My kai-gunto: some photos & questions.

[Franco]

2 hours ago, Nazar said:

What is your general opinion on this sword though? 

 

Dear Nazar,

 

Love the kitty!

 

Not to be evasive. Well, maybe just a little. My focus has been on old swords for so long that I've forgotten most of what I once knew about military swords. Asking and receiving thoughts from the military sword collectors would be more of value and accurate I should think. Please don't be discouraged. Take what you learn from this experience and use it to move forward. The best advice for any Japanese sword collector is to follow what the Japanese advise. Which is take the time to study and look at the very best swords possible.

Train your eyes. 

 

Best,

 

 

 

[Nazar]

Thank you for your kind words and advices, Franco! I am not discouraged.  Slightly worried are the right words. See, my opinion on this sword was as follows: 

 

I have genuine kai-gunto, however assembled from parts of different swords: blade, habaki and tsuka (which I like greatly) from one sword, while tsuba and seppa from another, since their nakago-ana are too large for this nakago. And because saya mouth is too big for habaki of this blade it may belong to the sword from which tsuba and seppa come or may be from yet one sword. I believe that blade is made of "western" steel, however it has interesting hamon. 

 

I liked that hamon. When I received the sword its blade was stained with fresh fingerprints. It had some older imprints on it as well as a lot of scratches and dots of rust. I started to treat the blade with microfibre and oil. I used Ballistol Gunnex oil as I prefer it for my guns and have it at hand. And gradually the blade started to look better, especially hamon. Hamon manifested itself more clearly, gleaming, when light was put at sharp angles.  In other cases hamon looked clearly different to ji, with a thin wispy and slightly darker line between them. 

 

Then Jean dropped in and started questioning. Thanks to him yet one time for that, by the way. Some of his questions (like ones about nakago tapering and tsuka fitment) confirmed my opinion on my sword. Yet, the situation with hamon made me doubtful about my general opinion on the sword. Sure, I pondered different ideas but never seriously thought that I have some fancy blade. Having genuine kai-gunto (even an assembled one) is sufficient to make me happy. 

 

As for training my eyes on the question of hamon, nioi, nie and other such delicate things, I believe the only way is to get the real thing in one's hands and have some time to study it and to take some photos. Alas, this is not an option for me at the moment. 

 

My greatest ambition in Japanese swords so far is to get gendaito in kai-gunto mounts. As a serviceman I could apply for vacation and get permission to cross the border of Ukraine (there is a restriction for men of draft age on leaving the country). My wife and son live in Germany and I haven't seen them for more than three years. So this silly idea popped in my mind one day: what if I could combine travel to my family with buying a sword? There are a lot of members from Germany here and from what I see some of them sell swords on a regular basis. So maybe one day the sword in question poppes here in the sale section of the board.  Then I could  study it and leave it for my son as some kind of heritage. Yet, so far it's just  a dream. 

 

 

The kitten's name is Mavka. It could be translated as dryad in English. She likes when I stay at home and keeps me company. We have yet one cat.  His name is Cat since at that time he was the only one cat. He is rather small and of black colour. He is more shy when it comes to photos. Also he likes to spend days exploring neighborhoods and fighting other cats. He gets his share of scratches and bites, but being a true samurai he continues to carve his place in the local hierarchy of cats.