Brian

Wow..Milt. That is a nice yari. Love the horimono, and I think it must be quite unusual to have elaborate horimono on jumonji yari. I like it. I plan on making my next purchase a jumonji yari...I think I have a thing for the polearms Brian

Hmm..he makes it seem so easy. It is really not that easy at all. Usually the base metal is sanded and/or polished, and then there is a flash plating (usually copper) done underneath to assist the chrome with bonding. There is usually a way to remove the chrome via reverse electrolysis, and ammonia etc, but I think the blade is going to look a bit rough after that, and would need a proper polish. I found this on an old list..just as a warning: I once found a koto blade which had been chromed, took it to a chrome plating company who assured me they could get it off. When I picked up the next day, they had placed electrode clips at each end, and left what looked like small weld scars... which were not bad, but did damage the sword Brian

Yep. Probably 99.9% of all NCO's are just mass produced with no tempering or folding. They appeal only to the militaria collectors. That Yasukuni blade in NCO fittings must be a very rare exception. Brian

The blade length is measured in a straight line across the back..from the tip to the notch where the brass habaki sits against. See here : http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/measure.htm Just the nagasa would be necessary for now I think. I am not an expert..but that mei does definitely look badly cut and looks a bit high on the nakago? I wouldn't let that get to you though...appreciate the blade, not the signature. Does look like a nice sword, let's see what the more advanced guys say. Edit- Looks like it might be around 25.5 nagasa? That would make it a katana, and looks to be in decent condition with no obvious signs of damage. That doesn't rule out flaws..but have seen a lot worse. make sure you go through the links above for info on how to care for it. Brian

Michael, I think you did very well. Looks like a decent sword. I do like those fittings, and Milt has a good expression there...I understand when fittings seem too nice to mount so they go in a box to appreciate on their own. Very unique (to me) menuki. Wonder what the theme is? To me the mei looks like it was cut much later. Could be wrong, but it doesn't look original to the blade. But shouldn't detract too much from the overall sword. Catch comment on the Boy's day Sword theory until we know the sizes. Especially the blade length/width etc. I also lean towards the handachi guess unless the dimensions are unusually small. Take good care of it, and maybe take it with to one of the sword shows for a closer examination. Brian

Stephan, Yes..these were mainly used for ceremonial and presentation use. I guess they could have been a status symbol judging by some of the amazing examples that exist: http://www.arco-iris.com/George/yanone.htm Brian

I think it sounds like a great idea. I have yet to see a Nihonto collector with no interest in other aspects of Japanese culture. Will be an interesting show, and one that you can definitely take the partner to, and they will find something of interest. Perhaps it might be time for me to finally plan that trip to the USA that I have been wanting to do for years. Hmm. Wish you good luck..and hope for lots of Japanese participants. Brian

Tatyana, Jû means "resident of" so it is Fujii Kaneoto, resident of Seki, made this. Brian

What Rich said. Do not clean. If you ask any antiques collector (in almost any field) they will tell you that the biggest mishap that can happen to any antique, ever..is cleaning by non-professionals. This goes for all fittings. Leave it to the guys who are experts. I have heard of people cleaning off what they think is paint on old tsuba..removing the intentional laquer layer that was put there. If someone would like to write a short post titled "Do Not Clean" or similar...I will make it a sticky at the top of this forum as a warning to newcommers in the future. Brian

There is this one in the links page: http://www.lostdays.org/shinsakuto/Default.asp Shinsakuto.org Would be worth a browse through there I think. Brian

Does resemble, I'm afraid. The sword is not a legit WW2 shin gunto. There are some odd things about this one..even for a fake. Upside down mei is not unheard of on the Chinese fakes..but I haven't seen them copy a real smith then. Could be a tang that is cut off another sword and welded on..but not really sure. Nobody was correct in that the ana is far too low down. I think they used a picture when they copied the signature..and scribed the signature the wrong way round since the pic probably didn't show which way was up. That makes sense. But either way..I'm afraid it is probably a fake. Btw..what do the fittings look like? If we can see the tsuka and fittings..that will probably tell for sure. Brian

I have noticed that the only link I have for the NTHK: http://nihontoken.org/e_index.html seems to be dead. Does anyone have an updated link, or any idea if it is temporary or permanent? Any alternative sites for them? Brian

Looks to me to be a possible fake too. That shape of the nakago is suspicious, and the rust looks artificially applied. The mei strokes don't look well chiselled and done as a sloppy afterthought. The machi are badly done..even if it is machi-okuri. Odd that they would fake a WW2 smith though. Maybe it is a post war fake to sell to returning soldiers? Can't say for certain it is a fake..but it is looking that way. Brian

Yes..and a very good one at that. But since there may be others with javascript disabled, and since without it there is no sign that there ever was a links menu at all, it is better to have a non-js page too. I think there are still many older collectors (and some younger ones too) to whom the workings of the internet and browser settings is still a minefield of confusion Brian

Thanks for pointing that out Rich. Slipped my mind. I have now added a link on the front page, and on the links page, to a html text based links list too, so that people who have JS disabled can still view the links. Keep the comments comming. Regards, Brian

Thanks John, Done. Top left of the page. But in an hour I will be changing the "Links" link above to direct to a new links page. I have also added about 30 more links. I plan on making this the definitive Nihonto links page on the net, with over 100 working links. I am constantly finding new pages that I missed, and ones that I never knew existed. Brian EDIT - Changes now done include the links on the main entry page, and also a new links page that can be reached from the top of the forum. There are currently over 100 working links, which should make this one of the most comprehensive Nihonto links collections. The first link also links back to the NMB. External links open in a new page. Please let me know your comments and advice.

Just want to clarify..I am not refering to the links at the top of this page (forum itself) I am talking about the new links bar on the main entry page linked above in this post. There are about 75 links there..including all the NTBHK branches mentioned and many that I am sure we often forget about. Will add more as I come across them. I have separated them into the different categories from commercial to informative to restoration etc. I would like to eventually add them to the top of this forum too..will be working on that over time. The links at the top of this page are on Rich T's Nihonto Kanji Pages site, and are already an excellent resource. Regards, Brian

All, Just spent the last 5 hours adding a new dropdown links menu to the mainpage: http://www.militaria.co.za or http://nihontomessageboard.com Please refresh your browser or empty your cache to see the new links. I have tried to include a large variety of Nihonto links..including some usually missed. Please check them out, and let me know which ones I missed. I am sure there will be plenty. Apologies if I skipped anyone, I will be adding more over time. I will be working on the colours and look a bit, but wanted to get it up before 1:00am (might just make it ) Please let me know if it is of some use. Regards, Brian

MH, Just go to the How To forum and there are instructions on how to upload pics here. Easier than using Yahoo. Brian

That would be a real pity, as I found it to be one of the best educational sites (after Rich S's) on the net. Does anyone have any contact with the author, and is able to find out if it will be back online sometime, or if we can use some of the info in it? Brian

The Yakiba website belongs to one of our forum members... Ed Marshall. A great guy, and excellent to deal with. You will often see his posts here. No worries there..deal with confidence. Brian

Dan, Check out this forum for some advice: http://www.kendo-world.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7424 Afraid I can't tell you any more than that about Paul Chen swords, as they aren't Nihonto as you wrote, and I am not familiar with them. I would think they are ok, but there are better choices. A good google search should pull up much more info. Regards, Brian

They are widely regarded as one of the good dealers to deal with. Fair prices, and honest. I haven't heard anything bad about them at all. As always, get a few other opinions first, but I think you should have pleasant dealings there. Some of the polishes look to have been done non-traditionally on a few blades, but not sure if that is before they were supplied for sale or not. Brian

Grey, Sorry to use this post as an image upload tutorial..but it seems so appropriate :D First post - It's an ftp site, not http, so won't display Second Post - Using html is fine, but you left out the last " after the image name and didn't need the [/img] since you are using html. Would have displayed fine (but the pic is not at that location anyways) Third Post - Would have worked, but needed the http:// before the address. (Image not at that location now) Fourth post - Fine Hope you didn't get too frustrated. Brian

Andreas, I edited the pic to rotate it to upright, and ran it through photoshop to bring it down from 650kb to 127kb. Brian