Cuirassier

Hi Guys I bought a spectacular senior Imperial Japanese officer's / official's katana (not a true shin gunto, but with some shin gunto features, such as the leather combat saya - but it has dragonfly fuchi, menuki and kashira - not sure iof the dragonfly is of any significance as to position, and a beautiful tsuba). The blade is in need of a polish, and this is one I intend to get done. But I am coming unstuck with the mei, or one character thereof, the forth from last. I have "bushū shimohara ju yamamoto (???)tsugi terushige" I hope I am right? And then, who is this blade maker? Is this another variation of the blade maker bushū shimohara ju yamamoto genjirō terushige? I can not find any other likely candidate. Cheers

I am such a thickie Thanks Ed

Let me show the full mei. The second character is Kura (I believe)

Hello Guys I just can not work this one character out. Please put me out of my misery!

Thanks Guys :D George So this is a post 1942 / 43 blade? It is interesting as it is in civilian mounts, so I guess it was removed from its original gunto mounts at some stage? That is, the second mekugi ana right at the end would signify it is a war time blade? Regards / RSVP Mark

Hi Guys I have seen this before, where there is a second mekugi-ana at the very end of the nakago. Is there a generalisation / explanation for this? Regards / RSVP Mark

Amazing, thank you very much. So it is the name of the owner and his address!

Hi Guys I picked up an interesting wakizashi in shin gunto mounts the other day. The saya actually has three columns of text. I would not know where to start with this one; I suspect it is some heroic text? I have included some images of the blade and tang as well. It is not signed, not the greatest blade ever, has some ware there! But would I be right, that this is shin-shinto, by the size and shape of the tang and kissaki? I have never seen inscriptions to the saya before. The sword reputedly came from the liberation of Changi prison, which I sort of believe but don't, as there is no officer's knot. Thanks in advance if you can help. Mark

Thanks again guys. But I am confused. Is this a naval sword? It is not a 1937M Kai Gunto for sure.................

PS Tony Norman does a great job and nowhere near $3K

No cracks! Blade is solid / sound, some rust pitting at the tip.

Some pics! Remember, the mounts alone are worth what I paid for it; you could say, the blade was free! I have cleaned most of the gunk, some kind of tar off it. The blade seems very, very fair to me. I may well consider paying for a polish. Any thoughts gladly received. I left my notes behind, but the cutting edge excluding habaki (which is really tight on there and I could not remove) is 25 1/2 inches from memory. Quite a heavy blade. The shin gunto in total is really heavy; the saya is particularly solid. Regards Mark

Thanks guys So, can I presume "Ujinaga" is not the blade smith / maker? The mei on mine has far fewer characters than other meis for Takayama-to swords; any speculation as to why? No apparent maker's name? No polisher's name. Late war sword? Earlier sword? Regards Mark

Hi Brian Thank you very much, and you are right, Takayama-to but not like any of the other meis on the forum or indeed elsewhere with Takayama-to. I did however find an example with Takayama-to on ebay (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vtg-WW2-Japanese-Katana-Takayam-Masanao-Sword-RARE-Knife-Old-Collection-Samurai-/111149727232) and although the mei is standard Takayama-to, the sword does have more than a passing resemeblance to the one I acquired. Regards Mark

Hello Guys Maybe it is me, but this one is an odd one. I can pretty well translate more recent, 20C shin shinto meis (having become used to the style), which I am 100% certain this is one of. But this one has really baffled me. It comes from a civilian katana with a signed plain iron tsuba (photo also shown). However, there are painted characters too, which I always presumed were Imperial Japanese military? This is a coivilian katana and there are no acceptance stamps to the blade. Everything about it confuses me. Let us start with the first two characters, which I presume, I am sure are the province characters. I am using BW Robinson's "The Arts of the Japanese Sword", Provinces (Appendix C) and I see character 15 followed character by 39; I am 100% sure the later is 39, but there is no province associated for this! OK, then the other characters; Ama Iye / Toshi Taka Yama Riki Yo Mio Saku Oh lordy, it does not make sense to me. I am certain about the last few characters, and they do not go together. Finally, the tsuba, it reads Yoshikatsu right? Again, I should have taken photos of the entire blade, which I have not yet, but can do in a few days time if of any interest. Any help / info appreciated. I would for example love to know what the end hole was used for. Cheers Mark

Hi Guys Thanks I will / know I should have taken some full blade images, sorry. The item is at my apartment not our home; I will be back there in a couple of days and will get some photos then. I am currently struggling with another mei, so I may well post that later / ask for some help - it is a wierd one, the characters I am sure I have got right but it does not make sense. Thanks again Mark

Thanks Stephen I will try and clean the rest of the gunk of the blade and maybe think about a polish, as it seems ripe for it, not that I really know. But it might be worth sending to Tony Norman. In any event, the fittings alone are worth more than I paid for it, so the blade is a bonus!

Is it really September already tomorrow OK, hopefully I can have a little boast on this one. I am not sure if anyone can help me further with the bladesmith, as the tang has been shortened. So I bought some items from a major auction house in London fairly recently (just got the items). They catalogued several Japanese items (1 I kicked and kicked myself that I had not bid more). One they catalogued very badly, no photos (but I got photos sent to me anyway); 'Shin gunto, can not expose tang." I am amazed at how little I paid for this thing; someone had stuck what looked a screw into the grip and tang, but it was really a glued in smooth shaft bolt that could not be turned; one little tap from the other side and out she popped! Anyway, the gunto fittings are not too bad to say the least, the blade was covered in gunk (which has mostly come off now to leave quite a respectable item), the entire thing is very heavy, and it has a Bizen blade - the mei is like nothing I have seen before; quite unpronounced, written at the very end So, I have translated what I can, any further pointers / indicators / era / possible bladesmiths would be very much appreciated I have Bizen, Shirosaku? Clearly other characters have been lost when the tang was shortened. I am sure this is not the world's most exciting find, but for less than the cost of a decent hotel room for a night, it aint bad!

Thanks Adam and Matt Wow, I could not have been further off The character "yoko" is not even in my "Arts of the Japanese Sword" characters for swordsmiths, or am I looking in the wrong place?

Any helpers? I have ignored the first three chanarcters to try and concentrate on / find the maker's name. The last character I believe is "saku" (made this). So I presume the two or rather three characters before "saku" are the maker's name. But it is the middle of these three? characters that throws me. A horizontal line with two shor and one long vertical strokes. I have got Nori, Ari or Tomo, Hiro, unknown, suke, saku My eyes are very tired - scrutinizing every book I have. Please, put me out of my misery

Guys, thank you very much. It dispells, I think, what the original owner said, that his grandpa was given it by the Chinese. Cheers

Hi Guys Please tell me this is Chinese; Or what is says if it is Japanese. I have tried and tried using my mei reading books; yes, I know it is not a mei! I was told it was the bring back of an RAF pilot that had something to do with Chinese / Japanese prisoner of war exchanges / releases. Cheers in hope and anticipation Mark

No problem, I did not buy it; it sold for what I would have paid if I thought the mei were authentic / 100% So thanks for pointing whay you did out. I will now wander over to the Izakaya forum and tell you about my "turnip chopper"

Hoanh I think the placement is OK against the top Mekugi ana, I just get jittery about such finds. John Thanks, I feared it might be kosher. Dang Not sure I can afford it Spent too much money today on some mighty fine Scottish blades - shame I can not relate about my Gordon chieftan Culloden find here.

This can't be THE Yasuhiro, right? The "Yasu" character is too straight, too normal. Yes, on a gunto (what else). :-) Mark