Ian B3HR2UH

Jason , forget about websites and buy a couple of books .With John Yumoto' s book you could read this easily. Ian Brooks

Good on you for telling it like it is Grant . Most remounts that I have seen, where amateurs are involved , look like s**t as Grant says and do absolutely nothing to enhance the sword . If you want to get someone good to do it the cost will make it uneconomical as Grey said. Ian Brooks

Well spotted Hamish . Ian Brooks

He has a few more treasures for sale on ebay . Anyone who buys any of these yasukuni pieces , those with gold attributions or those purportedly by big name smiths is in my opinion a fool who is just asking to do their money. Ian Brooks

Thank you all for your comments . I particularly appreciate you providing the page out of the Kinko Meikan Bob. Ian

Hi Bob , I wound up with that one so it will be travelling down under ( To Australia ) . The mei is Katsura Eiju , or Nagatoshi , and it matches up well with one I found in Tsuba Kodogu Kantei Nyumon by Wakayama . Ian Brooks

Chris , I should have added that you are only up for GST where the item is valued at more than $1000. Ian

Chris, Australia post should send you a letter enclosing customs documentation which you complete and lodge on line . You will have to fill out an import declaration form (N 10 ) and provide evidence of what you paid . They will charge GST on this and once they notify Aust post that this has been paid the article is delivered . The tariff classification that you will need is 9706000007. There should be no customs duty on an antique sword but there will be GST Ian brooks

Hi Jussi , you make a lot of sense in what you have written . A collector out here submitted a mumei katana to an NTHK shinsa held in Australia It was attributed to a shin Shinto smith ( I cant recall who ) . The owner protested that his sword was Juyo token and made by a koto Bizen smith ( again I cant recall who ) . The NTHK response was that the NBTHK got it wrong . I have no idea who was right and who was wrong but it does make you wonder . Either way they certainly have more knowledge than any of us. Ian brooks

I looked at quite a few kunihiro oshigata in my references last night . Marcus Sesko's excellent shinto oshigata book has quite a few . In all of the Niji mei examples that I looked at the kuni is placed really close to the mekugi ana wheras on this piece it is placed some distance away which worried me .I couldnt find any examples signed Kunihio tsukuru although one reference indicates that he did sign this way . Is that a polishers signiature on it ? Ian Brooks

At least one of these swords made it into B W Robinson's book The Arts of the Japanese Sword which I used to drool over as a kid . That is the ' Muramasa ' which is catalogue number 13 and which is shown at plate 16 a in Robinson's book. Robinson in his Reminiscence published in the Token society of Great Britain programme 81 recalls the collector Captain David Craig whom he describes as " a magnificent man " . He said that Craig had bought several swords from Yamanaka and Murakami's exhibitions when he was a young man ie around 1912.. In his further Reminiscences published in the JSSUS newsletter in Jan 1985 B W Robinson again wrote about David Craig and his collection adding that the Muramasa, which a Japanese sensei had ascribed to Tsunahiro XII , had been left to him by David Craig on his death in 1960 .. I wonder where it and the other Yamanaka swords are now Ian Brooks

No need to waste your time posting further photos this is a fake . Ian brooks

Wow , look at how well that groove has been put in. Enjoy your new treasure. Ian brooks

Barry were you on the red wine last night ? To my mind this piece looks to be of low quality .In answer to your question Greg I think that the factors influencing price aside from the signature are, quality of workmanship primarily, also the materials used ,age , condition and rarity. Ian Brooks

Don't tread carefully here , run away quickly . Ian Brooks

It looks like a variation of san bon sugi to me John . Ian Brooks

Matthew , do NOT touch the brasso , this piece would never have had a polished brass finish on it . You will wreck it if you do that . Hasten very slowly here . Ian Brooks

Steves translation is about as definite as you are going to get . Does anyone know if you have the officers name , Umesaki , whether there are sources in Japan where you can get details of officers who had the family name Umesaki . Ian brooks

Chris , I remain pretty sceptical about the sword on Ohmuras site with the "silver" fittings . If the fittings are silver plated you would expect to see some wear on the plating yet there is none here . Perhaps they are solid silver but that seems unlikely. What appears to be recent binding only heightens my doubts . Ohmura certainly has some fantastic items on his site and if this is original it would of course be really unique . Ian brooks

Henri , . Congratulations on attempting the translation and on being successful . There are so many people on this board who wont even try . You have shown that it is not all that difficult if you apply yourself . Ian Brooks

Bruce , unless I am colour blind every naval sword that I have ever handled has a chocolate brown ito . I don't recall ever seeing one that was black ! Ian Brooks

Hi Geoff , it is I think an unlikely story . New Britain was firmly in Japanese hands in 1942 and wasn't invaded till much later . When they did surrender in 1945 the General in charge, Lt Gen Imamura surrendered to Vernon Sturdee an Australian . Ian brooks

Hi Steve , did you buy this in Australia or import it . Ian brooks

Hi Chris , if I was looking for a smiths name I would use Robinson . He has three pages with about 100 kanji on each page . I would simply scan the page until I found the one that matched the character I was looking for . Most would be found on the first two pages . If I thought it was close to what was on my sword but was unsure I would look to see if it was a variation shown in Yumoto . I would think that at least 90 % of characters used in smiths names ( here I mean the two characters that are typically the smiths name , not provinces towns titles dates etc ) could be found in Robinsons table. If I had no luck then I would look down the list of Characters in Hawley . Once you find the smiths name then you simply look him up in Hawley which should give you most of the additional information that is in the signature ie province title town etc. If Hawley doesn't have the information then I would start using other sources such as Nelson which Barry suggests. Good luck. Ian

Hi Chris , I think you are going about translating in a difficult way by counting strokes . Both John Yumoto and Basil Robinsons books have tables of the commonly found characters and are easy to use . Both tables have Kane and Waka in them . For me they are the smart place to start your searching . Ian brooks