The Blacksmith

Alex, go and stand in the corner facing the wall........... I have seen recently an aluminium hilted NCO's katana with a rivet instead of the normal screw. Possibly, a field repair, but perhaps not and added later. As Aaron has explained, removing the rivet wouldn't be a problem, but to be honest, it probably isn't worth it, even for curiosity's sake. Perhaps just think of it as a 'battlefield' repair? Which it may even be.

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I have so greatly enjoyed reading through this wonderful and fascinating thread ! It would have been mouthwatering to have actually seen it. Thank you for all the contribtions.

Did the Myochin smiths not always sign Myochin? Certainly a kabuto that I owned was signed Myochin Ujiiye, and dated Eisho 18, (1521). I also had some kote, also signed Myochin, but I do not recall the actual smiths name.

I would like to see pictures of the whole sword please. I could be wrong of course, and hopefully am, but to my eyes this seems more like a Chinese copy than a genuine Japanese blade.The shape and finish of the nakago, the very badly written and lightly inscribed kanji, the megugi ana etc. Several things do not seem right to me.

I envy you Piers, as probably you can still obtain nice woodblock prints at reasonable prices in Japan. I did have a few years ago, but alas they were destroyed in a fire along with my library. There used to be a shop in Camden Passage in London that sold prints, and where I bought a few. Unfortunately the lady who owned the shop was from Nagasaki, and wouldn't have anything sword related in the shop. Nice frames gents! Well done!

Unfortunately, there are not too many English ciders available over here, usually Blackthorn or Bulmers Hereford cider. Though admittedly, the Blackthorn wasn't as it was when I was living in the UK. The local cider here is really just a sort of fruity, fizzy drink, with such delicacies as , rhubarb, lime, raspbery, chilli, and god knows what other abominations that the locals call 'cider'! As for the possibility of import, well our tax systrem would obliterate that possibility. A friend was sent a bottle of whisky as a birthday present, and the customs kindly charged him £75 import fee ! I have had some nice Kentish ciders too.

Unfortunately these marks have been awfully done, possibly not even in China, let alone Japan! (?). A very bad copy I am sorry to say.

Wow, an absolutely amazing and extremely thoughtful birthday present! Congratulations. It was my birthday a couple of weeks back.........I got a bottle of cider! Mind you , it was Dry Blackthorn English cider!

So it didn't 'looked exactly like the item in question' then! Sorry Michael, but I just couldn't resist it! I have had a few of the American M1 helmets with their fibre or plastic type liners. I am pretty certain that the item in the original post is a fibreglass copy of a shield boss. The dimensions and form are correct for this, possibly even the embossed decoration if it it supposedly Celtic.

I used to use bamboo chopsticks. Easily and cheaply available. They are tapered and easily cut to size. Just slightly round off the ends and there you have it, and they make quick good mekugi.

It looks to me more like a poor copy of an old Celtic, or possibly Roman, shield boss (Umbo). As Sam says, fibreglass in all likelyhood.

No doubt the personal sword of Lt. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, which he used to commit seppuku !

Perhaps it was cobbled together as the first habaki fitted tighter on the blade, where there is almost no discernable ha-machi or mune-machi.

And different prices too! I have noticed some flamenco guitar sellers with multiple listings for the same guitar, but again with some quite different prices.

I was 18 or 19, a copper hilted NCO's katana, bought from Rob Taylor when he was in Queens Road, Peckham. Price £65 ! Though I started collecting edged weapons when I was just six, and when I couldn't obtain anything new for my collection, I read everything that I could find on the subject.Though I was already fascinated by Japanese history and culture, I quickly realised that Japanese weapons were the ultimate edged weapons, and they became a sort of obsession, and I'd even get books just because they had a picture of a Japanese sword in it!

I started collecting them when I was about 22. In those days, good Shin- Gunto katana were about £175+ exceptional ones perhaps £250 !Those were the days .

I like the last line of their listing: ' The interior lining and cords of this kabuto have been replaced in the past 100 years'. Personally, I think the whole helmet has been replaced in the past 100 years! I am thinking that possibly the skull was a cabasset or peaked morion, whether it was an original one or not is of course questionable too. The whole thing appears to me to have been embellished and 'antiqued', and antiqued rather badly too. The mempo is about the poorest that I have ever seen, and has a yodare-kake that doesn't belong. The shikoro doesn't belong either, nor does it appear to have any age, it also being a very poor replacement. The maedate, well if this is genuine, then it is an extremely poor one, and very badly fitted too! I doubt that even this is genuine personally. The whole aging of the helmet and mempo is far too even for my liking, and to my eyes appears false too, to cover up bad workmanship. I have had a few kabuto, and I certainly wouldn't want this one! I would have loved to have heard Ian's thoughts on this piece.

A very bad Chinese copy I am afraid. It is a pity that someone didn't do some homework before buying a sword. There are numerous articals on this forum about these swords and what to look for.

I can access the page, which is unusual, as usually facebook will not load for me as I do not have an account.

I don't know what so many tsuba are doing in Norway, but I gave got about half a ton of them here!

It seems that I did Alex! As I recall, the bill for the guitar from Spain followed about three weeks later.

Try and photograph the tang vertically, with the blade upwards, as this is how the mei is read, and this makes reading them much easier. I believe that the mei is Shigeyoshi, though I think this could also perhaps be read Shigeyuki. Hopefully, someone far better at kanji than I am will chip in here.

I bought a bayonet from the UK, sent by UPS and they handled everything, I just have a bill to pay of about £50 to them, but the bayonet was delivered to me about three weeks back, and the UPS bill followed. They dealt with all the customs etc. I also bought a guitar from Spain a couple of years back, again it was sent by UPS, and again it was delivered to me and a bill sent to me afterwards. UPS handled all the customs etc.