Ian B3HR2UH

And I have seen one Kai Gunto with a same or sharkskin scabbard that was in original condition and that had brown lacquer . This sword had a blade made at the tenshozan forge and was surrendered by an Admiral Nomiya to Brigadier Wood near Balikpapan.on Borneo Ian Brooks

Neil , years ago I had a sword with the same pattern latch on it which also had the same staple shaped appendage on it . Ian brooks

After spending a couple of days on the bottom of Sydney harbour they raised the mini sub and found a sword inside .The Sydney Morning Herald of the 8th July 1942 describes the sword as " it is 36.5 inches long with a slightly curved blade of 27 inches. The hilt is bound with silken cord with bronze or gold inlay .The copper guard is inscribed and is shaped to represent the rising sun . The sword has three coverings its scabbard is enclosed in a leather sheath which in turn is completely covered by a silk lined tasselled purple cloth . The officers initials are printed on the cloth." The following day there is a photograph of the sword in the paper and from what can be seen it looks like a Kai gunto with a leather cover over the saya . I suspect that at some stage the leather cover has been taken off and the same or lacquer has disintegrated at this time . Perhaps someone put the current finish on to cover or protect the wood . I saw General Imamuras sword about 40 years ago when it was still owned by Sir Vernon Sturdee's widow Lady Sturdee . The habaki was interesting as it was gold foil with the characters Goshi on it which I think translates as Imperial gift . Lady Sturdee had a second Shin Gunto also with a general grade tassel on it . Which one was Imamuras is hard to say , perhaps they both were . Ian Brooks

You know Geraint but are , I think , too polite to say .Wherever he is now poor old Gassan Sadamitsu would probably die of shame if he learnt that people were attributing this piece too him. Ian Brooks

I agree with Chris the O seppa and the visible part of the tsuba have clearly been overcleaned . The mimi ( or rim ) looks an even lighter colour as it has been cleaned back to brass. Ian Brooks

Jim the Age newspaper of the 27th of January 1893 contains a reference to these swords the guts of which is that the Victorian Defence department purchased 50 swords from the Japanese "for use of the officers of the cadet corps ". The cost was one pound each as opposed to 3 pounds for 'those of English manufacture " Ian Brooks

Hi Jim , local collector Donald Barnes has one of these swords which from memory is illustrated in Fuller and Gregorys second book . regards Ian

Ben I admire that you have the guts to post an opinion that is contrary to those that have gone before you , but you are dead wrong . Find a teacher or give the game away . Ian Brooks

Sean , I would definitely add Robinsons book The Arts of the Japanese Sword to your first group . This is essential reading if you ever want to read the signiatures . Too many members here cant do this and they also need to spend a few dollars and get this book . Enjoy your collecting . Ian Brooks

Thanks Steve, it was an enjoyable challenge trying to translate this . I appreciate your corrections and additions Ian brooks

Hi Jay , I managed to read some of your tag which is as follows Left column. The first three characters may read Hoshisha which is something to do with capture and a person . The next four are the owners name Yamaryo Magoichi Middle column . Jusho (address) Saga ken (prefecture) Kishima Gun (district) Naka? mura (village ) Probably Nakata Village. The last two characters of the stamped(?)section are Dai? and the last two written character are ? and hashi Right column Shiramei (article name ) Nihonto (Japanese sword ) then the number 157 . The last character has completely defeated me Ian Brooks

I have seen thousands of swords bought back from the SW Pacific area and have never come across one of these . I am sure Bob Colemans theory is correct. Anyone who is trying to convince themselves that these are late war productions is , I think ,kidding themselves . Ian Brooks

Hi Dave , I think that your tag reads Left column is the owners name MATSURA hideyoshi Right column is a place name Hiroshima Ken (prefecture) Toyota Gun (district) Higashino Mura (village) Shirazu . I am not sure about the Shirazu which is possibly somewhere within Higashino village Ian Brooks

I hope you are right Franco . Ian

Even though it is a pretty crummy sword even it deserves a little more respect than to be used as a carving tool . Idiotic I think . Ian brooks

Hi Charlie , I don't think that there is a difference between paints with one being early and another being late . I am sure it just depends on which sword shop you went to and how much you wanted to spend . Ian Brooks

What an interesting piece. I don't have Mauro's computer skills to draw it but I saw the dragons eye as being the gold coloured dot near the top right. Ian Brooks

Captain Tsuneki's sword is illustrated on page 56 of Fuller and Gregory's Military Swords of Japan . The caption indicates that it was in the collection of the late Ron Gregory . There are further photos of the surrender on page 107. Ian Brooks

That is a really interesting question Michael . I have a rather fine suriage Shinto blade . Whilst the blade is in great condition parts of the nakago are not . There are a few random strokes from the mei still visible amongst the rust but there isn't enough left to allow you to read it . Like you I had always wondered if the chiselling of the mei would result in any metal displacement which would mean that techniques like those you refer to could be used to determine what the mei once was . I look forward to hearing what others have to say Ian Brooks

Hi Steve , in Australia the urban myth exists which says that our soldiers in the islands used jeep springs to turn out fake Japanese swords which they then sold to gullible and wealthy GIs as the real thing . Forty years ago when I was beating the bushes and looking at swords bought home by returning veterans I saw a fair number of these jeep spring swords . I concluded that it was not only the Americans who had been conned . Fuller and Gregorys book Swordsmiths of Japan showed a couple of blades that had been made in Java during the war . This lead me to conclude that at least some of these jeep spring swords had been made by the Japanese in the Islands . I felt that maybe they were made for officers in local collaborating units or for recently promoted Japanese officers who couldn't get a sword from home as supplies were not getting through late in the war. I recently came across an October 1945 report on the foundry and engineering works at Sanga Sanga in Borneo . These works were manufacturing river craft of up to 66 tons and had the capacity to repair and maintain heavy oil machinery . The report lists items which had been manufactured there including steel helmets bayonets swords hand grenades mortar bombs and flame throwers. The manufactured items were described as being " in most cases were of inferior quality and production rate was very low " Given that your sword has almost certainly come back from Malaysia with a returning soldier I think it is highly likely that it was made in the islands by the Japanese during the war . Ian Brooks

Hi Bruce , I have real doubts that this is a Naval sword . I live in Australia and have looked at thousands of swords that were bought back from the South West Pacific theatre of war and have never seen one of this pattern . It is possible that late in the war the Japanese couldn't get reinforcements through to the south West pacific area which accounts for their absence here .PersonallyI think that they were made in Japan really late in the war or more likely after the war from left over bits and pieces . I would be interested to hear Thomas's views on this . Ian Brooks.

Hi Jason , I had a crack at you in an earlier post about not reading the mei . It is clear from your other posts though that you look at what you have carefully and intelligently. I feel sure you will be ok as a collector and even better if you work on reading the mei . I have a short mumei wak blade with a somewhat less regular sanbonsugi than yours . I kind of hope it might be early Kanemoto . I have collected a fair number of oshigata of hamon of Magoroku from Japanese publications and none of them show a regular sanbonsugi . I think that there is no chance that yours ( or mine ) are magoroku . That isn't to say that yours is not a nice collectable blade . Ian Brooks

That is a really ugly short tang on the sword . I don't think a trained swordsmith would produce anything like that. You should get it out of your thoughts that there is even a possibility that this is a hand forged piece by a recognised smith . Steve is right it is highly likely that it is a late war sword with an oil quenched blade of low quality. Ian brooks

Jason , I was in disbelief that you couldn't read this signature .. Anyone who has John Yumoto's book should be able to read this easily . If you don't have Yumoto's book then you shouldn't be collecting . If you have the book and still couldn't get this signature then you shouldn't be collecting. Sorry if being blunt offends anyone. Ian Brooks

Hi James ,the examples Jacques shows are interesting as although they are wakizashi and not tachi the yasurimei slope up on one and down on the other . Before I stuck my neck out I checked a fair number of oshigata in Japanese texts and from memory on tachi the file marks always slope up to the right as shown in the second and fourth examples that you have shown . The third example that you have shown is a wakizashi so the mei is on the katana side . You would have to check books ,as Jacques has done, to see what the rule is for wakizashi . It is clear though, as Barry pointed out, that for tachi by Mutsu no kami the yasurimei should rise slightly to the right. Ian Brooks