MyaN Posted January 29 Report Share Posted January 29 Hello everyone ! I've been visiting this community once in a while as I'm passionate about Japanese swords and everything surrounding them. Posting right now because I'm currently working on the restoration of a Japanese sword conserved in a French museum (therefore part of the national heritage) for my master's degree in restoration of heritage. I'm in urgent need of some interlocutors from all over the world to discuss the different ways of exhibiting, caring for Japanese swords, getting informations and documentation on them, etc. If possible, I would love to talk with people working in the museal field, some experts on Japanese sword, some collectors, or people from auction sales. Otherwise, I'd love hearing your suggestions about whom I could contact for further exchanges. I'm also looking for a Japanese interlocutor who would be interested in talking with me regarding the different processes of restoration and making of Japanese sword. As I'm working with a national museum, I cannot share any photographs here, but I could do it later when talking with people in some conditions If you know someone who could be interested, or if you are interested, pls feel free to answer this message ! Little presentation of the object because I'm curious about your thoughts. Just want to precise that, unless said otherwise, all of the informations here come from my personal researches, so may be wrong (plz tell me if it is !). Also, I can't dismantle the sword without the approval of the museum, on the process of asking Wakizashi. Entered the museum, in France, in 1907 following the death of a french anthropologist who gave his collection to the museum. This anthropologist was specialized in pre colombian heritage, and most probably never went in Japan. He might have bought the sword to a fellow anthropologist or a collector. Iron (?) nademaru-gata tsuba with a kozuka hitsu ana. Marubori decoration representing a saddled horse with a faceless person and some bales of cereals. My hypothesis is that some parts of the person were inlaid with shakudo or other Japanese alloy which were lost or stolen (?) because the face, the hands, and bottom of the legs are missing. Also thought about hikone bori decorative style being more accurate than marubori becaus eof the inlays. Some really small remnants of golden layer on the surface. Can't check around the nakago ana because I can't dismantle it yet. Though, I actually found an identical tsuba being sold in a parisian gallery, here is the link : https://www.proantic...eriod-1808-1912.html I'm not sure they are right about the Meiji datation though. I tried looking for any craftsmen school it could be related to, and my best hypothesis would be Soten school, which would be more likely made in the end of the Edo period. THe only difference is that in my case the lower part of the leg is missing. The habaki, seppa, and rings on the scabbard seem to be made of copper but seem really shiny compared to the rest. I would say they are more recent than the other elements. Habaki in two parts, hatched diagonally on mune and ha side and under the other part too. All of the elements two parts of the habaki + seppa + tsuba + seppa + fuchi are now a bit movable. About the blade, it is a shobu-zukuri (no yokote) about 47 cms long (couldn't remove the habaki to make a very precise measurement). Dated by the museum to 16th century, but I don't know who said this; even though I think it could be right based on my researches. I tried measuring the sori, which is about 8 mms with its largest point situated around the middle of the blade, maybe closer to the tip from one or two centimeters. Mune of the blade thicker at the base (4,5 mm just after the habaki) going thinner to 1 mm wide at 12,9 cms and thinner until 0,5 mm to 26,8 cms from the habaki. It remains at 0,5 until the tip where it goes wider to 1 cms. Shinogi line is at 8 to 12 mms from the mune of the blade. For the tsuka, it's a basic one with two stripes of same for each side of the tsuka. I don't see any specific nodule pattern in the ray skin though I feel like the quality is better on the omote side (more regular and round grain). Two metallic menuki with floral design (unsure wether it is ume or sakura) and golden surface and a pin. Kashira missing. Ito wrapping in green silk covered with some varnish or lacquer (?), so now gives off more a dark grey appearance. Wrapping close to tsumami-maki but still unsure about it as it seems that there is not just 2 silk cords but rather plenty of twisted threads of silk, alternating between S twist and Z twist, giving off the impression of a braiding pattern. I'll include a detail photograph of this here. Thank you so much in advance for your opinions on this ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kissakai Posted January 29 Report Share Posted January 29 If you are asking advice about restoration we need more pictures A pictures says a thousand words 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyaN Posted January 29 Author Report Share Posted January 29 Thank your for the answer ! Unfortunately, as I said, I can't share pictures of the entire object because of confidentiality clauses. The object belongs to a museum so I'm not allowed to share pictures on a forum. It also frustrates me, I'm sorry I can't share more of this interesting object... I tried my best to describe it. I'm not asking for restoration tips as I am myself on the process of becoming a professional restorer. I know however that Japanese sword restoration is closer to replacement than restoration if what I found with my researches is right. Usually, past a certain degree of degradation, the tsuka is rewrapped or replaced, isn't it ? The thing is that, as the object is in the museum I can't just rewrap the thing because there are very specific laws on what can / should be done on an object from a public collection. I would however be curious as to what would be done traditionally with an object like this. I can give more details about the state of conservation, I'll search for the english terms and come back here to explain more. I actually wanted your view on the sword as I described it : Do you think that it can be a 16th century blade as it had been told ? Does the wrapping seem normal to you or is it maybe quite specific (never saw any wrapping vids with several threads of silk, usually it's just 2 larger silk cordons) ? Is it common to varnish or lacquer the ito after it's wrapped ? Is it possible to shorten a scabbard to adapt it to another blade ? If yes, is adding rings of copper around the end of the scabbard common ? For what other reasons could it be done ? Also had questions on how to differentiate basic old iron with shakudo ? Or other Japanese metallic alloy ? Also a big interrogation on the kojiri which seems a bit unusual. It's a very large plain one. Documentation from the museum says it's in iron. This shape isn't recorded in Markus Sesko encyclopedia, so I don't know what to think of it. Actually saw Ford Hallam restoring a similar shaped one (in carved shakudo) in one of his yt vids but he himself seemed to be surprised by the shape and I'm not sure he said what type of kojiri this was. I would say it's about 8 cms long but I'll check tmrw and come back to give more precisions. I'll share a picture of it : The tsuba is the exact same one as the one in the link I gave, just in a different state of conservation. The scabbard is lacquered with incrustation of mother-of-pearl powder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROKUJURO Posted January 29 Report Share Posted January 29 Mya, I just sent you a PM. As far as this last post is concerned, I see that you are asking VERY basic questions which can only be answered by studying the subject intensely in books and here on NMB, with experts and collectors. Differentiating iron from SHAKUDO is very easy with a magnet. SHAKUDO is a copper alloy. I read that you are becoming a professional restorer. This does not exist and is not applicable to Japanese swords as this is a wide and very specialized field. The first thing you may want to learn is not to touch Japanese swords at all! Taking the example of TSUKAITO: A Japanese restorer (TSUKAMAKISHI) will know if the TSUKA ITO should be replaced or carefully preserved in case it was historically important. 2 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vermithrax16 Posted January 29 Report Share Posted January 29 Your best way forward should this be a legitimate endeavor is private contact a reputable steward of the art like Raymond Singer or Mike Yamasaki. Perhaps a confidentiality agreement can be made to better hasten information exchange. Best of luck. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PNSSHOGUN Posted January 30 Report Share Posted January 30 Your job for this would be to coordinate professional restoration by traditional artisans. Not sure where those would be located in Europe, perhaps a French member can assist. On no account would it be appropriate for you to perform restoration yourself. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Posted January 30 Report Share Posted January 30 Miss Mya I would reach out to Markus S, who works at a noted museum as well. I think he would be of great assistance. https://www.facebook...sDRskHkeNSl/?app=fbl If you search the Met maybe a professional link. Best of luck Stephen 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kissakai Posted January 30 Report Share Posted January 30 When I did my museum tsuba book I met with the committee and they gave me the 'rules' when using their images which were reasonable Why the secrecy, is this normal in France? I assume as places of learning anyone could ask to see this item If I didn't know better I'd think it was a wind up 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Posted January 30 Report Share Posted January 30 7 hours ago, PNSSHOGUN said: Your job for this would be to coordinate professional restoration by traditional artisans. Not sure where those would be located in Europe, perhaps a French member can assist. On no account would it be appropriate for you to perform restoration yourself. In their world it's not about restoration but preservation. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robinalexander Posted January 30 Report Share Posted January 30 Mya IMO your good intentions are bridled by BS. This is sad for well meaning and intentioned people such as yourself. It's the pieces that will suffer the most. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geraint Posted January 30 Report Share Posted January 30 Dear Mya. There is a real tension between the rules of conservation as applied by most museums to most of their collections and the way that Japanese swords are treated. For what it is worth the British Museum carried out a programme of conservation on some of its holdings of Japanese arms and armour, the results are available in their publication: 'Cutting Edge: Japanese Swords in the British Museum' Paperback – 20 Dec. 2004 The book is readily available and not expensive, quite a good introduction to the subject. The programme involved a sizeable donation of funds and the swords were sent to Japan for traditional conservation by craftsmen whose training was fully traditional. Let us know how your journey goes. All the best. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoTanuki yokai Posted January 30 Report Share Posted January 30 I think the blade is naginata Naoshi shape and not shobu Zukuri from your description Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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