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G'day Guys, Some better photos of the 1920 dated 67cm katana by Gassan Sadakatsu done in ayasugi. Cheers, Bryce

Thought these may be of some interest to collectors: New Guinea: regarding distribution of swords to soldiers Dutch Borneo: brief summary of the Japanese sword from RAAF intelligence. Interesting they note "jeepspring sinister" swords in 1945.

I have to report the first "review" of the new book. Amazon Book Review Reviewed in the United States on 17 July 2024 "A lot of work went into the book but in heavens name why are the pictures in black & white? Much of the detail and beauty of the tsubas is lost without color photos." Well two things 1. The images were originally in B&W and date from around 120 years ago - so should I have used AI to colour them? [It is a historical record not a coffee table book!] 2. There is no 's' on the end of "tsuba" There is always the option to return the book to Amazon - they have a thirty day policy and I quite like the idea that they don't get to make their exorbitant profit.

Dale, here is a quote from my old friend Nietzsche: WHAT DOES NOT KILL ME, MAKES ME STRONGER Please write a reviews review..

My father bought what he thought was a WW2 sword from a store in Ireland back in the early 70's. He gave it to me 13 years ago and I was happy to see what I believed to be a Nambokucho tachi but the condition was too poor to judge further. Happiness was short lived as I found a large hagire. Turns out that he used it for a short period to chop firewood...hit a knot in the wood, straightened out the sori and thought a reverse strike on the mune would fix the problem. Sori came back but probably caused the hagire. But it seemed to be a good sword so I dragged it across to Japan when I was going to the DTI and had Ikeda-san polish a window in it. He confirmed the Nambokucho call and thought Aoe based on the window and wanted to polish it completely but my funds wouldn't allow that. He also found a second hagire... So if the sword had been papered when my dad bought it, that would answer your question. Here's the sword -

G'day Guys, A little bit more about the evolution of the "Gassan" habaki. It looks like in the 1920's Gassan Sadakatsu was also keen on the "bamboo fence" style of habaki. So far I have come across 6 examples of his blades with this style of habaki. Below are solid silver gilt and gold foil examples. Cheers, Bryce

Well, I had a wonderful 5 hours examining over 20 blades in minute detail. Not only were the blades top examples of Soshu Den but they included a couple of TokuJu blades from Yukimitsu (with family paper archive dating back 400 years) and Norishige. There were also several Juyo blades from Kaneuji (2 long blades from different periods), Sanekage (a tanto and a katana) and Tametsugu (again an early tanto and a later katana after he relocated to Mino). It was a wonderful opportunity to note the differences in blades made years apart by the same swordsmith and the influences of their contemporaries and teachers. The Norishige was also fascinating as it seemed to have a less structured/formulaic earlier style than the Matsukawa hada he is most famous for today. I actual prefer his more freestyle earlier jihada. The TJ Yukimitsu tanto was also a wonderful example showing the early Soshu DNA. In the second half of the meeting we could compare the Soshu swords with later blades from Satsuma that emulated Soshu style. That was also fascinating to see the hits and near misses. The level of accumulated knowledge gathered in one room was also humbling. I can think of no other opportunities in Europe where there is a chance to examine so many fine blades in one place and talk with such knowledgeable collectors and dealers. The assembled tsuba and koshirae fittings were also fascinating including many museum grade pieces. Overall these events are well worth attending if you have the chance.

It is interesting to compare this subtle ayasugi, with the high contrast variety Gassan Sadakatsu also produced using mixed steels. High contrast from a 1943 dated blade left and 1920 subtle variety right. Cheers, Bryce

Simple: do not buy anything offered on ebay from Japanese sellers. They think Americans are ... .... and ..., and therefore offer things at random prices that they can't sell in Japan. Case in point - weak Juyo covered head to toe in ware, which recently saw extensive combat against ninja. The extent of damage inflicted on ninja is unknown, but the blade did suffer "what looks like a hagire".

A clouds & rain habaki presented in gold/silver combo, found in this Guns.ru thread by Бирмач.

Thanks very much Clive. I noticed the book is now listed on some other sites - but not very impressed. https://booksdirect....ok_9798331168889.htm RRP $131.00 https://booksdirect....ok_9798331169169.htm RRP $205.11 What a joke with the prices! I will be lucky to sell any at those prices! https://www.magersan...RTICLES-FOR/26872288 more reasonable but who can find them? Really there is no incentive to do books, the middlemen make money from it but that is all. I am not bitching about book sales [I could care less] but about how others are really ripping off the general public.

Hello guys, Here is an interesting piece, Momoyama period perhaps? Nunome zogan on 3 petals on both sides, but I can't see any remains of silver or gold...An early experiment piece maybe?

I just sent off a "new" book to the global distributors - Titled "Additional Early Articles for Tsuba Study II" It follows on "Early Articles for Tsuba Study 1880-1923 Enlarged Edition" & "Additional Early Articles for Tsuba Study" with more articles and catalogues/catalogs, this time mainly dealing with auction catalogues of some of the well known collections and many of the more obscure ones. I concentrated only on auctions with images available, nothing more frustrating than to have to imagine what the tsuba looked like in my opinion. The book is 322 pages with several hundred tsuba illustrated. With any luck the book should be listed within a month. The first book in the series [compact version] I just found listed on Catawiki, it is almost the same as the Enlarged Edition so you can check out the images https://www.catawiki...-period-1989-present [I don't recall giving anyone permission to show the pages, but that obviously doesn't stop Catawiki !! ]

After some time, I was finally able to get my hands on a kodachi (yay!) and I'm excited to show it!

If i'm not wrong the number of mekugi ana doesn't match ...

I agree with Piers! The description is rather close, ok, one can argue with the name of the haidate… The good thing is, that the sangu is matching and the dō is in quite good condition. Most work requires the hanpō, but the price seems “acceptable” and reflects the condition (more or less ). I can also go into the different kamon, if you like?!

It was Jūyō sword but in current state with hagire I don't think it would pass even Hozon shinsa. I checked the Jūyō 23 book and the item is featured there. One or two times from shady sellers from Japan there have been faked Jūyō book entries with the items. Japanese swords are not too tough in general so someone might have dropped it to the floor etc. and that might have resulted in hagire. Even though there has been lots of criticism by some towards the few sessions in 2X Jūyō shinsa where lots of items passed, I am pretty sure they would not let this sword pass with hagire like that. I feel the item in current state would be extremely low value, what keeps the price so high is the old Jūyō paper. I remember Darcy and few others were forming a theory you can find some good older posts about it. In short it would generally be summarized that a Jūyō sword would have minimum price of X - just because it is a Jūyō, regardless of the actual quality of the item. So even though the item in eBay post in current state to me would be almost worthless, the seller still is asking for Jūyō price for it.

Zacke in Vienna sells a Kozuka depicting a Kozuka: https://www.zacke.at...&sd=0&pp=96&pn=2&g=1

I know, right? Kodachi are an interesting beast, but hey, we win some, we lose some. Still a good graduation gift from Dad. Will send it to shinsa when I can.

I struggle in understanding kodachi, as to me they are a peculiar type of swords. So far I have documented 158 kodachi from late Heian - early Muromachi periods. There is a lot of variety in them in shape and size. Some are short and fairly wide while some are long and narrow, and there will be an item for most of the possible varieties in between. I saw several kodachi this summer in Japan, including the Rai Kunitoshi kodachi that is one of the national treasures of Futarasan-jinja. I just don't seem to grasp these where as I do love their opposite, ōdachi. For Norimune I currently have documented only 8 signed tachi by him. Only 1 of them is in private ownership, others are in various museums, shrines etc. in Japan.

The shape of this oshigata sword has significant differences to my eye. So, while lengths may be similar, time frames of manufacture are not. One reason lengths may be similar is that later swords were attempting to copy earlier examples.

And likely not in your favour either 99% of the time.

I'll likely be one of the younger people there so I should be easy to spot

When you say, "Are they close?", are you asking about your thoughts and comments. If so, yes they are. Although not high quality, and the condition is 'well-used', there is much to study and enjoy in this set of kashi-gusoku, perhaps for a lower-ranked bushi or ashigaru. The kabuto and kote for example are decent, although the menpo looks to be from a set of Kaga armour. Not sure if the yoroi-bitsu is a later addition? As to price, perhaps a little on the high side, but you do get a bit of everything, and considering the original cost of shipping etc., maybe not too steep. It depends what you collect, but for anyone looking for a set of ashigaru armor, why not? PS "Are they close in their description?" is what you mean, I guess.

Thanks John, interesting reading. I made a note in an old book that I came across, a reference at one time there being 10,000 such swords in Australia, also that a former Japanese soldier spent a lot of time trying to buy them up, in the old Token newsletters somewhere. There were some good newspaper clipping from Australian newspapers sent by Major Brookes? at the time. This is from memory but I think it can be verified.

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) Just how old are you Peter !!! ?

Here is a papered (hozon) kinpun-mei Aoe Ietsugu wakizashi. https://tokka.biz/sword/ietsugu2.html

A boy's day sword, shinshinto with wisteria theme sukashi tsuba and hawk & monkey kozuka. Kashira and menuki are missing. Wide gunome-midare hamon. This style of blade was produced often by the Mishina line of smiths. $850 (plus shipping and PayPal)

Very interesting John. Thank you for sharing MikeR

Aside from Bizen koto blades are unpredictable. They can hagire from falling on the floor.

My Dad was in the Airforce. He was at the surrenders in Borneo. He said that after the surrenders, a raffle for any swords left over would occur. He missed out.

I would say sugata is obvious Sakizori and I would go much later than Mid Kamakura BTW - works by Norimune are almost a unicorn Just one single Tokubetsu Juyo blade and a few JuBi/JuBun/Kokuho

So far I have documented 3 dated items by Aoe Ietsugu. 1357 dated tantō 1367 dated ōnaginata 1386 dated tachi I am not personally a fan of mumei attribution towards specific smiths but that is often the traditional way.

Hello all. Just wanted to post some pictures of a Type 98 Gunto Wakizashi that I acquired recently. It very closely resembles one that I already own that was recently papered at the Orlando Shinsa. Hope you enjoy. Also a translation of the smith would be greatly appreciated. MikeR

Interesting that the writer mistook the samurai's waki to be for suicide. Also interesting that they made a point to lay out the argument that swords collected after the war's end were to be distributed among all. There must have been some front-line guys grumbling about office clerks getting swords!

Without any photo's, your guess is as good as mine.

Just came across this one from a post back in February by @Onigoroshi

I would recommend the new book to anyone with an interest in collecting tsuba and tsuba history. As my library is relatively new I also bought the other 2 books and have many months of reading ahead of me.

You HAVE to stay in the show hotel. The rooms were amazing, and just walking out of your room and down a few corridors into the show was incredible. The hotel is gorgeous, not a thing to complain about. I wish I could do it again. It was incredible.

Sam the show rate is 199 so 2 nights even with tax should be in your price range here is a link https://book.passkey...492/owner/12506/home I run the Chicago show and the one thing that helps support the show (and keep it going) is to stay at the hotel and reserve in the show room block hope that helps mark

Item has been sold. Thank you very much.

Looks like Catawiki has sold their copy - But I guess if they can steal my images - then I can steal theirs! They were bid what it retails for anyway https://www.abebooks...-1923-1518472990/plp I can get it delivered to anywhere in the US for about $16 USD!!! I don't like proxy dealers

Are you Didrik Bildt? Nice mugshot anyway! Oh and congratulations on what looks like a wonderful work!

G'day Guys, If I was asked to close my eyes and picture a "classic" Gassan school katana, this is what I would imagine. It is a Gassan Sadakatsu done in ayasugi hada with bohi and dragon horimono, dated 1920. Cheers, Bryce

Forgive me if this has been posted before, but I couldn't bring myself to scroll through 5 pages to find out. A 1940 Sadakatsu in the "kissaki moro ha zukuri" style. Found at Sabaku Samurai site Sabaku Samurai: Japanese Swords and Collectibles

A Gassan Tanto in my collection made by: Gassan Sadayoshi Tsukuru (月山貞吉造) Ansei Ni Nen Ni Gatsu Hi (安政二年二月日) A day in Feburary 1855

He was BAD at kantei. Good side - nobody fakes his sayagaki.