Emura (Chounsai)

[Moley]

Hi Guy's,

I have a really nice Gendaito in Shira Saya by Emura (Chounsai). I like it very much and also like the story behind it.

 

( Yoshikawa states that in his official capacity, he often travelled around the country to inspect and "looked in on" various tanrenjo around the country. 

"Among my visits, the most memorable was a visit to a prison in Okayama. The head of the prison, Mr. Emura, while not a professional smith, made swords as a hobby. The swords made (by Emura) were polished within the prison by the prisoners. Blades were signed using his family name, "Emura", and also "Emura Chounsai". )

 

I can only find a few photos of Emura blades and most of them are in Shirasaya, a few in Gunto mounts.

i was wondering if any were ever mounted in civilian Koshirae ?

Regards

Gwyn

[Stephen]

Emura is one of my favorite of the era.

Hada is very hard to capture I'm sure if you search the board you'll find it many examples

[Bruce Pennington]

I'm often frustrated doing searches, too.  Guys will post nakago shots, but not post overall pictures of the sword.  I've gotten into the habit of asking for additional fittings shots on blades that I want to file.

 

I haven't been through them all, but there are 22 pages that come up when you search Emura on NMB.  Here's one in civil saya.  However 80 years after the war, there is no way to know if it was original or a post-war refit:

[Moley]

Thanks for this Bruce….. So sad that this one was trashed…  Thread is asking if any Emura are in CIVILIAN KOSHIRAE . ?  Did it happen naturally.. i.e. not as a result of greed ?

[George KN]

While I haven't seen many in civilian fittings (only that thread Bruce mentioned), there are a few on this thread signed on the katana side: 
 

And another here:
 

And then a bunch more examples here: https://www.japaneseswordindex.com/emura.htm

I don't know why there's such a mix of which side they are signed on when the regular tachi-style military fittings seem to be so common - but maybe it does imply some were originally intended for civilians even if we don't see them as regularly now?