NotANinja Posted January 8 Report Posted January 8 Hi all, I recently purchased this sword from an auction because the tsuka intrigued me. I've never come across anything like it before so I was hoping someone here could tell me something about it. Also why is the mei on the tsuba so... bad? Was it perhaps the owner of the sword who did that at some point in the past and that's why it's scratchy? The blade inside is genuine so I don't have any doubt for it's authenticity. Many thanks! 3 Quote
NotANinja Posted January 8 Author Report Posted January 8 Strangely the mekugi looks to be laquered bone? I don't think it's wood either way 2 Quote
Bugyotsuji Posted January 8 Report Posted January 8 Tsuka seem to come in endless variety, always something new comes along. Thanks for sharing. As to the tsuba, my impression is that it is made and patinated to look old, with a rather unsuccessful attempt to imitate a Mei. 2 Quote
ROKUJURO Posted January 8 Report Posted January 8 The TSUKA cover looks like Iguana or lizard skin, or maybe a special shark skin type. I am with Piers on the TSUBA; it is probably amateur work, the SEPPA as well. 2 Quote
PNSSHOGUN Posted January 8 Report Posted January 8 Rather unique, at a guess something thrown together for field service during the Meiji period. 2 Quote
ROKUJURO Posted January 8 Report Posted January 8 John, don't you think that this kind of TSUKA would be more typical for a so-called 'Merchant's' KOSHIRAE? Late EDO? If the blade was WAKIZASHI NAGASA, I would guess so. Of course it does look thrown together with the glue coming out under the MENUKI. Not beautiful.... Quote
NotANinja Posted January 8 Author Report Posted January 8 2 hours ago, Bugyotsuji said: Tsuka seem to come in endless variety, always something new comes along. Thanks for sharing. As to the tsuba, my impression is that it is made and patinated to look old, with a rather unsuccessful attempt to imitate a Mei. Yes I thought it was pretty unique, nice to know no one here (so far!) has come across this style before. I would agree on the tsuba, it looks amateurish, and the mei looks like someone who doesn't know how to engrave/doesn't have the proper tools had their go at it and I would know because I am a jeweller who's not very good at hand engraving yet! 1 Quote
NotANinja Posted January 8 Author Report Posted January 8 1 hour ago, ROKUJURO said: The TSUKA cover looks like Iguana or lizard skin, or maybe a special shark skin type. I am with Piers on the TSUBA; it is probably amateur work, the SEPPA as well. I would agree with that, looking at it up close it's definitely too random to be something man-made. some kind of laquered fish skin would be my guess. Quote
NotANinja Posted January 8 Author Report Posted January 8 11 minutes ago, ROKUJURO said: John, don't you think that this kind of TSUKA would be more typical for a so-called 'Merchant's' KOSHIRAE? Late EDO? If the blade was WAKIZASHI NAGASA, I would guess so. Of course it does look thrown together with the glue coming out under the MENUKI. Not beautiful.... The blade is a strange length. It's definitely been shortened in the past I think by quite a lot and polished many many times to the point it's very tired, probably beyond saving and the hamachi is about half a mil out from the nakago, really tiny. Nagas is just over 21" and there's a notch in the nakago from what I presume is the time of shortening for what purpose I don't know - perhaps to indicate that it has been shortened? The menuki seem very strange to me, almost like they've been salvaged from something else by cutting them off something with the random background shapes. Quote
ROKUJURO Posted January 8 Report Posted January 8 Rob, animal skin would not be too exotic; I have seen a number of these besides the standard SAME (pearl ray skin). Shark-skin can even be found on WWII Navy sword SAYA. Shortening a blade may leave a mark on the NAKAGO, though on the (slightly out of focus) photo you provided it is not visible to me. A reason for shortening might have been to be allowed to carry it as a merchant. Only SAMURAI were allowed to carry blades of KATANA size. Quote
Bugyotsuji Posted January 8 Report Posted January 8 Unless I’m missing something, those Menuki are not just legit, they are really very nice. 2 Quote
Scogg Posted January 8 Report Posted January 8 A very similar nakago feature was discussed recently in the thread below. 1 Quote
NotANinja Posted January 8 Author Report Posted January 8 24 minutes ago, Scogg said: A very similar nakago feature was discussed recently in the thread below. The exact same nakago in fact! That was the post I made to get some info before ultimately deciding to buy it 1 Quote
NotANinja Posted January 8 Author Report Posted January 8 2 hours ago, ROKUJURO said: Rob, animal skin would not be too exotic; I have seen a number of these besides the standard SAME (pearl ray skin). Shark-skin can even be found on WWII Navy sword SAYA. Shortening a blade may leave a mark on the NAKAGO, though on the (slightly out of focus) photo you provided it is not visible to me. A reason for shortening might have been to be allowed to carry it as a merchant. Only SAMURAI were allowed to carry blades of KATANA size. Apologies Jean, you can see a better photo on the post Sam linked to. Quote
ROKUJURO Posted January 8 Report Posted January 8 This groove has no technical purpose in my opinion. Might be just a mistake by an amateur who was going to cut it too short, but after rethinking, decided otherwise. Quote
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