Geraint

Yes Gianfranco a little light oil will do no harm. By the bye, board rules are that you sign posts with your name, easy to add in your profile. I really think you should find someone who will give you a hands on assessment but these, particularly the first two, are interesting swords. This could be the start of something big, you may have been bitten by the Nihonto bug and contracted an incurable disease. You are in for a fun time! All the best.

Hi Howard. Others will chime in, far more expert than I but at least I can tell you that it is a suji kabuto. Seems to be 62 plate. Have a look at this among many others: http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/LotD ... ID=4250952 Looks to be refinished, the mon on the fukigaeashi might be Sakai family.

Hi Gianfranco. What a find! If my first three swords had been this good I would have been thrilled. The first has a very good looking koshirae and is a wakizashi as you give it's length, assuming you measured from the tip to the notch on the back of the blade. The koshirae look very good in spite of the damage and I would say well worth restoration. Respectfully disagreeing with Brian I understood umbari to be associated with Higo mounts not Bizen but I am sure more knowledgeable fittings collectors will put us straight on that one. The second sword is interesting because it has tachi mei, extra holes are not uncommon as words are remounted and shortened at the nakago end of the blade. Both these things suggest that this is an old blade and certainly worth showing to somebody in hand who can advise you. I think I can see "Bitchu no kuni" , others may make out more. Fuch and kashira look really good and the presence of foiled seppa and double habaki are usually signs that someone took great care with the mounting. The wire loop at the end of the hilt suggest use in WWII. The third sword has a mounting ring on the scabbard which would probably have had a leather combat cover. Depends where you are but there may be a society near by where you could get some better hands on advice, for now please don't try any cleaning or restoration yourself, members here will recommend people for you who will do good work, perhaps a little light oil on the blades. Have fun.

Might I suggest a nightingale and moon theme?

Presumably a rather nice Burgundy Clive?

Hi Grev. Might be worth having a word with Kevin at Ryujin swords. http://www.ryujinswords.com/ Cheers.

Hi Gheorghe. Why would you want to?

Dear Thierry. Wow! They are gorgeous, I am sure that you enjoyed the process not to mention the results but thank you for sharing these, they are wonderful. Have you thought of publishing a catalogue, something like the Rosin collection one? The copper tsuba, number 61/62, is that a three plate construction? All the best.

Hi Gregor. As no one has replied yet here are some thoughts for you. The sword: Not good. It may be a fake altogether. At the least the nakago is badly done, it pretends to be shortened but everything about it is bad, the grooves in the blade look poor and the whole thing looks suspect, the habaki is not Japanese, though I suspect some of the hilt fittings are but they were never very good. The small ornament on the saya looks good. Bear in mind that showing the sword in hand to someone who knows what they are doing will reveal a lot more. I would walk away from this. The tsuba are better, at least they are Japanese and though condition is not great they might afford you some study. One pair of fuchi kashira looks interesting but your photograph is very blurred. If you are interested then you might look at http://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/about to give you some ideas about pricing. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

And indeed John suggest the very same thing at the end of his second paragraph.

Hi Matt, What about the saya? Is it laquered wood perhaps? Also some images of the blade and nakago would be interesting. This looks like a nice sword, you must be pleased with it. All the best.

Speaking of the nakago ana anyone seeing what I am?

Just a thought but you might try bamboo. Because of the relative size of a kogatana tsunagi honoki would be rather weak and I have seen bamboo used. It seems relatively easy to obtain in this country at garden centres and one large sized piece would do you an awful lot of kogatana sized pieces.

Wow! What a beauty! Can I just thank you for sharing these lovely things from your collection, Ed? I for one am really enjoying them. All the best.

Dear Michael. Have you picked yourself off the floor yet? If we are right that the tanto blade is very late and not of great quality then the koshirae is entirely appropriate. The fittings are of a late type commonly encountered though they are very dirty. If you feel like investing in a re wrapped tsuka then you probably ought to think about a polish and this would be good money after bad in the sense that you are still going to be left with a poor quality tanto in poor mounts which will have little appeal for you as you become more accustomed to what good quality blades and koshirae are like. This one is not a keeper, trade it on. All the best. I see my post crossed with Brian's, same thoughts though.

Hi Jeremy. If I have understood you correctly you are thinking that the sword has not been shortened because the colouration of the end of the nakago is the same as the rest? If the whole of th original nakago was removed then naturally the colour of the new one, formed from the surface of the blade would be the same as the end. I cannot see any sign of yasurime on the remaining nakago, not always a certainty as age and handling do tend to reduce these to the point of invisibility. The flat end, more than one mekugi ana and the even finish would suggest a much shortened sword. What length is it now from machi to kissaki? Also have a close look at the end, is that the remains of another mekugi ana or am I making that up? All the best.

Hi Jeremy. Just a suggestion; pictures of the blade overall will help to decide on age based on the sugata rather than just the mei and nakago. Cheers

Hi Denis. I think your remark that, "daisho relates to..." is significant, it relates to katana and wakizashi but is not the same as. I am sure that practitioners will correct me if I am wrong but I have been lead top believe that the perfect length is for the kissaki of your sword to be an inch off the ground if you stand up straight and hold the sword next to the tsuba with your arm by your side. Shorter man, shorter sword. (Different schools of sword art also preferred different lengths.) For your average short samurai a daisho in koshirae would suffice as the badge of office though the dai quite often is shorter than the 24" that we as collectors now use to distinguish a katana. The term chisa katana used to be popular to describe swords of this sort of length, though my wife came up with, "Wanabe wakizashi". (This is pretty much what Brian said though with more words because I'm like that. ) For what it's worth daisho with short katana are relatively common.

Hi Ian. Usually they are referred to as assembly numbers, lots of swords have Arabic numerals stamped on the tsuba, fuchi, seppa and other places which would make it easy to keep track of the set of fittings as they went onto a sword. The lacquer colour has no meaning that I am aware of and, come to think of it I am not even sure if the assembly number on the nakago matches the Arabic numerals on the other fittings. Must go and have a look at that. All the best.

Hello Heidar. Well, it's pretty unanimous and I'm in agreement. I can't quite see the quality of the mountings on your katana though the whole mounting looks rather nice, but the fittings on the wakizashi are of a low, almost mass produced type that is often seen. However it is an original koshirae and in no need of restoration so don't. If the fittings on both koshirae are a match apart from the kojiri then they should display quite well together as they are. Muck about with either and you will always have just that, a koshirae that has been mucked about with. If you are overwhelmed by the need to have a daisho then why not commission a set of ksohirae for both swords, keep the original with tsunagi and then when the time comes you can reunite the swords with their original koshirae. Alternatively buy a set of daisho koshirae to display and leave both swords alone. By the way it is extremely rare to get unanimous agreement on the message board, that is quite an achievement!

Hi Alex. It is not uncommon for habaki to be made of silver, given the skilled work required to make one the cost of the material pales into insignificance. Silver has the advantage of being a very nice material to work with. All the best.

So what we are saying is that Pete should overcome his understandable reluctance, spend a heap of money from his fittings fund, dedicate hours to producing the sort of quality that he would wish, not to mention straining any personal relationships to breaking point over the waste/use of time and resources just so that we can enjoy better photographs of his stuff? Have I got that about right?

Welcome Antti. Christian has dealt with the more difficult question; the first two are simpler. I don't think many people use a digital microscope but have a go and see what you see. It is often the case that fine quality work is confirmed by the fact that it survives examination under a magnifying glass, sometimes what looks good at first glance does not show up so well this way. The mark you question at the bottom of the nakago ana is just a way of closing up the size of the ana to fit a sword better. You are right, there are a number of ways of doing this and many of them look more elegant than this one, some are added at manufacture and are indicative of specific tsuba smiths, many are the result of the tsuba being adjusted later in life to suit a specific sword. As this tsuba is papered there is nothing to worry about. Having bought your first tsuba you have probably already contracted the disease so enjoy!

For what it is worth I would agree with you Thomas, though Chris clearly had a different view. From memory we have discussed the creation of new koshirae several times with varying opinions. I have a friend who bought a straightforward tanto in shirasaya and had complete new koshirae made for it. He enjoys it and no one will ever be the poorer for it except my friend who will likely never make his money back on the project. If the tanto was mine I would want to go down the route you suggest and retain the original koshirae as fully as possible but it's not my tanto and Chris has put a lot of thought into it I am sure. Each to his own.

Welcome Greg. Some thoughts for you. First the normal way of showing tsuba is as worn on a katana, the other way up from your images. Not a problem but something to bear in mind. Second, you cannot assume that the tsuba is late because it is made of copper, depending on the qualities of the metal some very early tsuba were made from copper or yamagane which would look like a copper at first glance. You are right in thinking that the tsuba has been mounted, the punch marks around the nakagoana were made to secure a good fit to the nakago of the sword. No attempt at faking anything, the punched line to the edge of the kodzuka hitsu would have been added to push the edge a little so that the kodzuka would not foul the fuchi or seppa when fitted. I am sure that everyone will suggest that you hold off until you have read a bit more. Also haunt the dealer websites which you can find listed in the links at the top of the NMB. There is a great deal to be learned from educating your eye, though not too much can replace studying these things in person so find out if there is a sword study group near you. You are embarking on a journey that will be great fun, fascinating and sometimes intriguing. There are bound to be some setbacks along the way, everyone has stories about the one they shouldn't have bought and the ones that got away, all part of the fun. Enjoy