Cool Little Wakizashi And Koshirae (Picture Heavy)

[Gasam]

Heyas all,

 

Please allow me to post some pictures of what I at present believe to be a boys blade. It is a short-ish Wakisashi of 36,8 cm nagasa. If that qualifies as a ko-wakizashi I do not know.

 

Picked it up today, and I have never seen before (albeit in my limited experience) a set where koshirae is matching so. (decoration on saya comes again i fuchikashira and to some degree in tsuba etc). I think that makes the koshirae very interesting, but please discuss :-)

 

Pleased to find a unbroken hamon, boshi is either hakikake og flame, must check further. Signature appears to be kiyomitsu, no papering. Fuchikashira is silver ? Menuki appears to be shishi-dogs. Habaki is copper silver foiled double.

 

Needs a bit of touch up polish, but I will keep it as is I think. Previous owner came in handling blade with hands, so it has beeen treated less than optimal. But all features visible.

 

Fair bit of pictures coming now in several posts. Hope you find them interesting.

 

 

[Gasam]

more pics

[Tanto54]

I believe that you are correct that this is a boy's sword.  As you probably know, these small swords were given to boys when they came of age or on "Boy's Day".  The koshirae depicts many toys.  The tsuba has a top, hobby horse, drum, bird and Sarubobo (monkey doll).  The saya has a kite, Hariko Inu (paper mache toy dog), shuttlecock, and top.  Fuchigashira has Hariko Inu, kite and top.

[Gasam]

Hi again George,

 

Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I had no idea what half those things were, but suspected they were toys.

 

Im happy I found this piece. Not the best of stuff perhaps, but a piece of history none the less :-)

 

Thanks again :-)

[nagamaki - Franco]

Hello, at least to my eyes the shape of this sword suggests further evaluation before concluding that it is a boy's day sword.

[Tanto54]

FYI - some "Boy's Swords" (and even "Boy's Day Swords...") are good quality, smallish normal swords or wakizashi.....

[Greg F]

Hi Gasam,

Nice pick up. The tsuba seems to have a tomoe mon as well. Sounds like you save the blade from future rust.

 

All the best.

 

Greg

[Tanto54]

The "tomoe mon" is on the drum (a uchiwa daiko - see below).  In this case, it is not a family mon and instead refers to Kaminari - the thunder god (often used on drum heads).  On the tsuba, you can see the "drumstick" next to the drum (which looks like a Western hand mirror).

 

 

[Tanto54]

Here's a scene from Yojimbo where you can see this kind of drum in action:

 

[Gasam]

Hi all,

 

Thank you again for sharing your thoughts and knowledge.

 

The blade was traditionally made I think, hada can be seen, hamon and boshi is present, mei is present (but no papering) , I think is a 36-37 cm ordinary wakizashi mounted in boys koshirae.

 

I will study it further, it will be fun :-)

 

Thanks again :-)

[nagamaki - Franco]

FYI - some "Boy's Swords" (and even "Boy's Day Swords...") are good quality, smallish normal swords or wakizashi.....

 

And I never said they were not. 

[Toryu2020]

i personally dont believe the miniatures we see that are scaled down katana are not Boys swords or Boys day items,

Iwas taught that upon the occasion of his genpuku a boy received full sized swords, and if he were still small he wore only rhe wakizashi till he could wear both.

 

i have posted this before but here is a link to my article - also the childrens toys depicted are all part of the New Years Day celebration probably favored for their auspicious associations...

 

http://toryu-mon.com/Toryu-Mon/Archives/Entries/2010/11/8_Boys_Day_or_Tango_no_Sekku.html

[Gasam]

i have posted this before but here is a link to my article - also the childrens toys depicted are all part of the New Years Day celebration probably favored for their auspicious associations...

 

http://toryu-mon.com/Toryu-Mon/Archives/Entries/2010/11/8_Boys_Day_or_Tango_no_Sekku.html

 

 

Thank you for posting this article again good sir! So much to learn.... :-)