The Blacksmith

Site trouble today too. I haven't been able to look in for some six hours this afternoon.

Regarding the Mon, I had a katana with this mon on it, and the late Vic Harris at the British Museum ID'd it as the mon of the Sakai family, though this may well have been used by other families as well. As regards the armour, it is a great study piece, and while restoring it you will learn a tremendous amount for use in future. Years back I knew John Anderson and his fabulous collection, and as John said to me, 'Don't think that all these were in this condition when I got them, many certainly weren't ! He had a garage full of armour awaiting restoration. Enjoy your armour!

Nice sword! Unfortunately I have only just seen this listing. Just to add to Scoggs earlier post regarding these copper handled NCO swords and the lack of a mekugi , the other usual givaway on fakes or mismatched scabbards and swords is the ishizuke (chape) on end of the saya. These rare copper hilted ones didn't have the ishizuke, simply a rounded end to the saya, as is clearly shown in the original post. Does anybody know of any exceptions to this ?

@Conway Thank you very much for posting those images. As I mentioned earlier, the two that I owned and the third that I had in my possession were all very different. One I wish that I had been able to obtain, and one that I really wish that I had kept! The last mentioned blade was full of tobi-yaki. Thank you again.

Sorry I cannot help with the translation, but could I ask....... is it possible to get a clear picture or two of the whole blade please? I have had two Kanezane katana, and a third in my possession for a while, and all three were totally different. As I understand it, the thinking is that several smiths or senior students were allowed to use his signature and stamp, which would account for the vast differences in the blades that I have had.

@eternal_newbie If one had to ascribe a hada pattern to it, I would call it 'camouflage'!

Not hada, simply a rather loose etched decorative pattern I think.

Gerry, I am really happy for you that your parcel has arrived at last. That is excellent news to hear. Do enjoy your new acquisition

This is a great place to start, welcome to the forum! A library will be absolutely required, and a good book to start with is this one: The other thing that I would suggest, is look in the Nihonto info section at the top of this page here under the forum banner, there is a glossary there and I would suggest trying to learn the various terms used in relation to nihonto, at least try and learn as many as you can, they can easily be cross referenced with the above book. this will make the subject a bit more accessible and easier to understand, as there is a whole vocabulary of terms that are used when talking about Japanese blades. Perhaps try and learn a few different terms each day. Have fun with this absolutely fascinating hobby!

Other than the above possibilty, any mercury used in the various treatments and decoration when the tsuba was decorated may perhaps be very slightly radioactive.

If it was done with intent to deceive, then it could be done with a machine, and the finished with a chisel to produce the tagane no makura.

I used to buy bayonets from a dealer in Ireland, and he has now sadly given up, and one of the reasons that he did so was too many problems with sending items both in and out of the country. The original post is nearly a year ago, so I wonder how things turned out?

I wish you luck Gerry, and I'll keep everything crossed that it turns up. All the avenues mentioned previously are well worth tyring, leave no stone unturned. A few years back I had an extremely rare bayonet go missing on route from Ireland. Proof of postage, numbers you name it, no trace..... Suddenly, some seven weeks later it suddenly turns up safe 'n' sound! IIRC customs had been sitting on it all the time. This is the only time I have had any problems, fortunately, with the right outcome. I hope for the same success with your sword.

For what it is worth, I also read it as Katsumasa.

Brian, whilst I would generally agree with you on this, though they can be a bit stubborn occassionally, I did once eventually remove a tsuka for a Japanese friend who had obtained a Nodachi. The Tsuka was an absolute bi*ch to remove and took ages and ages and a lot of careful effort. It wasn't, I must admit, helped by the fact that the tsuba was covered in very thin black leather, so I needed to be extra careful. The leather covered tsuba was something that I had never seen before, or since that I can recall. It was just the rust on the nakago holding the tsuka very firm, plus of course in this case, the tsuka being extra long didn't help! And yes, it does indeed look like a nice and interesting sword!