New members 1st Nihonto acquisition.....

[MHC]

Hello all,

 

I showed my so-so 1945 type 98 Shin-Gunto blade over on the military sword section. So I figured I had better show my first acquisition, and my first view down the rabbit hole that is Nihonto collecting.

 

These things are hard to photograph, so bare with me as I'm trying to get the hang of it. I think I need a better Macro lens, and I should have wiped the slight oil film off the blade before attempting pictures, sorry about that. The polish is actually a fresh Japanese polish.

 

The Tsuba and the Fuchi/Kashira I just picked up over the last few weeks. I think they will make for a nice Koshirae once I complete it. They are not matched, but seem to compliment each other.

 

Mark

[Ken-Hawaii]

Your photos are okay, but need to be much higher resolution to show the details. Nice blade. Please show us when you have it dressed out in koshirae.

[Surfson]

I would say that you have bought an excellent first sword Mark!  I wish that all folks that came here with their first sword had done so well.  I'm afraid that nearly half bring a Chinese fake to impress us with.  Can't quite make out the last kanji.  Is it Yasuteru?  Do you have any papers for it?  Congratulations and welcome.  Cheers, Bob

[MHC]

Thanks guys, I had no intention of trying to impress anyone with the pic.'s. My knowledge level of Nihoto is shamefully low....I just got lucky with the purchase. I will learn more as time goes by.

I have paper on the Tsuba and the Fuchi/kashira, but not the blade.

 

I had 2 people give me translations{the seller and a Japanese friend} and both gave slightly different versions of the smiths name...so?? At least the date was consistent at August 1692 from what is now Shikoku Island.

 

Mark

[Jussi Ekholm]

I believe the signature is 阿波守藤原康綱 (he used different variant of 綱) and smith is Awa no Kami Yasutsuna.

[MHC]

Great, does anybody have more info on this smith? Would love to know more!

[Bazza]

Mark,

 

Congrats, a nice starter piece that you can enjoy right away.  There are a few ways to find out more about any swordsmith's signature --

 

- put the kanji string into google 阿波守藤原康綱

 

- put the translation into google Awa no Kami Yasutsuna - note though that he didn't work in Shikoku Island; Awa no Kami is an honorific title. 

  Yasutsuna actually worked in Omi province - see http://www.nihonto.de/ForSale/Yasutsuna/Yasutsuna.html

 

- put the smith's name Yasutsuna into this link https://nihontoclub.com/view/smiths/meisearchto see how many used that name and at what period in time.  I should add it doesn't always yield a result...

 

BaZZa.

[MHC]

And the learning begins....... :}

 

I'm retiring to Thailand shortly, and have already found several  sites from there, dealing with Arms and Armour of southeast Asia.

 

So what I really want to know is.....who greased this slippery slope before I got here??.......As it appears, once started down this slope, there is no real stopping is there!

 

Thanks.

 

Mark