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Congrats to the buyer. This is a lovely set, and I know a ton of time, money and effort went into putting it together. Great deal. Sorry to hear about your son's passing Stephen. I am sure we all send you and your family condolences, and best wishes.

Iwasawa Ryōjin Iron, round shape, two "hitsu" ana Sukidashi-bori, zōgan inlay Image of monkey grasping at moon April, 1964 Mon'yō (pen name of the appraiser Kamiya Mon'ichirō)

I came across a picture of this beauty! Isn’t this pure art?

My Understanding is there are 2 types of these buttons see examples attached, hope this helps.

Do to the passing of my eldest son I need to sell my beloved project DaiSho a true one no but mine yes Looking for a good home Many post on board. https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/20147-quick-shots-of-hiromasa/#comment-206284 One click to 80 coming next week so forgive my ability to use correct terms. Several illnesses has made it hard for me to get around so I'll post the dimensions later SOLD

This horimono with red lacquer was examined this week on a koto era mumei katana recently acquired by a friend. I would call it a rain dragon and ken. I don't recall every seeing this horimono on a sword before. It looks original to the sword and has been polished quite a number of times. I wonder if there is a specific name for this dragon. More important, does this design if horimono point to any specific group of swordsmiths? Any information would be important. Thanks Ron STL

I have this tsuba for years in my collection and never succeeded to determine precisely what school performed this excellent work in carving. I was hesitating between Shonaï and Hamano schools. What are your views, please? Thank you

Sold

Another fan theme tsuba from my collection to share.

Hi Phil, Having two holes on a WWII showato or gendaito blade is not uncommon. I think many swords were made and the smith put a hole in his 'usual place' and later, the mounting shop finds that the hole doesn't line up with the hilt/binding 'access' points so they put in another hole to line up well. No mystery, and not a sign that the sword has been re-mounted with a new/different set of mounts. Of course, never say never with Japanese swords, so there is always a possibility that it was re-mounted for some reason - battle damage, change to new mounts etc.......I'm just saying that two holes are not uncommon for the reason I give. Just my 2 cents worth..Hope this helps

In Wang Bo's poetry, "二難并“ refer to the rarity of having both a virtuous ruler and an esteemed guest gather together. Could it be that on this blade, the meaning of“二難并” suggests it simultaneously possesses both artistic beauty and practical combat functionality?

The waves look shonai in style to me

no opinion either way, just love this tsuba, an excellent presentation of the theme - Toryu-mon.

@mdiddy @Kiipu @BANGBANGSAN Matt, just saw this 1944 Mantetsu in MRS fittings, with the "REN I" stamp. Sale ends in 5 hours! Any chance of getting a photo of the serial number, PLEASE! *RARE MANTETSU* WWII Japanese Samurai Sword SHIN GUNTO WW2 KATANA TYPE 3 RAILWAY

A very classical one of mine

Jacques, apologies for the confusion: it is not the Meikan but the Taikan. The Nihonto Taikan , Koto Volume 1 the section about Rai school. One could refer for instance to pages 40-55. While they do not explicitly mention the terms shingane or kawagane, some of the pages talk of the “weak skin” of the Kunitoshi when running some comparisons to Kunimitsu or less of the weak skin in Kunimitsu and comparing against Awataguchi Yoshimitsu vs the other, and reference the Raihada in there as the weak skin. The way I interpret this is they infer a surface or top layer that is sometimes weak and sometimes differential steel shows.

There are two possible explanations: either the leather saya is damaged and the tsuka cover is here to hide the ugly scar, or the original owner wanted to display the tsuka and keep the cover on the sword at the same time. I should be able to ascertain the integrity of the saya by the end of next week.

Good research on those tsuba, Didier! Don't know how you found those (but I've never been a good Search'er) What a creative way to store that leather tsuka cover!

https://archive.org/...SwordGuards/mode/2up

It did take me quite a while to see it (...), but I have now understood that the leather saya comes with a matching leather tsuka cover

Hi guys, I'm stuck on these characters - does anyone know what they are?

Chris, there have been a number of SHIGETSUGU swordsmiths over the time, so you will have to research the blade (features like shape, HAMON, HADA) and the signature online or in books. Just looking at the signature does not help, one has to compare the style and workmanship with certfied examples. Just looking at your pictures, I find the NAKAGO and the MEI looking relatively young as in MEIJI or younger. The TSUBA and the other mountings look like they had a rough life, so it is difficult to guess what they might have been when they were new. In addition to that, your photos are not the best, so it is difficult to give you a reliable estimation or opinion. Generally, photos should be: - well focused, not foggy or blurry - made with a dark, non reflective background for good contrast - made with light from the side (may not apply for HAMON photos) - made from directly above (not at an angle) - made with correct orientation (vertically tip-upwards, especially NAKAGO photos and TSUBA) - without HABAKI but showing the MACHI and NAKAGO JIRI - made in high resolution to see details - showing details (magnification) like BOSHI, HAMACHI, HAMON, HADA, NAKAGO JIRI etc. or the fine work on TSUBA - presented as cut-outs so very little background is shown If you cannot supply good photos (..."these photos are all I have from the dealer...."/..."I do not have a good camera but only an old mobile phone...." ), DO NOT POST BAD ONES. They will not be helpful.

@Bruce Pennington Those pierced tsuba with "reworked" latch holes are apparently not uncommon.

Yes, hard to say Phil, I have seen two blades by the same man, both with its hole the same size and location, both in Type 98 mounts. But, one has a second, smaller dia. hole drilled close by. The 1 hole is (IMO) still in its original mounts while the 2 hole one has slightly different mounts which (judging from the shop markings/numbers etch ) were done in a different shop . I feel that the 1 hole has survived the war in good shape in its original mounts while the 2 hole has had a rough time and had to be remounted and so the shop, finding that the original hole did not line up exactly to its particular hilt, put in a new hole....just my feeling on this. Regards...

I have doubts about the first sword. Closer, more clear photos are needed.

Kanazawa is great, and there is a high class sword museum (Shusui) about 40minutes away in Toyama. Also a good traditional culture museum in Toyama (with a tea room) which on occasion holds sword exhibits. Both Kanazawa and Toyama castles have very average displays. No great sword shops I know of, but Toyama has a good community and I heard there was a sword club meeting now and then. Nagoya - Atsuta shrine has a good display with subpar lighting, a few good shops of which sanmei is best known. Has antique flea market which is very average, as frankly all Japanese non-spec antique markets sword-wise. There is Tokugawa Museum which is very good, again light is subpar. There is obviously the new sword museum in Nagoya, but it happened way after the time I lived in JP, so its best addressed by those who've been there.

Tokyo?JSW's headquarters is in Tokyo.

And for @Bugyotsuji…..a lovely matchlock pistol in this sale. https://www.bonhams....t-maroni-collection/

Trystan, thanks for solving the mystery of the Mikasa 三笠 logo. The JSW logo looks like the English letters A-T-V, but not sure of the order. Armstrong and Vickers were investors in JSW. A = Armstrong. T = ?. V = Vickers.

The "Star" stamp was not used this early in 1942. It came later in 1942. However, if an army contract blade, it might have some inspection marks on the nakago mune.

Thanks John, I was going to write Captain Johns, then had my doubts and started to think about Biggles, memory not too good. Thanks Geraint, I would like to see it , Martin's article has opened a door on a fascinating subject. Martin, really looking forward to more on this.

The tang is marked with the number 46. 四六 = ４６.

I have several. It does appear to be an intact version of the “patrolman’s furnishings”

You got it. It's on Ohmura's website, but the Japanese version has much more information than the English version. English version http://ohmura-study.net/204.html Japanese version http://ohmura-study.net/741.html

In case the toe broke off in the making, the NETSUKE would never have been finished and left the workshop. So it was very probably an accidental thing.

Nice start to a collection. If they all have hozon certification then you can be confident as to their authenticity. Personally I like the 3rd one very much, I think the river design is pretty unique. These all strike me as genuine later Edo Period works in the 1780-1850 range.

Well, that was fast. Friggin cute Futagoyama tsuba.

Thanks. It was a large and Lovely tsuba that came +1 with another tsuba I wanted to buy. It was a nice honking hefty example of manly armor maker tsuba. Armor maker tsuba mostly aren't my cup of tea, but I didn't mind having this one around for a year or two. I have an ubu late Nambokuchu or early Muromachi Ko-Tosho that I should get around to selling, but it won't be nearly as cheap as this one. Still, a bargain price once I get around to photographing and listing it.

Speaking as someone with an education in the IT field - Large language models like ChatGPT are getting more accurate every day, but I firmly place them within a rule as old as the internet: Do not take serious medical or academic advice from an online generated source, chatGPT and its like should be treated as a fancy version of wikipedia, nothing more.

Surprise addendum: On a lark, I sent the tsuba back to Japan for a second opinion from NTHK. Just heard that they’ve papered it!

More fans! Looks like maybe a similar style to the one in Dan’s first post.

I pulled a few swords from the cupboard tonight to inspect and enjoy. This KANETOSHI (Murayama) Star Stamp, July 1944 in late war RS mounts always demands attention. In WW2 polish, the hada and hamon in Ichimonji style JUKA CHOJI, is like viewing a nice piece of art, something new always catches your eye. For Bruce's benefit, I tried to do my best on the MUNE stamps. I have probably posted photos before, but my new phone camera and LED lights show much more detail. If I had the time and money, this sword would be a prime candidate for a touch up polish.

I just went back and looked at the Tanobe sayagaki for my Norishige (also a discovery - it was a unloved sword at a show). In it, he uses Yuhin nari, which is very exciting to me considering what Markus told you. Thank you for the useful information!

Hi Yesterday I recieved my latest purchase. It's a Gendaito signed Toei Ju Ota Chikahide made in August 1940 with a nagasa of 27 3/8". The sword is beautiful in every way(Thanks Stu). It has a lovely hamon with masame and an equally nice hada. When researching the smith he's described as a highly rated smith or a top notch smith. However he's only rated at 1 million yen, isn't that quite an average ranking for a half decent/decent smith. Well either way I didn't buy the sword for the name nor because of the ranking of the smith. I attach a few photos if it could be of interest to anyone. The sword was sold at nihonantiques.com a few years ago and since Moses is a far better photographer than I'll ever be I borrow his. Cheers Daniel

AI has a lot to learn. In my efforts to understand swordsmiths who combine both Yamato and Soshuden characteristics this is what ChatGPT has decided I need to know..... back to the books Here is an artistic rendering of a nihonto sword blending both Yamato and Soshu characteristics, as described. It captures the elegance and robustness of both styles. ....

In all likelihood, it means "This is gibberish carved into a fake sword with a screwdriver" Please post more pics of the sword, so we can tell for sure.

This one was too funny to keep from you:

Georg, we have a "Go Fund Me" campaign to send Babu to charm school. Please keep us up to date with this sword!