cabowen

The heading at the top says that it is a listing of Shinto smiths but looking at the entries, there are shinshinto and gendai smiths listed as well. Most likely it was published in 1938 but it is not a list of purely gendai smiths.

Blade is signed Ishihara Kanetada. Looks like a WWII era showa-to in civilian koshirae: iai-to perhaps.....

It is possible he was employed in some fashion by the military in Showa 14 but as far as I can find out, there wasn't a country-wide, organized, standardized program until Showa 17 or so, when the RJT program began. This was a specific program so to say he was a RJT in Showa 14, before the program was initiated, is a not really accurate. I would think it would be more correct to simply call him an Army contract smith at that point. Perhaps a hair that wasn't split when the book was published. Sukekane and Masayoshi worked much earlier (Meiji, Taisho, early Showa) and weren't around in Showa 14 so their work at the arsenal in Hikawa-cho as I recall, is much earlier. I don't think we would call them RJT. Sadakatsu also died about the time the program was launched; his son is known to have produced star stamped blades under the Sadateru mei. I have seen star stamped blades by most of the smiths you have listed, but as I said, none dated earlier than Showa 17. I agree that the Muto family smiths worked at the Kokura arsenal. That would have been the closest for them. Perhaps as you said, there exists the possibility that Muto did some work for the military in Showa 14 and perhaps he simply blurred the line having later been in the RJT program.... Thanks for your reply.

Maybe a mistake but it makes one wonder....I have never seen a star stamped blade dated earlier than Showa 17.

I find it interesting that Muto san states that he became a Jumei Tosho in Showa 14. Has anyone ever seen a star stamped blade dated that early? As for the papers issued by the NBTHK prior to the smith's death. We see that sometimes. I think it can usually be assumed to be an honest mistaken belief at the time that the smith was deceased. His comments about swords becoming "like beautiful women" is interesting as well...

I have been asked several times to hold a shinsa in the EU. There are many issues, as you note, to contend with. I would like to see it happen and I think it will happen at some point, but later, rather than earlier.

Thanks Bob....It looks though like the next NTHK-NPO shinsa will be in 2016 in Tampa.

Very nice, congrats!

http://tetsugendo.com/kodogu/FT-179_Akasaka_Tadanori.html

I was just joking John...Your concerns are well taken and I will investigate the product further before using it on anything important. It does resemble regular firearm oil, maybe just a touch more viscous, but nothing like wax, etc.

Thanks...Seems there is an identical (?) one on the Tetsugendo site....

Guess that tosses out the US Military.....

Will be checking it out...

But it has a much higher viscosity.

Personally, I would rather not put wax on my blades. Wax sounds like something that will attract/hold dirt and grit.

Some kind soul recently sent me a bottle of a product called CO "Collector" made by Break Free for "long term storage protection". It is an oil especially formulated for the military for long term firearm storage. It was tested and found to be effective at preventing corrosion for up to 5 years with one application. It is said to be safe for all materials and recommended for use on firearms, in armories and museums. I will be giving this a try and will report back if there are any issues. It looks to be a promising alternative for corrosion resistance.

Thanks for the comments...Yes, the Tadayoshi mei has a bit of variation from the few I could find for reference, but those I did find had some variation as well....The workmanship is consistent and that is what is giving me hope.... Again, thanks.

These will be sold. They were offered to me and were just too nice to pass up. I would rather see them in a collector's hands than in an heir's....

Sorry Ron, I should have looked a bit closer...

Yoshikuni koshirae:

Tadayoshi Koshirae:

Tadayoshi: Yoshikuni:

I recently returned from a rather distant jaunt to purchase a katana and wakizashi that are really interesting so I thought I would share them with the membership... The daito is in late Edo koshirae that has a shibuichi kojiri/fuchi-gashira ensuite by Toshimasa. The tsuba is also later but unsigned. It is all of very nice quality. The blade is a go-ji mei Tadayoshi. At first blush, it looks like his work-beautiful tight jigane with a shallow notare/suguba with hotsure. Gold foil habaki. I would appreciate the opinions of others...Based on the photos, Roger Robertshaw thought it had better than a 50-50 chance, so I rolled the dice...Once I had it in hand, the workmanship seems spot on...I will be sending it to Japan for shinsa and polish. Fingers crossed. The wakizashi has shakudo fuchi-gashira, unsigned, with an octopus and wave motif. The wari-kogai and kozuka are in iron. The tsuba is iron sukashi and signed Akasaka Tadanori. It is also quite nice. The blade is signed Kozuke no Kami Yoshikuni. Silver, two piece habaki. He was a student of Osaka Tamba no Kami Yoshimichi and the blade is textbook Osaka Shinto. It is really gorgeous with an exuberant o-choji-midare. I will be sending this one over as well. I will post some photos in the next few successive posts...Hope you all find these as interesting as I have...enjoy...

NTHK-NPO has indicated to me that they would be agreeable to a US shinsa in 2016.....venue to be decided....