Leaderboard

This temporary exhibition has been assembled from objects in the collection of Museum Bronbeek and loans from three private lenders. I understand that a catalogue will also be published. The permanent exhibition also features two shin-guntō, complete with general’s tassels: Major General Mabuchi Itsuo (katana signed Taira Nagamori) Lieutenant General Nishioeda Yutaka (tachi signed Osafune Jū Morikage saku) (ex coll. Han Bing Siong)

The monetary value? In the US? Are you wanting to guess what was paid for it at 'an antique shop' in Japan? I am guessing somewhere around $50 +/-. The real value surely lies in the symbolic gift, a link between you and your teacher, of an object that was made at a historical point in time as part of the long historical culture of Nihonto.

To recognise a fake you first need to know what the real thing looks like, all the component parts, blade, fittings etc.You need to understand quality and artistry. That takes time and determined study. Or you can deliberately study fakes…..there are dedicated topics on this forum for that purpose. Once you have done that you will be able to tell the difference. It takes some effort. Every component of your sword sadly screams fake from the rooftops……but only when you know what you are looking at.

This may not be what you are looking for, however here is a nice article on their history that does list several of their artists. https://jacksonsantique.co.uk/insight-the-komai-company-Japan/? John C.

Can confirm this seller is pretty reliable. I have purchased some bits and pieces before, mainly when I was just starting my collection but all of them were authentic. The price and valuing things like tanegashima on the other hand, I have no idea... But if you are happy with the listed price and apparent condition you'll likely be happy with your purchase.

Not that my input matters so much given that it comes after Geraint and Brian here, but it is definitely a modern reproduction. the punch marks around the nakago (hole in the middle) are too perfectly circular and you can see how the carving and the seppa sort of blend into one another in the lower left which I think might be an error in casting... The general lack of detail in the carving of the people also suggests a quick reproduction as opposed to a hand carved/forged piece. I strongly encourage you to use this forum as a place of learning. The more examples you look at on here, the better your eye for quality and authenticity will develop.

Dear Maxime. The tsuba is a Nagoya mono, one of the designs that occur frequently. A useful thread here, All the best.

There's no harm in knowing the worth of what you have. I know many of us don't like thinking about it, but accidents (or not-so-accidents) and sickness, old age etc. come for all of us in the end, and having valuations of your belongings will help your loved ones after your passing. It also helps with home & contents insurance.

Not at all. We are of the same mind on this matter. I know what was paid at the antique shop and regardless of any monetary value, the significance of it as a gift to me is much more valuable and is something I will always treasure. I suppose asking a valuation was crass and was not my intent to come across as such.

It is a "Tada-mei" by the first generation Tadayoshi, and is estimated to be a work from around the 15th or 16th year of the Keicho era [1610–1611]. It is a utsushi of an old work by Rai Kunitoshi and is excellently made. Hizen no Kuni Tadayoshi. Blade length: 8 sun, 5 bu. Year of the Wood-Snake, March, by Tanzan.

The Kai-Go sold privately in the US. https://www.sho-shin.com/kai-go.pdf https://www.sho-shin.com/kai.pdf https://www.sho-shin.com/hoku12a.htm https://www.sho-shin.com/kaipics.htm

Please sign all posts with your first name so we could address you in a polite manner. It is a rule here on NMB. You can integrate your name in your profile for convenience. Identifiying your sword as non-Japanese imitation is very easy in case you have some experience with these weapons. In your case, there is nothing that has a resemblance with authentic items. You can see that yourself by comparing.

While cleaning some blades, I thought I’d take a few quick photos and share this one, as I'm very fond of it. It’s a Rai Kunitoshi utsushi by Shodai Tadayoshi.. extremely fine ji-nie (konuka)..and in some places, clear hada reminiscent of Rai, with pure white nie along the ha..enjoy!

Many many thanks Okan, for sharing with us this marvelous tanto and congratulation for these excellent photos. We see very clearly this splendid konuka hada and the ko nie of the Hamon....;a real treasure that combine beauty and efficiency.... I wish you many hours of contemplation...

I was thinking pre-war (Taisho era) and converted to gunto. But agree not standard gunto and not very old. John C.

... In addition - the Japanese seller will offer 60-70% of the market price. Which is logical, because he is a businessman. In addition, it is necessary to add the cost of shipping and the fee for the import permit If your sword is not designed as a Juyo Bunkazai (Important Cultural Property) or Kokuho (National Treasure) then there is no need to worry about not getting your treasure back.

I agree, unfortunately this has a very "made yesterday" feel to it, especially those surgically precision punched marks around the nakago ana. If it's non magnetic, I would guess a modern cast display piece. You always want at least some signs of use on something like this, but it looks like it was made yesterday and it lacks fine detail.

Dear Kent. Welcome to NMB! My first reaction to your tsuba was that it waas a modern reproduction and, sad to say I then found this, https://auctionet.com/en/4546742-a-metal-tsuba-mokko-street-unsigned-second-half-of-the-20th-century Auction houses are oftennot the most accurate with their descriptions of tsuba but I fear that in this case they are broadly correct. Please do wait for others to chime in on this one and don't rely on my assessment but if this is a reproduction then it raises questions about the expertise of your source. Please don't let this put you off persuing this fascinating field of art. To help you get your eye in do have a browse through the third thread in this section, 'A series of fittings'. All the best.

The whole "The Japanese govt will keep it and won't allow it to leave" thing is an old urban myth. Doesn't happen, won't happen. Agree that you'd probably get more for it in the West. Half the time stuff like that will be resold to a Western collector and be shipped out again. They don't care all that much about the WW2 significance, at least not as much as overseas collectors do generally speaking.

Hello Jose, from those photos your sword very much resembles a standard oil tempered sword. The condition looks to be OK, so best to enjoy it as is.

Ha, I needed a thumbs up and an laugh emoji for that! Marcin - there is no such thing as pinging me too much, brother. That's the first Nagamitsu with stamped numbers I've seen in quite a while. I appreciate it greatly. It is an interesting one, because the next earlier one, in fact the earliest Nagamitsu with stamped number on mune, is 阪イ143. In fact, the great majority of numbered Nagamitsu have at least a 阪. There were only (before this) 3 on file without such stamps - 695, 2005, and 3973: ND Nagamitsu (RJT) 阪イ143 on mune Volker, NMB, RS ND Nagamitsu (RJT) 阪イ0313 on mune Ooitame; NMB, RS ND Nagamitsu (RJT) 695 on mune Spidersrule123,NMB,RS ND Nagamitsu (RJT) 阪1431 Cillo, pg 124 ND Nagamitsu (RJT) 阪1853 on mune Smallsword, ebay RS ND Nagamitsu (RJT) 阪1867 on mune Rancho, NMB, RS ND Nagamitsu (RJT) 阪1884 mune Austin Auction Gallery RS ND Nagamitsu (RJT) 2005 on mune Reeder, NMB ND Nagamitsu (RJT) 阪2201 on mune Zaia86, NMB, RS ND Nagamitsu (RJT) 阪2205 on mune Roromush, NMB, RS ND Nagamitsu, Ichihara Ichiryushi 阪イ2511 on mune Bangbangsan, NMB, RS ND Nagamitsu (RJT) 1阪3490 on mune Vajo; NMB ND Nagamitsu (RJT) 3973 on mune IJASWORDS, NMB broken heart seppa ND Nagamitsu (RJT) 1阪3991 on mune mauser99; NMB

And I feel like this sword is well deserving of a sayagaki. The workmanship is top tier for Sue Bizen and this size ( esp with the long nakago ) is unusual even for Eiroku/ Tensho / Momoyama Sukesada

Curran, in case the ANA are plugged from both sides, the copper inserts are a bit conical, so tapping them in would need more force than tapping them out. Once you get one side out, it becomes much easier. In older TSUBA, the URUSHI can become quite hard and brittle and will not move even with low heat. But on iron TSUBA, removing the plugs shold not be a big problem if you don't need to preserve them. This TENBO TSUBA has lost one insert on the left side.

Drilling out the center and corners of the plug should allow for more than enough leverage to have the plugs collapse inward with light pressure without causing any damage.

They aren’t…..the strange number makes it seem that way at first glance, but theres actually zero bids.

Muromachi or early Momoyana example.

UPS has been amazing lately. They are now doing DHL style pre-clearance while your package is still in Japan. Just had a sword arrive today that shipped from the dealer in Japan on the 8th. That is dealer Japan -> Japanese Customs -> UPS flight to USA -> my door in 2 days total time. Usually these go from Alaska to Kentucky customs and sit in Kentucky for like 2-4 weeks. This one came straight from Alaska to my door, guessing because of the new pre-clearance procedures. Did pay 10% tariff with $50 UPS fee.

If the distribution of type 95s as reenlistment gifts were a common practice, it at least gives us another explanation as to how swords were brought back other than as "war trophies." John C.

Where is the "Hidden" bit? Maybe it is a "misdirection" Australian tsuba? [The stars are just lined up to confuse the viewer ]

It’s an amazing lineup, isn’t it? The Maeda family was extremely wealthy, so they owned a large collection of treasures and have preserved them over the centuries. ---- Please note the exhibition period, as the displayed items may change depending on the dates. Around May 9, your visit falls under either Period 4 (May 4–10) or Period 5 (May 12–17). Hiro

As far as finding good sushi or any other food in Tokyo, leave your hotel, turn any direction, and walk a few 100m. It's that simple. If you stay way from the busy tourist areas, you'll find amazing and cheap sushi almost anywhere, no planning necessary. Haneda travel...as the above members suggested. Going back to Narita, the Express is for me is the fastest and most convenient. Hotels...just choose your budget and area, and use Booking.com or even AirBnB. You'll find a ton of places within any budget. Area is more important, and if you are only there for a short time, personally I'd look at near Shinjuku, Shibuya, Asakusa or Ueno. Try to avoid Golden Week. Tokyo is amazing, and anywhere you go, you'll find tons to do.

Welcome to NMB James! a GUNTO lock It would help James if we had an idea of the size of the guard, these examples show where a locking mechanism was fitted to secure the tsuba to the saya - If your guard is bigger the hole would not be for such a mechanism, but if the guard is small possibly for a tanto then a lock may be the reason there is a squarish hole in yours. However there are a number of guards that do have square or rectangular "hitsu" such as this example From David Stiles on a post from 2025 Many examples of sukashi tsuba with squared hitsu in this thread but also a number of solid plate pieces which might help.

I have added in a picture of it for reference. Thank you for the interest and replies. The shadow is a little deceiving to make it look a little more squatish when is reality it's more rectangular with square corners. I am reasonably sure it's authentic. My teacher got it for me at an antique shop on his last trip to Japan to train. This antique dealer was recommended by his sensei who seems to be knowledgeable of such things. Jt

I am a budget traveller with very basic needs. So my standards are most likely way below average forum member. There are lots and lots of very affordable and good hotels in Tokyo. I personally see APA Hotels as very good quality for the money. People do have different standards. There are huge amounts of APA chain hotels in Tokyo, you can just pick a city region where you want to stay. There are lots of even more affordable hotels than APA, that are good enough for me. I would recommend the Keikyu Line train from Haneda Airport, it is very easy to use and Tokyo train system is amazing. Depending on the location of your hotel it will be quite easy to navigate to a nearby station. Even though the train system map can be intimidating because of huge size and number of different lines, it is excellent system.

That's points precisely to the problem with the current system. It's set up as a sort of "dichotomous key" based on sets of relatively broad characteristics that were set up relatively early in the attempt to sort and classify tsuba. I think these criteria are too rigid and oversimplified, which directs us to put things in label boxes that are likely not correct. For example, It assumes that all "movement in design" is restricted to Shoami smiths (and some early Akasaka), which seems like a patently false assertion to me. It doesn't seem even remotely possible that they were the only smiths to use movement in their designs. So using "little to no movement in design / structured geometric designs" plus "visible evidence of folding in the plate" gets us an Owari label. This type of system does not allow for styles to evolve, unless you start throwing little qualifier words like "mostly" or "often"... which muddies the waters so much as to render the system "mostly" unusable, unless you are looking at "archetype" versions of tsuba from specific schools. To me, that's a crazy way of doing things, because it does not allow for any variation or evolution within multiple groups of smiths from large geographic areas like Owari, or take into account any aesthetic shifts in Japan's culture over time. I think I have gathered enough examples of Kanayama and Owari type tsuba that show a clear departure from the more structured geometric patterns we see in the majority of the Momoyama period, that show that a certain point in time, there was a general shift in aesthetic and artistic expression that was experienced in many regions of Japan. It was more of a general "zeitgeist" (spirit of the times) to borrow a German term that is such a good word in my opinion. With regard to Shoami specifically, most Shoami schools, where the smiths signed with "shoami", really only began in the mid to late 1600s. From various information sources, it's seems possible that the Iyo Shoami group may have started a little earlier, maybe by a decade or two. Certainly "movement" is present in many Shoami (and Akasaka) designs, but I would argue that the Shoami smiths were certainly not the originators of this type of design, but merely following in its footsteps. The designs of the tsuba I posted above don't fit with any specific style of Shoami work, and can be separated even more when you start looking at the plate characteristics, which fall entirely within an Owari type of categorization (following our supposed "dichotomous key" of classification based on broad descriptive characteristics. Also the hitsu-ana shapes do not fit with other examples of what most people view as Shoami tsuba or even ko-Shoami tsuba which tend to have more geometric shapes. Personally, I think the size differential of the hitsu-ana align better with the look of ko-Akasaka (who also had their origins from some type of Owari area lineage)... so I suspect it's possible that the ko-Akasaka and this "mystery smith" had similar Owari roots in that regard. So to make a long story more succinct, I feel that the tsuba above pre-date anything that we would consider Shoami works, and show a divergent shift within the smiths who came from an Owari area. In discussion with @Steve Waszak, we both feel this proposed period of time fits well with cultural shifts and influences that lasted a brief period of time at the very end of the Momoyama, and very beginning of the early Edo period, when there was even a rise in "distorted" modes of dress and mannerisms and went so far as to skew body posture (look up "kabukimono"). There was also a similar shift in "expressiveness" in other artisan crafts like painting and textiles.

I haven't purchased any blades from him, but I have bought some accessories like tsuba and fittings. He ships quickly and I've had no problems with him.

As you can see, the Setsumei calls them 矢尻 ‘Yajiri’ and the Katchushi Tsuba is said to be early Edo. 3.

Aren't we still looking for intelligent life in the universe? - We already know there is not much here on Earth.

I'm pinging you way to much but it happened I found Nagamitsu with probably arsenal number 147 cheers! Rs mounting and certified as "Bizen emura school" Watch out photos are shiny https://www.catawiki.com/en/l/102632499-katana-Japan

Well, I braced myself for what might open upon clicking that link. It was still worse than I imagined. I'm not sure if it needs a parental advisory. I think not. Still, certain things cannot be unseen.