Geraint

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

Hi Rick. Love the mounts, especially the menuki. I can't throw much light on the question but most of the literature suggests that court mounted swords have much plainer shakudo nanako mounts, sometimes with family mon, rather than this style. Unless you have a burning desire to know more it would seem that spending the money on papering blades would be the way to go with this one. Whatever you chose, have fun!

Hi Mariusz. I have been racking (Wracking) my brains trying to find a reference but so far with no success. The wrappings are I believe from a leaf, not sure if it is bamboo or something else. If I ever do find the reference I will let you know. Just found this which confirms the m as hinoki; http://sayashi.com/articles/saya.htm All the best

Interesting question. I have looked again at the swords I have with metal kurikata and the answer seems to be that they may be glued to the wooden core which itself is glued to the slot cut in the saya but the shitodome lock the kurikata to the core as well, passing through the holes in the metal body and then through the corresponding hole in the wooden core. Hope that helps.

While the first two are pretty low level Nagoya mono, and the second has some questions to be answered about the "paint", neither is really a serious tsuba for the collector. Equally the Jizai mono needs some looking at but as these are by nature tourist pieces what are we expecting? On the other hand everything else looks perfectly genuine, setting aside any judgment about the relative asethetic merits. Look forward to seeing what you come up with John.

Hi Dennis. I think it might be the answer. Kogai do vary in size quite a bit, depending on the koshirae they are used for. Some tanto have quite small ones, is it perhaps the case that your tsuba was intended for either a small wakizashi or a tanto? You certainly don't want to be enlarging the hitsu so you are shopping for a kogai that will fit comfortably. Might take a while but Aoi Art are very good at giving full dimensions for their stock as I discovered when searching for a slightly smaller than average kodzuka to fit a koshire. Have fun.

Wow! That's a really nice saya kojiri. If your question is directed at the shape and style of the saya it is one that you come across from time to time. I have to say I would be a very happy collector if that one was mine. Here is a photo of one with a similar shape. (Well there will be one when I get a chance to photograph it. Sorry!) Not nearly as nice as the one you show. I have never come across a name for this shape or a reason but if I remember aright here is a rather stunning daisho mount in the Boston Museum collection with similar style. All the best.

And from a very basic level, thank you. I had never understood quite how these tsuba were mounted. Your description of a collar at the base of the tsuka makes so much sense.

And just to add to the mix I would be very surprised if that last tsuba were anything other than brass. Like one or two others I have succumbed to the desire to own one of these and the plate is certainly brass. It has been patinated to a subdued colour but on exposed areas this has worn off to reveal brass.

They are indeed beautiful, Jim. I assume we are looking for more than the fact that they are renderings of fan paintings?