sanjuro

OK... I give up! You can lead a horse to water but the damn thing may still die of thirst apparently. :? Brian. Take a look at the Sue Mihara Tomo wakizashi just listed for sale. Then tell me that this wak of yours stacks up against it.

Brian. A little clarification here if you can open your mind to it. The fatal flaw you can see in the kissaki coincides with the edge of the yakiba as it runs off the edge just forward of the yokote. (Bear in mind that the photographs are all we have to judge by). Ergo there is no boshi, since it has been ground off or broken at some point. (Unintentional pun..... sorry ) Forget about the silly habaki for pete's sake, you can have one made if its missing and the blade is worth it. At the moment, in this case the habaki is probably worth more than the blade. What Chris and I are saying in as polite a way as possible is that this is a rubbish blade dressed up in a new shirasaya and with a decent quality habaki.

I tend toward the opinion that nothing, absolutely nothing, from the Edo period with a fatal flaw can be considered "In great condition"! The kissaki appears to have been reworked at some time because the geometry of the boshi is wrong, or at least so it appears in the photographs provided. The hamon seems to run out just forward of the yokote. It appears that what once was a chu kissaki has been reshaped to a ko kissaki and the ko shinogi has not been corrected. The hada is also a little rough for a shin shinto blade of any real quality. It may have once been a nice blade however and is suffering from damage repair. Just my opinion........ :D

Ken. Its my impression that Kiyomaro and his students at least would only have supplied the blade in shirasaya to their clients. Much as any swordsmith would have done. The koshirae was something of a separate undertaking as you know and was subject to the tastes of the blades owner, and of course the accessibility of a skilled artisan. Assuming that he had a variety of clients with sometimes differing tastes, short of going overboard with something totally tasteless and dandified, I doubt that you can actually put a wrong koshirae on the sword if one simply follows the 'tastes of the time' in selecting a mounting. keep it tasteful and suitable for a samurai of the period.

Ford. Being non Japanese has never stood in the way of you doing and making Japanese things before has it? It certainly hasn't stopped you from winning prizes and gaining recognition against Japanese competitors or voicing various opinions on Japanese objects either. Why start pouting about your lack of Japanese ethnicity now???? When I made the 'preferably Japanese' stipulation, I was thinking about the well meaning idiots who try to emulate Japanese artifacts with at best mixed, and at worst no, success. You are quite a different type of idiot.....You have talent. :D Hell, if I had money to chuck about and could afford your work, I might in a moment of weakness buy some of it. Ken. I too think your Kiyomaro would be an excellent sword for such a project, and I can appreciate the difficulty in selecting the correct style of koshirae for it. Now, who do we know who might have some inkling as to what would be appropriate ??? I seem to recall a South African dude who hangs around here sometimes. He might know someone, even though he's not Japanese. :D

Hi Ken. I have done this a couple of times for 'special' swords which I still own. In my experience it takes a long time to find the appropriate tosogu since these usually dont come along in sets very often and its almost (but not quite) impossible to assemble a koshirae from disparate pieces. When push comes to shove, then it depends on the sword, its age, its type and of course its quality. Also the type of koshirae that is appropriate. If its worth doing, then its worth doing well and that is never either easy or cheap. It can be most enjoyable finding just the right combination, it can also be very frustrating and time consuming. If you are going to have the koshirae made from scratch by a modern artisan, then it comes down to choosing one (preferably Japanese) and letting him decide the appropriate style within your parameters. This is the 'old' way......... koshirae made to order. Are you willing to share the details of the 'Special' sword that you have and wish to mount? little details like Is it koto or shinto, what style koshirae you have in mind etc...... :D

Surely I can't be the only one who has noticed that once someone starts to split hairs and argue about some picky little detail, then the thread dies........ Seems sort of counter productive really.

Substitute the word 'quality' for 'value' and you have it. Congratulations! you have arrived in one step, at that which is taking many others many faltering steps to come to terms with.

Actually, Franco makes a good point here. It is arguable that the long swords of the shinto period were somewhat less resilient than their Koto counterparts. Daito failure and breakage was more frequent than we perhaps give credit to. The Masahide article details failures of blades in circumstances that are not considered extreme.

Alex. What you say has merit, particularly when taken in context of how these weapons were intended to be used. The katana is limited in length to some degree by the way in which it is drawn from the saya thrust through the obi in a one handed fashion. It is also dictated to some degree by the physical size of the man using it. It is quite difficult to draw an extremely long blade in this way. Bear also inj mind that the average Japanese male is somewhat smaller in stature than his western counterpart. Yes it is possible to draw a longer blade, but it requires a slightly different technique. The uchigatana (or whatever we want to call it), was developed so that it could be employed as a draw and strike sword. A tachi on the other hand was traditionally not required to fulfil this function and was quite a bit longer in the blade. Then again, there are also Tachi of shorter length and Katana (daito) of greater than Edo period prescribed length. It really is a can of worms to become limited in ones thinking, and classify swords entirely by length.

Hi Alex. I just spotted this new thread after answering your post in the other thread. :? I'll transport it here if you think it worthwhile including in your thread.

Alex. Good question..... I've seen a number of blades from the mid sixteenth century that fall into this size category, and yes, I guess they are Katate uchi. I dont think however that a sword of this length made after that period (lets say a shinto blade for example), would be classified as such. O wakizashi perhaps? Its all semantics anyhow. Edo period definitions of length are exactly that... They refer only to swords of that period as far as I'm concerned, and can be quite misleading when applied to swords of earlier periods. Western use of Japanese terms is also quite corrupted by misuse particularly on the part of collectors.

Lorenzo. Yep... I knew someone would pick me up on that. LOL. The problem we face here is the Edo period definition of a wakizashi as opposed to merely a shorter bladed weapon than a katana as defined in the Edo period classifications that we use fairly widely today. Those longer wakizashi of the Momoyama period I dont think were defined as wakizashi at the time, they were merely a sword of a convenient length. They really border on being uchigatana. However, I bow to your correction. :D

Brian. And in a later post in another thread, in which you refer to wakizashi as CQB It would be interesting to find out exactly what you are defining as Close quarter battle in the context of wakizashi. How do you think these swords were used? If one were to be pedantic, then the tanto is the CQB (sic) par excellence. :D The wakizashi at least as far as samurai were concerned were largely a badge of rank, and an emergency weapon at best. In nito style for instance, it is used as a parrying weapon. Ashigaru during the Momoyama period were issued with swords of wakizashi length as a secondary weapon to a yari or a naginata. The vast majority of wakizashi were made in the Edo period for the merchant class since they were not permitted to wear a long sword. In terms of status, the wakizashi ranks below the tanto, which was at least meant as a close quarter weapon to back up the long sword of earlier periods.

Brian. Perhaps if you asked the questions you have in the open forum, those who might know may respond. I dont think anyone is going to PM you to answer questions they have no pre warning of. Many of us dont have encyclopeadic memories, however we may have libraries that may contain your answers.

Brian. I am here encouraging you to examine your basic premise of admiration of this particular showa period smith, not criticizing the choices you are making. One wonders what attracts you to these Kanezane swords. Like the vast majority of Showato they are poorly balanced and they are not nihonto as such, being none traditionally made blades. You claim on the one hand to appreciate nihonto and on the other to like these poor cousins to real nihonto. I am confused. Merely claiming to like them is not what attracts you to them. There must be some basis in your appreciation of them. (Price I could believe).

Brian. Others have posted their impressions of this sword. Basically, a shin shinto with kitae ware and shingane. That makes it a low end sword despite the pretty hamon. Hada and hamon alone are not the 'be all and end all' when it comes to nihonto. You still have a long road (Learning curve) ahead of you. My impression of the sword............. It really doesn't matter. Its what you think of it that matters, and as you grow in knowledge and look with a more experienced eye, the less you will be attracted to this and other swords you have posted here.

Always assuming that one would know a high quality sword if one saw one of course! By the same token, if one had a Lear jet and could afford to run and service it, then the price of a high quality sword or two would not be a problem and you could go pick them up in person, regardless of location.

Henry. "I'm having a friend for dinner tonight". Hannibal Lechter. Just kidding....

Brian. Because I'm not easily discouraged and thus far I have had minimal input into your posts, I'll persist where others have perhaps resigned themselves to letting you 'do your thing' in the face of good advice to the contrary. What follows is not a personal indictment directed at you or your preferences but a simple statement of facts. You claim for whatever reason, that you prefer wakizashi, and the examples you own are largely average examples that most of us would not look twice at. Fair enough I guess, but the fact remains that you will learn little or nothing apart from what constitutes a mid or low end blade from the mid to low end examples you own. One good sword would teach you far more about nihonto. The reason for this is that the books you are reading use good examples in order to illustrate the various aspects of hada, hamon, sugata etc, and you don't appear to own a good enough example to compare with those texts and illustrations in order to identify what you are seeing in your blades with any accuracy. Wakizashi are fine but they are not the most collectable class of blade. The reason for this is that most of them are not good quality and were made in the main for non samurai. There are literally hundreds of thousands of these things extant which were made for merchants and the like who would not have known a good sword from a bad one. Many were merely 'bundle' swords. There are exceptions of course, and these are sought after. None of them change hands on ebay however. The upshot of this is that when you come to trade or sell your accumulation of wakizashi, unless you have an extremely good or rare example, you will almost certainly take a loss on them. Just my two cents worth.

Brian. You may wish to consider this: This way of displaying your swords with hilt to the right, is reserved for times when your household is under threat. In times of peace it is a challenge and a mild insult to any guest who enters your house. It says you do not trust them and you are ever ready to defend yourself against the threat that you feel they may represent. Yours is not a samurai household, and if it were, so many swords kept within easy reach of a potential enemy in your house would be rather foolish. A samurai would have kept only one mounted sword within reach for emergencies. He also would have worn a wakizashi thrust through his obi, even in his own home. Are you then beset by so many potential enemies that you need to be 'battle ready' within your own home? Are you really so proficient with a blade that it would be your weapon of choice in a potential encounter? I've found a glock to be far more practical. Isn't this just so much romantic nonsense on your part? You are after all not living as a samurai in an age where threat was ever present, and part of your profession. On the purely practical side, You really need to think about keeping your better blades in shirasaya if preservation is paramount. A sword deteriorates far more quickly when kept mounted. The accepted way is as Jean has stated.

@brannow Unfortunately Bill you were the bearer of news that was not welcome. Often the owners of these gross fakes don't trust a dealer's word because they think you are trying to get the abomination of a thing for a ludicrously cheap price, even though you wouldn't buy such an obvious fake under any circumstances. Maybe he believes you now. :D

No way am I going to miss this a second time running. There's a lot to be said for pre planned illnesses........ :D 15th and 16th Sept you say? I can already feel the onset of an acute case of 'not available for work' syndrome.

Paulb. Naginata naoshi, as far as my understanding goes, does not necessarily indicate a reshaped naginata, but is also a style of blade. This current blade of Brian's puts me in mind of Mino work. I have a similar blade which is later Shimada school after the school moved to Mino province. Yes.... Of course I could be wrong! Brian. On the upside from your point of view, it is a blade that merits collecting and has some presence to it. Keep it up Brian, you are progressing through the pain barrier. In comparison to the swords you originally started posting, this latest acquisition is streets ahead. :D

Franco. Having responded to this thread, it strikes me that regardless of the general principles that one may follow in purchasing a collectable nihonto, there are always the exceptions particularly when one is a more experienced collector, when a particular sword may fall somewhat outside your guidelines but is none the less a desirable acquisition. Stricter guidelines are probably more wisely adopted by less experienced collectors and as their knowledge grows, then those guidelines may either widen of their own voilition or be relaxed as the appropriate buying opportunity demands. All for the right reasons of course and not merely as a result of an uneducated whim. Just a thought.........