seeking help looking up a registration number ?

[epkoncept]

Hi:

 

I am a newbie.

I received a katana and a wakizashi from my father.

He purchased them around 1957 in Japan to replace the ones the family donated during WWII.

Each blade had a piece of paper, one side had boilerplate, but the other had handwritten and or stamped ID info. There are registration numbers. Is there a data base that can be accessed ?

 

The wakizashi is #9221 文化財保義委員会 Showa 32 may 17th. No markings on the tang

The katana is #103567 教育委員会 ( unfortunately the date is hard to read)

I don't know what is written, if necessary I can post photos of the tang.

 

Peter

[Christophe]

Hi

can you post a photo of the front and back of the docs? it can help.

Christophe

[Brian]

Peter,

These might either be opinion papers from some group or organization, in which case they will tell you some info. Or otherwise (and I have a gut feel this is what they are) they might just be the Japanese license (torokusho) papers, which don't help with any info at all, they are just registration docs.

Pics will tell us which they are.

 

Brian

[epkoncept]

Chris and Brian:

Thanks for the comments:

 

I can read Japanese. They are the Torokusho documents, with some minor details, curve and length of the blade etc. I had hoped that the registration documents' numbers would be in some accessible data base.

I will have to crop the photos to fit, but I don't have any good editing sw on this pc so it may take a while.

I didn't realize the size limit of the photo upload until just now.

P

[cabowen]

You will not be able to access any databases. Registration information kept by the Ministry of Education is not given out.

[epkoncept]

Not great but that is my limited skill in using Word to edit photos.

katana.doc

katana_2.doc

[Brian]

The torokusho doesn't contain any further info than you can see. It doesn't verify anything, including maker, school etc..it is just a registration.

Afraid that is going to be a dead end.

 

Brian

[epkoncept]

Brian:

 

Thanks for the confirmation that the registration papers for the wakizashi and katana aren't very helpful.Its hard to read but did you see the compressed images in the word doc's that I just posted of the katana's tang.

 

Even though I can read it, I don't have the knowledge to figure out the approximate value of katana. I want to make sure that they are insured properly.

 

Peter

[Gunome]

hello

 

1rst doc : "Bizen osafune junin"

2nd doc : "yokoyama kozuke daijo fujiwara sukesada".

 

A famous smith, with a lot of gimei.

Check the workmanship of the blade to validate the mei.

[Brian]

Make that Bishu Osafune...not Bizen.

 

Brian

[epkoncept]

Brian and Gunome:

 

Thanks for confirming the correct reading of the kanji.

I am a total newbie at Japanese antiques.

As far as as I can tell, the blade is in perfect condition, to my untrained eye.

No surface rust nor pitting, or nicks on the edge.

For insurance purposes what should I insure it for ?

Sincerely

Peter

[runagmc]

There are many swords with fake signatures (called gimei). The first step is to try to determine if your swords have genuine signatures (called sho-shin mei) or not. If you post some pics of the swords, we may be able to give you some idea.

 

Also you may want to read this post, viewtopic.php?f=9&t=14706