Unusual Meiji era gunto mounts...pieced together?

[Gerry]

Just came across this rather ornate hybrid of a gunto koshirae. It looks to be a kyu gunto-parade sabre mix.

 

Has anyone seen something like this before? It has a supposed Gassan Sadakazu blade.

 

[Kiipu]

Maybe Bryce can help with the blade identification.

[David Flynn]

Kyu Gunto, signed Gassan Sadakazu.

[Bryce]

G'day Guys,

The mei looks pretty good. There are a couple of unusual things, but it is close enough that I can't immediately call it gimei without further study and better photos. During this period, there is quite a bit of variation in Gassan Sadakazu mei. 

Cheers,

Bryce

[Bruce Pennington]

Looks like something custom-made for a court official the back strap is field grade or general officer level, or the equivalent civilian ranking.

[Ian B3HR2UH]

Great piece . Have a look at Fuller and Gregory's write up on Imperial household swords 

[PNSSHOGUN]

The mounts themselves appear to be original and of good quality, as you would expect with the Suya stamp. Suya Shoten was known to have supplied Koshirae for a number of Imperial clients, and Gassan Sadakazu was a Teishitsu Gigei-in. The blade itself is somewhat uninspiring for a Gassan work, but that could be the photos. 

[BANGBANGSAN]

5 hours ago, Kiipu said:

Maybe Bryce can help with the blade identification.

It was made by 月山貞一  SADAKAZU (貞一), Genji (元治, 1864-1865), Settsu – “Gassan Unryūshi 
Sadakazu” (月山雲龍子貞一), “Naniwa ni oite Kinpō-jōhen Gassan Sadakazu kore o tsukuru” (於浪花金宝城辺月山貞一造之), “Gassan 
Sadakazu” (月山貞一), “Gassan Hayato Minamoto Sadakazu tsukuru”(月山隼人源貞一造), “Naniwa-jū Gassan Unryūshi Minamoto Sadakazu”
(浪華住月山雲龍子源貞一), “Naniwa-jū Gassan Yagorō Sadakazu seitan hori-dōsaku” (浪華住月山弥五 郎貞一精鍛彫同作, “carefully forged and 
carvings engraved by Gassan Yagorō Sadakazu from Naniwa”), “Dainippon Gassan Sadakazu horimono-dōsaku” (大日本月山貞一彫物同作), real name 
Gassan Yagorō (月山弥五郎), he was born in the second month of Tenpō seven (天保, 1836) in the village of Sugoshi (須越) in Ōmi´s Inugami district 
(犬上), he was adopted by Gassan Sadayoshi (貞吉) at the age of seven and was appointed teishitsu-gigei´in (帝室技芸員) in Meiji 39 (明治, 1906), this rank was about the predecessor of the modern ningen-kokuhō and Sadakazu was besides of Miyamoto Kanenori (宮本包則) the only swordsmith who held this important rank, his gō were Kōkensai (光顕斎), Unryūshi (雲龍子), and Suiyūshi (水勇子), he died on July 11th 1918 at the age of 84, we know dated blades from the third year of Kaei (嘉永, 1850) – he was 15 years old at that time – until his year of death in 1918, that means he was about 70 years active as a swordsmith, he mastered all traditions and is considered together with Honjō Yoshitane (本荘義胤) and Kurihara Nobuhide (栗原信秀) as the greatest horimono artists of the bakumatsu and early gendaitō era, he also played an important role in the transmission of the craft of sword forging to the later gendaitō smiths, so some count Suishinshi Masahide as founder, and Gassan Sadakazu als last great master of the shinshintō, his blades have a rather long nagasa, a shallow sori, a wide mihaba, and a chū or an ō-kissaki, that means altogether a magnificent shape, but also some 
sugata in the style of the early Muromachi period are known, blades made during the Keiō era (慶応, 1865-1868) are especially large, he made many copies of kotō works and worked after the ban on wearing swords also for the military where more narrow and shorter blades were in demand, he forged the ayasugu-hada of the Gassan school, a masame of the Yamato tradition, or also a mokume, ko-mokume, or itame, the hamon is a beautiful chōji-midare in nioi-deki with a narrow yakihaba and long ashi in the style of the Ōei-Bizen school (応永備前), a ko-chōji-midare in ko-nie-deki, a chū-suguha-hotsure in the style of the Yamashiro tradition, or a gunome-midare with thick nie and nioi and plentiful hataraki in the style of the Sōshū tradition, the bōshi is maru, midare-komi or yakitsume, various horimono are known, for example dragons, dragon and a plum tree, ken-maki-ryū, waterfall, Fudō-Myōō, bonji and many more, all done very elaborate and skilful, some remind of horimono of Ikkanshi Tadatsuna (一竿子忠綱), his tangs are long and carefully finished, they have a kurijiri and sujikaiyasurime with keshō, during the Keiō and Meiji eras he signed with a characteristical koku´in, in Taishō five (1916) he forged a tachi on the occasion of the enthronement of emperor Yoshihito (嘉仁, 1879-1926), jōjō-saku。

Edited January 23 by BANGBANGSAN

[lonely panet]

4 hours ago, Ian B3HR2UH said:

Great piece . Have a look at Fuller and Gregory's write up on Imperial household swords 

Some ones got a rare item.

Imperial house hold army kyu. Possibly 1 of a kind 

[PNSSHOGUN]

For comparison:

 

 

[John C]

14 hours ago, PNSSHOGUN said:

The mounts

John: In re: the crysanthemum on the ears - would that be considered a 16 (outer layer) or 32 petal (including the back layer)?

 

John C.

[Ontario_Archaeology]

Here is my similar example

 

 

[Bruce Pennington]

1 hour ago, John C said:

John: In re: the crysanthemum on the ears - would that be considered a 16 (outer layer) or 32 petal (including the back layer)?

 

John C.

Sorry, I know I'm not John, but if there is a back layer it's counted, so 32.  Just like the 5 petal sakura on police swords vs the 10 (5 with back layer) on army swords.