kusunokimasahige

btw Milt......... MAEDATE......... :lol: KM

true indeed, that is what i mean, so therefore more investigation is needed, that is also why i would like to post the pics asap, so you could shed some light on it... it looks to me very well forged/smithed, however i would in the future like to know through shinsa who probably made it.... since it does not seem to be cheaply made like some of the other WWII ones i have seen.....! i have heard that the aluminium scabbards are quite rare by the way... but i dont know for sure... KM PS I have just found some gendai smiths whose art-name is also masayuki !!

Hello all, Well i have finally picked up the katana of which i asked in a previous posting wether or not it was gimei... I have discovered a few things about the blade since, and pictures of it will follow soon.. the length of the cutting edge is 63 cm, which would make it about 2 shaku 2 bun... the strange thing is that it seems to have been re-tanged in a very skilfull manner! when you slide your finger from nakago hole to the blade, you feel a raised part coming up at a bout 3 cm from the cutting edge... also a straight line/indentation is visible between the two parts, but i will post scanned photos as soon as i can. This leads me to believe the gimei might actually be a mei denominating the sword after re-tanging... and since the work has been so skilfully done, which must have cost a lot! i am inclined to say the blade is either a repaired masayuki, or an older one. gendaito could also be very well possible! however i do not have any idea on why some officer would go through the length of first having his (old) blade re-tanged in this skilfull manner, and then having a masayuki gimei put on the tang by the smith if it was not a masayuki after all...... especially since he could have easily asked for a more improtant name. the only reason it might not be masayuki or older is the fact that the sword has the 1.5 cm slight blunting just above the habaki... however the hamon traces are visible also on this part of the sword. the tang tip's shape is in between hira-yamagata and ha-agari. the kissaki is O-kissaki as far as i can see. the yasurime on the tang are ichi-monji, HOWEVER!!! on the upper part of the tang where the old polish begins, just above the ridge i mentioned earlier, the yasurime(what remains of it) are suji-chigai... only visible on one side of the blade.. there is a trace of Hamon, bute due to the "wrong" way of polishing, being out of polish or war-time polishing, the sword blade only has slight colour differences, ie the hamon top line nie nioi etc become visible under a certain angle and with a certain light. there is rust-pitting on one side of the blade/ kissaki cutting edge which strangely enough seems to be only on the area normally covered by the Hamon. The mount type is 94 aluminium scabbard with wood inside, and the removeable second carrying point is missing. however if you slide your fingers over the spot where it would have been attached you feel the slight indentation of the two copper bands...The release button on the hilt is made of silver / silver plated which also strikes me as not a common feature. the habaki is made of silver folded around a copper core. again, pictures etcetera will follow. I am thinking of saving up for a full polish on this blade, which in my eyes deserves it. so far........ KM (no loss for 400 Euros i think)

thanks for the info brian!! I know in Germany WWII gear numbers are well documented, guess in Japanese WWII gear its different. What was the reason there was a difference in NCO and CO mountings? was it just troop distinction? KM

Hey Milt!! impressive collection!! i have a few of them (replicas, posterised) I love the chushingura series! the only print i have which is original, is a print of yoritomo no minamoto getting ambushed in a wintery landscape......... ill post a pic someday...... KM

Interesting! I just picked up my "Masayuki" blade in shin-gunto mounting, on which i will start a thread soon, it is definetely a commissioned officers blade, and Nihon-to/gendai-to, so no NCO one, and i have discovered something which makes me even more certain it is by him....or it might even be older!! but more about that later... The Numbers on the gunto seppa/tsuba all correspond and are of a fairly low count... Now my question is this: are there or have there ever been number lists of gunto mountings and to whom they have been handed out...? if so, do they still exist? KM

i would have it repolished! KM PS the nick in the cutting edge is typical of damage done in battle or defense. wether or not against Jitte or Kat or Wak I cannot say. A very interesting piece indeed!

well They are! still around!!! Id rather pay a lot for such a letter than for any dress worn by any celeb... KM

Even though this is of course a valid argument, it doesnt mean it is not a thrill to own something made by a well known general!! if you would find yourself a sword/tsuba owned by Uesugi Kenshin, fully documented and papered wouldnt you be happy? KM

I dont think we will ever know hehehehehe... i think you can buy a few nihon-to from it... only thing is that (if the buyer is not Japanese) the govt and musea were very very dumb if this got out of the country and was lost to the people of Japan.... we are not talking about a woodblock print here....... KM

HUH? this morning it wasnt hahahahaha... it has been on for a few weeks... did you buy it? KM

once on holiday i saw a moron try to impress a girl by diving into the sea, hands stretched out before him....... he als couldnt sim anymore..... hands full of sea urchins needles........ very very OUCH...... ah well........ as long as its not a wound from re-sheathing a katana the wrong way and missing the saya......... saw that happen once at a iaido seminar....... yaikes......... anyway we are seemingly straying off topic...... :lol: KM

OUCH!!!! i once had a small leg wound and continued swimming in the sea.... it looked gruesome after a while.. but healed remarkably well...... KM

http://www.toraba.com/sono-0511-5096.htm Okay this will be expensive but it is an actual work by Toyotomi Hideyoshi!!! WOW!! KM

Wow, that sounds nasty... in my filmwork i often work with resins and polymers for casting, so i am used to work with masks and gloves... shouldnt be a problem i think.... geez unbelievable you couldnt swim! KM

we are so lucky! ps i heard not everyone is allergic to urushi..... :lol: KM

very true! that is why i buy resin fakes. KM

are we on five yet? :lol: KM ps is esemono a proper Japanese insult? read it in a silly book called "Sensei"

none of you on this? KM

well if this helps............ :lol: KM

I must add that it might also be possible it is a crest from the marriage between two families, they often combined crests when that happened, and it might also be possible it is a fantasy crest... especially after meiji and I think also earlier, the crest function of representing ONLY certain samurai families was abandoned, so also merchants and others were able to wear and use kamon. what is the estimated age of this saihai, and do you have more images of it? KM

expensive site, but great!!! ill contact them too.... Urushiing my zunari kabuto of a few hundred years old will be costly i am afraid..... ah well no rest for the wicked.... KM

dont start me off on Hanamoto.... anyway it is true that there are too many fakes about, and also the ivory laws are (rightly so) very strict. Thank god in the Netherlands true ancient ivory is not banned. For me personally it is okay to own several fakes, due to the fact i use them for re-enactment. Normally i only would buy originals on proper auctions. unfortunately we cannot do much about the e-bay fakers, except for warning each other on this forum. KM

BIZARRE!!!!!!!!! this one is by norimitsu http://japantrip.tripod.com/nodachi/norimitsu.html imagine trying to wield that in a battle......... KM

Thank you very much!!!! i will go and study it! KM