xxlotus8xx

Being that I am limited in both Nihonto and knowledge thereof, I can only offer mostly comic relief and a occasional dose of reality.. So glad to be of assistance!

Hi Rob, yes LOTS of research! Hopefully your addiction has not grown to the point of an impulse buy from certain well known auction sites. Take your time and learn, then, when you are ready, there will be, as there are now, any number of swords that will be available for purchase from reputable dealers. Unfortunately, many "newbies" get the "bug" and follow the age old adage of "ready, fire, aim"! Welcome to the world of nihonto! Charlie Brashear I fully attest to this as my nihonto journey started EXACTLY the same way. Researching a wakizashi that I inherited from my grandfather who also landed Iwo. This has now blossomed to a insatiable thirst for more information on all aspects of nihonto. But Charlie is right. Take time read, research, ask questions and research the answers. And when you feel like you just fell into the rabbit hole there is no turning back. RA

Not sure I would go so far as to call this smith a "big name"....He is pretty middle of the road actually... No need to be jealous!! J/K.. For me even a "middle of the road" mei is still a bigger name than a "end of the road" mei.

I find it interesting that this is another big name smith on a sword that came from the Iwo Jima battle. The Wakizashi that I inhertited came with a big name mei also.

Thanks Ray, very appreciated but I've some problem to join the goup. Can't swim so long :lol: Well the way I figure it. Anyone who has enough money to collect Nihonto can surely afford a plane ticket.. But that's OK Carlo. I'll take a rain check and the beer will be here for you!

On horseback dressed in full armor?

Ray, why don't you just borrow Fred's copy? seeing as you are in the Bay area. Best A) Who's Fred? B) Because it would still be Fred's copy if borrowed. C) The UPS guy just dropped off Ray's copy. But perhaps me and Fred can discuss the finer book points over beers! And Paul, you are most welcome to join as well! As a matter of fact, I invite the whole Nihonto Message board!!

Excellent advise. I am finding out that there is a reason for every attribuition and related decrative pieces of Nohonto and Saya . Where did you read this?

Count me in for royalty contributions to the authors...

Ray I'm sure you meant gimei, and know you have a lot of new words running around in your head. Glad you sought professional help, Thanks to Tom and his friend. I like that your saving it for display with Gdads stuff. WTG EXACTLY! And ya..New words, timelines, events, a whole new other history. Thanks Stephen. And Happy Fathers day to all!

The meeting was extremely informative and I must thank Tom Helm (and another gentleman who's name I didn't catch) for taking the time to speak with me about the blade and tsuba. Blade seems to have Bizen/Edo period characteristics which means the mei is mumei but we all knew that already. Mainly for the reason that there are no blades with a soshu yukimitsu mei. And the tang shape is of bizen, not soshu/sagami characteristics. Tsuba could be earlier that Edo and some expert advise was given on how to get some of the rust off. It was recommended to not submit the blade to Shinsa for kan-tai and to save the 100.00. And that a professional polishing would not add any value per-say as iot would be hard to get around the wear and tear. But might merrit further investigation at Shinsa as well as a tsuka rewrapping/restoral. My goal is to at least get the sword in the best condition as possible as I have recieved it form my grand-dad and put together a display with his metals, the captured flags...and the sword. So the research continues as the more answers we have the more questions come out. But that's what this is all about for most of us. Right??

Hi Keith, Thanks for the reply as this is all good information. As I have stated before I am only starting to study and to attempt to get my head around a complicated study. The blade nagasa measures a hair over 21 inches. This is less that 2 shaku which would put it in the wakizashi range. But the blade shape doesn't have wakizashi characteristics. Sooo...chisa-katana??

Trust me. I am under no illusion that this is a 14th century blade. It 's possible but not probable. I do find it quite ballsy to sign with Soshu Yukimitsu. But I think with most Nihonto owners, the real mystery is finding out the history. The military insignia pins that were in the menuki position are from the "Taisei Yokusankai" only fuels the mystery as this was from the government... I do look forward to tomorrow's meeting!

Hi Mark. Tang drilled? Do you mean the mekugi-ana? Upon inspection it looks to be punched out. The mei doesn't really appear that crisp and it took a lot of lighting to get that picture. But we'll see. Perhaps you can point me to an example of a blade from this period? Thanks! Ray

Your a genius. Thanks! I think that is a great idea! And I will be there.

Thanks Mark. I have already registered the blade for Shinsa. And I think I will wait until then to make next decisions such as polish etc...I have been told that "there is an embarrassing amount of information that will be available." And being that I am full on Nihonto newbie I hope to take advantage of that. The blade pics are here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/xxlotus8xx ... 719267187/

Hmm...the more I read the more I'm thinking that the advise I got was good. IE..."Be patient and wait".

Greetings, I have a blade that I have registered for Shinsa in SF and I was hoping for some advise from people who have been through the process. The blade itself has many characteristics of late kamakura era and the mei is signed "Sagami no ju Yukimitsu". My concern is because the blade has not been polished it will not be easy to validate important characteristics of the era/smith/school/forge. It has been recomended to just wait for Shinsa before going through a polish but would it not be better to at least have a portion polished to bring out some of the more important characteristics? I think the term is called 'window polish'. I have seen this recommended to other board members and figured it might be a good idea. Also there are other aspects of the sword that have been revealed that could help with the identification. Should this not somehow be submitted as well or will they just know? The related threads are here. Menuki that is not menuki. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7769 Initial post. viewtopic.php?f=50&t=7303 OK I now know it is not a Gunto but I am also having a hard time classifying the type. To short for Katana? Not quite Wakizashi, so Tachi? As always your help is greatly appreciated.

Since we are getting all deep here I might as well chime in. If you look at the history of man there has never been peace and I can assume there will never be peace. We are the outcast's of this planet. Everything else that lives on this planet is in some kind of harmonious existence with it's surrounding. Are we not the only beings that kill for ideology? For greed? to take it because we can? And when man has stamped out their existence, who will be left to appreciate Nihonto?

Wow! Thanks for sharing.

Dick (or is it Richard?) You have infact found Dr Fuller for it is I. I do not post under my real name for fear of being hunted down by the "Pawal Nowak". But recent security measures have been taken so they are a non factor. I would love to discuss your artifact with you but since your incapable of posting pictures I will kindly ask you to ship the item to me personally for inspection. Upon receipt of the artifact I will inspect it and provide an expert opinion (<---spelled properly). My time is very valuable and of course you will be charged my usual consulting fee of 3200.00 USD. I look forward to assisting you further. Good Day, Dr R W Fuller

To Charlie and Koichi. Many thanks for the assistance in the translation . This journey through time that my grandfather provided the path to is proving quite rewarding and fascinating. For example I was not even aware that there were any facist elements in Japan during WW2. But the menuki (that are not menuki) unvealed this. Now would it make sense that someone from the "Taisei Yokusankai" would be in posession of a blade with a Mei of Sagami(no)kuni Yukimitsu? It seems more probable that an enlisted man. Shinsa in August will reveal all...

Thanks to all for the help! The mystery has been unveiled. The sword is revealing its truth! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taisei_Yokusankai

Greetings, With the approval of certain high-ranking board members I have carefully extracted the (what I thought was) Menuki from a tsuka off a Wakizashi. The sword I inherited from my grand-dad who was a WW2 Marine who fought many famous Pacific island battles. But anyways...It turns out that these are not Menuki and are actually Japanese military insignia pins. So if anyone can help identify which miltary division the pins are from that would be great. Also I have included some pics of 2 of the 4 flags I have. Both flags has Kanji writing. One is hand writ and the other flag/headband is print. But I am uber Kanji noob and if someone can help with the translation that would also be helpful. A side note. My granddad said that he thought it was a family name and that possibly he wanted the flag returned. Menuki 1. http://www.flickr.com/photos/xxlotus8xx/4694065994/ Menuki 2. http://www.flickr.com/photos/xxlotus8xx/4693428017/ Headband. http://www.flickr.com/photos/xxlotus8xx/4694064564/ Kanji on flag. http://www.flickr.com/photos/xxlotus8xx/4694061700/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/xxlotus8xx/4694059556/

WOW BRUTAL! Dude if you own it do what you want with it. Unless it is Nihonto then check with Nihonto board (otherwise known as Jedi council) for approval.