Kyoto Sword Dealer Ittosai

[Peter Bleed]

Dear Friends,

A friend and I are working up a brief paper that describes 4 "tantos" that his Dad brought home after the War. In fact the "tantos" are all sword tips that were removed from bigger blades. I assume that these were blades that had been "destroyed" in response to early Occupation rulings, but that the parts had been salvaged by Japanese who were on the scene - if not actually involved..

All of these "tanto" were  mounted in koshirae that had also been cut down.There is some pretty good kodogu, but both blades and the koshirae have been been seriously diminished. This treatment and what it says about Japanese swords and their history will be the topic of our paper.

The tantos all accompanied by origami in Japanese and something like English. These papers were issued by a sword dealer from Kyoto named  "Ittosai Yoshimune"

I googled that name and found this interesting1946 newspaper article

http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/42483679?searchTerm=like%20a%20samurai&searchLimits=

Who was IttosaI? Is anyone familiar with him or his operation? And what about other evidence of recycling swords that were "destroyed" right after the War

Peter

[Bazza]

Brilliant!!  PM sent.

BaZZa.

[Greg F]

Very interesting article Peter! I hope to read the paper. I always cringe at the thought of all those swords that were destroyed at the end of the war. All the best with the paper. Cheers.

 

Greg

[Baka Gaijin]

Could the name be a pun?

 

Ito Ittosai Kagehisa alledgedly founded the Itto Ryu school of swordsmanship sometime in the late 16th early 17th Centuries.

 

8th Shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune was an advocate of the system.

 

Anyway, if this helps, this is the kanji that the original Ittosai and Yoshimune used: 一刀斎 吉宗

 

If Ittosai Yoshimune was based in Kyoto, then he would most likely have been part of the Dai Nihon Butokukai 大日本武徳会 which was dissolved in 1946.

 

If as it states, the dealer was a Kendo champion for 12 years, that's quite a feat,  perhaps there would be a link via one of the Kendo Dojo in Kyoto.

 

Perhaps try the Zen Nippon Kendo Renmei https://www.kendo-fik.org/english-page/english-top-page.html

 

They can be a bit hazy about pre war Kendo.

 

I thought it rang a bell, here's something on NMB:

 

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/9021-translation-assistance/

 

The documents in the post are no longer visible, but it states a date in Showa 23 (1948), so our chap was quite active.

 

Here's another link for 1949 with pictures of a Kanteisho for a Tanto in Koshirae resembling those that you have:

 

Look at image 5, although its upside down, I think there is an address:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antiguo-tant-tanto-Knife-Ca-1500-/131685937750?_ul=BO&nma=true&si=1NWHLHXLwDG%252BFfJTZlhsn6ghfYw%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

 

It starts Kyoto- Shi Shimo ??

 

Cheers

[Peter Bleed]

Thank you all for the positive input! Thru the wonders of google, I discovered a sword very much like the 4 we are writing up. That discovery was recently offered on eBay. It is worth a look since it shows the Mr. Ittosai refitted a number of these cut down  swords. Hey, the country was in chaos!

 

http://www.ebay.com/rcm/v1/Antique-18th-Century-Japanese-Samurai-Sword-Tanto-Knife-Signed-/?itm=172250299532&_trksid=p2047675.c100011.m1843

 

The eBay sword is almost pretty good. The nakago was rather nicely dressed and appears to have had a bit of color applied. Still, the blade is just too short . And the saya certainly has also been shortened.

The point to be made is that these short blades reflect a phase of sword history. I think it is also fair to suggest that these short blades will only survive outside of Japan.They will not appeal to a serious collector anywhere, but were any of them to make it back to Japan I am sure that the fittings would all be stripped and the blade discarded - or  put on eBay!.

Peter

P.S. The item was on Spanish eBay  as

Antiguo tantō tanto Knife Ca. 1500

[cisco-san]

Hello,

 

the eBay link is not working on my PC

[Peter Bleed]

Yeah, I see that, but I am not sure how to correct it. If you google

Antiguo tantō tanto Knife Ca. 1500

you'll get to the item

P

[Baka Gaijin]

Try this:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antiguo-tant-tanto-Knife-Ca-1500-/131685937750?_ul=BO&nma=true&si=1NWHLHXLwDG%252BFfJTZlhsn6ghfYw%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

 

The item in question is in Portland Oregon.

 

Cheers

[Brian]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-18th-Century-Japanese-Samurai-Sword-Tanto-Knife-Signed-/172250299532