i finally got my single kanji mei translated

[atma-san]

I posted crappy pictures of my blade a while ago but it wasn't much help to you. Over some emails with a local expert(Bob Mccoy, he lives in my state, I bought his book recently) who i'm not sure if he posts here. He helped me to translate the single kanji which is very far down on the very end of the nakago.

 

All the blade has is katakana for "mu". Does anyone know what this could mean? School? Province? It is in a strange spot and the only kanji on the blade. The blade seems fairly old as in person the nakago looks black, much darker than in my awful phone pictures.

 

I'm still trying to get better pictures of the hamon, the bad polish makes it tough though. It starts as gunome/midare then turns to a beautiful kosuguha to the kissaki which has very full boshi that almost makes it to shinogi in turnback.

 

There is also no yokote, I think it is a shobu style with chu kissaki. As soon as I can get some good pictures I will post them. The more I research the blade the more mysterious it is. It seems very well made by all accounts, the grain is so tight i'm having a hard time naming the hada type.

 

In the meantime, any information you guys can provide on a possible meaning for "mu" in katakana would be great. Sorry for rambling.

 

Gabe Hagan

[cabowen]

ム　＝　無　＝ nothing

 

maybe an existential comment made by a zen practitioner.... :lol:

[atma-san]

Wow. Way to make a mysterious blade even more so.

 

The sword society in my area could polish up the blade for around 700$. I think I will have it done eventually, as it is never being sold anyway.

 

I doubt anyone could kantei it by pictures until it is polished besides. In august i'm going to bring it down to SF for the sword show and get some opinions in person.

[John A Stuart]

May I suggest doing just that before any polish? John

[Lance]

Agree about not polishing until it's looked at, appears to be Showa era (WW2) so even if it's traditionally made it might not be worth it, and $700 doesn't seem like you'd get a very good polish either.

Is the club in the link below the sword group you mentioned? If so I haven't heard many positive things about them over the years.

 

https://sites.google.com/site/sfswordsociety/

 

Regards,

Lance

[atma-san]

Good to know thank you. Why do you think it is showa era?

 

Gabe Hagan

[Stu W]

Good to know thank you. Why do you think it is showa era?

 

Gabe Hagan

 

Appears to be mounted in Type 98 IJA Officer mounts so there is a good chance it is a Showa piece.

 

Regards,

Stu

[Lance]

The patina/condition of the tang has the appearance of what's usually seen on Showa period swords. From the file marks and end of tang in particular I'd say Seki. It's not 100% concrete but I've had or come across a surprising amount that had the same flat bit on the tip of the tang, almost all of them that were signed started with Noshu or (Seki) or had Seki stamps.

My understanding is the tang and blade were formed along with the blade and attached to a rod/bar that was cut away, either just before or after hardening.

The end was usually filed away as part of the finishing work, most Seki swords were more like assembly line weapons production though, so they didn't always finish their mass production swords to the same level as other groups.

 

 

Regards,

Lance

[atma-san]

The fact that I can see hada from folding, and I think some nie pooling under the nio line in the wider part of hamon. This would make it gendai if traditionally made? Or still showato? I'm still kind of unsure of difference. Showato are always nontraditional?

 

Thanks for the clue in seki dirrection.

 

 

 

 

Gabe Hagan

[cabowen]

Technically, showa-to means a sword from the showa period but it has become a euphemism for a non-traditionally made blade from that period made for the war.

[Uechi]

Wow. Way to make a mysterious blade even more so.

 

The sword society in my area could polish up the blade for around 700$. I think I will have it done eventually, as it is never being sold anyway.

 

I doubt anyone could kantei it by pictures until it is polished besides. In august i'm going to bring it down to SF for the sword show and get some opinions in person.

 

 

$700 to polish the sword? I don't think so, unless you want garbage results.

 

JDromm

[atma-san]

I forgot to mention this before, but is it worth noting that my gunto saya is of the leather variety slipped over an older original black lacquered saya?

 

Would this date it just before the war? From what i've read, the old black lacquer saya indicates the blade was around and mounted pre WW2.

 

I can snap some pics of the saya if you guys want to check it out without the leather on it.

[cabowen]

It may have been mounted as an iai-to during or just before the war and retasked as a gunto. Without seeing any other pictures than that of the end of the nakago, it is hard to say with certainty but going solely on what can be seen, it looks like a WWII era mass produced blade.

[Toryu2020]

Gabe -

If the "Sword society" in your area is the one run by Harunaka Hoshino - run, do not walk, away from this deal. If your sword is worth anything now it will be worth nothing after his $700 polish.

 

I may be biased but I suggest you attend a meeting of the Northern California Japanese Sword Club - our next meeting is tomorrow - see this link; http://www.ncjsc.org

 

Anyone is welcome and you will receive fair, free and reliable advice as to next steps for your new sword. Bob btw is our newsletter editor...

-t

[Tcat]

Judging by the signature the maker was a zen pun artist with a sense of humor. Either that or I'm projecting.