Kyu Gunto of a friend

[ChrisW]

Hey everyone,

 

I have a friend whom owns an antique shop and is selling the following kyu-gunto to a "museum" collector- aka a person who has a large collection with the intention to make a personal museum. Regardless of how I feel about that and how it may be displayed. It caught my attention due to the very nice mounts and tassel. Its a Navy kyu-gunto and appears to have a high-end tassle on it. He is selling it to that person but since he hadn't taken it apart yet I volunteered to do so and found a two-kanji mei. The blade is about 25" nagasa and unfortunately has its kissaki clipped a little (over 1/8" an inch or so) and I am unsure if it goes through the hamon or not. The mounts have a mon on the backstrap and the scabbard is that very nice ray/sharkskin I've seen on nice ones. Makes me sad I could not obtain it, but with the tip damage I was unsure if it was too bad to save.

My asks are:

 

Translation of the mei

What grade of kyu is this?

 

I tried to buy it from him for double he paid, but he said he was committed to selling to this guy. Hopefully it is taken better care of. At least I gave it the old college try.

[ChrisW]

A few more pictures:

[ChrisW]

The tassle was gold with orange thread, wooden piece inside to keep its shape. So I think that means something akin to general grade? And it had a folding clamshell guard which dual-purposed as its locking mechanism.

[Wolfmanreid]

That is a naval commissioned officers sword pattern of 1896. I’m not knowledgeable enough to tell you rank from the sword knot.  looks rather like a WW2 navy flag officer tassel though.  See below link for examples. 
 

 

There were three patterns of these swords originally, one for petty officers, one for commissioned officers, and one for flag officers but in 1914 all commissioned officers started carrying the type you have.
 

Blade has a very nice sugata but I can’t tell if the chipped kissaki is fatal or not.  If not for that I’d jump on it without a second thought. 

[Wolfmanreid]

The Mon is the Katabami Kamon which is a very commonly used one.  I should have clarified in my above post that prior to 1914 your type of sword was used by commissioned officers other than flag officers. Never seen one with that style of locking mechanism though. 

[ChrisW]

Thanks for the information! I'll pass that along to him. I just need the mei translation for him now. Thanks everyone!

And my gut feeling is that the chip is not fatal, but I couldn't honestly tell.. it was a close call. And if its not, it would require substantial reshaping to correct.

[SteveM]

Looks like 茂次 (Shigetsugu) using an alternative form of 茂. 

I could be wrong.

Markus Sesko lists only one smith named Shigetsugu, and from the looks of your sword the smith is different from the one Markus lists. 

Could also be a fake signature. 

[ChrisW]

My pictures really do not do it any sort of justice. Too bad about the signature! The mei was attractive and appeared well-executed to my eyes, but this is why I ask you guys! Thank you very much Steve! I will pass along the opinion that it is probably gimei.

 

Edit: I also just looked the swordsmith index.. Shigetsuku died in 1966.. This blade is a model 1896 made as late as... 1945?. Why would a fairly recent smith apply his signature to an older blade? The blade is very much an older blade, at least 3-400 years judging by nakago patination and came straight from a veteran's estate. I was probably the first person to unseat the blade since at least WWII as the amount of verdigris and buildup made it difficult to free the blade. The blade was in fairly good condition other than the very tip being either snapped off intentionally or accidentally. Not only that, but it has two nakago-ana which makes me think it is an older blade remounted for war in kyu-gunto mounts.

Thoughts, guys?

[SteveM]

I think you are referencing a different Shigetsugu. The one you mention above is 茂継. 

Or another who did in 1966 is 繁継.

 

The one on your sword is 茂次. 

 

All are pronounced Shigetsugu, but they are different people.

[ChrisW]

Ah, thank you Steve! Silly of me to take the only result my meager search abilities could find at first! I will look for this smith instead. And I WISH it was my sword! Sadly not meant to be.

 

Edit: Hmm... probably this guy: (assuming its not gimei... which isn't an assumption I am necessarily willing to take.)

重次

Echizen

Kanbun (1661-1673)

[PNSSHOGUN]

Unfortunate you could not buy it, they are rare to find in such beautiful condition with Mon & tassel.

[ChrisW]

Yeah... really quite upsetting. Would have loved to have it. But he found some rich jerk willing to pay far more than I could reasonably pay. Its pretty near immaculate. The tip damage, light scuffing to the polish, and some fraying to the cord of the tassel were the only condition issues with the whole package. It was apparently a done deal even before I could make an offer.

[PNSSHOGUN]

Time to buddy up with the collector! Would be interesting to see what he has in his private museum.

[Dave R]

4 hours ago, PNSSHOGUN said:

Time to buddy up with the collector! Would be interesting to see what he has in his private museum.

 

He might even turn up here.

[ChrisW]

Would be nice I suppose; can't hurt to pass along a card to the guy.

[ChrisW]

Well, I passed along the information to my friend and requested he share my contact info with this museum guy. We shall see if anything comes of it!