bmlusk1911

Chris, I'm planning on having the blade restored professionally, put it in a Shirasaya, and keep the fittings together with a tsunagi. Saving for that project now. I thought it had a good feel to it when I bought it. Do you believe it is a Shinshinto era blade as well? v/r Brock

Apologies for taking so long, it's been a long month already with my Grandmother having a stroke and passing, moving from Florida to South Carolina, and transitioning from Active military service to Reserve / professional student. But, is there appears to be a consensus on Shinshinto. Attached are a couple of additional photographs of the nakago, with some observations I made annotated on the last photo. v/r Brock

I meant what I thought were numbers scratched into the Seppa and Tsuba matched. But, turns out that's Sakamoto scratched into them...... Thanks for the translation, everyone. Saves me a couple days with kanji tables.....

It's entirely possible I'm way off. This is my first attempt at match in my observations to the myriad descriptions in Nagayama's book. I'll try to get photos of the nakago tonight, it was once a massive blade, much longer than it is now. It's obvious it was shortened pretty extensively to fit into the Gunto koshirae.

I purchased a shin-gunto at the 2012 Tampa Show, and the tsuba interested me. There is matching numbers (I think) scratched onto all four seppa as well as the tsuba. What I find is most interesting is the apparent name of the officer engraved in the edge of the tsuba. The Mon: (Pictures of the blade can be found here viewtopic.php?f=1&t=17084 for those who are interested.)

My initial thought is Mino Tradition, possibly late-Muromachi to early Shinto period.

I realize I'm about to get skewered (possibly on my own sword) by my more knowledgeable colleagues, but I'm finally taking a swing at this. Us newbies gotta take our lumps sometime. I purchased this Shin-Gunto at the 2012 show in Tampa, and have been pouring over my copy of Connoisseur's Book of Japanese Swords. Below are the vital stats on the blade. I realize the nakago is quite rough, but I think it shows this sword has been shortened greatly. Length: 68.6 cm, Shinogi-zukuri Blade Width: 2.85 cm at the Machi, 2.22 cm at the Yokote Sori: 1.75 cm, Tori-sori (originally, this may have leaned more towards the sai-sori) Mune: Ihori Kitae: Itame, Mokume Hamon: Notare Boshi: Omaru Kissaki: Chu-kissaki Nakago length: 25.4 cm Nakago shape: Possibly Originally Futsu Yasuri-me: Sujikai

Put me down for a copy. Where do I pay up? v/r Brock

Found this photo while surfing evilbay this evening, and thought I'd share. While still a novice, I thought this was a good photo which showed the Makuri (I believe) lamination technique. Anyone else have photos like this?

Anyone know if the Florida Token Kai has any meetings? I heard it went inactive a couple years back. I'd be willing to help breathe some new life into the organization if anyone else in the Tampa area is interested. v/r Brock

Maybe it came off one of these swords? Think a polish would take this out?

Thank you very much, sir. Greatly appreciated.

I've been able to do a bit of translation on the gunto I ordered and had sent to my wife. I'm limited on translation resources while deployed. Attached is the photo she sent me of the mei. There isn't a stamp on the tang, just a dark spot above the mekugi ana. I have been able to translate: ????? ????? Tada tsuna saku

Just another possible way to think of this, what was a junior officer making during that era, then extrapolate a relative price based on the "month's pay." I could only find the U.S. pay tables from as far back as 1949 at the Department of Defense Finance and Accounting Service. O-1 (2d Lieutenants & Ensigns) made $213.75 per month during their first 2 years of service. Today, the same butter bar, would be paid $2828.40.... Despite being just as worthless. The only reason a 2d Lieutenant has any value is because we let them wear gold bars.... So, using this train of thought, $213.75ish back in the WWII Era. Now valued about $3,000ish..... Not the most logical argument I've made, but just was thinking outside the box. MilPayTable1949.pdf MilPayTable2012_1.pdf

Sorry to see you have to part with such a nice sword Stephen. If I was already through this next deployment, I'd be more than willing to give that blade a nice new home!

My wife picked up a similar tanto for my birthday last year. It seems these were sold at shrines in the Showa era, or at least that's what other members informed me of. Not fluent enough to offer a translation, but at least here's the story on mine. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9980 v/r Brock

My first nice Tsuba

I believe this is matching fuchi/kashira is some kind of leaf....

Just picked up my first set of menuki (more on a cheap whim than anything else,) and thought I'd post for all to share. I believe they depict Noh masks. I took them off a rotting Tsuka, and just finished cleaning them with some warm water and a sharpened bamboo stick to knock the dirt loose.

The fire proof aspect also appealed to me, and was a point I considered. I'm not concerned about door kicker hoodlum types while me and the wife are at home (thank you 2nd Amendment, CATM, and concealed carry laws!) I'd be more concerned about the 25 minutes of confusion before the security company can figure out an alarm is real and get a cop to my house while I'm away. I do believe a Dansu would be too heavy to simply carry off if it was solid Sapele (African Mahogany and a preference of mine) or similar wood lined with Paulownia. Not a father yet, but my wife brought up the future kids as another reason to lock up the swords. My personal armory (about 30 guns, including a .500 S&W Magnum, a S&W M&P-15, Saiga-12, etc.) is currently in safes in an alarmed room. Whenever a mini-me shows up, I'll probably use the same logic my father used when bringing me up around guns. Point #1 (Respect your father): "If you touch one of my guns without my permission, you better hope you're dead before I find out!" "Roger that, Pop, don't touch the guns!" Point #2 (Respect the power of the weapon): Mr. Chili Can is harder than your head. Pop let me shoot said can of chili. "See what a little .22 will do to your head?" Roger that, Pop! Similar demonstrations with Tatami could likely be readily arranged.

While I am sure to draw some ire for this post, I will still play the "I've been studying Nihonto less than a year...." / Stupid Question allowed card for this purpose.... While I am planning on building a Katana Dansu to store my swords, my wife brought up some good points after asking the question, "Why not store them in a gun safe?" Her points were: 1. If someone breaks in, they may not be able to break into the Dansu, but may attempt to carry it off to find what treasures it holds, or trash the padlocks trying to get into it. When I mentioned just bolting it down like a gun safe.....well, it got vetoed and I got "the look." But, she did have a good point of if a locked dansu is around, anyone breaking in might think "ooh, there's jewelry in there!" 2. When we have kids, we don't want to see little fingers chopped off. Her because of maternal instincts, me because I don't want to have to clean blood off my swords. If the kids didn't have the fear of Dad preventing this, I still think it would be a rapidly self correcting behavior.... The doctor's bills would cut into the New Sword Fund though. While I know Katana were traditionally stored horizontally, is there any mechanical reason why they should not be stored vertically? I would think the weight of the blade would rest on the Habaki instead of the Kissaki, so it shouldn't dull or chip the Kissaki. I remember reading somewhere (perhaps on NMB) the choji oil could accumulate in kojiri end of the saya, but I would think there wouldn't be enough choji oil on my blades to really cause that significant a problem if all. So, is there any problems with storing swords vertically?

I know this would probably work with Wakizashi length swords, but I would think a Katana would be too long to draw from the back....

I'm not surprised an officer would choose to carry a rifle....Most of the officers I know from Iraq and Afghanistan carried one, and pitched a fit if they weren't issued one. Only time I had just a pistol was on a Camp or FOB. I remember the old adage, a pistol is only there to fight your way back to the rifle you shouldn't have dropped in the first place. After a couple Toyama Ryu classes, I kept thinking how the Saya could get in the way when worn traditionally at the left side. I heard there were some schools of Samurai which tossed the Saya aside to be picked up after the battle, since it was essentially a "disposable" or easily replaced item and not critical to the actual Katana. I can see how keeping it out of the way during jungle or MOUT would be handy, but was there any Samurai traditions of wearing the Katana on the back, or was this an innovation which came about during WWII?

I've been planning for this show since the day I spent at the 2011 show! I'll be there from Friday to Sunday, and can't wait to meet up with all the folks who've been so helpful. I owe a couple of guys a or beverage of choice. v/r Brock

First: Thank you to all the nice NMB members who have taught me enough to realize THIS IS TOO MUCH WORK EVEN IF IT COULD BE SALVAGED! Second: Would it even by hypothetically possible to salvage this?