Bazza

You have to be on a life-long 'trip' to collect Nihonto. If I worried about the money I have unwisely spent I'd never get any sleep, but the knowledge gained in the process - about swords, values and people, especially people - has been priceless. At 77 yo and 55 years in collecting I have realised that one ideally needs to have sh-loads of money to do it well, but great satisfaction can be had at the lower levels of collecting far down from the stratospheric levels. We see this here all the time... BaZZa.

(?) kane uji? saku? BaZZa.

Suishinshi Masahide?? BaZZa.

Tom, I hate it when I do that!!! Having a Hirata utsushi tsuba and a Haruta kabuto mis-spelling is an easy trap for the tired and unwary. I should go to bed earlier ... Thanks for the correction. BaZZa.

Good evening All, A friend who is usually an Indo-Persian collector with somewhat eclectic taste and who does like Japanese arms and armour recently sprung an iron kabuto in a general auction minus the shikoro. It was 'painted' a golden-brownish colour, which on judicious cleaning turned out to be a red-lacquered kabuto. In conversation he asked if I had any idea what it would cost to restore the kabuto, and indeed whether it was even worth restoring it 'as is', or restoring with a replacement shikoro. Having myself a russet Momoyama Hirata Yoshihisa Zunari kabuto I have wondered myself about costs. So I turn the question over to the Board for anyone with knowledge of 'ball park' restoration costs. The first two pictures below are of my Zunaru kabuto and the next two are of my friend's red-lacquered acquisition. The ukebari is intact in the latter red helmet, though just hanging on in a couple of places. No mei can be seen anywhere. To me this kabuto almost looks 'top heavy', but perhaps that perspective is altered by the very small fukigayeshi. With thanks, BaZZa. aka Barry Thomas.

Very nice, thanks for showing. Could we please see the nakago both sides without habaki?? BaZZa.

Yeah, well, well... BaZZa.

Jean, yes, 100% I think. For those not familiar with Japanese the 'to' means 'and', so O-DACHI and KODOGU. BaZZa.

Charles/Winchester, A thought is that $10k on a blade in shirasaya will give you more bang for your buck bladewise that spending $10k on a blade with koshirae. I have no hesitation in collecting a good koshirae without a blade equally as much as collecting a good blade in shirasaya. Not all my friends in collecting think the same way, so you may want to reflect on that... BaZZa.

I would opine that the handle is not the original as indicated by the new mekugi ana with counter boring in the nakago. The fit of the handle on the nakago would be a good test. Apart from Ian's observation that the mon is upside down I'm troubled by the oxidative colour (= applied heat) around the mon that indicates it has been soldered in place. Also, the fuchi surface is featureless as John observes and I feel the mon is a recent "modification" to the fuchi. It is clear the sword originally had a press-stud leather retainer, so the fuchi would have been plain. Further, the leather cover over the scabbard look near-new compared to the worn, neglected look of the handle as indicated by the sad looking menuki... An in-hand viewing would be essential before parting with any $$$$ BaZZa.

Well, ffolkes, I went a-looking and found this: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTkrKjXeHog5CaktlRn8gvw WoW... And the sword smith himself: https://new.uniquejapan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/22-ujka163-Kanehide-Katana.pdf BaZZa.

NO ACID NO ACID - it can't be said enough times. Properly trained togishi will tell you that acid bites into the metal and can render an otherwise good sword to be not worth the cost of a polish. BaZZa. (Hoping this is worth preserving!!!)

Me too!! BaZZa..

Thanks for your reply Peter. Barry T.

Peter, Thanks for this, very interesting indeed. The review is in English - what language is the book in?? BaZZa.

Can we see the other side of the kissaki, please?? BaZZa.

> Something about 10 round semi-autos are just so much fun at the range! Heartily agree. We used to be able to do this in the State of Victoria in Australia until our Federal Government banned 'em. My two Winchester '03 semi-autos in .22 WRF went to the crusher, thence to the furnace where I presume they were cast into brake shoes for our local rail services. RIP 10-shot semi-auto .22 RF. BaZZa.

If this is THE Ogawa Kanekuni here is a video of him at work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgaUba0aSWQ Apologies if I have got this wrong. BaZZa.

Some further information on this gun. It is centrefire and the calibre/cartridge might be 11.15 x 36R WERNDL. A thought is that the gun has an Austrian connection, which would support the Werndl cartridge information. That cartridge is the commercial version of the military 11.15 Werndl calibre. See https://www.cartridgecollector.net/1115-x-36r-werndl for a photo of this metallic cartridge. Brian commented "It's clearly styled after one of the poacher-style Belgian .410 shotguns, and I expect the caliber will be similar". On a cost basis the cartridge is more likely to be paper than metallic??? BaZZa.

A most interesting and thoughtful discussion, thanks Paul. If I can add another strand, hada is not all. Albert Yamanaka once wrote "If a sword doesn't have sugata then it has nothing". While maybe somewhat over-stated, inasmuch as applying that dictum strictly would see much of our collections trashed in Albert's eyes, every once-in-a-while one draws a sword to be gripped by an almost inexplicable feeling. It happened to me when I drew a big Shinshinto Sokan out of its contemporary koshirae. I'm struggling to find words here... This sword was breathtaking to behold. I've seen quite a few big Shinshinto swords in my time, but this Sokan was truly something else. I put this feeling down to the sugata, the shape. Now that's something to think about... BaZZa.

Thank you all for your comments. I have sent a text to my friend who has seen the gun. He reports he is at a birthday party and will find out more in a day or so. I've pointed him to this thread so do please put any more questions here. My good friend is neither a sword man nor a matchlock gun man, but that hasn't stopped him from acquiring a FUJUSHIMA TOMOSHIGE katana and a bajou zutsu. I presented the latter here on September 18, 2018: https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/26639-a-bajou-zutsu-in-oz-information-assistance-appreciated/ BaZZa.

John, good question that I didn't think to ask! I'll follow up. BaZZa.

Hello all, A friend has come across this gun and wonders what it is. I would have though European with Japanese silver inlay were it not for the bulbous muzzle very much in the Japanese style. Ergo, it would seem to be a Japanese made. It is not his gun and he was only able to get the attached photos for interest, which I present here for the interest of all. BaZZa.

Yamashiro, Koto... BaZZa.

That yakidashi looks like ski slope!!! BaZZa.