David McDonald

Dear Dave To add to Marks post your sword has 濃No 州Shu 住Ju 源Minamoto 秀Hide 俊Toshi 作saku Noshu is refering to Mino province, ju is lived at Minamoto is a clan name the smiths name is Hidetoshi saku is made. If you have questions about your sword please ask. later david

Dear Mark I read Omi no Kami Minamoto Kunimasa 近O 江mi 守Kami 源Minamoto 国Kuni 正masa Hawley KUN418 and KUN440 Worked in Musashi and Iwashiro around 1688 and student of Hidetoke Worked in suguba good luck david mcdonald

Dear John and Morita I am glad someone could read the kanji. In vol2 by Gary Murtha there is a listing for a Takahashi Masatsugu as late Edo and founder of the Takahashi school that is actually part of the Ito school. He is famous for his guribori work. The image with the note looks a little like your tsuba's signature. Looks like you need a shinsa to see if it is this famous smith. Good luck david

Dear Keith Tadamasa is the name on the tsuba as the makers name. Post an image of the tsuba and someone might be able to say more about the tsuba and when it was made. (remove the seppa so only tsuba is in image) good luck david

Dear Marc Here is some info from Nihonto Meikan p813 Zushu Kimisawa ju Hironori 豆州君澤住弘則 天明Tenmei (period 1781) 伊豆Izu province (zushu) (刀研,総覧) Name books? – Token Sōran 年紀Nenki (dated example??_) 天明三Tenmei san (1783) 注Chū (notes) Bunka (1804) hachi nen (Shinmatsu??)shi gatsu ju ichi hi (Kunsawa gun??)koyama kaname ishi Ei mon Kunitada I think date of death and school of Kunitada???? 文化八年辛末四月十一日君沢郡小山村要右衛門国忠 To ? ? ga a ru と鞘書がある Out of time for today maybe someone Else with good Japanese language skills can take over Later david

Dear Curran and John I think Morita-san means that an image of the signature is needed that is very clear. The images above the drawing even enlarged does not show the signature clearly. John you might want to set the tsuba on a scanner and scan just the signature area (600 dpi) so the on the image all character are clear. good luck david

Dear Keith Your image is upside down and once turned over will give 忠Tada 正masa I can not make out what is on the seppa - to much glare on the image. good luck david _________________ keith mccauley

Dear Ludolf Thanks for the thought. Looks like it might be right. I did not find an example in my books to confirm but sure do not see anything else. Thanks all that looked later david

Dear All I am working on identify a 28.3 inch katana signature. Sori is 1.25 inch (2.8 cm) Hamon looks to be midare to a ko-choji midare I am not sure of the first kanji. 拝gami, hai or maybe 祥yoshi, Jō, Shō 光 mitsu Yoshimitsu does lead to a a Bizen smith working around 1429. But the nakago does not look Bizen. Any ideas? Thanks for any thoughts you might have. I am starting to lose sleep trying to identity the first kanji. Thanks david

Dear Oleg I think that from what I see in the images that the sword could be late war when you see a lot of crude/poorly shaped nakago (tang) The fittings are poor casts are found late war no yokote/kissaki/lines not crisp to me look like someone has taken a oil tempered blade with problems and fitted it up so that it could be sold as a wall hanger. If this was priced in the $200 to $400 range it is what it is. If it was priced higher than $500 I would wonder about the seller. But I do not think chinese. Just my thoughts david mcdonald

Dear Chris I think you miss typed and mean Kanesada not Kuni sada. In Hawley there is the listing KAN 271 Kawachi no Kami Kanesada Yamato and later in Edo worked around 1673-88 Itame, suguba and notare sharp 30 points Did not find an oshigata with the Monju in his signature. good luck david mcdonald

Dear Morita san Thanks for the information. This type of place name I always find hard to identity. I hope anyone collecting this group of smiths can use the historical information. Thanks again later david mcdonald

Dear All I am trying to identity the iron sand talked about on this shinshinto sword. 弘前住藤原正一 Hirosaki ju Fujiwara Masakazu Wo motte Ge ? Sa Tetsu tsukuru kore 以外?沙鉄造之 Not sure of Ge or the next kanji I was thinking Ge 外　as outside, and hama　濱 so outside beach???????? Thanks for any thoughts ( I have large images if needed - about 1.5 Mb size ) later david

Dear Hilik Great pictures and thanks for the information. later david

Dear Klaus I think you did ok with Yoshimichi 吉道 as the smith name Fuller has a listing of a Yoshimichi ( Komatsu? Yoshimichi) later david mcdonald I tried to translate the Mei of the blade because it seems very easy, but no luck. For me the second Kanji looks like 道 Michi (but I am quite sure that I am wrong, but also 恒 Tsune and 但 Tada do not fit - to less strokes ). And the first Kanji is absolutely mysterious for me (maybe 吉 Yoshi) Many thanks for help! edit: added (maybe 吉 Yoshi) _________________ Klaus Schicker

Dear All Thanks for all your thoughts. Makes you wonder what else my be left in the old garbage pit. later david

Dear All Sorry I forgot to include the size. width 2.8 cm (1 1/16 inch) height 2.2 cm (7/8 inch) thickness 0.15 cm ( 1/16 inch) If it was for a pouch how would it be attached? thanks again david

Dear All This item was found in an old garbage pit. Most of the trash was from the early 1900's. Looks like nice work but what was it from or used for??? Thanks for any comments. later david

Dear Junichi Most likely a rice glue was used to hold the ray skin to the saya. And I have had some luck wetting the ray skin to get it soft and then reglueing. To take the ray skin totally off it is best to work dry, when wet it is easy to tear the skin. You can tear the skin when dry but it is harder. Then wet the skin before putting it back on. Often when finished there is still a gap that needs to be lacquered. The two halves of the saya were most likely glued using rice glue. I use a thin spatula to split. Not sure if this helps. good luck david

Dear Edward G Here is the translation. Not sure of a couple of the kanji. good luck david

Dear All Look what happens when you have to work and can not read the Message Board!!!! Jacques – I agree most likely gimei but might still be just an unrecorded smith (but not likely unrecorded) Jason – I hope there is an attached image of the listing. In the listing there are notes of books but sorry my Japanese is not that good to translate. Here is what I can read. Bishu Osafune ju Norimitsu 2nd generation Engen (Yengen) period 1336 Bizen Then I think name of books Last dated swords I believe. Engen 2nd year Ooan 3rd year and 6th year Sorry not ju nin just the ju Jean – bashing heads???? When I read the posts about Norimitsu I got out my KATANA and looked at the mei. When you said that Ju was not associated --- “unseen with this smith” I recalled that I had seen Bishu Osafune ju Norimitsu when I was researching my katana. But as I listed in my email this was not an easy task as you were correct that almost all followed your note. But there is one. Wakizashi/Katana whats a few ‘sun’ among friends. Keith – Jōdan no kamae….. shomen Does a cut to the head beat a small touche'? Back to tsukamaki – I am working on a string style wrap where there are two strands and at the cross over the inside strans are hineri maki and the outside strands are rolled. Looks nice but took a while to figure out. Later david

Dear Jean When you said that ju was not associated with Bishu Osafune my first thought was that this can not be right. I was sure that there were many Bishu Osafune ju. I have a Norimitsu mine is signed Bizen Kuni ju Norimitsu. So go out Hawley’s -- you were right no Bishu Osafune ju but I did not give up so went to Toko Taikan – you were right no Bishu Osafune ju but I did not give up so when to Nihonto Meikan -- ha! there is a Bishu Osafune ju Norimitsu listed On page 751 the second listing with a date of 1356 (embun or yembun period) The listing has a double circle so must be a good smith. The sword at hand does not seem that old so later generation? Unrecorded signature style? Always fun getting out the books and doing some reading. Later david

Dear George Thanks for the info. Maybe someone will know where Kishiyama is located. Attached are some images. It looks like oil tempered but in a few places there seems to be some hada. So some folding and oil tempered is my guess. later david

Dear All I am working on determining information about the WWII smith Munechika The 9 in tanto is signed 奈良三條宗近作 Nara Sanjo Munechika saku 昭和十ニ年十月 Showa ju ni nen ju gatsu 岸山 Kishiyama I think Kishiyama is mountain by the sea?? Hawley lists a Sanjo Munechika with a date 1960 Anybody know anything about this smith or the mountain?

Dear Chris Thanks for the information. I was hoping that I had not found the correct kanji as I also could not find the smith. Now with your help have a good shot at the correct reading. Thanks again. later david