Geraint

Dear Max. So you like swords with some sori and extended kissaki, the unokubi zukuri sugata is attractive. I can quite understand why you are interested. On the plus side is the sugata, the koshirae is pleasant and the price at present is quite low for a mounted and papered katana. I would not be surprised to see it go quite a bit higher during the auction. Tsuruta san is impressed with the hada and presence of chikei and has rated the sword quite highly. This sword hits a number of problems in terms of desireability. First, Bungo Takada school swords are generally considered to be functional but not artistic. How valid this belief is is open to question and I sense that well made Takada swords are creeping up the scale of estimation. Next, this is a Sue Koto sword, made at a time when necessity ruled and swords were in the main produced quickly to serve the needs of large armies and hence often do not represent the best work of a school. In addition this is mumei and while that is not a deal breaker in Koto swords in general it is a bit of an issue with a Sue Koto sword that has not been shortened. Last is the blade itself which while not showing any so called fatal flaws, such as hagire, has some quite visible forging patterns. Your money, your call of course. (Adam got there before me!) all the best.

Dear All. John's memory does serve, a thread here that discusses these, All the best.

From what I recall he used two distinct styles, so called kaku Tsuda or square and maru Tsuda or rounded. Clearly the sword in question is from the kaku Tsuda period if that helps at all. Some more information here, https://www.sho-shin.com/osaka-tsuda.html All the best.

Dear Grev. One discussed here, as with all things a precise classification leads you into ambivalent territory but generally speaking a curved blade shaped form with an integral hook. They are often signed with a spurious mei a little like kogatana, either that or Masamune had a prolific sideline in producing them. As you can imagine jitte are relatively easy to produce and so I suspect that yours is not of great age. If you look closely at the wooden haft you might be able to see scratch marks around the wood that suggest strongly that this has been turned and then sanded, it's a common thing to find in turned work and tells you that the maker did not think to finish the work by sanding with the grain. Of course it might simply be that the woodwork has been replaced. In any case enjoy! All the best.

Dear Curran. Wholeheartedly agree with your approach but cannot comment on the link as Yahoo does not support service in this half of the world. All the best.

Dear Peter. Some information to get you started here. https://nihonto.com/shinkai/ Can we see a shot of the whole nakago please? As you may already know false signatures are common on Japanese swords and the more significant the name the more caution should be exercised. Whatever the outcome this is a really nice start to your studies. All the best.

For horn kashira and formal daisho mount see the bottom of this page. http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/daishokoshirae.html All the best.

Dear George. Here are a couple of links to look through. The first is all good but page 12 specifically addresses the plain black kashira part of your question. The second has a rather fine handachi which relates to your question about the hole located in the kabuto gane which is the name for the cap on handachi koshirae. https://to-ken.uk/onewebmedia/Ashmolean Presentation - Formal Koshirae vF.pdf https://to-ken.uk/resources/koshirae/ Handachi koshirae are to my mind much less common than your estimate of one third of swords and vary from the downright workman like to the highly sophisticated. Hope some of that helps. All the best.

Dear Geraint. Welcome to NMB! all the best.

Dera Erik. Thank you so much for checking this out. You are right, that kanji is not common. Rohan has nailed it with, 武州住内記康重 Bushu [Shitahara] ju Naiki Yasushige and indeed I have found one other jumonji yari by the same smith. It was a very long shot but the combined good will and ability of the NMB has won out once again. When we get some light here I will post a photograph of the yari just for interest. Thank you all for your help. All the best.

Rohan, thank you. I really think you are onto something with that last one! The kanji just after ju looks remarkably like the one for Naiki. I'll do some digging. Thank you all very much for your help with this. All the best.

John, thankyou. That's about as far as I have got with this. I think there is something before nori/ki but I can't resolve it. I can't assign fair princesses but I reckon you are in good standing with St Jude. All the best.

Jean, the photgraphs are actually better than I was expecting, in hand there really isn't much to go on. I was hoping that someone who owns a sword with the mei might recognise the fragmentary bits and at least suggest a name to go on. If not then it stays a mystery and I keep on going crosseyed. All the best.

Dear All. I have had this jumonji yari for some time and have failed to decipher the much corroded mei. I realise that this is a long shot but wondered if someone could perhaps recognise the mei? The pictures are not the best but they are what I can get at the moment. Thank you in advance for any suggestions, I'm going cross eyed! All the best.

Dear All. I think defining nanako shi as non artisans is causing a problem here. Quite evidently the work, especially at its finest, requires great skill and there were workers who specialised in it. We know that not all nanako is top flight. All the best.