Geraint

Wonderful koshirae Bruce, thank you for sharing. The method of fixing the mei on the menuki is called tanzaku and is not that uncommon. All the best.

Dear Marcin. Three online examples all show a well shaped nakago. which this does not seem to be, with sujikai yasurime and kurijiri. The mei is cut with a more relaxed and flowing style than this example displays. I suppose it is possible that there is another Norihide.......... All the best.

Thank you for the correction Moriyama san. That, of course, makes much more sense. All the best. Geraint

Dear Brandon. Just to get the ball rolling, your tsuba is in copper with a specific technique known as katakiribori describing the engraving. The first two characters of the signature read Soten, the third is a kao or personal monogram. If you do some research then you will quickly see that the Soten school has a particular style that became very popular but is very different to your tsuba. Others with more knowledge of the school will be able to tell us if this is genuine or if the signature is fake. Either way this is a pleasant tsuba and it will probably have started you down the rabbit hole. Enjoy! All the best Geraint.

Dear G. Well so far this is not a military sword but rather a katana in samurai mounts. At the top of the page is a link to image resizing software that might help with adding more images but from what we have the scabbard or saya is covered with lacquered same, a type of ray skin. The soft metal fittings on the hilt ar probably shakudo, a Japanese alloy that is usually patinated to a blue=black colour though someone has had a go with the metal polish and ruined that. You need to take the sword apart, a routine process for Japanese swords but this one might be a tad awkward if it has been in storage for a long time. Some research will tell you how to do this but basically there is a single tapered bamboo peg through the hilt or tsuka, push or tap this from the smaller end and when it is out you should be able to remove the tsuka, keep a note of the order in which the parts come off. There may be a signature, there may not but don't do more than a gentle wipe with a cloth and send us the photographs. Looking forward to seeing what emerges. All the best. Geraint

Dear Brendan. Some information on your smith, I regret I did not record the source, apologies for that. A search will almost certainly get you more information. . 兼高 Kanetaka (松田 高市 Matsuda Takaichi) Born: Meiji 44 (1911) Sept 16; Reg: Showa 14 (1939) Oct 26. 1937: Bugi-gun, Seki-machi, Aza naka-machi. 1939: Seki-machi, Naka-machi. Deshi in 1937: 1. History: trained from Taisho 13 (1924) under Kojima Kanetoki (Kanemichi). Independent Showa 5 (1930) May. Hawley: KAN 2419 Example mei: Kanetaka 兼高 Noshu Seki ju Matsuda Kanetaka saku 濃州関住松田兼高作 All the best.

Dear Jack. I cannot speak to your menuki, no photograph, but the examples that Jake posted have honzogan or true inlay gold stripes. No paint here! You can see that the fur marks are made across the shakudo and gold in places. All the best.

Dear Colin. I can quite see where you are going with the Umetada idea; brush stroke shapes to flat inlay. Equally Kaga zogan with the flat inlay in a soft metal base, however the design elements do not suggest Kaga to me. Rather they recall the sort of work one might see in Yokoya school designs in katakiri bori which would fit with the dates of your maker. All the best.

Not helping Matt but just for information I have both Kai gunto and Shingunto with older wakizashi blades. Is that what we have here? All the best.

The miss assembly goes further than just upside-down, the outer sleeve of the habaki is the right way up the inside is reversed. I am surprised that worked but it seems to have. I bet the smith is groaning, you get your work published and then someone does that to it. All the best.

Dear Dave. GPT is doing you no favours here, nothing to do with bayonets. However I can through no light on the habaki, it is something I have not seen in more years of study than I care to reveal. Looking forward to what this throws up. All the best.

Dear Victoria. For your tsuba compare here, specifically the second tsuba illustrated, I don't know quite how to phrase this but the source of your current purchase usually issues certificates which are of no use to anyone and is at the top end of the market, tread carefully. If you ever get down to the far west again let me know and come visit. All the best.

Dear Mason. Personally I would go for umegane on this one. There seems to have been a rather unfortunate longitudinal delamination which someone has thought to obscure, not quite achieving a match for the original metal. The rather sharp edges and regular shape along with traces of the delamination at both ends lead me to this conclusion. All the best.

Dear Dee. A longshot from me. I cannot see a space for a kogai though there is a slot for a kozuka and a corresponding hitsu in the tsuba. One of the seppa is gold foiled, the other looks like a replacement. I agree the binding is not a good look for this sword. The hanging ring appears to be integral with a fitting that encircles the saya and includes a kurikata, all in nanako. One possible direction is that around the Boshin war samurai were wearing Western dress, or an approximation thereof, and sometimes rather unusual sword hangers. I wonder if this fitting could have been made to allow both a traditional position in the obi and a European style carry with the edge down, either as a modification to an existing koshirae or perhaps as the koshirae was assembled. Have a look at the first picture in this link, https://sbg-sword-forum.forums.net/thread/51310/samurai-guns Also this wonderful example, https://www.toukenkomachi.com/index_en_tachi&katana_A040720.html You might also search around toppei koshirae, a form I enjoy. Edit to follow on from Marcin's post. I do not think the example in Dee's post has anything to do with Gunto, unless of course it has a Showa blade. All the best.

Dear John. Thoughts not answers but..... Matched hitsu in the form for kogai is not a feature of Kinai work generally. The scrolls are stylistically a little removed from typical Kinai work and seem to be honzogan rather than nunome zogan. The seppa dai is rather koban shaped for Kinai work. Oh, and the fact that Kinai examples usually have the design firmly contained within a mimi. There is this one,https://japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/store/tsuba-kodogu/t227-amazing-echizen-kinai-tsuba-5th-generation/ Although the design takes us straight to Kinai I would guess that this is one of those cases where design does not equal school. By the way I love it! All the best.