the sake of it.

Well if it’s one piece construction that rules out core steel! In your last photo enlarged below the features do appear to be abrasions or scouring of some sort and they do run at a strange angle. But again….images….

Maybe core steel just starting to peek through? Hopefully not and it’s not how it usually starts but……images are always tricky. The hada definitely looks weaker/rougher in that area in one image…..

I don’t think you are really listening…..read this thread….and then you might, just might understand.

As Brian says…..normal Tanto, as Jussi says looks Mino with Mei Kanemichi and most likely late Koto. Here are the Hawleys entries out of interest . As for whether to buy or not, depends on if you like/want it and if you think the price is acceptable. Do you know which of the two ana are being used with this koshirae?

If you don’t know what you are buying, don’t buy it. Show us images and then we can help you.

Peter, wouldn’t you be better off starting this on your own new thread rather than adding it onto Bobs wonderful collection? As for the bird…..no distinguishing features so really could be anything…..blackbird, sparrow….?

Looks like Minamoto Yoshitsune and Benkei on the Gojo bridge…..they had a bit of a disagreement there.

Going back a long time ago in a Nihonto galaxy far far away………we took “chisa katana” to mean a sword that was just a bit short of the then accepted minimum length of a katana. The variance was not to my knowledge ever defined so we all had our own opinions.Then there was O-wakizashi (how that differed from Chisakatana was a mystery). Then O-Tanto (probably the aforesaid sun nobi Tanto in today’s speak. By “we” I mean the scattered enthusiasts that existed mostly outside London some 45 years ago. There was more informed opinion in the Token Society which was largely London orientated but we outsiders still had a ball. Some of the stories we could tell….😳….in fact that would make a great topic maybe….? Some of you fellow members wouldn’t know whether to laugh or cry or just wish you were there back then. Imagine a world with no internet, no mobile phones let alone iPhones. The only books were Ogasawara, Yumoto, Robinson and if you were very very lucky, Hawley. Anyway enough end of year rambling. If you read this….Happy New Year!

Works fine using Safari. Some very nice tsuba and Grev is a great guy to deal with.

Blimey, Jacques is wrong….😳 Anyway, the old ways are the best🙂

Not according to Japanese sources. They state it is longer than the usual length (C10”) but still less than I shaku. Ie it is a big Tanto but still within 1 shaku. Damned confusion all these official definitions. that’s why I like old school thinking from 45 years ago!

Hmmmmm, I think Jacques is perfectly correct. A sun nobi tanto is not and cannot be a Wakizashi. It is a blade that is more than the “usual length” of a Tanto (about 10”?)but less than the maximum length….. once it goes beyond 1 shaku it is a wak…..technically ….so given that a sun nobi Tanto is still less than 1 shaku how then can it be a wakizashi?

That is seriously impressive work. Congrats.

Have fun….. https://yokai.com