Please help me with this sword

[Mike W]

Hey, I'm a first time user here, and I'm amazed that there's a site like this which can hopefully help me with my curiosity.

Now, I bought this Wakazashi about 40 years ago and we both want to know about it. I'm new to photography and not too experienced with swords so please bare with me.

 

The blade's legth is 55cm and I believe is a Wakazashi. When I bought it, it came with 2 Tsuba one that is the set with the sword and one random one. The Blade Collar is moveable, and splits into two peices also, the temper line is straight I think which can be seen on the photos. I was told that the scabbard throat was significant. There's only, what I see as, a one symbol signature on the tang and some symbols ont he original Tsuba. Both of these can be seen in the picture, but just in case I've copied them out onto paper then scanned it in on a seperate picture.

 

Please, I'm desperate to find out something about it through pure curiosity, it's been sitting on display since I got it really from a friend. And I'd like to know more about it.

Here are the pictures of it, if there's something you need photographed that I've missed out, please tell me.

 

Sword pictures index:

http://s241.photobucket.com/albums/ff179/SilusStuff/

Symbols drawn out:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff17 ... ymbols.jpg

All the rest of the pictures:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff17 ... CF0582.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff17 ... CF0583.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff17 ... CF0585.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff17 ... CF0588.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff17 ... CF0582.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff17 ... CF0574.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff17 ... CF0557.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff17 ... CF0572.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff17 ... CF0558.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff17 ... CF0538.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff17 ... CF0537.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff17 ... CF0579.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff17 ... CF0581.jpg

 

Sorry for so many pictures, but more photos and infomation is better that too little.

Hoping you can help me with this matter,

Mike

(Edit: On the symbols picture, it says the left signature is on the tanto. Forgive my mistake, I meant Tang. The symbol is on the tang of the sword.)

[mike yeon]

Mike,

 

Welcome to the board. It looks like a nice blade. It is a wakizashi. But likey started it's life as a daito that was shortened intentionally (suriage).

 

From the shape/hi, it looks like a koto blade. The signature was lost from the shortening but it retains the first kanji of "Bizen" (old Japanese province and home to a famous swordmaking school/tradition).

 

That's my thoughts at a cursory glance. It's hard to see the hada and hamon in your pictures which would lead to more answers. I'm not a fittings guy so I can't comment on the tsougu. If you intend to keep the blade, I'd get it to someone knowledgeable that can help you with sending it to Japan for shinsa and any restoration it may need.

 

Best of luck.

 

mike

[Mike W]

Thanks alot, I've tried taken more pictures of the Hada and Hamon. But it's kinda hard to see, let alone take a picture of. It's hard to describe, just a straight different coloured (Is that the right word to describe it?) metal. Straight edged,

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff17 ... CF0585.jpg

is the only one that kinda shows it, you can see the reflection of the camera on the bottom part, but not on the middle or top of the blade. That darkness reflection marks where it is.

At least that's my take on it from what I can see, sorry if that's hard to understand.

[Gabriel L]

Hi Mike,

 

This is a genuine wakizashi, suriage (shortened) as Mike Yeon mentions.

 

Try lighting the blade with an incandescent lightbulb, or putting it by a windowsill with direct sunlight (mid-late afternoon), to get the hamon to light up whitish (and the hada to look darker).

 

I'm not sure from the photos but it looks like it might have been through some unfortunate amateur "polishing" (fingers crossed such a disaster didn't occur). It could just be an old polish and the diffuse, cold lighting though.

 

An in-focus closeup photo of the point would also be helpful.

[Mike W]

It might have been polished, I haven't done much do it in the 40 years I've had it. I've just whiped it over with a dry white cloth, to get dust, durt and fingermarks off it. Nothing too complex.

As for the pictures, I'll try and get better pictures for tommorow. As the sun has gone down now in gloomy old London and I have no good lightbulbs that could be used. Sorry, I'll have them here tommorow.

[Brian]

Mike,

 

Looks like a sword. I am not sure you will be able to get much more info on the blade besides what you have been given already. Maybe someone can have a guess at the era from the shape, but with a cut-down katana it is difficult. As mentioned, it is likely a Bizen koto that is suriage (shortened) and made into a wakizashi. Tsuka looks long for a wakizashi though. Polish isn't great, but condition looks good. The next shinsa in the Uk (a while away?) may be your best bet to get a closer attribution.

 

I must say I am jealous. For some reason I am attracted to swords with a well cut hi, especially running through the nakago, and that second sukashi (cutout) tsuba looks lovely too. I love the fine work.

On the tsuba mei...see if you can get a decent macro photo, or otherwise scan it on a scanner and post it in the tosogu section. It is hard to read from a mei drawing as there are strokes that just don't come out the same.

[Mike W]

Yes, I'm very intrested in continuing to keep this sword. I will learn what to do regarding polishing, but I know you said there's not a sword appraiser nearby, but is there any related services in London I could utilize?

 

I'd like to get it polished porperly, seeing as you and another noted it has not been polished correctly, and I think it derserves good treatment.

[mike yeon]

Mike,

 

A good bet would be to contact the Great Britain Token Society or the Northern Token Society of GB.

 

Not sure where in England they are but closer than Japan.

 

mike

[Gabriel L]

Hi again Mike,

 

There are definitely places to go in London! Check out the website of the To-ken Society of Great Britain, which holds meetings in London and has contacts with professional restoration experts both in the UK and Japan. I'm sure if you contact them, and bring your blade to a meeting, they could give far better and specific information/advice than anybody could from online photos. [Edit]

 

About the polish, I didn't mean to sound dire. If you've owned the sword for the last 40 years and just wiped it down with a clean soft cloth then the probability that someone really mistreated it is lessened. It just looked grayed out and maybe soft in the lines, which is likely just the old polish and diffuse lighting. Without oiling and more advanced maintenance, the only likely consequence is the loss of polish / beginning of patina, and the resultant obfuscation of the true artistry of the steel. Thankfully, with this kind of treatment, I would be surprised if you had managed to seriously harm the blade. In the future, don't touch the blade with your fingers, though - skin oils are bad for the steel, and can cause rust.

 

The correct upkeep of these kinds of swords is described in many places, including Rich Stein's excellent Japanese Sword Index. A professional togishi (Japanese sword polisher) can completely restore blades of varying levels of condition. Unfortunately this route is extremely expensive: $75-100 per inch of blade length is common. Of course, for that price you get a true expert and sword scholar, working off of strictly traditional methods to give you a museum-grade restoration and reveal the complete artistry of the sword. If this is something you truly want to invest in - and there's no guarantee that your sword is even worth as much, financially speaking, as a full polish - then the Token Society can put you in touch with several togishi, as I mentioned before.

 

Otherwise, following the guidelines listed on Rich's site will preserve your sword in its current state. Do visit the Society meetings, though, since you can get hands-on opinions from knowledgeable collectors there.

 

Cheers,

-Gabriel L.

[pcfarrar]

Yes, I'm very intrested in continuing to keep this sword. I will learn what to do regarding polishing, but I know you said there's not a sword appraiser nearby, but is there any related services in London I could utilize?

 

I'd like to get it polished porperly, seeing as you and another noted it has not been polished correctly, and I think it derserves good treatment.

 

As your in London you could take the sword and show it to Don Bayney:

 

http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/directory/1086/10871.php

 

Don would also be able to give you advice on restoration.

[Mike W]

Yes, thanks alot Gabriel and everyone for the advise. Yes, that is very expensive. I wouldn't say waste, but I wouldn't spend that money on this blade that I don't really know much about. But thank you for the link, I shall follow the instructions to maintain and look after the blade best I can.

Although, I will keep the other links for future blades that I may own of greater value that I want preserved so thank you very much.

 

Regarding the sword, I've found out that the previous owner who had the sword had recieved it for cheap because the blade was rusty. To what degree it was rusted I don't know, but apparently not knowing much about sword restoration used what he knew to restore the sword.

 

While these methods are probably very wrong and should not be done, from the picture you can see that the sword is fairly rust free now so whatever he did it must of worked to some extent.

 

Whether methods of, polishing, dare say sand papering it were used. I can tell you that's it had something done to it. But thankfully from expecting the blade closely, I'm no expert but it doesn't appear too damaged thankfully.

 

But again, since that time it has had no extreme methods of polishing it,

[Gabriel L]

I've found out that the previous owner who had the sword had recieved it for cheap because the blade was rusty. To what degree it was rusted I don't know, but apparently not knowing much about sword restoration used what he knew to restore the sword.

Ah. Well, there you go. It's unfortunate, and it explains what I said about being "soft in the lines." Nihonto are supposed to have extremely sharply-defined facets and bevels coupled to very smooth contours, as illustrated in this photo:

Regarding your sword, I've seen worse. The main problem is that if it were to ever be restored, even the best polishers would probably have to remove a significant amount of material to re-establish a nice geometry. This reduces the sword's overall lifespan and may prematurely expose core steel, besides permanently altering the original form of the blade. The other problem is that inexpert polishing may have already removed far more material than expert treatment. Some kinds of rust (black rust, or spotty tarnishing, for instance) are actually preferable to this sort of work, eating into the steel much slower than sandpaper.

 

Sorry, I'm not chewing your friend out by saying this, I just wanted to explain the rationale behind our particular neuroses regarding polishing. Things like this are done all the time, with the best intentions, just out of a lack of obvious available information and advice. Your sword could be very restorable in fact (it would take hands-on inspection to confirm this).

 

Anyway, I'll be hoping along with you that the damage isn't too bad, and at least you've kept it relatively clean since then. Looking forward to an assessment from any of the UK collectors - keep us informed!

[Mike W]

Yeah, thanks for the picture it made it much clearer to me. I don't really care about the worth, just the authenticity. Now that people have comfirmed it's real, I'm very happy about it. As for the rust issue, I suppose what's done is done. I think that high expensive for restoring it is a little hefty again, but I will try to meet Don Bayney in my search for more infomation about it.

 

As for his restorating efforts, I suppose he did what he felt was right. I suppose nobody could no better, no fantastic forum or internet site all those years ago to help, haha. I suppose I did get it very cheap as well,