David McDonald

Dear Hamish I read No shu ju Fuku moto Kane mune saku So this might be Fukumoto Koichi Kanemune Formerly Fukumoto Koichi. Son of Fukumoto Amahide. Worked at the Seki Nihonto tan ren to. Good luck later david mcdonald

Dear Piers I am going to try to make the all metal style kozuka like on the image you noted if you like I will try one for you or if you think best a bashin?? let me know jswords@mcn.net later david mcdonald

Dear John So send me some dimensions. And the style you would like. width length of hilt part length of blade part thickness (maybe a guess) Then when you get it you might have to file to make work. later david mcdonald

Dear John and Barry Piers gave the link viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4637&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=45 and I have attached one of the images. This may be the style needed for your tsuba. In my Tanto saya pockets Barry gave some dimensions for a Bashin. I thought it was for a standard shape so made one for him (About 6 hours of work). Now I see that I made the wrong shape. So John and Barry please make vary good measurement of what you need (including the length of the blade) and I will make them up from some 100 plus year old iron that I have. Not Japanese iron just old. This will allow you to fill the hole until you find the correct one. Also looking at the image which style would you like. Once I make yours and get 'good' I will make mine. you can email me at jswords@mcn.net later david mcdonald

Dear Barry Will this one work?? It is total length of 3.5 inch and the top part is about 1 5/8 inch. If interested please email me at jswords@mcn.net with your mailing address. It was made in Heisai 24 using 100 plus year old iron. later david mcdonald HIgo school certainly made smaller kozuka and kogai as I have seen several. I have been looking for a Higo Umabari that is small for a long time length 1 5/8" witdth less than 1/4". If you come across one please let me know. _________________ Regards, Barry Hennick

Dear All Thanks for the comments. Looks like I will be standing in line if and small one show up. later david mcdonald

Dear All I have a tanto where the saya has pockets for kozuka and kogai but the pockets are small compared to normal. On the side with the kurikata the pocket measures 12.5 mm x 49 mm and on the other side measures as 13.5 mm x 54 mm. Standard size seems to be in the 14-15 mm by around 95 mm. Is there a name for the small size kozuka and kogai needed for my saya? Does anyone know where a set might be for sale? Thanks for any comments later david mcdonald

Dear All I see Bishu Yoshi ? (maybe kage) But it is a very strange Bi later david

Dear Stephan I will send the scans to your email. So please email me your address. jswords@mcn.net If others want to read then I will have to resize to fit the boards format. later david mcdonald

Dear Chris I still think to much sake :D but there are the ichimonji blades, and the sa blades and I have a shinto/shinshinto with the signature gatsu So maybe there is a WWII smith that only signed Hide but he is not listed from what I can tell. So would you read the mei as ---- Noshu ju Hide ?? thanks for the comment later david mcdonald

Dear Ray and Guido There is no seki/showa or the like stamp on this blade but you can see the hard spots at the top of the gunome so this is a oil tempered blade. And the hamon looks like many of the WWII Seki smiths. So Noshu Nobuhide Noshu Sumihide Do not lead to a know smith. I am thinking to much sake and the last kanji was forgotten. later david mcdonald

Dear All This weekend I was at a gun show and bought (and I plan to resale) a late war naval officers (kai-gunto) with black lacquer saya and shark skin not the normal 'same' under the ito. The blade seems to be signed Noshu ju Hide So was there to much sake being drunk? and the last part of the name is missing? Or is there a WWII smith signed Hide? Any thoughts would be great. later david

Dear Rendy It might be better to type Gotō Kanehiro He worked in the town of Seki during WWII period later david mcdonald Yes, you are right on the last Kanji! If you get really stuck, we will help again! (Hoping you are not in a hurry) Yes, that is just what I need to learn. Thanks. So, if my newbie translation is correct, it reads "Go Tou Kane Hiro". Is this correct? :D :D

Dear Tony 信州住助宗 (Shinshu ju Sukemune) In Hawley's book there are four listed dating from 1624 to 1772 good luck david mcdonald

Dear baik baik sekali I think your sword is signed Noshu Seki ju Kojima Katsumasa saku good luck david mcdonald

Dear Bojan Hawley's book lists (SAD607) this smith as working in Niigata and was a student of Akimasa 越後国今井貞六作 Showa Jusan nen hachigatsu 昭和十三年八月 later david mcdonald

Dear Eric Here is what I see. One tachi 一太刀 Mumei 無銘 (Fujishima Tomoshige . jidai Oei (period starting 1394) 藤島友重。時代応永 I hope that helps not sure what generation later david mcdonald

Dear George I think your sword is not Kanezane ( I have one by this smith ) But Seki ju Kanematsu Kanetatsu saku 関住兼松兼達作 not sure if I have the correct tatsu kanji later david mcdonald

Dear Jim P. The paper is dated 9th day of the 4th month in the 47th year of Showa or in 1972. I hope that helps some. later david mcdonald

Dear Rob I have a note that says some of his blades have Seki stamps so he did make showato. Not sure if he make gendaito. And if you are looking up information on the internet note that there is a Miyaguchi Ikkansai Toshihiro that is listed as a very good smith but the kanji for your Toshi is different from the Toshi for Miyaguchi Toshihiro. later david

Dear All I want to thank everyone very much for the comments and the help. It is always educational to watch and read as this group struggles with unusual Japanese sword knowledge. The information is great! Set up at a gun show this weekend and saw a 36 inch long army dress sabre. Naval dagger picked up at a garage sell for $5. I was able to buy at $175. Not bad. Then a sword was brought in -- modern junk tsuba, habaki, tsuka was on the sword and the sword was ground on, bent, rusted and they ground off part of the signature. What was left was -- kuni Osafune Sukesada. The sword had much pitting and a crack. The owner wanted to know what could be done?? I did have an old saya to help the sword and we oil and uchiko it to see a little choji hamon. Must have been a great blade at one time. Now off to Minneapolis. Stop by my table if you come by the show and see the tsuka. later david

Dear Piers It is the inside of the tsuka so no one would see. So I was thinking it was a note on which sword he was working. I did not think about a botched kanji. Might work. thanks for the thought later david

Dear Piers I can see why you pick these to but I just do not think these are the correct kanji. I was thinking the whole thing was just the signature from the blade that went with the shira saya. I have another shira saya tsuka that has 備Bi 州shu 長Osa 船fune 祐Suke 定sada 永Ei 禄roku 十ju 年Nen 二ni 月gatsu 日hi 二Ni 尺shaku 一ichi 寸sun 四yon 分bu So you have the smith, date and the length of the sword. So for the problem tsuka (top of page) I have been looking for a shinshinto smith. No luck. So when Koichi thought saya maker that would have been great. But the kanji do not seem to match? Are Koichi's kanji correct but just a variation of the kanji?? Thanks to all that have looked. later david mcdonald

Dear Koichi Thanks and I agree with most of what you found and thanks a lot for the help. From what I can see I do not think the kanji are saya and shi the Naka mura look ok. So I have added an other image of just the middle part. I hope this helps. One image I have photoshopped to make better? What do you think? later david

Dear All I am working a tsuka-maki display and am working on translating a note on the inside of a shira-saya tsuka. Here is what I have so far 備Bi 前zen 国Kuni 西Sai 大dai 寺ji 住ju ? ? ? ? 是Kore ? 造tsukuru 之kore and on the other side 文Bun 久kyū 三san ? 天 ? 十ju 月gatsu ? ? Any buddy know this smith? thanks for any help later david mcdonald