Rather large sarute

[Mark C]

Hi All,

 

I wouldn't of thought this is original but who knows?

 

Regards

 

[Bruce Pennington]

It's a biggun'!

 

Maybe Neil, Dave, or one of the other guys more experienced in koshirae can enlighten us?!

 

Were the officer sarrute plain copper?

[drb 1643]

I'm no expert, but it's missing the barrel nut so I'm thinking just some bent copper wire.

Tom

[Dave R]

 Plain sarute are quite common, and especially so on plainer mounts as would be expected. This one looks like a replacement though. Most Gunto mounts are brass, but with a copper finish, either electroplated on, or possibly achieved by acid treating to remove the zinc from the alloy. The reason most likely being that casting brass is quite easy, but copper is a different matter needing a higher temperature and not flowing into the mold as readily or accurately. Brass is also a fair bit tougher and harder than copper

 

 The copper finish does rub off though either through wear or overpolishing.

[PNSSHOGUN]

Original, more common on early pattern Koshirae.

[Mark C]

Thanks everyone,

 

A few more pictures of the rest. The blade I'm still trying to work out, Mumei, 241/4" nagasa.

 

Pierced tsuba, 6 seppa and an ashi which I have not encountered before.

 

 

 

 

All the best

[Bruce Pennington]

With the ashi, it's starting to look like a field repair, maybe. There were gunto repair teams that traveled and made repairs. One team reported repairing 15,000 gunto!

[Dave R]

Looks a bit like the removable second hanger from a 94, shifted up to replace the lost primary hanger. Which would fit with some other features of the sword.

[PNSSHOGUN]

Early mounts, that Ashi style is rare but I have seen it on a number of swords. For comparison here is a similar large gauge Sarute vs a more typical size one:

[Mark C]

Thanks everyone,

 

Out of interest John, what is the blade in your large sarute mounts?

 

Would love the read about the Gunto repair teams Bruce, Is the info in a book or on the web?

 

Again, many thanks

[Bruce Pennington]

 

Would love the read about the Gunto repair teams Bruce, Is the info in a book or on the web?

 

Again, many thanks

Here's a quote from Japaneseswordindex.com, http://japaneseswordindex.com/koa.htm

 

"Japanese-American Courier, Seattle, Washington, June 4, 1938

[Note: This article first appeared in Japan Times.]

 

TOKIO -- Swords are still a prime necessity in war time, despite airplanes, armored tanks, machine guns and repeating rifles. It has been found, and the government has taken special steps, to see that officers have blades which will suit their needs.

 

However, the blades they carry these days are not up to the standards of olden times, according to Hikosaburo Kurihara (see note), expert swordsmith, who recently returned from the Shanghai area, where with a party of smiths he has repaired 15,000 swords for Japanese officers.

 

So great was the need found for this repair work that the master smith has gone to the North China area, where he will attend to the needs of the officers there.

 

Manchurian steel has been found the best material for blades as proved by experience of officers in the Shanghai district, the expert said, and he recommended to the War Ministry that metal of that kind be used in future whenever found available.

 

"We mended about 15,000 swords in Shanghai," the swordsmith said at his home in Hikawacho, Akasaka-ku. "Blades of good steel do not snap easily, as did some of those we found. I recommended to the War Ministry that they make available Manchurian steel to all the swordsmiths in the country. It is about as strong as any we know of."

 

"An officer with a damaged sword, and who expects a battle next day is a pitiful sight. I saw many of them working late at night on their weapons, which may mean life or death to them." (3)

 

[NOTE: Hikosaburo Kurihara was also known as Kurihara Akihide, the founder of the Nihonto Tanren Denshujo (Japanese Sword Forging Institute).]"

 

I know I've read more about the formation of the repair teams somewhere. If I can find it, I'll update.

[Bruce Pennington]

Ok, I found my original source - "Modern Japanese Swords and Swordsmiths, From 1868 to Present", by Leon and Hiroko Kapp, Yoshindo Yoshihara. pgs 56 & 58:

 

They were discussing the attempt to revive interest in swords, in the mid-'30s, by including displays in the annual national art exhibit. "The show was held eight times from then to the end of the war, being cancelled only once (in 1937), because so many smiths and sword craftsmen were sent overseas to battlefields to repair and maintain swords." pg 56

 

"Kurihara organized a group of sword craftsmen that included smiths, polishers, and koshirae craftsmen, to go to the wartime battlefields to repair swords on the spot. The group was called the Gunto Shuri Genchi Hoshidan (the Voluteer Gunto Repair Group), founded in 1936. Kurihara's original plan called for five to seven smiths in each group. A group was to consist of twenty people and include polishers, tsukamaki (hilt wrapping) craftsmen, and others. Theoretically, each person would work on ten swords a day, but they had to remain at each location far longer than planned and often worked on more than the original quota."

 

[PNSSHOGUN]

Thanks everyone,

 

Out of interest John, what is the blade in your large sarute mounts?

 

Would love the read about the Gunto repair teams Bruce, Is the info in a book or on the web?

 

Again, many thanks

Large Gendaito by Yoshihiro

[Dave R]

Some needed more work than others.....