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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,-

Spot on Lars and Piers - I managed with callipers to measure further down the barrel, and indeed it is 13mm! Thanks again for your valuable information.

Wow, very nice. I think Bruno looks for a Smith from the Kato group. Sukehiro was the nephew of Kato Masakuni.

more soon......

I don't know that much about koshirae as I focus on the blades. However to me in this case the sword blade is pretty uninspiring and the fittings are very high quality. I would dare to think that there would be extremely few daishō sets with full Miboku fittings, so I would think they are very precious. Yokoyama Sukesada blades in this case would not be that interesting considering the fittings. The interesting part to me is that it seems they were given to museum in 1936 so they were in the US before WWII. I am not sure who this Howard Mansfield was but he seems to have had a huge collection of extraordinary Japanese Fittings, including another daishō set this time full Konkan fittings, several Natsuo work etc. top tier artists. Just write his name into MET search and enjoy some spectacular sword fittings.

So, all- I am certain many of you know of this. But it is fairly new to me, so I thought I would post the information for other newer members. I purchased (rather recently) a book on kamon designs. I used it and referred to it on the “16 petal chrysanthemum tsuba” thread. The book is titled “Handbook of Designs and Motifs” introduction by P.K. Thomajan, Tudor Publishing Company, 1950. It shows nearly 7000 kamon! I found that many of the tsuba in my collection, which I thought just had a nice motif or shape, could be representations of family kamon! Personally, I find it quite amazing how many of my tsuba are shaped or have motifs that could represent a family kamon. I have included some pictures of my tsuba with the corresponding picture in the kamon book. I probably could have found more examples, but I got tired “flipping” through the pages of the book! The adventure continues! With respect, Dan

The length of swords has always followed the evolution of combat techniques (tachi versus katana) and the regulations issued by the shoguns. The vast majority of tachi were suriage so that they could be used as katana. Indeed, given the price of these weapons, it was better to shorten them than to make new ones.

Not the best quality piece I have but I do love the Kawari-gata nature of it. https://en.m.wikiped...File:Gion_Mamori.svg Gion Amulet - 「祇園守」 The Gion Mamori is a special amulet sold at the Yasaka Shrine in Gion district in Kyoto. The origin of the Gion Mamori kamon is shrouded in mystery and is still debated: some think that it represents a cryptic map of the woods that used to surround the Yasaka shrine, while others say that it is in fact a hidden Christian cross. There is also a third interpretation linking the amulet to an obscure Gion-shoja temple in India, where the guardian deity Gozu was said to inhabit. Chinese characters for "Gozu" mean "cow" and "head", and therefore some say that the Gion Mamori mon represents the head of a cow. The Gion Mamori mon is a rather rare emblem with about 50 known variations.

In Edo period books with collections of kamon were published and those were a source of inspiration for the Tsuba makers. It is possible, that indiviuals purchased such a Tsuba because it shows the personal mon. But I dare to doubt that was the intention of the tsubako. At least everyone could buy and wear these. There are formal sword fittings which have the function to show the kamon and thus the family representing, but these were Kinko works. Daimyo and Samurai wore them on special occasions. BTW: It seems to be an interesting question at which point a motif could be called kamon. The lobster Tsuba for instance show IMHO no kamon - sometimes lobsters are just lobsters… Best, Florian