Geraint

Dear Eathen. The sword clearly has a blade older than WWII. The tsuba looks as though it is made of shakudo, an alloy of copper and small amounts of gold, don't attempt to clean that, the black is the correct patina. The copper coloured collar, the fuchi, has a hole for the spring catch that would have held the sword in the scabbard but the tsuba does not have the corresponding slot and so is a replacement. (Or maybe the hilt is the replacement?) The black oval collar around the blade next to the habaki is nothing to do with the sword and probably is there to take up the slack in the fittings caused by the lack of seppa. There would have been a Gunto tsuba and anything between two and four pairs of seppa. Have a look in the mouth of the scabbard and see if there is a slot that would have accepted the spring catch, if it's not there then perhaps it is the tsuka, the hilt, that has been replaced. I'll attach a picture of the fittings as they might have looked. If you can get that black collar off the sword and the habaki next to it then a photograph of the whole blade, point upward and the dimensions would be interesting. Take it slow, don't attempt to clean more than a light oiling of the blade, leave the tang, the nakago, alone. Others will add their thoughts as we go along. All the best.

Ha! I shall immediately turn mine over in its box! All the best.

Hi Dale. That one is indeed signed Echizen ju Kinai. One of mine. This one attributed to Shoami and came with a story from the previous owner. "About a week after I’d purchased it, I went on a trip to Kumamoto to visit s resident swordsmith, Matsunaga Kiyotsugu. We started out in his forge, where he demonstrated the fundamentals of sword forging, and after we went to another building which is used for iaido training and tameshigiri. Displayed on the wall was a massive Tachibana kamon and when I enquired was told that the iaido club he belongs to was granted the use of the kamon by the descendant of the last Tachibana daimyo. I then showed him a picture of the Tachibana tsuba and his response was, “I’m jealous, I want it.” As is so often the case the design seems to crop up in more than one school, rule of thumb might be Shoami unless signed Echizen. I have seen the design elsewhere attributed to Northern Shoami. All the best.

Hi Gordon. I bought a nice wakizashi in rather special koshirae but missing kozuka, tried one or two I already had and realised that the slot was quite narrow. Took a while to find one that suited and was the right width but managed eventually from Aoi Art. A lot of people don't give dimensions when selling but thankfully they did. Take your time. All the best.

Dear Vitaly. I think you made a good call on this one. Kick me when it turns up papered but I wouldn't have gone for this one. In the end you are training your eye and while a few years from now you will wonder about how little you knew way back then right now this doesn't feel right to you. Good call. All the best.

Dear Gordon. Just some thoughts. The tang of the kogatana can be/is often wrapped in paper to adjust the fit in the kodzuka. You are right to note that the saya pocket for the kodzuka is not a standard size. When searching for a kodzuka to complete a koshirae it took me some time to find one of the correct width for the pocket in the saya. Found a suitable one eventually and it looks good. Length is, from my limited experience not so critical. Let us know how it goes for you. All the best.

Dear Sam. One of the things that you will soon discover is that the illustrations in books and the descriptions of what a blade actually has are often at odds. Typically a sword might be described as having a rolling gunome hamon interspersed with notare and plentiful sunagashi. Or perhaps gunome tending towards sanbonsugi. Another thing is that a sword that is not in polish is very hard to describe. For my part I would probably describe a boshi where the habuchi was reasonably consistent but brushed with sunagashi as hakikake whereas a boshi with more pronounced sunagashi or nie concentrations near the tip kaen. But that is just me and probably a dozen others would disagree. Don't stress this too much, especially with your sword. It's very tempting to think that a simple check list of features will allow you to identify the smith who made your blade. While that can be true, especially in the swords that are selected for kantei, it is a much more subtle process than it at first appears. Hence, I suppose, the desire for shinsa decisions. If nothing else that irritating question, 'is this kaen or hakikake will get you looking at boshi in some depth and that in itself will be a studying experience. All the best.

Dear Mickie. Just a few thoughts to add to the pile. Setting aside the prospect of forgery for the moment it is unlikely that Iga no Kami Kinmichi would make a sword and not sign it. You ask how rare the sword is and the answer comes in two parts; kinzogan mei are rare and desirable, a sword by this smith would be significant. Lets assume that everything is OK with this sword and the cutting test, we have a date and we know that the sword must have ben made at least just before that date. Often signed swords have the kinzogan mei put on the other side of the nakago from the original signature but in this case there is no original signature. It is a possibility that this is a sword by Kinmichi which has been shortened, you can only do this by removing material at the nakago end because the hardened edge continues into the kissaki or tip and removing that ruins the sword. There is a style of shortening, or suriage, called Tensho suriage where the nakago is carefully reshaped and given a nakago jiri shape so that it looks just like your sword but the mei may well have been lost. Given the date of the test we know that the sword must be at least that old. As PNSShogun, aka John, said this means that there is a good chance that this sword might be first generation. If so then he was a pupil of Korikawa Kunihiro who is regarded as one of, if not the foremost smith of that time. Now would be a good time to get an image of the whole blade with all the fittings removed including the habaki and some shots along the blade which show the hamon if it is visible. Before you do that please go to the FAQ system link at the top of the page and have a look at the section on caring for Japanese swords. Don't do anything more than wipe the blade section, not the nakago with a light oil at this stage. Looking forward to seeing how this turns out. All the best.

Hi Alex. I think it was Kevin at Ryujin. A year or so back I bought some supplies from him as he was selling up his stock and moving out of the business. Another one bites the dust. All the best.

I'm sure others will correct if I get this wrong but as far as I can see it describes a blade with nagasa of 52cms, sori of 1.6, single mekugi ana and mumei. If the sword is signed then that inscription would be recorded but these are just a physical description of the blade so that it can be checked, they don't offer any opinion or assessment. All the best.

Dear Mark. You are correct the registration certificate simply allows the sword to be legally owned in Japan and is not a paper issued by a shinsa panel. You could always try showing some photographs here, you will probably get a spread of opinions but you never know. All the best.

Matt, thanks for those, it all adds to the picture. Listed here, http://www.sho-shin.com/contents.htm Masatsugu is the earliest in the Sue Mihara section but not listed in the Kai Mihara section. I wonder if there are two smiths or perhaps Hawley got this one mixed up a little? This site suggests that Kai Mihara is used to cover Mihara smiths in the Sue Koto period so perhaps that's the answer and Masatsugu working in the early part of the period was the first to use the name? http://www.ricecrack..._wak_kai_mihara.html All the best.

Dear Clive. Not a great deal to add but I am interested to see what comes of your request as I have a wakizashi signed Bingo no ju Masatsugu. It has NTHK papers which clearly attribute it to Mihara Masatsugu but make no mention of Kai, I will attach a picture of the nakago for reference. All the best.

Dear Marco. Welcome to NMB! Well, it's a nice sword in polish and with papers which is a really good start. It seems to be ubu, also good. You have got some information about the school and so you will be able to relate what is written with what you can see in your sword which is an excellent way to start to understand the terms. The koshirae is highly unlikely to be the original assuming your date is accurate. More photographs showing the fittings in more detail will help to answer that question but from what we can see at the moment I would guess that it is quite recent. Does the sword come with shirasaya? If so then best to store it in that. An overall photograph of the whole blade without the habaki will be useful but the sugata appears to be quite indicative of it's age. You might try a picture of the NBTHK paper in the translation section in case it gives any more indication of which generation forged your sword. All the best.

Dear Paz. As is so often the case n the study of Japanese swords the answer is 'yes'. Some information here that might help. https://www.samuraim...k-hozon-certificate/ Of course once a sword is forged and enters the real world then it's future owners are a matter of all sorts of things. So for example a samurai hired to fight for the temple an dgiven a sword who then goes elsewhere and is defeated in battle and the sword passes to the victor and so on. In addition the practice of rewarding faithful service with the gift of a sword, and also upping the prestige of the sword so that the gift appears more significant..... All the best.

Dear John. Welcome to NMB! Well you already have the translation so what you have is a traditional Japanese sword that has been outfitted for use in WWII. Bear in mind that swords are often given false signatures. Rule 1: Don't do anything more than wipe with a cloth and some light oil, don't do the tang just the blade and keep on at it, quite a lot of surface muck will come off. The tsuba is the rather nicer pierced type, it has the square hole for the spring catch that often secures the sword into it's metal scabbard but then someone has cut away part of the tsuba which might have allowed a leather strap to pass through the tsuba and fit to a press stud on the leather combat cover. Any sign of that on the leather? Some better images of the fittings would be nice but again, no cleaning. Also what is the length from the very tip to the notch on the back of the blade please? Others will chime in with thoughts about age. All the best.

Dear Steve. Here's a thought, and it is just a thought. Perhaps the saya was original to the blade and had fittings abd a combat cover added which would account for the need for packing under the ashi once the cover had disintegrated and also would account for the lack of a catch, just the leather tab originally? All the best.

Dear Brian. Delighted you got something you like. Lots to enjoy! All the best.

Dear Steven. I think Bruce is referring to the way that the hanger on the scabbard has had some packing underneath it. Hard to tell very much from these images but I don't see this as cut down, rather just another mekugi ana drilled to work with the gunto mount. Looks interesting but I would love to see what the boshi does. All the best.

Dear Jeff. To add to what has already been said. I think you are asking a complex question and so the answers will be equally complex. Let me have a stab at it. (Pun intended!) In the latter part of the Muromachi period the demand for swords was very high and the extant schools were producing at quite a rate. It is generally agreed that some of those swords were functional but of lower quality. These swords are often called kazu uchi mono or sokoto, see a really good resource here, https://studyingjapa...engoku-period-sword/ Bizen province produced large numbers of swords at this time and the name Sukesada is common. If a mumei sword of this period has the characteristics of Bizen Sukesada school work, in other words it has been forged using the same technique then it would likely be attributed to Bizen Sukesada. As with every statement in this subject there are exceptions but a Bizen Sukesada smith would normally forge in the school style. In modern terms the style and the mei become a brand which sells, why would you do something different? Certain smiths developed distinctive styles of their own and moving into Shinto times different schools emerge which have their own stylistic traits. It also becomes quite common for smiths to travel to other schools to learn their technique and so forth. To add to the confusion certain smiths became adept at forging, in both senses, the work of famous smiths. Some very well known smiths sought to master all the gokaden and succeeded. This was evidence of their mastery and they were not out to produce forgeries. However unscrupulous dealers might either have the mei removed and then pass the sword off as a mumei work by a famous smith or add a false mei. That's enough for one post, made things any clearer or just muddied the water? All the best.

Dear George. You should definitely take up Paul's offer. And in one sense the sword is already doing you a favour in that it has provoked you to do some serious study around it which will stand you in good stead going forward. Enjoy them both. All the best.

Dear George. I like the koshirae for sword number one. Nagasa, length, is measured from the tip/kissaki to the notch on the back, the mune machi. 24" plus is a katana, less is a wakizashi or you might chose to call it an o wakizashi which simply means big. The length is measured in a straight line regardless of curve but the curve is measured separately from the straight line kissaki to mune machi to the mune. This is useful as it indicates the degree of curvature. Uchiko is a very fine powder contained in a wad of fabric and encased in silk mounted on a short handle. It used to be recommended for removing old oil and cleaning the blade. Most people nowadays prefer not to use it as it is mildly abrasive. {Brian beat me to it!} All the best.

Dear Jeff. Your deductions are, to say the least optimistic. For any quality sword everything will be quality, shape, hada, hamon and so on, including horimono. Have a look here, http://www.sho-shin.com/edo-shimosaka.html Look at the nakago, shape, file marks and so forth. Look at the horimono, quality of carving. look at the blade geometry. Train your eye to see the differences between your blade and those by great smiths. What you are doing at the moment is equivalent to saying, 'It's a painting of sunflowers so it must be by Van Gogh'. You are just starting on a long journey, keep looking. All the best.

Dear Leo. So this is a classic Satsuma rebellion koshirae, or okashito. Have a search here for these terms. Usually they have a simple iron washer as menuki, this one has little bits of metal of an indeterminate shape. On rotating your image of the tsuba I think it might be Kunihiro, a mei often found on plain iron tsuba thought the style of the mei is not the usual and I may be way off the mark. When you say you have this coming up for auction are you thinking of buying it or are you selling it? All the best.

Dear Ghoul414. Can we have your name please, so that we know how to address you? To answer some of your questions, and working solely from these photographs, the sword in question has a narrow suguha hamon with some edge nicks that would probably polish out leaving a really narrow suguha and a slender blade. It is presently out of polish so very little can be seen of the workmanship. The other flaws are from poor forging, it is hard to tell but the area around them suggest that there might be others lurking below the surface. You mention that you don't know how to fix these and that brings up the very serious issue that only a correct polish by a trained togishi should be contemplated, no DIY here. That would be expensive for this katana and might well reveal more faults. So what you have is a gamble, given the forging flaws this is unlikely to end up being a fine blade and to polish it correctly is going to cost a lot of money. If you want to hang this on your wall as is then why not? As a collectable sword a significant chunk of cash needs to be spent on it which might reveal some nasty surprises and render it virtually worthless. The koshirae looks pleasant so I would guess that this will either end up as a display piece, or it might resurface shortly on a dealer website with a considerably inflated price tag. Just some thoughts to be going on with. I'm sure others will add to this. All the best.