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Some Korean guards. Often with hitsu-ana that are more round on the inside. Sometimes larger, sometimes smaller than those found on Japanese examples. Nakago-ana often miss that narrowing towards the edge that you tend to see on Japanese work.

Korea is right in between the major powers Japan and China and it shows on their weapons and other regalia. They have a number of swords, some are much easier to differentiate from Japanese swords than others. Their straightswords generally follow the tradition of the Ming period in China, so they are easy to set apart from ken. Hwando Then there are the hwando, military sabers that are much more like Chinese yaodao (waist-worn sabers) than anything else. Korean swords are rare on the market, but this type turns up the most. The French army took a large number of them during a punitive expedition to Ganghwa Island in 1866, and they have been dispersed into collections worldwide since. Some have red writing on their sheats, dating to the late 18th century. All have iron mounts with silver overlay and octagonal guards. Occasionally, one sees guards separately sold as "nanban tsuba." The typical hwando, this one recently sold at Olympia Auction, lot 84. Wide blade more in the Chinese style. Typical Korean suspension system on scabbard, throatpiece missing. Grip wrap in the Japanese style but with hilt mounts following the late 18th-century Chinese transitional style between fangshi and yuanshi. (More about that here.) Joseon byeolun-geom Sabers worn by Joseon period military officials. This is the style most easily mistaken for Japanese swords. It is basically like a short tachi. Some of the best of them actually have Japanese-imported blades, so don't get distracted by the blade itself. Here is one I had, with a Japanese blade: The most obvious departures from Japanese design is the textile, if still present: a suspension system that more resembles the Chinese one, and a long tassel. Other tell-tale signs are the proportion of the hilt, and the fact it is often lacquered in the same style as the scabbard on this type of sword. Guards are modeled after Japanese guards but with odd placement and shape of the hitsu-ana. Often made of patinated silver, a Korean variety of shakudō but jade is also sometimes seen. The habaki also often look odd. Another aspect is that most of these were not made so they can be easily taken apart like the Japanese sword, so its often impossible to see the tang. Another one I had, again with a Japanese blade: Other types There is a whole range of other ceremonial Korean swords, but they are more easily discernible from Japanese swords because their blades are often roughly made and toy-like. They were more like a metal tsunagi sometimes. Here are two.

Yes, I'm sure its Kanezane 兼真. Kanezane Nyūdō (兼真入道). Nyūdō being a word indicating the swordsmith had become a lay priest.

Here's something you don't see often...a 29" custom made showato with a sayagaki and fancy nakago inscription. https://www.jauce.com/auction/n1155975380

Hi, looking to identify this maker and also what the motif might be. Tsuba and f/k appear by the same maker. Thanks for any help available. Ron STL

The protective dagger is called 守り刀. The name of Emperor 睦仁（Mutsuhito)'s 守り刀 is not known. However, one of the most famous 守り刀 belonged to 源義経(Minamoto no Yoshitsune) and is called 今剣(Imatsurugi).It was made by 三条宗近 (Sanjo Munechika)。

NBTHK generally does not put "suriage", "o-suriage" etc. on papers. It is probably written "mumei (Takada)" and the rest is seller's narrative.

There is a Masahide of the Nomura school, late Edo…

No “Machine made“ is a term that I hate. Yet, it is a common term often used in the sword collecting world. After the China incident the Japanese military decided to go back to samurai styled swords, there was a massive need to produce a lot of swords to replace the old Western style sword. This created a shortage that the industry had to meet. Modern technology with hydraulic powered machines, allowed them to create more swords than they used to be able to do using traditional techniques. Steel cutting machines, hydraulic hammers, allowed Smith’s to produce many more swords per week and per month. Oil quenching allowed them to produce blades , without cracking. All of this in today’s world created the terminology of the “machine made” sword. The NCO blades used the most machinery, if you want to say it that way. They used machines to roll a single type of steel and cut it into workable sizes, that could then be hydraulically hammered. All of this process involved people that worked the machines and worked the blades. None of it was automated. All of the blades were polished by hand and mounted in fittings by hand.

Keene, Donald. Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852–1912. Columbia University Press, 2002. Chapter 2, Page 11. Before the birth, Nakayama Tadayasu had borrowed safe-delivery charms from various auspicious temples and individuals. He was now able to return them with thanks and presents. A court lady sent by the emperor to inspect the prince left with him a protective dagger and a sleeved coverlet (kaimaki). The baby would receive many other presents that though traditional, may appear bizarre to contemporary readers. First, however, was the ceremony of cutting, binding, and cauterizing the umbilical cord.4 The placenta was washed and placed in an earthenware vessel which, in turn, was placed in a bucket of unpainted wood, wrapped in white silk, and displayed on a stand in the next room along with a pair of knives, two blue stones, and two dried sardines.5 In front of them a lamp was kept burning day and night, and a screen was placed around them. The wooden bucket was decorated with designs in white paste showing pines, bamboos, cranes, and tortoises but not plum blossoms (usually associated with pines and bamboos in artistic compositions) because plum blossoms fall, an inauspicious association. Notes, Page 728 4. Ibid., 1, p. 3. A knife, called a tekōnagatana, normally used in the gembuku ceremony to cut the hair of a boy who has come of age, substituted in the ceremony for the umbilical cord. The authors of the Meiji tennō ki commented that this was probably a remnant of some “old custom.” 5. The sardines were of the kind called gomame, and they were considered to be felicitous because their name includes the word mame, meaning “healthy.”

Kunimune. There were a number of individuals who signed with this name including Bizen Saburo Kunimune and Uda Kunimune.

Hello, the blade seems to be signed 和泉守國定 (Izumi no Kami Kunisada) regards Klaus

From the name of this seller, I'm inferring that these swords are Chinese: https://www.ebay.com...d:g:v5oAAOSwn8dm-MCT They're getting pretty close to looking like nihonto nowadays.

Hello, my first Yasukunito is a Yasunobu. Here a few Pictures of what i think is a great Sword. Opinions are Welcome. Greetings Sascha https://photos.onedr...566053D59E2BAC!77376

I wasn't laughing to make fun of the right terms that should be used but at myself for the mistake I made

Screenshot is a terrible and long way to do it. I would never bother with that. Just go to one of the free online resizers, and resize there, from your photo albums. Much easier. No app needed, it's all online.

I offer, Iron tsuba Awa-shoami probably, wheel shape and matsukawabishi shaped hitsu ana, gold nunome, dimensions: 78 x 76 x 4,7 (mimi: 5,0 mm), T899021. $275,- shipping included. Please use the link to view high resolution photos. https://www.flickr.c...ms/72177720307655655

Interesting sword. left column: Noshu Seki ju Asano Kanezane Nyudo saku kore. Rear date is 2600 years of Japanese Empire (1940 August). Of note the Sho-sakura stamp (sideways). Kanezane born 1910, died 1986 February 15. He was registered post-war in Sowa 47 (1972).

Issandō Jōi 一𮚌堂　乗意 No idea of the theme, but I'm curious as to what it is.

和泉守兼重 Izumi no kami Kaneshige 特別保存刀剣 Tokubetsu Hozon Izumi no Kami Kaneshige was an influential swordsmith active in the early Edo period and is well-known as the master of Nagasone Kotetsu 長曽祢虎徹. Born in Echizen Province (越前国 、present-day northeastern Fukui Prefecture), he moved to Edo around the beginning of the Kan'ei era (1624–1644) and became a court swordsmith for the Tōdō family in Ise Province (modern Mie Prefecture). There is a legend that he was introduced to the Tōdō family with the help of the famous swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, who was a personal acquaintance of Kaneshige. It is said that the two swords beloved by Musashi were inscribed with the signature "Izumi no Kami Fujiwara Kaneshige," but their current whereabouts are unknown. Regarding the workmanship, Kaneshige's swords typically feature a shallow curvature with straight hamon or gunome-midare patterns. Some blades exhibit a Mino-style undulating wave pattern mixed with pointed shapes. The steel used is characterized by a combination of "koitamehada" (small itame pattern) and "masamehada" (straight grain), showing influences from the style of the first-generation Echizen Yasutsugu. The signatures found on his works include "Izumi no Kami Fujiwara Kaneshige," "Izumi Daijō Fujiwara Kaneshige," and "Kazusa no Suke Kaneshige." Price: 18,900 USD included shipping. NAGASA：70.8cm MOTOHABA：3.1cm MOTOKASANE：7mm SAKIHABA：2.15cm SAKIKASANE：5mm If you want more detail photo . plz PM me ro send Email: kevinkuo0419@gmail.com

It looks like a regular 半鍛鍊 non-traditionally made Showa To. Maybe it was registered during the 平成 (Heisei) era.

After the umbilical cord had been cut, the baby was given his first bath. In keeping with the old custom, the water had been drawn from the Kamo River and was mixed with well water. For the next few days, until the baby was given swaddling clothes, he was dressed in an undershirt and a sleeveless coat. His bedding was laid on a katataka (a thick tatami that has been sliced in half on the bias, leaving one end much higher than the other) in the main room of the little house where he was born. A pillow was placed at the high end of the tatami to the east or to the south, and it was guarded by two papier-māché dogs facing each other. Between the two dogs were placed sixteen articles of cosmetics. Behind them was a stand on which the “protective dagger” the prince had received was placed along with an amagatsu doll6 also wrapped in white silk but with red silk pasted to the ends of its arms and its feet. 6. A very simple doll, rather like a modern kokeshi except for the arms, which stick out at right angles from the body, forming a kind of cross. Such dolls were placed beside the bed of an infant to absorb evil influences and thereby protect the child. They were kept by the bed until the child had reached its third year. The doll was about a foot and half tall.

The instructions above also work with Windows 10. If anyone is using Windows 11, can you check and see if the above instructions work or not? Since posting, I did run into one resizing problem. My comments about using 25% worked just fine for images over 2 megabytes (MG). For images under 2 megabytes, start with 50% instead. Any comments, corrections, or criticism welcomed.

Sorry for the bit cryptic message but the discussion got the idea I was after, that sword would either be greatly shortened or original length. Now this following is just purely speculating from measurements and pictures alone and perhaps far from truth. I personally would think the sword being greatly shortened. As the sword has massive motohaba measurement and fairly large sakihaba measurement, I would think it would have been sent to shinsa as potential Nanbokuchō blade. It is my personal guess that several wide mumei swords that get attributed to various Takada smiths might have been sent in with hopes of them passing as Nanbokuchō work. That is just my own speculation with no facts to back that up. I like the item regardless of the attribution and NBTHK panel sure knows lot more than me. The unfortunate thing financially is that there is quite a large price difference between mumei late Muromachi sword and mumei Nanbokuchō sword is similar condition and comparable level of attribution. I see it as nice and wide blade that I think would have been 80+cm in original length. Hamon looks wild and interesting on this one. As there is not too much curvature in general I think it would have been similarily curved originally. Of course I could be completely wrong in this line of thought if the sword would be in original size currently.

If using Windows, try this method. It is what I use for resizing. How to resize a photograph on a Windows computer

On hold.

Its either o-suriage since it has one hole (meaning the original nakago is fully gone) or its ubu. Not with the best nakago finish, maybe moved hamachi and refinished, but mostly ubu. Hamon ending wide is not a reliable indicator of suriage unless its a very old sword or a smith who forged always with hamon ending sharp at hamachi. Sugata might help understanding whether its ubu or not, size-wise it is quite possibly near-ubu since at the time very long blades were uncommon.

Listed a high quality gendaito with special order inscription by Koshimizu Moritoshi. The blade measures 66.4cm in nagasa and is in new polish, habaki and shirasaya. $3,950 (+ shipping & PP) MORITOSHI (盛俊), Koshimizu Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Hiroshima – “Geishū-jū Sōryūshi Moritoshi” (芸州住蒼龍子盛俊), real name Koshimizu Tsukasa (越水司), gō Sōryūshi (蒼龍子), he worked as guntō smith during World War II, kihin-jōi (Akihide), First Seat at the 6th Shinsaku Nihontō Denrankai (新作日本刀展覧会, 1941)

Nothing wrong with Bungo Takada at all. If your sword also has been attributed to a specific smith then it is most likely an interesting one. One thing you can think about is, where is the original hole on the tang?

That is of course the tiller and not a cross, same idea was discussed in the JSSUS newsletter years ago...

Sold, please archive.

My wife freaked out having a suit of armour in the hall, but gradually she came to like it there. Now she feels that it somehow guards the house. Actually it's pretty amazing when you start to realize how many materials were used and what skill was involved to fashion the armour into something functional, not too heavy and not too light, which also looks both good and fearsome. And then you start to discover the endless blend and variety of colour and material to be found extant. Instant time slip. And people sometimes comment on it, and ask questions. In some ways the ultimate decoration, the traditional centrepiece of the house of a bushi.

Not sure if "Shinto" above covers anything that is newer than Koto, but I have seen several shinshinto with Juyo Here is one example https://www.christie...m/en/lot/lot-2079021

Not being very knowledgeable on Korean weapons but: Its a complex question since there is a variety of blades and koshirae styles. If its blade-wise, first thing I personally look at is nakago. Continental swords in Japanese style are more likely to have either completely flat or at least very low shinogi profile in this area. Contiental tsuba has a rectangular opening, which underlines the difference in nakago profile. Yokote is often shaped differently on continental even if it mimics the Japanese style well, and kossaki proportions are generally expected to be different. Polishing is significantly different and generally jigane is not well accented, but this is often not obvious since there can be no polish remaining. Etc. Etc. Etc. In regards to tsuba - often similar to Hizen Nanban, some examples are very large tosho/katchushi-like pieces, but there was a huge variety of styles throughout the many centuries. Late 16th, early 17th century examples often do have kogai/kozuka ana but they are not functional (very narrow or curved), related to period fashion and appear more often on soft metal (uncommon) examples.

Cross-Reference Translation courtesy of @Nobody. 氏房 高山刀鍛錬所作 – (Ujifusa, Takayama-To Tanrensho saku) – Made by Ujifusa at Takayama-Sword Forge. Garage Find WW2 Okinawa Sword

Threads never die, just servers! 謹作高山刀　Kinsaku Takayama-tō. 刀匠 Tōshō Swordsmith:　服部･正廣 Hattori Masahiro. 研師 Togishi Polisher:　福田･耕平 Fukuda Kōhei.

Many thanks Lawrence. Characters and pronunciation below. Very nice sword in excellent condition. Thanks for sharing! 昭和己卯秋　Shōwa Tsuchinoto-U Aki. 興亞一心　Kōa Isshin. 満鐵作之　Mantetsu kore wo tsukuru　South Manchuria Railway Company (SMR) made this.

A bit of trivia on this project, the jewelry saw blades I used to cut the design are WWII era German mfg. The story goes like this my friend Niel is Armenian Jewish descent. During the war his uncle Pierre a highly skilled jeweler was swept up in the Holocaust. His capturers being driven to details discovered that he was useful, pulled him from the barracks and supplied him with vast amount of tools and materials. During Pierre's incarceration he escaped five times. His work was so highly prized creating baubles for the officers they refused to shoot Pierre and would instead put him back in the workshop. After the collapse of the German military Pierre secured all the stuff and moved to New York. Niel gave a lifetime supply of Pierre's left over sawblades as a bonus for some work I did for him.

Pat, the first page of NIck's thread goes into who could carry the Type 95. Short Development History of Type 95 Gunto Besides the lower ranks, officers could also buy or rent a Type 95. So the Type 95 could be carried by just about anyone if entitled to carry a sword. With that said, it is unlikely a colonel or general would be seen with one! Good luck with the display manikin.

Ok. Finished my tally of mei types - Tachi vs Katana - on stamped blades. It is clear that blades inspected by civilian authority (Showa and large Seki stamps) used Katana mei, with minor deviations; and blades inspected by Army arsenals (small Seki, and Arsenal inspector stamps) used Tachi mei. Blades with the Tan stamp used Katana mei, supporting the proposal that it was a "gendaito" approval stamp of the Seki Cutlery Manufacturers Assoc. Unexpectedly, the Toyokawa Navy Arsenal used Katana mei, while Tenshozan forge used just the opposite, Tachi mei. The implication, to me, is that smiths knew which inspector their blades were being made for and engraved their mei accordingly. I tested this theory by looking for smiths that had blades inspected by both civil and army in the same year. I didn't find many, but those I found fit the pattern exactly. 1941 Large Seki w/Katana mei Na stamp w/tachi mei Kanetsugu Kanetsugu 1943 Large Seki w/Katana mei Na stamp w/tachi mei Kanenori Kanenori Kanetaka Kanetaka Nagamitsu Nagamitsu So it does appear the smiths knew who each blade (or batch) was heading for and placed the mei accordingly. The star blades were predominantly Tach mei, but they did have an unusual number of blades with Katana mei. Here's the chart: TACHI OR KATANA MEI SHOWA KATANA MEI TACHI MEI 1935 1 1937 1 1939 4 1940 21 1 1941 21 1942 1 ND 63 1 SEKI Large 1940 4 1941 7 1942 37 1943 19 1944 5 ND 108 1 SEKI small 1943 1 1944 1 Star 18 (8 Star) 1945 10 (2 Star) ND 1 NA 1941 1 1942 8 (1 Star) 1943 46 (2 Star) 1944 15 1945 1 ND 3 GIFU 1944 1 1945 16 ND 1 SAKA 1943 2 1944 5 ND 7 Ko 1935 1 1942 3 (1 Star) 1944 1 (1 Star) ND 2 1 YAMA 1943 4 (1 Star) 1944 1 TAN 1940 1 1941 1 1942 2 ND 13 STAR 1941 1 1942 5 16 1943 19 47 1944 5 61 1945 2 19 ND 6 12 Toyokawa 1939 20 1 Kiyomichi Tenshozan 28 All Dates

Please collate your thoughts into one post, you appear frantic.