chrisf

The autobiographical notes of Taisaburo Nakamura (forgive my not knowing his correct title),founder of Nakamura Ryu make fascinating reading on the subject of practical swords.

I've just read Clive's post with a growing sense of disbelief.it's unbelievable that the guardians and trustees of our national artworks should act in such an irresponsible and casual fashion but no doubt they will always use the excuse of lack of exhibition space/not a popular item to leave them in the vaults. If they are so disinterested they should sell them and give collectors the opportunity to look after them properly,the cash realised might also stop them bleating for five minutes about how broke they are. On the other hand I'm not surprised,where I lived previously the Regimental museum had Japanese swords that were grubby and had not been checked for signatures.I met the OIC and explained about how I would be prepared to clean them and research them completely free of charge as a labour of love and to help them.'Blah,blah,guff,yah I think they look JOLLY interesting as they are'. We're not just grumpy old men are we?

Matus,hope you're coping well with all this which is not designed to discourage you but hopefully support you in your search for your first sword and it is a positive thing that you are being made aware of the minefield that exists when buying Japanese swords. I agree with posted comments on the swords you mentioned,I won't be coy,I think the katana should be left well alone,it's tired,poorly fitted and it's pretty expensive in my view. Wak 1 looks to have tempering issues,which leaves wak 2,stout,mumei wakizashi.I would guess that there are probably more mumei wakizashi extant than any other sword type other than gunto (two in my wardrobe as I write).I think we all write in the hope that anything we can offer will help avoid that dreadful moment when you produce the 'pride and joy' and see faces drop and the unspoken 'why did he buy that?'. Good luck,'your' sword is out there waiting for your paths to cross.

Sadly now back to £17.95,hope it was worthwhile posting the info.

Brian,as per previous posts it looks as though this is a fake signature,there have been a number of these recently under different topics. Images of the blade would help in determining its authenticity.

Matus,why not explore options offered from other commercial sites,there is a list of dealers on the site's home page which will at least allow you to gather some ideas of what you will have to pay and you could always refer back to the membership for reccomendations.There are also salerooms that hold specialist auctions but you will need to be well armed study wise for that route. I would look for a sword in 'old' polish,freshly polished swords can often conceal rather than reveal and while wakizashi are cheaper my choice would be for a katana which will generally be always more saleable if you choose to resell. Slightly off topic perhaps but national pride insists that I correct you.The best DUELLING pistols were flintlocks and made by English gunmakers like the Manton brothers,Egg and Nock,the makers you mention made very pretty target pistols.

Just added this to my Japanese films bought for £8.95 inc free UK p&p which is the best price I've seen for a long time,brand new,sealed R2 BFI 'Throne of Blood',a wonderfully atmospheric version of 'the Scottish play' with Kurosawa and Mifune at their very best. Bought from ebay uk seller Sodvds,I have no connection with this company and this is not intended as an advertisement on their behalf.

Many thanks,I have that bookmarked also Nihonto.au which is similar but slightly expanded but was hoping to find out if he was from a line of swordsmiths.

Doing some background on this swordsmith and find that before going to study under Kurihara Akihide he worked with his father Ichitaro but his father's 'working' name is not given and it's not actually clear if he was a swordsmith. I would be most grateful if anyone can help with further information on this.

Have you tried black and white pics?

Jason,I would echo that along with suggesting Dr Stein's website for a thorough explanation of Koa Isshin swords. I wasn't trying to 'knock' Koa Isshin swords,I was delighted to own one as one of my first swords and as far as I was concerned it had everything I thought (then) that a Japanese sword should have,hamon,hada,decent sugata,well cut signature and yasurime plus good gunto mounts with pierced tsuba.When I subsequently learned that it wasn't a 'proper' Japanese sword(nihonto) it didn't spoil it for me,I still enjoyed it for what it was,a real sword made to carry in combat. As for their cutting ability I tend to think that as with anything else that requires manual dexterity quite a lot depends on the upright bit holding the handle!

This is just the current lunacy;a few years ago it was the Asano Kanezane craze,I bought one and sat and studied it and kept thinking I was missing something when actually I wasn't it was just another Showa-to and it's the same with Koa Isshin which are well made and finished swords and have historical interest but are not true nihonto. There's an element of kidology in this too where what appears to be ridiculous can become the norm because there are no price lists for antiques or collectables,the price is only limited by the buyer's/seller's perception of value.

Guys,what you are forgetting to take into account is the level of intelligence of the audiences that films like 'Last Samurai' are aimed at who have no idea of historical context or accuracy and don't give a toss anyway. Some years ago I was chatting with a group of undergraduates about 'Saving Private Ryan' and expressed the thought that the beach landing was probably a very accurate representation of the chaos of D-Day.Cue blank looks."D-Day,you know,D-Day,the invasion of Europe 1944,pivotal moment in World history?" No,they hadn't a clue because they didn't 'do' that period in their modules! SO when the audience is at that intellectual level why bother with accuracy and integrity just get the big stars in and count the $$$$$$ Agree totally about 'Twilight Samurai' and 'Hidden Blade' both beautifully,made-thought provoking films totally removed from Cruise's 'thud and blunder'.

Not difficult for a Chinese faker Brian,Chinese and Japanese have shared kanji characters and not matching the machi is a detail that you would miss if you just looked at a picture of a sword. I also remember sitting for hours trying to translate a similar 'signature' on an ebay sword 10 years ago and it was a Chinese copy.

Missed it first time but also look at the distance between the hamachi and munemachi. Have only ever seen that on repro swords.

I hope someone will prove me wrong but this looks like Chinese copy with a random range of 'Japanese' characters. The way that the patina on the nakago stretches up to the machi I would also consider a bit suspect.

Jean,c'est magnifique!So glad I clicked on this because it really is uplifting to see something this beautiful and thank you for sharing it.

If you see contemporary footage of the Burma campaign it's easy to understand why so many swords have pitting at the kissaki,it must have been virtually impossible to keep a sword dry with the monsoon rain and humidity and once wet the wooden saya liners would have retained moisture indefinitely. If you can obtain it Louis Allen's history of the Burma campaign is an enthralling read and has a number of anecdotes of Japanese officers using their swords in combat situations including using them to cut communication cables and the wires of demolition charges to prevent bridges being blown. Enjoyed seeing this and also the .45" plugged tsuba,interesting stuff.

That's a very clear and elegantly written explanation,many thanks.

I asked for a written provenance to accompany the sword which was agreed to but not delivered. There is no ongoing negotiation as the seller stated that as far as he was concerned the matter was closed and it was clear that further correspondence would be futile so the issue has been placed in the hands of consumer rights to investigate.

OK but I was under the impression that the sakite helped with forging the billet and then the smith drew out the blade from the billet himself and continued the shaping process alone or do the sakite assist in that process?

Thank you Chris,but why is that?Is it because a solo hammer cannot produce enough pressure to weld the steel in the billet and do smiths always use sakite for wakizashi and tanto or can they forge those on their own?

Yes,I absolutely agree with you about the importance of the Ryu and the stature of Mr Otake which is why I felt it improper to send a letter asking for such information unless it had been approved by someone knows and understands the etiquette better than I.

Sakite-1,2,3 or none?I have wondered for a long time if the desire among modern swordsmiths to recreate the jihada of top quality koto blades could have anything to do with the use or more specifically the non-use of sakite. By that I mean did the masters of koto swordsmithing use sakite as we are used to seeing in photographs and woodblock prints or were they working and forging on their own? I know that there are many representations of swordsmiths at work but I would be interested to know when the earliest verified images of sakite in action can be dated to,I know that Yoshihara Yoshindo has used a power hammer for forging but is there any record of swordsmiths forging blades on their own without sakite?

That is correct,he told me that the sword had been used by Otake Risuke and his sons and given to him when he was training at the Ryu.That's why I would like to contact someone who is genuinely connected with the Ryu and who understands what's going on and can advise me on the best way to proceed in order to confirm this. I feel that it would somehow be rude and improper to just write and ask for confirmation without an introduction,I know that there are properly licenced instructors accredited by TSKSR in the UK but attempts to contact them have failed and I was hoping that someone might pick up on this thread and contact me.