UK auction purchase.

[charlesf]

I'm posting this for 'entertainment' purposes,I'm sorry not to have better images these are the ones provided by the auction house and upon which my bidding was based.

Whilst I realise that this is not Juyo,museum quality or of purist collector standard it was the sugata that piqued my interest along with the colour and shape of the tang,it's clearly a very old sword repurposed for use by an officer of the IJA.

It is a light and handy sword with fumbari and also a distal taper which may be the result of polishing over the centuries.

Hada and hamon: There is visible masame hada from the habakimoto for about 10 cms with a very narrow suguha hamon after which the blade takes on a 'frosted' surface and the hamon becomes midare with 'fingers' reaching the shinogi,although there is no visible mizukage I suspect that it has undergone treatment to re-harden/re-temper/create a fresh hamon,there are no images capturing this effect.

Tsuka is in great condition with nice dragon themed fuchi kashira,unusually there are no menuki,they have not been removed,they were never fitted,there are holes below the kashira for a sarute no longer there,rank tassel tied to saya which is plain wood covered with leather in good condition.

Tsuba is a small,plain iron,round affair which has been rubbed off and lost its patina.

 

charles

 

[charlesf]

Blade dimensions (I forgot!) :

 

Nagasa; 70.5 cms

 

Motohaba; 2.8 cms

 

Sakihaba; 1.5 cms

 

charles

[When Necessary]

Hello Charles,

 

That's a lovely sword! May I ask the blade length?

 

Dee

 

Addendum: you just beat me to it! 😁

Edited Monday at 02:40 PM by When Necessary

[charlesf]

Dee,

        Thank you for your kind words,I was quite pleased when the sword arrived,warts and all,it does have flaws which are only to be expected in a blade of this age,the officer that carried it didn't mind them so why should I?

I tried to take photos of the fuchi-kashira but my small digital camera has gone 'cloudy' with a large black speck in the middle of the screen which I cannot remove.

 

regards,

              charles.

[ROKUJURO]

Charles,

does the handle have a tight fit or are TSUBA and SEPPA a bit loose?

When you speak about age-related flaws, how old is the blade?

It is better to make photos on a dark, non-reflecting background so we could see HAMON and HADA

Edited 21 hours ago by ROKUJURO

[charlesf]

Age? I'm afraid I lack the expertise to accurately date this sword my main interest being gendaito,judging by its sugata I guess it could be anywhere from late Heian to early Kamakura,it is suriage by approx. 9 cms,please note that its date is only my estimate based on comparisons with the sugata of other swords so any correction or input would be welcome.

The tsuka is a perfect fit and appears to be of WW2 period manufacture specifically for this blade.

Tsuba is loose because the double habaki has been damaged and does not fit snugly into the mune machi.

As stated the images posted are those supplied by the auction house,my digital camera is damaged and the camera on my phone is 2mp so not good enough to show hada and hamon.

 

charles.

[ROKUJURO]

Charles,

what did you mark on this last photo? No details visible!

I would be extremely surprized to find a sword from late Heian to early Kamakura times in military mounts, but who knows? Diamonds have been found in the rough.....

[charlesf]

I suggest you download the image and then zoom in and you will see the flaws mentioned.

I don't think for one moment that it is a 'diamond in the rough',it is simply an old blade repurposed for military use,it may have been a family heirloom or just a purchase within the officer's budget as the flaws would have been visible at the time of remounting.

You obviously disagree with my guess at the blade's age,perhaps you would like to give us the benefit of your expertise and give your opinion?

 

charles.

[George KN]

Hi Charles, from what I can see, it looks good! It definitely would be worth taking some of your own photos when possible (or uploading the originals), as it is very hard to see the flaws or features properly, since we can't zoom in on your screenshots of the images in the same way you can with the originals. But in my books you can't really go wrong with a wartime mounted nihonto, they are all worth saving!

 

Some interesting things I can spot from your current photos:

 

1. I can't seem to see a distinct yokote, and the kissaki seems a strange shape, so I wonder if it has been reshaped recently (possibly by an amateur? (Could just be the angle of the camera and blade though))

2. There seems to be a lot of space between the tsuka and the habaki. If this is the case, and it isn't just caused by the damage, it might suggest the tsuba has been swapped out at some point recently?

3. The two piece habaki has a lot of damage to it! Although the rest of the sword doesn't look too roughed up (unlike a lot of WW2 blades I see in UK auctions), this habaki really does look like its been through a warzone

4. Looks like a good length, and nothing wrong with it being mumei (I actually like mumei a lot, means you have to evaluate a blade only on its merits) 

5. The lack of menuki and general lack of decoration suggest to me it could have been drafted into service in a hurry, very much functional rather than decorative