Bazza

Hector, O Lovely!! A lovely find. Looking forward to pictures. A GOOD polish reveals and would add much to your tanto. I have seen Yasukunito in indiffent polish and a few in very, very good polish and the difference is amazing. Likewise a Minatogawa sword I once saw had a hada very much like silk. It was gorgeous The typical WW2 polish just doesn't cut it, but when a good polisher does the work the difference is startling. So my point here is make sure it goes to a good polisher. It will be worth every cent. BaZZa.

Some while ago I was chatting with a friend who owns a tanto and is married to a Japanese lady. Talking on this subject he succinctly said "Start a war, lose your culture". There is a much of it in the history of war. BaZZa.

Dated swords do exist. I have read that a date on a Hizen sword is associated with an 'event' in the swordsmith's life. BaZZa.

The endless (?) wheel of Buddha... Sorry. My one and only post on this topic... BaZZa.

Rotated mei. BaZZa.

Ah well then, a cucumber or derivative??? Is there a Japanese cuisine expert in the House??? BaZZa.

I have seen with my own eyes a most excellent quality, unsigned kozuka with three sea slugs on it. If we are lucky it may appear here... BaZZa. EDIT: Ah, here it is just as I was composing my little piece. EDIT 2: I called it a masterpiece... Excellent photo...

Probably a Shinshinto Kinnoto?? And some other links Satsuma rebellion swords and Kinnoto 23 posts 14 June 2020 Gassan School Sadahide Kinnoto - First Blade 4 posts 4 Nov 2025 More results from www.militaria.co.za BaZZa.

Not higaki yasurime, rather its inverted/reverse takanoha. BaZZa.

It could be clear lacquer. I once had an iron tsuba in my early, more Western ignorant days, that had been coated with 'something'. A slightly less than ignorant friend of the time suggested xylene as a solvent that would shift whatever it was. Well, that didn't work, so I had no idea what it was apart from what I read about lacquer being insoluble in most anything. So it stayed as it was and didn't deteriorate from my 'cleaning up' penchant. BaZZa.

The tsuba is shown upside down and the signature is probably JAKUSHI. BaZZa.

Would the shape be for an armour piercer??? I once had a pair of arrowheads with this shape and was told at the time they were armour piercing points. Ballistically the shape appears to be sensible for the task... BaZZa.

GASP!!! I see the cursed silver fish activity. The world is fortunate that the papers have survived for us. BaZZa.

I would think nothing to worry about as one could support the menuki from crushing by putting in a post, or 'blob' of something like casting in a lump of 5-minute araldite or some such, or sticking in a small piece of protruding metal that would take care of the location/movement problem. It would be a rare case where you could silver solder a replacement pin. Just an idea 'on the run' before having lunch and trying to please my missus (not misses) by getting away from the computer and doing some work outside. BaZZa.

See also BaZZa.