Samurai Sword

[fritobandito558]

Hello,

I recently bought a sword from someone who's father obtained it from the South Pacific in WWII. I would like to find out more about the sword, but have been unsuccessful in finding much information. I was referred to this forum for more information about the sword maker and approx. age of the sword, and any other facts. The link below is pictures that I have taken of the sword.

Thank you, Bob Belo

 

http://s757.photobucket.com/albums/xx21 ... 558/Sword/

[Grey Doffin]

Hi Bob,

I don't know the small inlaid character but the 2 larger ones read, "Daido", which is a swordsmith's name. The fact that the name is inlaid in gold and not simply carved into the nakago of the sword is because the sword has been shortened, the original signature, if there was one, has been lost to the shortening, and someone later has done the inlay as an attribution. There were about 40 smiths who signed this name; maybe someone else has an idea which Daido this might be.

The attribution can be an honest attribution or it can be done solely to increase the value of the sword and have no relation to honesty. Hard to tell from pictures. Run your fingernail over the gold inlay. Is it slightly recessed below the surrounding steel or is it flush? If recessed it has some age; if flush, the inlay was done relatively recently and may be spurious.

The patina of the nakago (tang) looks like a good piece. Someone who has knowledge and is honest will have to see the sword in hand before you'll know very much about it.

Make sure you know how to handle and care for this sword. Here's a care and etiquette brochure at the NMBTH American Branch website: http://www.nbthk-ab.org/Etiquette.htm

Hope this helps. Grey

[Grey Doffin]

Here's more.

Dates for the various Daido range from late 16th century to mid 19th century. Because it looks like your sword had an O-kissaki (long point) before someone took steel wool to it, I would guess the more recent part of that range, perhaps 19th century. O-kissaki are often seen on long swords form this period.

The number of holes in the nakago correspond to different blades lengths (likely it was shortened more than once) and different handles (it definitely was mounted in more than one set of koshirae).

The reason slightly recessed gold inlay corresponds to older inlay is that steel corrodes and expands with age, while gold does neither.

Can you give us the length of the edge, from the tip to the notch at the back of the blade in a straight line? What is the curvature, from that straight line to the back of the blade at its greatest gap?

Grey

[george trotter]

The character by itself seems to be "Riku"...commonly used as the first character in the province name "Mutsu" (now Aomori ken). If this is so, it might be deliberately put on the tang as a clue as to which of the many "Daido" smiths this is. Of the many, there were 5 who used the title "Mutsu no Kami" (Lord of Mutsu). According to Hawley (who does have errors), there were, all living in Mino Province, the following...their code numbers are Dai 18, 19, 20, 23 ranging from 1573 - 1624. The most famous, and most likely to have this inlaid gin-mei (if genuine), is Dai 34 1624-48. He is twice the quality of the previous and later became 1st generation Shinano no Kami Daido.

I am deducing the above from that one character...I could well be wrong.

Hope this helps,

George.

[fritobandito558]

Thanks Grey. I measured the blade and it the total length is 22 7/8 inches in a straight line. The longest gap is about a 1/2 inch. The gold inlay is flush with the blade. Someone had also told me that the file type is Kasurime / Kiri and the gold inlay also has that type of filing. Again, thanks for your time.

[fritobandito558]

Thanks George for you time. I really don't understand all of that information, I am new to all of this. Any way you can break that down for beginners? -Bob

[george trotter]

Bob, The Hawley I refer to is Willis Hawley, who produced a compilation of about 30,000 Japanese swordsmiths...in 1967, Revised in 1981, reprinted in c.2001? "Japanese Swordsmiths". Each smith has a code number so you can look up their details.

Your sword is under the name of DAIDO...there are about 40 who used that signature. They lived in various provinces and worked from, roughly,16th cent -19th cent. The clue "mutsu" narrows the search....I might add that Grey may be correct in his assessment as 19th cent, as I just noticed 2 other smiths who used "Mutsu" in their signature... DAI 9 Daido...lived in Ise, 1661, used "Mutsu no Kami" and another, DAI 14 Daido, lived Izumi, 1861, used "Mutsu no Suke" (lower rank title). These DAI are all code numbers and dates for smiths named DAIDO who used "Mutsu" in their signature...because your blade has the character for "Riku" (aka for "Mutsu"), I think it may be a clue to a Mutsu Daido smith. Of the 40 or so, you may narrow your search down to just 7 of them...the details of the sword that Grey asked for...length, curvature, etc etc are how you pinpoint a region, period and hopefully an individual smith. If I am correct about "Mutsu", and this is confirmed by one of our Japanese members, then you are lucky...because, if genuine, your gold signature clues, plus the blade characteristics study should help ID just who it is...some of our experienced members will id the blade better than I.

Regards,

George.

[fritobandito558]

Thanks for the explanation George. Hopefully soon, I will be able to have a correct id for the sword. Thanks!

[Grey Doffin]

Bob,

Like I said before, there will be no correct ID unless someone who knows sees it in person. Best you can get online and with pictures is a good guess.

Grey

[george trotter]

Bob,

Grey is right...the sword needs to be "in hand" to be more than a guess/estimation based on pics and written description.

Regards,

George.