A Bring-Back From World War…one

[Wouter]

Hi all,

 

For my second sword (not calling it a nihonto yet), again I have sinned against all the good advice found on this forum.

 

In stead of, being an amateur, buying Papered/Polished/Perfect, I felt compelled to save this sword from a terrible faith.

 

Short version of a very long story: A forum member contacted me for advice on posting a sword from the Czech Republic.

It ended up with me going to Prague last Monday and purchasing the wakizashi(?).

 

I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

 

Although before-mentioned forum member has proven very knowledgeable on the tsuba, I would very much like to pick your brains and explore your enormous expertise.

 

I took a gamble assuming that a “nice” tsuba should accompany a quality blade. After applying some uchiko, the very rusty blade looks promising indeed.

 

My Czech is far from perfect, but this is what I understood of the recent history of the sword:

It was brought home to Russia by a soldier after the First World War. (this is already an intriguing fact. Not clear on the connection between WW1-Russia-Japan)

Shortly after the war, his grandfather moved to newly founded Czechoslovakia and lived in current Slovakia.

He used the sword on his farm to kill horses and pigs.

Back then, the sword was complete, but over time has lost “the small knives” and was damaged.

When his grandfather died, the former soldier passed on the sword as a family heirloom and it ended up in the Czech Republic, in a small village near Prague, where the son continued the tradition to kill pigs with it (googling some pics of ‘zabíjačka’ will give you a good image of the tradition)

 

Wouter

[Marius]

Wouter,

 

Those stories about veterans are more or less irrelevant, possibly a WW2 souvenir. Family heirloom used to slaughter pigs, tsk tsk... Never mind. 

 

Is there a question in your post? It looks like a good sword. Perhaps shinto, but hard to tell from pictures and no polish. Looks like a good and beefy blade, which is a good news, as it should take a polish w/o problems. It does not look damaged, ther are just chips in the kissaki, but not too serious, it seems. 

[reeder]

You're safe to call this one Nihonto. he probably meant the Russo-Japanese War from the early 1900s?

[Brian]

I would have bought this myself, I think you did well. That tsuba is very good. Maybe Goto good?
This is one I would send to Kunitaro san for a polish.

[Wouter]

Wouter,

 

Those stories about veterans are more or less irrelevant, possibly a WW2 souvenir. Family heirloom used to slaughter pigs, tsk tsk... Never mind. 

 

Is there a question in your post? It looks like a good sword. Perhaps shinto, but hard to tell from pictures and no polish. Looks like a good and beefy blade, which is a good news, as it should take a polish w/o problems. It does not look damaged, ther are just chips in the kissaki, but not too serious, it seems. 

Thank you for your reply.

There was indeed a hidden and very general question: what did I purchase? 

Under normal circumstances, I would agree and not pay too much attention to those fisherman's tales, but we spend over an hour together and he had actual pictures of the soldier holding the sword, his great-grandfather during a zabíjačka, holding the blade with the family around, etc.. I have asked for scans, but they are very simple people...

Wouter

[Wouter]

You're safe to call this one Nihonto. he probably meant the Russo-Japanese War from the early 1900s?

Indeed would have been my guess too, but he was very specific on the dates '14-'18. Then again, my Czech is very basic and time tends to colour family stories.

 

Wouter

[Wouter]

I would have bought this myself, I think you did well. That tsuba is very good. Maybe Goto good?

This is one I would send to Kunitaro san for a polish.

Thank you, Brian.

Coming from you, this means a lot to me.

The "forum member" I mentioned (staying anonymous since I don't have his answer yet) wrote this: "Based on the stout, fairly straight profile of the blade, I'd hazard a wild guess that it is from either two time periods, late 1600's or 1800's. Difficult to judge with these pics and not knowing the length.

The fittings are good. Especially the tsuba. The fuchi is nice but not in the same league as the tsuba based on the quality of the nanako pattern(raised dots).

The tsuba is made from shakudo, an alloy of copper with a small percentage(generally 2 - 7%) of gold. The ground pattern is nanako, which means fish roe, and is normally done with a single punch per raised dot. The gold symbols are called Kiri-mon, Kiri being the paulownia flower and mon meaning family crest. The Kiri-mon was a governmental seal.

I would probably class the tsuba as Kyo-kinko (kinko meaning soft metal) which essentially means it's not attributable to a particular school but was made by a soft metal artist sometime in the Edo period, 1600's -1860's. I'd put it at the later end of that scale.

It is possibly Goto school but I don't think the quality is there as their work was superb.

The fuchi is in shakudo with a gold/gilt dragon. Good quality but not as good as the tsuba."

Do you have a contact for Kunitaro San?

Wouter

[Brian]

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/12772-sword-polishing-service-in-Japan/

 

Brian

[Ron STL]

Interesting nanako visible on the fitting behind the edge view of the Goto-looking tsuba. Notice the small "dots" between the larger nanako....I'm wondering if that fitting is part of this same mounting. Sword (blade) certainly looks interesting.

Ron STL

[tokashikibob]

Very nice find Wouter!   I enjoyed the story.   There were many battles prior to WW2 were the Russians and Japanese went at it in the far east,  he probably earned that sword at Port Arthur.     I would name the sword "Shinda Buta" just like Blackthorne's "Oil Seller".

 

Best Regards,

  Bob

[Wouter]

Interesting nanako visible on the fitting behind the edge view of the Goto-looking tsuba. Notice the small "dots" between the larger nanako....I'm wondering if that fitting is part of this same mounting. Sword (blade) certainly looks interesting.

Ron STL

Hi Ron,

I'm afraid you are referring to the  box of my digital camera...

Would have loved it to be nanako.

Wouter

[Wouter]

Very nice find Wouter!   I enjoyed the story.   There were many battles prior to WW2 were the Russians and Japanese went at it in the far east,  he probably earned that sword at Port Arthur.     I would name the sword "Shinda Buta" just like Blackthorne's "Oil Seller".

 

Best Regards,

  Bob

Thank for the tip, Bob.

This weekend I have planned a trip to the library. I have some catching-up to do on conflicts between Russia and Japan. 

Following your great advice, the blade will be known henceforth as 死んだ 豚 (Shinda But a).

Kampai.

 

Wouter

[Lee Bray]

Glad that you picked up the sword, Wouter.

Interesting back story that I hadn't heard.

I'm the chap referenced by Wouter above for those that don't recall the Czech shipping thread.

 

I originally said Kyo-kinko for the tsuba but I'd go with Yoshioka school now. It's great quality but maybe not Goto quality.

But definitely wish I'd managed to get the seller to ship it to my place...

I think I'd go with Shinto for the sword...and a longshot, but the pics of the nakago remind me of early Hizen work.

 

Here are the original pics from the seller if they help anyone.

 

 

 

 

[kusunokimasahige]

You lucky you. The Nakago-jiri looks shinto.
The sword itself also.
I would have it polished for sure.

I like it very much and the tsuba is gorgeous.

KM