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Back in 2009 the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York held an extraordinary and important exhibition called the Art of the Samurai: Japanese Arms and Armor, 1156-1868 [Held from October 21, 2009 to January 10, 2010]. The reason it was so extraordinary is because; One, this exhibition took over ten years to put together - in large part due to the incredible efforts of the organiser and curator Morihiro Ogawa. And secondly, the Japanese Agency of Cultural Affairs allowed over 200 works of Traditional Japanese Swords and Armor including 34 National Treasures, 64 Important Cultural Properties and 6 Important Art Objects from over sixty collections to leave Japan for the first time to form part of this one time exhibition. As an exhibition it was unparalleled to have so many important works from so many museums, shrines, temples and private collections in one place, even compared to anything ever done in Japan. As part of the exhibition, as is common practice, the MET released a catalogue of the exhibition by the currator of the exhibition, Morihiro Ogawa. The catalogue is over 368 pages and 16 years on from the exhibition is still available for sale, in its second print. You can still pick one up a first edition second hand, but a new copy retails for around $60 in paperback and over $200 in hard cover. Recently, I found a link to a free PDF copy of this catalogue on the MET's website: https://www.metmuseum.org/met-publications/art-of-the-samurai-Japanese-arms-and-armor-1156-1868 As a collective English book on the history of the Samurai and their omote dogu or "external equipment", explained through Japanese National Treasures and Important Cultural Objects I think it may be a first and is certainly second to none. With the bright photos and explanations for each piece I think it is a fabulous thing to have for reference (and enjoyment.) This in my opinion is one of the more important exhibitions and books in recent times on the subject. Grab a copy whilst the link still works.

I have a single signed Echizen piece with a similarly constructed seppa-dai: Certainly uncommon for pieces from this area, though, so not suggesting yours could be Echizen. Damon

We must distinguish between the oldest physical manuscript copy and the oldest content. The oldest manuscript copy of the Ki'ami Bon Mei Zukushi is from the early Muromachi period.

Hi Howard, your cabinet is, as you say, Japanese and dating from the mid Meiji period when such things gained enormous popularity with both the gaijin in Japan and worldwide via a buoyant export market. Some can be mind boggling quality. Yes I have (now retired) spent years restoring such things (as a hobby, not a business) for some of the UK dealers. Missing inlay is obligatory on these! I used to actually carve whatever was necessary….be it shell or coral or ivory etc but it is very time consuming and therefore rather expensive. You need a specialist workshop set-up. I doubt you will find anyone to actually carve replacements nowadays but another trick is to search for simpler panels (made in their 1000s) and very often heavily damaged and thus very cheap. It is sometimes possible to “harvest” elements of inlay that can be adapted far more easily to either fit in or even stuck straight over the top of missing areas. Flowers, leaves etc are common and thus quite straightforward. Faces are a real pain, they hardly ever fit, usually looking the wrong way or the wrong size which usually means a lot of hard work or a vaguely acceptable compromise. The best advice I can offer is to look for panels (auctions etc) in the hope of “do it yourself” repairs.

@hddennis Hi Howard without doubt these cabinets were made in workshops by teams of specialists. There would be cabinet makers, lacquerers, carvers etc…..all specialist in their own fields. However one constant was the quality overall. You would not find poor quality flowers (no matter how many of them were needed) on a good quality cabinet. They might not be the same species of flower or the same material but they would all be constant quality. The Japanese would not usually spoil the ship for a ha’peth of tar.Having said that quality did drop and corners were cut in later Meiji all in the pursuit of $$ So imo the remaining flower that you show next to the bird is later. Your cabinet is a large one of complex construction with many quite good inlaid lacquer panels. When new it would have been quite a sight and very expensive. Another option you might want to explore is whether you could find a plastic moulder who could run you off a batch of these possibly even with a mother of pearl effect (as seen in many buttons) He could use the remaining good ones to create a mould. Or maybe even have a go yourself using some of the resin moulding stuff that is available nowadays….but that is way outside of my knowledge! Good luck!

You can be pretty sure it's gimei. Komonjo's source in Japan would only be exporting swords that were already tested there. These aren't USA sourced swords. I'd say any real feelings that it's shoshin are likely misplaced. That said, it looks like a decent sword.

#9 Description repeated + photo attached: 9. 26" katana of WWII origin. Mumei, no stamps. No mounts but habaki and paper tube saya. Unlike #6, this one is clearly a gendaito. It has evident particle activity in both the hamon and hada scattered about. The gunome pattern is much more orderly and well-arranged. There is no evidence of the characteristic dark shadows that one would see in showato. The blade has a nice gold-plate habaki. Condition is solid but with several nail catchers and a solid patina covering the whole blade. A Mino-Seki blade with the appropriate yasurime. Strangely two mekugi-ana, with the top one showing a rough burr that would make it unlikely to be used; my theory being that this blade was ordered for one set of mounts and then changed before final fitting to another mount set. No partial trade on this one. Asking price is $1300.

Just as a point of interest on the marks, the two seen above on 11157 (possibly Koide) start arond 9536 and are the only ones seen until around 12000 or 13000 when the marks changed location to the guard. Prior to that, there were 6 or 7 different marks used in several different configurations. We now have 49 on file. John C.

Hizen is a good call, in my opinion.

Hi Howard, a nice cabinet. I agree with almost everything that's been said. The flower on this cabinet door was damaged last week exposing the original pitch like substance used to fix it in place. You can usually tell if a damaged piece has been replaced by a variation in quality and the type of adhesive used. This second picture shows a plaque whose losses have been replaced using shell, completely different from the original material but I think it works well. With regards your "flower", it's difficult to make a call without actually seeing in person but In my opinion it's original to the cabinet.

I looked at this and I too thought it was a bit of a dead end due to the corrosion, but yes Heianjō (平安城) is plausible for the first three characters. The one after that is... maybe Hiro (廣), or something else. It doesn't look like Masatoshi (正俊).

I think the missing character you refer to is Rai (来), which the 4 generations of Izumi-no-kami Kinmichi smiths used in their name, so the usual mei is Izumi-no-kami Rai Kinmichi, which makes the mei on your sword an outlier. Of the 4 generations, the mei on yours kind of resembles the 3rd generation (late 1600s). I don't know if the lack of "Rai" automatically indicates a fake signature, but...the sword world doesn't much like outliers. Be that as it may, and ignoring the signature, the sword itself looks OK - I mean it looks like a well-made Japanese sword probably from that time period of late 1600s - 1700s.

Ron, in some cases, when corrosion has eaten away too much material, signatures remain guesswork. In this case, I also thought the first KANJI might be TAIRA, but I have no books on blades or signatures to check that. What you could try would be making photos on a plain dark background, in a dark room and spotlights (not too strong to avoid glare) shining from the side. I found that extreme magnification often does not help much.

I have a piece with a similar wavy shape around seppa dai, but not the hitsu anas. One person mentioned to me mine was possibly Nanban with a bit of Hizen influence if that makes sense… Jason

Back in 2017 there was a discovery by Yoshihara Hiromichi of the oldest sword book, the The Mei Zukushi from 1351, discovered in the Saga Prefecture Library. This book was discovered on some of the the back of the 277 pages from the Ryuzoji family Documents. In 2021 the documents were restored and put on display - the above video was released then. Here is the original article written by @Markus back in 2017: https://markussesko.com/2017/12/26/the-new-oldest-extant-sword-document/#:~:text=The Mei Zukushi is dated,to reward allies and vassals. The links to the documents and transcripts in the article no longer exist as such I have also included the link to the documents in the Saga Prefecture Library: https://www.sagalibdb.jp/komonjo/detail?id=60657 for future reference.

It is a RJT blade and belongs to the initial Type 100 production run. These were made to the highest standards.

Rules say you need to post a price, no fishing allowed. Please decide what you are asking for it, and edit your post to include a price.

I mean internet search. Please have a look. Here are two of them:

Hello fellow NMB members! In anticipation of several events and change-ups in my inventory of nihonto, I am putting these out here for sale. Prices are negotiable, I am open to fair offers, and even partial trades where indicated. If you want more pictures of a particular item, I will do my best to accommodate! Shipping/insurance will be discussed but generally CONUS will be the simplest and quickest to receive. Shipping will be USPS for CONUS and the rates are usually no more than $100 with full insurance. All swords will be 'mummified' in bubble-wrap, cardboard.. whatever I deem necessary to make sure it gets to you in the same condition that I sent it out. Out-of-country sales will depend on your local laws. All sales are final. Please use your best judgement. I'll oblige and do my best to deliver satisfactory photos and excellent shipping. None of these blades are papered, most are considered projects. They are in the condition that they were received in by me, with only gentle application of choji. They all have potential to be restored fully and will be free of fatal flaws as far as possible within my experience. Polishing, like on any project, can reveal flaws after the fact. For those, I am not responsible. If you have an opinion on a sword or believe something is in error, please DM me and I will correct it. I am not an expert, nor will I ever be. If it is about the quality of my photographs, I will do my best to get you more if that is your interest. I apologize for my usual rough-shod photography skills; there is not much I can do about that... short of getting a professional setup or a new phone; but the photos should be enough to get you an idea of sugata and condition. Again, more are available via DMs. If it is just commentary about the quality of said photos, then keep it to yourself s'il vous plait! Lastly, each sale will net the NMB a $50 donation to help our beloved NMB with its planned upgrades. To reserve a piece for purchase, please put a reply here in this thread and/or then DM me directly. First come, first served! FINALLY, without further ado: 1. 28" katana in shirasaya. Signed "Tsuda Echizen no Kami Sukehiro", would need a polish to fully appreciate. Signature is unlikely to be first generation, more likely second or third or gimei. Notare hamon, unknown hada. Appears suriage. I predicate my opinion on the mei based on the fact that it is missing the classic long osaka-yakidashi of the first generation; instead only possessing a short one that disappears into the nakago. However, I have been known to be wrong. Will consider partial trade up to $1k in value. Asking price is $2500. 2. 19" wakizashi in substitute saya. Signed "Bizen no Kami Osafune Naga[xxxx]" with the rest having been cut off. Likely to be Bizen Nagamitsu since the work seems most appropriate for him. Sleepy old polish with lots of beautiful activity visible still. Pre-1530. Haven't had a chance to do deep research on this one to narrow it down. Has a fukure/ware flaw in the spine. Suriage. No partial trade on this one. Asking price is $1800. 3. 27" katana in partially restored gunto mounts. Mumei, but likely to be Yamato. Needs a polish as previous owner acid-polished it. Gold-plate habaki, silver mon on tsuka. Blade is likely to be late 1500/early 1600's. Several pits that are unlikely to come out with a polish but still a fine blade. Ubu. Paper stock saya. Partial trade up to $500. Asking price is $2200. 4. 23.25" o-suriage early to mid Kamakura tachi in assembled mounts. Mumei. Likely to be Bizen den. Circa 1200's. Decent assembled mounts with gold-trimmed Omori fuchigashira and Namban tsuba. This is a greatly o-suriaged blade, likely having been cut down somewhere in the Muromachi period. The boshi on this one is a little thin, but still present. In recent polish. The opinions on this piece come straight from my polisher; before that, I thought it a late Muromachi/early Edo boy's blade. A rare piece to be sure. No partial trade on this one. Asking price is $3450. 5. 24.5" katana in remnants of WWII leather-cased mounts. Signed "Kunihiro". Almost certainly a gimei since nearly ANY Kunihiro is a big big name smith, with most of them working late Kamakura. The biggest name Kunihiro worked in the 1600's strangely. There is a remote possibility it is one of them, but the placement of the mei leads me to believe it is gimei. However, it is still an older blade that is likely to be late Kamakura/Muromachi. Suriage with 2 mekugi-ana. Notare hamon. Could use a polish to revive the masame hada. Has kirikomi. Nice tsuba. Partial trade up to $700. Asking price is $2200. 6. 26" katana of WWII origin. Mumei, no stamps. It is my opinion that this blade is Showato, but it does show some signs of hand-forging including a very thick particle line in the hamon. It is in a somewhat amateur-ish polish with some warping of the geometry but would make for a very fine wall hanger. A good piece to find mounts for. It is a very interesting styled gunome. Paper stock saya. No Partial trade on this one. Asking price is $1000. 7. 17" wakizashi in American-made saya. Signed "Nobukuni" - the particulars of this signature, particularly the kanji used purport it to be one of the Oei Nobukuni, which if believed to be true would make for a very nice restoration project. Two meguki-ana. It does have a Soshu-esque hamon in it and a sugata that suggests an old blade. However, there are a few areas of damage to the edge and an S-bend in the blade. Ergo... the low price on this one. No partial trade on this one. Asking price is $700. 8. 11.25" tanto in restored mounts. Mumei. Kanmuri-otoshi shape, which along with the nakago, suggests the Nambokucho era. 2 mekugi-ana. BEAUTIFUL mounts which suggest that the habaki is not original. The saya is a striped alternating shiny and matte black lacquer with horn accents. Gorgeous hand-painted red wooden grain pattern tsuka. Why they would paint the wood grain as opposed to use real wood or a veneer? Your guess is as good as mine. Rare shape would make for a fun project. Unknown school since hada is not visible. Hamon appears to be a very straight and well-executed suguha. No partial trade on this one. Asking price is $1500. 9. 26" katana of WWII origin. Mumei, no stamps. No mounts but habaki and paper tube saya. Unlike #6, this one is clearly a gendaito. It has evident particle activity in both the hamon and hada scattered about. The gunome pattern is much more orderly and well-arranged. There is no evidence of the characteristic dark shadows that one would see in showato. The blade has a nice gold-plate habaki. Condition is solid but with several nail catchers and a solid patina covering the whole blade. A Mino-Seki blade with the appropriate yasurime. Strangely two mekugi-ana, with the top one showing a rough burr that would make it unlikely to be used; my theory being that this blade was ordered for one set of mounts and then changed before final fitting to another mount set. No partial trade on this one. Asking price is $1300. (Limit hit, will upload #9 below!) Thanks for looking! ~Chris

A fine Japanese cast bronze (presumed) double gourd (hyotan) bud vase with tasseled cords, a stopper and Noh Theater Demon Mask "Netsuke" well detailed around the sides with reddish-brown colored patina. The slightly recessed base is impressed with a seal mark of Mouri Motonari (元就, 1947–present), a prominent metal craftsman working out of Takaoka City in Japan, specializing in creating high-quality, handcrafted, and detailed samurai helmet (kabuto) figurines and traditional bronze, iron, and brass-based metalwork. These traditional Japanese handicrafts (Takaoka Copper Crafts) are frequently designed for display and commemoration incorporating authentic, detailed, and symbolic designs. The work is deeply inspired by Mōri Motonari (1497-1571), a famous strategist and Sengoku period warlord from the Chūgoku region, often depicting items such as the "Three Arrows" story or specific kabuto armor. In hope of encouraging three of his sons, Mōri Takamoto, Kikkawa Motoharu, and Kobayakawa Takakage, to work together for the benefit of the Mōri clan, he is said to have handed each of his sons an arrow and asked each to snap it. After each snapped his arrow, Motonari produced three more arrows and asked his sons to snap all three at once. When they could not do so, Motonari explained that one arrow could be broken easily, but three arrows held together could not. It is a lesson that is still taught today in Japanese schools and the legend is believed to have been a source of inspiration for Akira Kurosawa when writing his samurai epic Ran. Height 9 1/4 inches X diameter 3 1/4 inches.

This veneer is about 0.3mm thick and very difficult to work on without shattering or cracking. Also it would give you just a flat surface whereas the missing flowers will be several mm thick with quite deep carving. Moulding from an existing good flower will give that depth and detail and probably give a better impression than just a flat surface. Also beware inhaling the dust when grinding….

If the missing pieces are inlayey, although it would take ages, I don't see why someone wouldn't be able to take impressions using one of the moldeable plastics that get soft when you put them in hot water, then harden. This will give you the shape. The transfer to thin sheets of MOP...freely available at places like https://lumea.co/products/inlay-surfaces/veneers Then cut them out or grind slightly with a Dremel, and replace the main ones.

@hddennis Howard put this into Google search…….. “mother of pearl effect resin moulding” it seems to be possible.

It is wonderful item and as Nicholas wrote very rare to see them in this length. During late Edo few of these larger and straighter "battle-oriented" naginata were done as revival pieces, I think there was a strong desire for older days during that time. I would not expect that it would stay in the market for too long as it is a rare item. Unfortunately I am not in buying position but I would believe someone will be very happy with this one.

@Jussi Ekholm You were into naginata?

that i yes it is, Nick is a tall guy too so its evan bigger then you think

Downloaded it, look forward to reading it. Thank you Brett!

Gunto koshirae with pinned kabutogane, crest, separate sarute barrel. Centered chuso. Tsuba was added as I saw this offered without any tsuba. But still looks like „darkened/silvered” one. Imo this was T94

Just a general note about these. They were so popular with G.I.s during the war that they were being faked and sold during the war. It got so bad that Stars and Stripes had a cartoon about the practice. John C.

Thanks for your response and suggestions. Since you have a lot more experience could I ask your opinion on the flowers on the carved wooden sukashi like panels? In going over all the carved wooden panels it appears I'm missing close to 60 flowers. When new would it seem likely that the tradesman who carved the panel would have glued these flowers on? I ask only because the 3 remaining flowers are of such a simple and poor quality than the ones on the Shibayama panels and that makes me wonder which statement is true? Either the remaining low quality flowers are a later replacement OR the flowers don't match because they were made by 2 different carvers at different times during the cabinet's production.

Very poorly written names, and looks like it was probably written by a westerner. Left side (white stripe) says 長谷川駅？　Hasegawa Station (not sure about Station) Right side (red stripe) says (probably) 西川清　Nishikawa Kiyoshi

Spotted on facebook https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1YzXYi6wt1/?

I wonder if the tip is just sunk into the carpet. These typically sell for between $750 and $1500 depending on condition. Yours looks in decent but not perfect shape. eBay "sold items" will give you some good idea of a fair asking price for your sale listing. Best of luck, -Sam

In case some folks are interested https://www.czernys.com/cat/Asta158/

Great cover art.

Naze saita sakura ni Koma tsunagu Koma ga isameba hana ochiru

My Tomita Sukehiro is a sword with a flamboyant hamon. It has some scratches and would benefit from a polish. However there is a lot to be enjoyed without. Date: koki ni sen roppyaku ni nen gatsu (1942) Nagasa: 68,58 cm Sori: 1,27 cm Sukehiro was trained by his grandfather Kato Sanekuni and worked as a Rikugun Jumei Tosho during WW2. He was rated 1 million yen. This sword is in need of a New home. It is priced at €2100,-

Vedran, The Showa stamp was used by the civilian Seki Cutlery Manufacturers Association on inspected blades between 1935 - 1942. Most dated blades were made in 1940 - 1941. The hamon (temper line) is quite flamboyant! I like it. Care and Cleaning: Japanese Sword Care - Japaneseswordindex.com

Time for another sword crossword! Thanks to those who did the easier one posted on Izakaya. This one focuses on Nihonto and is a bit more challenging. Indeed, I suspect no one can complete the whole puzzle without looking up at least one of the answers (the gauntlet has been thrown). I'm also including a screenshot version for those who are leary of downloading stuff. Enjoy!!! John C. Sword Crossword_3_A.docx

John, Awesome job. You should consider offering these to the JSSUS for publication in their newsletters. @Grey Doffin?

Signed 濃州住大矢友信作 - Noshu ju Oya Tomonobu saku. From Marcus Sesko's book, Japanese Swordsmiths: TOMONOBU (友信), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Tomonobu” (友信), real name Ōya Kyōichi (大矢供一), born December 1st 1899, son of Kanenobu (兼信), he worked as guntō smith and died October 12th 1967

It’s ww2 showato. It have showa sakura stamp. Dunno which smith. Made untraditionally in some way. T98 mounts.

https://www.czernys.com/catalogues/

+

and i recognise Leen!

Hello Adam, Thank you for sharing! Brings back memories from the DTI this year. Even had my own little cameo!

Well, thank you all for such a wealth of knowledge! Before now I did not even know such a thing existed so thank you!

I was enjoying my kaigunto last night, and thought to count the rays of the daiseppa. There are 32, just like the 32 petals seen on the Imperial chrysanthemum. Maybe this is common knowledge, but I've never realized it before.