NotANinja

Ah thank you, wasn't sure what Jidai meant!

Strangely the mekugi looks to be laquered bone? I don't think it's wood either way

Hi all, I recently purchased this sword from an auction because the tsuka intrigued me. I've never come across anything like it before so I was hoping someone here could tell me something about it. Also why is the mei on the tsuba so... bad? Was it perhaps the owner of the sword who did that at some point in the past and that's why it's scratchy? The blade inside is genuine so I don't have any doubt for it's authenticity. Many thanks!

Also, apologies but what do you mean by Edo Jidai? I am still quite new to this, thank you.

Hi Jean, Thank you for your response! Maybe patination was the wrong word, what I meant was that the nakago is dark not including the newer red rust from it's unfortunate past storage. Hada is very difficult to see even in person but I haven't had a sunny day here yet and I only received it yet. Hopefully the weather will be kind to me tomorrow. As far as value goes that does not matter to me, I buy the swords that I like and endevour to eventually restore every single one for preservations sake alone

Hi Sam, I would agree with you there. Although unsigned, the blade to me doesn't give off any inclinations of being shortened, but there is some age there with the patination imo, and it has been polished possibly more than once with how much hamachi there isn't. I'd put my money on 1750 ish but don't know enough for any more info then that. Would love to hear opinions on school and smith from the many more knowledgeable people on this site!

Thank you Brian! I think the blade is older however what do you think? And any advice as to cleaning the grime from the samegawa or just keep it as is?

Hi all, part 2: The Sad Sword to follow probably tomorrow. Recently aquired this lovely old wakizashi in koshirae and would like some help narrowing it down. Here are its specs: Nagasa: 16"/41cm overall 21"/53cm Sori: 0.35"/9mm Kissaki: 1.18"/30mm Motohaba: 1.08"/27.5mm Sakihaba: 0.86"/22mm Motokasane: 0.25"/6.4mm Sakikasane: 0.16"/4.0mm Can't tell jigane very well, possibly a bit of masame hada but not in great polish. Hamon is absolutely gorgeous and what drew my eye to start with and is a lovely choji koshi-no-hiraita midare all the way along the blade. Sadly boshi is not able to be seen because of surface rust but part of the turnback can be seen so it's definitely there. Nakago is mumei and has one mekugi-ana and looks ubu with some age to it. It has been polished in the past and there are polishers marks under the habaki. Koshirae looks nice but the tsuka has definitely been altered for this blade as there's 2 holes for the pegs. It's filthy so I'd like some advice on cleaning the tsuka if that's possible at all. I have no idea what the menuki are supposed to be. 1 seppa, and the tsuba, fuchi and kashira look like a matching simple iron (armourers?) set. Saya is in okay condition, not split which is good bit is missing the kozuka but that's normal I think. Paid approx £300 for it after fees. I saw in connoisseurs some similarities between this and some koto bizen blades but I do not think it is that old, but possibly curca 1750 ish +/- 50yrs? Please let me know your thoughts I am very excited to find out more!

Well, thank you all for such a wealth of knowledge! Before now I did not even know such a thing existed so thank you!

Ah I see, you can tell I'm not American haha! Interesting to know though. Do you know if these px swords are worth much? Want to know how much to pay or if I'm about to be ripped off!

PX? Excuse my ignorance, is that 'part exchange' swords made from genuine parts from different places/other swords? Like a mix of shin and kai gunto mounts?

And sorry, still new to this stuff, by souvenir do you mean chinese/indian/wherever non-genuine replica?

Hi Bruce, Thank you for all your detailed replies. I don't own the sword(s) yet, they're in a shop a bit too far away for me to travel too but I like them and wanted to see if I could authenticate them before getting them. These are all the photos they've sent me of them, aside from the photos you've already seen. Annoyingly they didn't say which nakago belongs to which sword. They also think they're reproductions but I somewhat doubt it, because theyre also selling 2 other blades one they've labelled as nihonto when it quite obviously isn't and one they're not sure about when it quite clearly is, so I don't trust their judgement.

Hi all, A blade in a local auction has me confused. It looks legitimate from a glance but looking closer I'm wondering if it is or not. There is no samegawa under the tsuka-ito, it just looks like canvas, but everything else I've seen looks good. Fully aware this may just be a type imbot familiar with. The nakago also has a naval stamp on it that looks a little different from the ones I can find in Fuller/Gregory. Many thanks! Rob.

And then presumably just decided against it or gave up? What could have made them decide that I wonder...

I believe the blade is probably o-suriage but I don't know what this channel cut in both sides of the nakago mean? Has anyone ever come across this before? Many thanks!

Hi Jussi, Thank you for your reply! That sounds very interesting, I thought it might have been rarer. I have very few reference books and each smith I could find signed the other way. What do the boshi look like on the examples you know about? This one has a long kaeri extending beyond the yokote line. Enjoyed your naginata seminar by the way! Rob.

Thank you, yes I was thinking koto too. I wish I had better pictures but sadly I don't own the sword. I'm not too familiar with koshirae is it in tachi fittings?