Birdman

Thanks, that was very helpful! The mon is called "maru ni ken katabami", wood sorrel with swords. Looking around on the internet, I can't seem to link it to a particular family - it seems to be a VERY common one, and is even in current use by several martial-arts dojos.

Thanks! Gun troop as in cannon, or aquebusiers? Where can I find out about the mon on the front - what clan or family, in other words?

Is there anyone in the US who restores Japanese armor? I just bought a rather battered jingasa on Ebay for a very low price ($110 plus shipping, which was my best offer; original price was $280). It has a fairly steep cone shape, and it is "notched" in the front with a sort of brim or visor over the notch - I'm fairly sure, from what I have read, that it is an ashigaru jingasa and not just a samurai riding hat, and there is the remains of a gold kamon on the front (be nice to find out what family/clan...). It was listed as being made out of "wood", but more than likely I'm thinking it's lacquered rawhide. I actually did not originally buy it with the idea of restoring it, but rather to use as a model or study-piece on which to base a replica, since I would be able to examine the construction details "up close and personal". However, if it CAN be restored, it would be nice to have it done at some point. I will post photos when I receive it. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/ebayisapi.dll?viewitem&item=280631617585

OK, thanks! Late Edo = early-mid 1800's, I assume?

OK, here are the photos. The red, active rust has been carefully removed, and accumulated dirt scrubbed off with a toothbrush & soap. Please note, the tsuba is really quite a bit darker than this - the iron is, in actuality, nearly black. I played with the highlights and shadows in my photo editor in order to bring out the details. The foliage and the small inlays at the bottom, on the front, appear to be copper, while the birds, and the two small inlays on the back, appear to be brass.

Well, after doing some searching and inquiry, I've decided to have Randy Black make the new koshirae for my sword. I've never read anything negative about his quality, and his prices are well within my budget (and in proportion to the value of the sword, as well). Price will be even lower as I will be providing my own samekawa, silk ito, and most of the fittings.

A few weeks ago I ordered some supplies from nihonto supplier Namikawa Heibei. I received my order yesterday, and I sent them an email thanking them and inquiring as to their wellbeing. This was their reply: I probably don't need to say this, but everyone on the board, please keep the people of Japan in your prayers.

Well, here's some good news, at least. I found out my sword was ridiculously easy to disassemble - turns out the tsuka is cracked and split (I was planning to replace it anyway), and the mekugi could be simply pushed out to where it could be grabbed, then pulled out the rest of the way (didn't need my mekugi nuki, which is currently 113 miles away). Upon disassembly, I found out the good news. The blade is the same width as the nakago, so fitting a new habaki should not be a problem. The blade seems to have been well cared-for, as the nakago is in decent condition, and the file-marks are still visible (appears to be sujikai, but I'm not an expert by far), though there's stable black rust present. One thing I noticed is the mune machi seems to be shallower than I would have thought - less than 1/8" though the ha machi is deeper. Neither appears to have been altered. The habaki looks to have maybe come from another sword, then squeezed towards the ha and mune to fit, thus springing out the sides. Mark Green told me in an e-mail that it is entirely likely that, rather than having been taken from a dead Japanese personally by the old Marine whom Mark had bought it from, the sword may have come from a pile of them, and could even have been a bare blade assembled with random koshirae to make a complete sword, and that this was commonly done with captured swords taken as "war trophies". He also said the gunto saya seemed to have fit the blade rather badly - way too large for the blade.

'Twere just a thought... :?

Apology accepted. And I want to apologize as well. I shouldn't post when it's late at night and past my regular bed-time - I tend to get grumpy and irritable . And, I will admit, I tend to be a bit sensitive to criticism, real or perceived - being emotionally abused and having my kids being taken away from me for the majority of the year by my control-freak ex wife tends to do that sort of thing. One option I want to look into, is there is a custom jeweller local to me who does really excellent work. I want to seee if perhaps he can make a nice silver habaki. I'll show him the sword on my way back home from my parents' place on Monday.

**Sigh** Why is a simple question taken as "disappointment that it isn't Juyo"? How many times do I have to repeat myself: I AM NOT AN ART COLLECTOR OR INVESTOR! I DO NOT CARE ABOUT A "RETURN ON MY INVESTMENT". The sheer snobbery I get from certain individuals instead of a straight answer to my questions because my choice of blades does not meet their elitist standards gets aggravating. And I'm not the only one who has received such treatment on this forum - I have heard from others who have gotten the same from here and posted about it on the SBG forum. Maybe their swords don't meet the standards of this forum, but at least most of them are friendlier and helpful towards those with less knowledge and/or experience, and don't often disparage others' choices. To the folks who HAVE been helpful: thank you very much; I appreciate it. To the shallow-minded elitist snobs who can't just accept or fathom the way that I want to enjoy my own swords: nuts to you. Enjoy your art collections. Make millions on them if that's what turns you on. But don't expect me to give a rip about doing that myself. And, I did not buy this sword from a "lower end Ebay dealer". I bought it from another member of this very forum, Mark Green. As for getting my sword refitted, I am looking towards Lohman's, though I am supplying my own fittings in any case.

Hey now, Grey, no need to get nasty. Yes, the blade has some forging flaws. No, it isn't art or investment quality. It is still, unlike the first blade I bought, a sound and functional blade, and that is what I wanted. Mark told me that when he got the sword, it was in rather battered gunto mounts. The habaki is the only piece, other than the blade, that was with the sword when he got it. I don't know who did the actual refitting once the gunto mounts were removed (from my communications with Mark, it may have been Japanese Swords Ltd. - he mentioned "the guy in TX", once, and from all Ive read he has a rep for poor quality work), but it was very inexpertly done. The tsuka itself is ill-fitting, and the maki is terrible - very uneven, and obviously no hishigami were used. The fit of the habaki is important to me because I want to refit the blade PROPERLY, and for everything to fit together CORRECTLY, in order to return it to full functionality.

Exactly what constitutes a properly fitting habaki? I ask, because on the wakizashi I just bought from Mark Green, there is a fair amount of space between the sides of the blade and the inside of the habaki (which appears to be a 2-piece type, although I haven't had it off yet to look and tell for certain). The tsuka is not tightly or properly fitted on the blade, so there is a fair amount of wiggle between the components (tsuba, habaki, seppa, and fuchi). Rattle, would be a better description. The mune machi rests in a "notch" in the mune side of the habaki, but the mune of the blade does not sit flush with the mune side of the habaki (habaki maybe thicker than the depth of the mune machi?), while the ha machi is hidden inside the habaki. Otherwise, aside from the gap, the inside of the habaki more-or-less conforms to the cross-sectional contour of the blade. I'll post some photos on Monday (I'm away from home right now, so I have neither my camera nor my mekugi nuki handy). Anyway, how do I tell whether my habaki fits correctly or not? Were poorly-fitting habaki sometimes found on old blades put in gunto mounts, as this one originally was?

So, if I want to buy an original ashigaru jingasa, I need to avoid anything that isn't conical and made of iron or is iron but is too flashy and obviously not meant to be worn. Got it! Now, what would have been more common for an ashigaru of the sengoku period: a conical iron jingasa, or a plate-and-chain tatami kabuto?

Arigato gozaimasu!

I have heard of jingasa made of lacquered papier mache, and even seen some for sale on Ebay that from the description might have been made from it. What I am wondering is, were these actually issued to ashigaru as combat helmets, or were they more like a sun-shade for "off duty" samurai?

About 20 years ago or so, I saw a very plain version of one of these for sale at the Lake County gun show in IL. Only, the guy selling it was trying to pass it off as a "gen-you-wine VietCong assasination weapon"...

Actually, I already found a complete set of fittings I like. All are of "average" quality, and in fact the most I paid for any one purchase was $241 for a set of antique fuchi, kashira, and menuki together from nihonto.uk. The tsuba (mentioned in another post in the tosogu forum) was $160. I also bought nice a fuchi/kashira set from Ted Tenold. So I've got a choice of fittings, and the ones I don't use will be displayed instead. All look nice to me, and all would look decent together, but none are of such high quality or expense that I'd be afraid to use them to remount this sword. FWIW, Mark doesn't think this is a kazu uchi mono blade. He says those were Bizen manufacture and this does not show characteristics of those blades. He thinks this may have been a student-piece. Another question: was cotton used, historically, for tsukamaki? I know most, if not all, of the surviving examples use silk, but I also know silk is more durable in the long-term. But was cotton used on less expensive mounts, sort of like using panels of samegawa instead of a full wrap (which I know was definitely done historically)? If so, from what historical point was it used?

Well, I bought the sword from Mark in the first place (he's the one who took the photos, but admits they're pretty horrible since his halogen light burned out), and he says it also has "some very koto characteristics", though he didn't elaborate on that. It used to be his SCA "dress" sword. He did have a valid point: the flaws are unsightly, but not fatal, the blade is still quite stout (he says there's still plenty of "life" left in it), and it DID somehow survive several centuries, to go to war once again in WWII. As to what I "hope to achieve from the exercise", the answer is simple: my own pleasure. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I collect (functional) artifacts, not art. If someone offered to give me a worn, pitted, but still shootable (even if it requires some mechanical parts to be replaced or repaired to make it so) 1851 Navy Colt that actually saw service during the Civil War, or a fancy, pristine Nimsche-engraved gun made for presentation to some high-ranking officer, but which never fired a shot in anger, and I could only pick one, I'd take the plain one every time. That's me.

I will post photos once I have it in hand, which will likely be some time next week.

Yeah, dragons of any kind, whether antique or repro (like this one) just don't do anything for me...which is why I found antique fittings I like to replace them.

Forum member Mark Green answered my request for a relatively inexpensive, but still "functional", nihonto wakizashi ( ). Specs are as follows: 21-5/8" nagasa 26-5/8" total, 28mm wide at hamachi, 6mm thick, down to 3.5mm The hamon is slightly wavy sugata, the boshi is komaru, hada is moku/mix. That is 18 mm at the yokote, and 14mm sori. Martial arts polish by a Mr. Hato, a Japanese WWII vet who was a polisher during the war. Mark says he bought it from an old marine, who took it from a dead Japanese marine on one of the Pacific islands in WWII. It was in rather battered gunto mounts when Mark got it, and the fittings are all modern replacements. I plan to replace these with the "bird theme" fittings I have recently purchased (as well as having the tsukamaki redone). The sword has a number of unsightly, but non-fatal, forging flaws. Now, here's the question: Mark's "best guess" on age is late koto or early shinto. I'm wondering if it could possibly be a sengoku period kazu uchi mono blade, based on the number of forging flaws. Here are the photos: Any thoughts or opinions as to the age and origins of this blade?

Looks like something belonging to the soul reapers from Bleach...

Don't know how old it is, but as a kid I once read a Japanese tale called "The Boy Who Drew Cats". It was about a boy who enjoyed drawing cats, and IIRC, he wandered into an abandoned temple that was supposed to be haunted and deadly by night. He started drawing cats on the walls, to pass the time, then fell asleep in a cabinet. He woke up in the night to hear horrible noises, and in the morning when he dared to peek out of the cabinet, there was a gigantic, dead "goblin rat" on the floor, and his cat-drawings all had blood on their mouths...

What would be the best way to take care of the active red rust without damaging the underlying patina? It looks like there are some engraved designs on the "back" side, but it's a little hard to tell through the active rust.