Old document from an even older sword

[Cola]

Hello all,

 

I went on a holiday to Japan and I found all the very old and carefully preserved swords very intriguing. 

So when we came across the Tozando shop in kyoto I decided to buy an antique sword.

I was very intrigued by this particular sword because it is from the late muromachi period (or so I was told). 

This would mean it was built in a hurry, because they needed a lot of swords. So the quality may be a bit less than many others (the tsuba is just a metal disc with no decorations).

The blade has no signature, and also no token, so for all I know it's fake (but I don't expect it since the shop is legit, and the staff has been very nice in handling the shipping).

In any case this is the document that came with the sword, but I have no idea what it means. 

 

Anything I can learn from this? Thanks in advance!

[Ray Singer]

This is a torokusho, sword license.

http://www.jssus.org...nese_sword_laws.html

[John C]

1 hour ago, Cola said:

Anything I can learn from this?

It's difficult to read because of the fold, however the date on the far left is the date the sword was registered. It looks like it could be December, 12th Showa 27(?) which would be 1952.

John C.

[Brian]

Finding a "fake" sword in Japan is unlikely. They would be illegal. It isn't something you really need to worry about. Fake signtures...yes. More fakes than real ones I suspect. But the sword will still be real. Also, not all late Muromachi sword are poor quality. You need to judge each one on its own merits. The registration doc is basically just a license. Doesn't say anything about the sword that you cannot see.

[Cola]

3 hours ago, Brian said:

Finding a "fake" sword in Japan is unlikely. They would be illegal. It isn't something you really need to worry about. Fake signtures...yes. More fakes than real ones I suspect. But the sword will still be real. Also, not all late Muromachi sword are poor quality. You need to judge each one on its own merits. The registration doc is basically just a license. Doesn't say anything about the sword that you cannot see.

 

It doesn't have a signature, so a faked signature is not something to worry about. The only thing I was/am slightly worried about would be that it may be dated as being much older than it really is. 

I will post some pictures when I have time for you all to enjoy. 

 

And, thanks for the info! It's nice to know that it was registered at least somewhere in the 50s. I also can't read the second number for the year it was registered, it's a scan of a document so I can't get more than what you see unfortunately. 

[John C]

10 hours ago, Cola said:

It's nice to know that it was registered at least somewhere in the 50s.

I believe the program to register swords started in 1951, so 1952 would be early on. It has a low registration number (2144 I think). But like everyone else has said, it doesn't say anything historical about the blade and doesn't "validate" it. Of interest to me, assuming the document is real and relates to the sword in question, would be the date of registration (shows at least it's not a recently made blade) and the prefecture it was registered in (listed just above the registration number). I have a tanto made by a smith from Tochigi prefecture, which is where the blade was registered. Only means something to genealogy and provenance nerds like me!

John C.

Edit: Oil quenched, mass produced blades could not be registered so at least you know the blade is traditionally made.