Wakizashi fittings , family mon, era?

[phil reid]

Hello Gents, 

 Ive just purchased this wakazashi and curious about the fittings , family crest , nail puller in circle (Hori? ), nice thick iron tsuba, rooster menuki very handsome. blade is blank 

 Cheers in advance.Your thoughts and help always appreciated. 

 Phil

[Geraint]

Dear Phil.

 

Well, photo 6, of the whole koshirae is the most revealing.  Kodzuka appears to be pressed brass with a hole in it that suggests it might once have been a piece of cutlery, the urugawara in the saya has been broken or cut to suit the kodzuka, tsuba is way out of alignment as is the tsuka.  I can't tell much from your images about the tsuba.  How many seppa does it have?  I quite like the fuchi kashira, not sure about the menuki, tap them with a finger nail and see if you can get a sense of how solid they are; a thin high sound might confirm that they also are pressed brass.  

 

All in all I would say this is a bitsa, as in, "Bits a this an bits a that".  However you have the sword in hand and can judge the fit of the blade to saya and tsuka, you can also remove the fuchi to see if any packing or other adjustment has been done.  My guess would be that blade and saya belong together and the rest has been added to 'complete' the sword.

 

All the best.

[phil reid]

Yep ,

knew it was a bitsa but wouldve been at great buy for the price just for the fuchi kashira , tsuba plain iron , added more photos, sorry ones blurry, menuki do sound possibly hollow but roosters still handsome.

cheers 

 Phil

[uwe]

The mon is called “Maru ni sumitategaku” and was carried, amongst others, by the Otawara, Matsudaira, Baba......

(However, I’m not sure, if “Maru ni kuginuki” is also appropriate?!)