Ian B3HR2UH

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

Hi James , you asked for further comment so here goes .Barry is right that the file marks should slant up to the right and not down . Not only is this wrong but the characters themselves don't match up well . Hizen mei are beautifully cut and to my mind the mei on your piece isn't. I also doubt that you would get kizu like those on a mainline piece . With due respect to Roger I think the piece is almost certainly gimei . That is not to say that the sword is not worth having ,( indeed it looks far more desirable than most that are put up for discussion ) , just that it is not by the third generation Ian Brooks

I agree with you Brian it looks odd . Ian brooks

The late Ron Gregory, who wrote the books on Military Swords, had a daisho with similar snake horimono on the blades .Interestingly the mountings also featured snakes entwined around the tsuka and saya. One blade was signed Awataguchi Tadatsuna dated 1652 and the other Kaneiye dated 1574 so the horimono were almost certainly later additions, The swords were illustrated in the sale catalogue of part of his collection and the Dai was also shown in the1968 Token Society catalogue . Ian Brooks

It must be a quirk in my personality that causes me to look at scratchings on seppa and writings underneath fuchi on shin gunto and Kai gunto. Whilst I have seen one sword where the swordsmiths name was scratched on all of the seppa as well as on the tsuba, the impression that I get is that these scratchings on seppa whilst often numbers are occasionally the owners name rendered in (usually ) katakana .Unfortunately it is hard to prove this as the sword usually has no surrender tag with it that gives the owners name so that this can be compared with the name in the scrathings. Similarly a number of swords have characters written in ink on the wood under the fuchi . Whilst these are often numbers, names also occasionally appear. Whilst it is possible that these are the names of the hilt binder or the person who put the sword together my suspicion is that these are also sometimes the owners name. Some years ago I saw a kai gunto with an accompanying surrender tag that gave the owners name as Captain Ikeda. The name Ikeda was also scratched on the tsuba and was written in ink on the wood underneath the fuchi. I thought that this was reasonable evidence that these scratchings and writings are at least on occasions the owners name. I noticed that on Daniels Chikahide Kai Gunto that not only is there a surrender tag but also legible characters under the fuchi. Daniel is there any connection between the name on the surrender tag and the characters written under the fuchi ? Does anyone else out there look at this minutia ? Ian Brooks

Thomas , I admire and covet both of your Kyu Gunto. Could you share with us what the blades are ? Ian Brooks

Brian , I have a tachi signed with the two character Mei Tadayoshi which is Tokubetsu Hozon . . I have collected oshigata of these two character mei from various sources over the years and all are signed tachimei so I guess this rules yours out ( although I am pretty sure that you know this.) . So far as I can tell these blades with the two character mei were made around 1610 Ian Brooks ( I dropped the LLB as no one rose to the bait )

Like Paul I wonder whether this rubbish ought to be given any air however when I see that the gullible are accepting this as factual then I think that it needs to be responded to. Karl , I looked in my copy of Hizento Shiko by Kataoka Published in 1974 and there are about thirty large sized oshigata by shodai Tadayoshi arranged in roughly chronological order . The Hi character in the first blade listed ( Circa 1600 ) has the Hi written the same as the Hi shown in your Code for the 1st Gen . The other 29 oshigata show the Hi character that you show for Munenaga. Does this mean a ) that Tadayoshi made and signed the first blade and also made the remaining blades which Munenaga signed for him b ) that Tadayoshi made and signed the first blade and that Munenaga both made and signed the other twenty nine c ) that I have misunderstood your Code . If so what am I not understanding d ) that the code is nonsense I also had a cursory look at the Nidai Tadahiro shown in Kataoka's book and couldn't find a single one using the Hi character that you show Nidai Tadahiro as using. Have you read Meito Zukan by Fujishiro Matsuo ( April 1980 ) which has a very thorough analysis ot the mei of the 1st and 2nd generations? Ian Brooks LLB

I think your head must be spinning from having drunk too much at Christmas time . Wait until you sober up and have a listen to the sound advice that you are being given . Ian Brooks

Hi Grant , this looks like a good quality piece and I can see no reason to think that it would be cast . I feel sure that no one would apply the quality finishing touches that this has to something that is cast . There is a great article on Soten tsuba elsewhere on the site . I would think that if you spent $250 on papers then they would probably tell you what you already know ie Soten school . Its a nice piece that is well worth owning in my opinion . Ian Brooks

Hi Gary , I looked at a couple more books last night and saw that on page 281 of the Shinto volume of Nihonto Koza there is a Tadahiro dated Kanei six where the date inscription starts below the mekugi ana . I guess this shows once again that there are always exceptions to the norm . I think though that if you take the unusual placement of the date , the absence of the diamond and the odd Tada into account ,then it is highly likely that the mei is not right. Ian Brooks

Hi Gary , the placement of the date looks wrong to me. I quickly checked some of my books and in all of the mei by 1st gen Tadahiro that I looked at the date inscription starts above the mekugi ana . In yours it starts below the mekugi ana which makes me very sceptical about its authenticity. Karl is seeing things if he thinks that he can see mizukage in those photos. In reality mizukage is hard to see. It runs at a 45% angle to the machi and appears mostly in early works by the first generation . It just doesn't appear in the photos of your sword. I would also be troubled that as it purports to be a first generation piece the top stroke of the Hiro character is not the usual diamond shape Others will no doubt dissect each of the characters but to me the Tada also looks way off for a Tadahiro made circa 1630 Ian Brooks

I don't either Thomas. I think that you have come up with the correct explanation . Ian Brooks

Thanks Thomas that's an interesting photo . I think board member Alan from Sydney has one of these on his Kiyomitsu naval sword . If you read this Al you might perhaps remind me whether the cord is attached to the saya or sarute . Ian Brooks

Hi Ben , the "tassel" is a really unusual accessory . In about 40 years of collecting I have seen only one or two of these . The one that I can recall was on a shin gunto and like yours was attached to the sarute . Like you I had assumed that it was some form of tassel. It is interesting but doesn't add any value to the sword. Thomas if used as lock straps they must have been frustrating to use and were probably discarded as being impractical . Whilst I can see that it could be used to stop the sword coming out of the scabbard it looks to me like it would be a messy exercise if you wanted to get your sword out quickly with this " lock strap " in place. Am I right that getting the sword out would be complicated or am I missing something ? I covet a couple of your pieces by the way . Ian brooks

I have said it before and I will say it again , anyone who is foolish enough to buy anything off Komonjo deserves to be ripped off . I hope you haven't been Joel but I don't like your chances. Ian Brooks

I visited this museum about fifteen years ago and as Ian says it is hard to find but really worthwhile . The tanto on display were even more mouthwatering than the pieces Tony has shown . Another fine museum in Italy is the Stibbert museum in Florence . If you are ever in Florence and tire of renaissance paintings then Stibbert is a must . Stibbert was an English army officer, from memory, who indulged himself when it came to collecting . On his death he donated his villa and his collections to the city . He had a fantastic collection of arms and armour . There was also a large room full of Japanese arms and armour . Some of his pieces are also in the Russell Robinson book. Ian Brooks

In the fourth photo in the second set of photographs there is a worrying mark about an inch up from the machi . Is this a problem ? Ian Brooks

Klaus , you possibly have a top quality piece here . I am in Australia so don't know Dave Hofhine or his work . Some of the work on his website looks way better than many Japanese polishes that I have seen however if I owned this piece I would tread very warily. Ask lots of opinions and think along the lines of a Japanese trained polisher . Ken is right it looks in pretty good condition as it is . Take your time and don't rush into things . Ian Brooks

Flemming , don't you think that if you are going to collect Japanese weapons it would be a good idea to try and translate the characters yourself . It is not that hard. Buy a few books and have a go . Ian Brooks

This steel looks a little like that in some Amahide and showa era blades that I have seen. Could it be even later than Shinshinto ? Ian brooks

Interesting that this piece is already up for sale on e bay . If it was genuine I would give the game away . Ian brooks

Hi Rich , I will be blunt and tell it as I see it . The sword bears the name of a famous smith working in the mid 1800s . It is not made by him and it is a fake signiature. The sword is not made in the mid 1800s and was probably made circa 1940. The fake signiature was added to make it more saleable . To say that it "does not strongly match Munetsugu"'is in my view attempting to gild the lily.( and I am being overly polite in putting it this way ) This piece is a fake, it is not worth restoring and you should pass it on. Ian Brooks

For what it is worth there is a smith Kuniteru ( Ku 659 in the old Hawley ) working in Settsu circa 1688 who had the title Yamato no kami . I can find no oshigata of his mei for comparison . Hawley says that he is the same smith as Ise no kami Kuniteru however this Kuniteru's mei shows no similarities to your one. Ian Brooks