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Showing results for 'komonjo' in content posted in Military Swords of Japan.
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Ok, I only have blades of 3 of the others. Two look to be suguha hamon, but the third is almost identical to yours Suguha Didn't record source, but I think this was from AOI Art This was posted by Mathias_AC at Wehrmacht-awards Here's the one with similar hamon, found on a Komonjo sale:
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Japanese WW2 Era Navy Kai Gunto, curious on your thoughts
Alaen replied to Kintepro's topic in Military Swords of Japan
. Hi agree with you I have seen sword sold from another controversial seller komonjo and weeks later realists by Showa 22 and actually sold for doble of the initial price, i buy and return one sword in shirasaya at high price that tuned to be gimei motohira thanks to a friend here and later he realist we a different koshirae so he do all this tricks before and continues -
Torio Hiromasa with removed stamp
RobCarter3 replied to RobCarter3's topic in Military Swords of Japan
I know that a gendaito by an Ehime smith would never have a Seki/Gifu commercial association stamp. I was about to buy the sword and then noticed a removed stamp and alarm bells started going off that this was a komonjo-type special where someone had applied a spurious Hiromasa mei to a Seki showato, despite all the other indications that the mei looked right, "yama" stamps check out, hamon is in Hiromasa's characteristic Bizen style choji-midare, blade is obviously water quenched, etc. You and the others are obviously correct that it's a removed star stamp. Very glad I came here and sought opinions from more experienced eyes. -
New angle for sales from Komonjo. Nice blades with similarly corroded nakago, in hastily made saya and tsuka. Granted, he clearly states in both ads "...but gimei for sure. Bid on the steel, not the name." Hisamichi Kuniyasu
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Yes, thanks for the ink. Only have 10 large Seki stamps in 1943 compared to 70 of them in 1942. Komonjo lists this one as 1942, but it's a '43
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First off, my apologies if I have posted this in the wrong section. Before I read the wonderful advice to spend my first $1000 or so on books, I saw a bare blade for auction on ebay from the seller komonjo (I am now aware this is already a very questionable choice), and from what I could tell, it looked like a good quality blade. The listing said it was signed Yasunobu, and through research I found he was a Smith at the yasukuni shrine. The listing had a short time left on it, so I bid up to something like $860 and won. In person, it is quite beautiful. I purchased a book on sword smiths of the yasukuni shrine, and compared it to the images of his blades, and it looked similar enough for me (at that time) to be content that it was genuine. Since then, I have purchased a few rusty wakizashi from the same seller and I have been reading like a madman everything I can about nihonto, in an effort to learn more about them, and about the history and craft of nihonto in general. In this further research I have done, I have become aware of the fact that fakes of prominent smiths are quite common, and even becoming rather convincing. While reading about the swords forged in the Yasukuni Shrine, I have discovered that they are signed in a way synonymous to the way Tachi were signed, with the smith's name on the outside when the sword is worn with the edge facing downward, the way a Tachi would be worn, with the date of manufacture being on the opposite side of the nakago. I also read that a small number that were presented to very high caliber clients, such as imperial family members, had their signatures placed in the manner a katana would have, on the opposite side of the nakago as a Tachi. The sword I purchased appears to have its signature in the manner a katana would be signed. That was my first red flag. The second was that some signatures I found online for yasunobu looked very similar to the one I had, but some looked quite different, and none were on the side a katana would usually show. The third red flag I have noticed is that the nakago is nearly pristine, showing hardly any age whatsoever, whereas most of the pictures I have found of yasunobo's work has at least a patina on the nakago. I will post a link to a few pictures that I have on my phone of the blade I own, but I won't be able to take any specific pictures until I get home from the hospital. I will also post pictures of Mei from the same Smith that I have found online for comparison. If anyone could help me verify if my hunch is correct about this blade being gimei, it would be greatly appreciated. Any other information or insight about the blade would also be warmly welcomed. The pictures and video that are mine are the ones that don't look like an online listing, but please let me know if any further clarification is needed on which is which. Yasunobu Katana https://imgur.com/gallery/ra4kR0x
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Help identifying Gimei Katana
Larason2 replied to Misterbovigoren's topic in Military Swords of Japan
This isn't a nihonto, it is a Chinese reproduction. A good quality one, but a Chinese reproduction none the less. The clue is the poor quality yasurime on the nakago, practically no nie, no real hamon, and the fact that the blade looks identical to a large number of other komonjo blades that are known to be Chinese reproductions, produced for the Japanese grey market. If you look closely, they just put a sashikomi polish between the edge and the temper line to hide the fact it's oil quenched. If you like it, I would enjoy it as a finely made reproduction, but it's not a nihonto. -
Help identifying Gimei Katana
David Flynn replied to Misterbovigoren's topic in Military Swords of Japan
Look like a Komonjo sword. Yes all Nihonto are water quenched. -
Others may personally know who these sword dealers are, Komonjo and Showa 22, northern California... I still to this day have a officers tassel I suspect is repo purchased from 22 . I know, I have had to unknowingly met these individuals having lived in Ca., for 45 years attending sword shows, gun shows, etc. I will also willing admit, I have always been a bit envious of their ability to have access to a seemingly endless supply of Japanese swords and the like. I once thought I had spoken with Showa 22 at a Sacramento, Ca. gun show, and the same for Komonjo at a San Jose show. I was wrong about the suspected Showa 22. The individual I thought was Showa 22, oddly after many years, I recently met again at a Boise gun show and assured me he wasn't 22. ( However, he had a pristine Shinto Sadatoshi in a beautiful gunto mount at the Boise show, made a reasonable offer, wouldn't budge, eventually realized , he was looking to buy what I had, not the other way around.) I became so wrapped up in trying to purchase the Sadatoshi, I failed to asked if he knew who Showa 22 and Komonjo where. There's a antique military dealer near my location with thousands of items, been in business for years, incredible inventory. He had an item I was interested in and we went into a process of negotiation of which he mentioned he would consider a Hircshfanger I own in trade. It was a W.K & C in excellent condition inscribed with owners name, made the trade. I was happy to get the item I wanted, but eventually fell into sellers remorse about the German Hunting dagger. A couple of weeks ago, there was another gun show in the area of which the militaria dealer had a display table. I approached the table and low and behold the owner of the shop was at the table, but in front of the table rather than behind it. I greeted him, we talked for a moment, I casually asked him if he still had the Hircshfanger, as I might be willing to buy it back. He's owned the shop for many years, surprisingly, he told me he had just sold the shop, the dagger was still there, I would need to negotiate with the new owner. Just yesterday. I went to the shop and met the new owner, nice guy from the Sacramento Ca. area, a very avid sword collector, all types including many Japanese. He mentioned he knew many sword collectors in the northern Ca. area and I'm sure he knows who Showa and Komonjo are, again I had my German Dagger in mind and repurchased it for what I considered a very reasonable price. Again, I must apologize about my seemingly never ending bloviating babel, but these are kind of fun quirky things that occur and also enjoy hearing such from others. I will eventually get around to asking one of the individuals mentioned who exactly are Komonjo and Showa 22 are. Does it matter, probably not, but as a individual who remembers what the United States was (before what is now trying to become) I would like to know what type of individuals these dealers are, do they intentionally attempt to deceive, are they personally decent people simply trying to survive and possibly exaggerate a bit...I would like to know!! Dave M.
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I had resisted the urge to add further to this discussion. Modified Japanese bayonets are anything but rare, but I had never seen what looked to me like a Japanese style modification so I thought it might be a worthy addition to our assembled understanding of WWII era cutlery. The world was awash in Arisaka bayonets as the War wound down and this sorry weapons suggested to me that bored American lads were NOT the only ones exploring ways of using them. Could this have been made as a homeland defensive weapon – up there with pointed bamboo sticks? We’ll never know, I suppose. But then this discussion took a turn toward character assessment of the seller. I do not know Komonjo-sama. And I certainly don’t know anything about the other purveyors that sell stuff on eBay. But with sincerity – and even respect -, I think that modern sword collectors ought to look closely – and even positively – at Komonjo-sama’s wares. It looks to me like he has dependable access to (among other things) real and true Japanese junk. Japanese society is well organized, in swords and everything else. When blades surface in Japan, they are assessed, judged, and moved to the right market. It looks to me like Komonjo-sama gets ahold of stuff that has surfaced and been assessed AND cannot find a market in Japan. The Japanese antiques system has figured out that in Japan this is scrap iron. Discard it…, ahh, BUT wait! Greedy, naïve, or optimistic Americans seem willing and able to buy it. Hence, Komonjo – his prices are low and his descriptions seem all right. He makes no bones about it. Anyone who would buy Komonjo-sama’s low end stuff assuming that it is ‘good’ is either a gambler, or foolish. BUT somebody IS buying his blades. Once those blades get to the New World, they will show up in auctions and gun shows and the next generation of emergent collectors will not know their history, but will have heard the stories of “barn finds.” Bargain hunters will buy them, “clean them up” (OMG!) and very likely come to the NMB to “ask advice.” Peter
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Noah: I think the one blade with the blue background is from Hennadiy2006, correct? The blue background is kind of his trademark, just like Komonjo's wood floor. He has one for sale for 650 at the moment. I know he takes a long time to sell things because he is generally very overpriced. Not saying he is a bad seller or that the sword isn't legit, just think you could find something cheaper. John C.
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Your Opinion on this Kanehide Katana. Real Gendaito?
Odannrott replied to Odannrott's topic in Military Swords of Japan
For more clarification, yes its from komonjo. So after all i've read so far online, this is most likely a gimei sword with unknown identity. Also Bryce is right with this, i checked again and they aren't aligned properly on one side of the blade (wasn't visible on the original pictures from offering). -
Your Opinion on this Kanehide Katana. Real Gendaito?
PNSSHOGUN replied to Odannrott's topic in Military Swords of Japan
It unfortunately looks like a Komonjo piece. These are at least significantly nicer than a chinese fake. -
Your Opinion on this Kanehide Katana. Real Gendaito?
francois2605 replied to Odannrott's topic in Military Swords of Japan
The picture of the jihada really has the komonjo feel and doesn't look like a typical Japanese sword hada. If the sword is supposed to be from Nakata Kanehide (2 million yen and high to superior-grade gendaito), the mei doesn't match. The 2 pages from John Slough's book about Kanehide for reference. 2 other Nakata Kanehide online at the moment: * https://japanesesword.com/archived-pages/2017/9/14/star-stamp-gendaito-by-nakata-kanehide * https://yakiba.com/kanehide-nakata/
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Your Opinion on this Kanehide Katana. Real Gendaito?
Leen replied to Odannrott's topic in Military Swords of Japan
The mei looks very clean, no patina in the mei. I think I am with Brian on this one, also not dated…..Komonjo? -
Okay John ... for the record: You keep on accusing me of being a bribed liar without any proof. Thank you. Furthermore You give me 23 swords meant to prove that Komonjo is a bad seller - some of these swords have TBH papers. Uppong repeated asking you to point out the problems you fail to provide your comments on a single piece of them but keep up your accusations. So selling a Gimei sword is a misdeed? Interesting. I am to be guilty then as most other collectors are. What is your suggestion? Melt the sword into an iron bar for being Gimei? Remove a Gimei at approx USD 500 on a blade that gets sold at a fraction of this? You mention clear Gimeis of Masamune to be sold by Komonjo. Can't a blade be any clearer and obvious be Gimei than a Masamune? The question is wheter Komonjo claimed this Masamune, Norishige or whatever to be Shoshin? If yes provide the link. I am dying to see it. If he did that he is a bad guy. Otherwise while you point the finger at him, don't forget that four fingers of your hand will point at yourself. Why I defend him being a long time collector? You just gave the answer to your question yourself. Because I am a longterm collector. I have gotten some of the best deals from him buying good swords at very low cost. Sometimes below cost of restoration. So if I was bad guy I would put him down like others do in order to drive potential buyers / bidders away. But I try to remain balanced without bias. Komonjo offers some of the worst junk to be found - and describe it himself as JUNK. He will sometimes sell very fine blade and not exagerrate at all but just limit himself to describing the condition. I always got what I paid for and in most cases it was like expected or better. If someones buys a blade signed Masamune from him at a low cost and are disappointed that you didn't hit the big one ... well ... hmmm ...
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Komonjo shows here a good example of a Ichihara Nagamitsu with date fake. I must admit also several times to look more closely at the details. :-) https://www.ebay.com/itm/133956605094?hash=item1f306f94a6:g:TW4AAOSwxdthrvBL
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It was a little late last night and I have the mei not compare properly. But it's just komonjo and trust is not very big. Thank you, Bruno and Stephen. I am curious what the price will be.
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Dave Komonjo has had a table in the past at the SF show, Showa22 is usually in attendance and walks around but does not have a table (that i remember).
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Boy do i want to step into this heaping pile of HS? Ill i say is if you think he took time mod that bayonet .....well heavy sigh. Hes a used car... Er sword dealer. Sells other ppl crap. Ill just say i dont put all of them in same box. Monkey being the worse. Check past sell list of Komonjo san...i think you'll find juyo blades.
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Brian, I was never close enough to "collecting" in Japan to be anything like an expert. I never had any money. But I do realize that there are laws and regulations that are supposed to guide handling of - ahhh - weapons. I also assume that there are ways of avoiding regulations and "flying below the radar." I would really and truly like to know how the stuff Komonjo-sama presents gets to the US, but certainly, once it is "here" it is "legal." Have people asked him? Please help me "study" this matter further. Maybe I'll write another novel.... Peter
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Komonjo sells real and fake stuff. He is a serious case of "caveat emptor." You can find some real nice stuff from him rarely, but you can also lose your shirt trying to do so. He has no scruples with selling whatever comes his way. However, he is fine with taking returns. I dealt with him once and he made that very clear that he'd do returns if I were unhappy. This is not me giving my approval for what he sells though. If you buy from him, be aware of what you're looking at.
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So, komonjo belongs in same category as Samurai Monkey and showa22, it appears. Good to know! I posted this question in another thread, but does anyone know anything, or have any opinions, about the reputation of eBay seller "zilvra10"? Sells on eBay regularly and currently has a Type 97 for sale.
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I saw that, gut feeling is that it is indeed a broken bayonet someone has cut up to fool the uninitiated. Being that Komonjo is selling it, that is likely the case. Someone got taken for about $200, a real shame that.
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@ Bruce: I agree with you that this thread is about a blade in great Kyu Gunto mounts that was picked up at less than the polish alone would cost. So for waht it is worth, this has been a good in terms of bang for the buck purchase. I am yet to see where Komonjo is misrepresenting items or making fraudulent deals. Until then I just think it is not fair to call him a dishonest seller and I doubt he would have been able to maintain such a good feedbackscore and to stay on the scene if he was. Of course there is junk among his sales those listings are likewise entitked s junk blades or koshirae. I think this more than blantly honest. If Komonjo puts on a blade signed Masamune without papers what should one expect? What other option is there than outting it on eBay. Melting it into a thamagen bar because it is Gimei? SO to put this to and end: Congrats on your Kyu Gunto Chris
