Geraint

Dear Curran. Thank you for posting that one, I love it. On this koshirae the slot for the mechanism is well outside both fuchi and seppa, unlike the one that John posted. You don't, by any chance, happen to have photographs of a similar mechanism but inside operating inside the seppa dai, do you? If so then that would answer a lot off questions. It is a little frustrating that we can put together so many images of tsuba with this feature but not the koshirae that would account for it. All the best.

Dear All. While agreeing that the sword in question is junk I would simply point out that the current RN officers sword is straight, having recently bought one for my son. https://pooleysword.com/en/Royal_Navy_Officers'_Sword Still the 1827 pattern I believe. Or are we perhaps just focussing on IJN swords? All the best.

Dear Jonathan. Just to add the theme is a Portugese with a hunting dog, very similar to the one Bob posted in this thread, item 278. All the best.

Hi Simon. Memories indeed! The last time I heard from Chris was a few yers ago now and he had indeed stopped this part of his business life, I managed to but some of his books. I understand that he became a war correspondent but when we lst spoke he remembered the swords I had bought from him many years before, I still have two of them. I don't know if you were ever on his mailing list, pre internet of course. I still have some of the typed lists and they were quite a delight when they arrived. More memories to come I'm sure. All the best.

Dear Arnaud. You probably know it already but there is some useful information here. https://www.shibuiswords.com/tsuba.htm Also the book, Tosogu: Treasures of the Samurai has an interesting article on Muromachi tsuba as well as quite a bit of eye candy. I would certrainly take up Jean's offer and try to see examples where you can. All the best.

Dear Anthony. Yes please, more pictures. However have a look here, http://www.sho-shin.com/titles.htm You will have to scroll right to the bottom of the left hand column but............... All the best.

Dear Grev. This is one of a range of fittings all made to the same design, compare here, https://www.lot-art.com/auction-lots/Beautiful-silver-inlay-bamboo-motif-kojirikoeguchi-tsuba-fuchi-kashira-set-copper-brass-Japan-Late-Edo-period/46045499-beautiful_silver-13.3.21-catawiki I have a feeling that I read somewhere that they were made in one particular area of Japan but have failed to find the reference, I'm sure someone will jump in with it. All the best.

Dear Brian. Not specifically Japanese but here is a link to some info about making files by hand. All the best.

Looks remarkably like the full naginata rather than naginata naoshi. I wish I kept finding things like that in my workshop! All I get is spiders and dust. All the best.

Dear Piers. Some interesting things here on these items. https://tsubakansho.com/2020/06/26/yanigata/ All the best.

Dear Matthew. Welcome to NMB. Chris has given you a very condensed answer so let me unpack it a bit for you. Most swords carried during WWII are known as Shingunto, type 98 refers to a specific variant of these mounts. They are not mass produced in the conventional sense but they are all made to a specification. However it is often the case that older blades were remounted to carry to war, it used to be assumed that these were family blades given to the son to carry, in fact many of them were used to save on manufacturing and resources. Much less romantic and of course, impossible to say which applies to your sword. It is impossible to give you much information about the blade from photograps but if I had to guess I would suggest that it might be a Koto blade, which means from before 1600 Yours also has an older tsuba, the guard. A decent shot of this posted in the Tosogu section might attract some information. (Tosogu means fittings and a lot of collectors specialise in this.) Another intteresting feature is the hanger on the scabbard which is somewhat unusual and may suggest that the original scabbard was used under the leather combat cover. Any cleaning that you do should only ammount to wiping the blade with a light oil and perhaps some leather cream on the combat cover, anything else will harm the sword. If you do decide to do a full restoration then brace yourself, it's an expensive process. You may wish to preserve as is. It's an important link to your Grandfather and what he did. For a lot more information you might like to have a look here, http://ohmura-study.net/900.html Grab a coffee, there's a lot to go through! Feel free to ask further questions. All the best.

Third theory, the owner wanted the nakago ana closed up but for whatever reason never went on to the stage of filing it to fit another nakago. The tagane ato show the rounded ends that you might expect when they were fresh but not yet filed to fit the nakago. All the best.

Dear Jonathan. Nice sword and thank you for sharing your excitement. Now comes the fun part, digging for information and looking for comparable Kunisada mei, learning to see what is in the hamon and so forth. Enjoy! All the best.

Dear Dale. Sweet! You are right, it's a ken koshirae, here's another one but in carved wood, the tsuba on this is a separate piece just as your example appears to be. Is it a tsuba? Well it's not a million miles away from a shitogi tsuba and a distinct component from the tsuka so I guess that would do it. All the best.

Dear Lee. As with any auction item, and indeed many from some dealers, you need to know what you are looking at unless you are going to adopt the blind squirrel approach. Very few auction houses have the expertise to make any sort of assessment about a Japanese sword, you will find many very recent reproductions listed and mis translations. In this case the position of the mei suggest that it is all that is left of a longer signature after the sword has been shortened, do they mention that? It is also the wrong side of the nakago for a date so where they got Bunmei from I don't know. The second kanji looks like the 'shu' normally used as the shortened form of a province name, have a look here, http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/kanji/prov.htm Also here if you want to check out Bunmei, http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/kanji/nengo.htm Have fun! All the best.

Dear Yves and Mauro. I must apologise for starting a hare. It may just be the colour balance on the photographs but the seppa dai seems to have a brownish cast to it. Now if we are going with Goto attribution then I would expect a lovely deep glossy black. Also flawless workmanship. Of course it is a copper alloy, (and not shibuichi), if you search for Mino Goto you will find a great range in the colour of the alloy used. Whatever these are they are very nice and I would be happy to own them, and yes I read your other thread so include all three tsuba in that. I hope that some of the Goto experts will chip in here. All the best.

Hi JMB. Others will pile in on this one but here's a start. http://www.nihontocraft.com/Mino_Gendai.html Some threads on NMB, From memory there was more than one so you will have to check that. All the best.

Hmm! Interesting bit in the catalogue notes from the museum, "This sword guard appears to have been made at the Soten School of tsuba making in Japan. The Soten school was created by one of Masamune's students named Kanemitsu who was one of a select group of ten pupils. Kanemitsu is usually credited with having started the Soden School, which successfully combined Bizen and Soshu forging techniques." ??!! Nice tsuba, Yves. What do you think the primary material is? All the best.

Daer Yves. I like it, particulalry the way the floral decoration tumbles over the inner edge of the mimi in places, that adds life to the design. Also like the way the nanako follows the mokko shape in the outer area and then becomes vertical in the centre. All the best.

Dear Richard. Welcome to NMB. Your sword has, as you suggest been 'cleaned' really badly. For examples of what they should look like have a look here, https://www.aoijapan.com/ There are many other sites in the links at the top of the page for you to explore. Please don't clean anything else, have a look in the FAQ for care guides. From what I can see this stands a very good chance of being a shingunto, in other words a sword made around WWII. I can see hamon in one of your pictures but it is probably not worth the cost of a proper restoration, you may wish to have it professionally polished for your own interst but it's an expensive undertaking. Depending on where you are one or other of the gang would be happy to have a look in person and give you some more hints. All the best.

Dear Bruno. As far as I can tell you have shown us three swords, the first two seem fine to me but the third, the one you describe as Navy, is a Chinese copy and not genuine. Hope that helps. All the best.

Dear Steve. As usual we are working from limited photographs but I'm puzzled as to what makes you think this is Koto. Hamon is pretty typical for Showa and it as suguha boshi, nakago is original and unaltered and is also what you would expect from Showa. Where are you getting that Koto vibe from? Interested to know. All the best.

Hmmm. It's always tricky from images especially when we don't have the shot we want, nor any dimensions which would really help here. It is generally suggested that for a Sue koto sword from Bizen then the Bishu derivative suggests kazuuchi mono, however that assumes that this is Sue koto, unusual to find tachi from this period, no? And just for added fun almost all the Norimitsu lineage from the first/second generation are known to have signed Bishu Osafune. As you say, Hamfish, it appers to be ubu so what is it? I'm afraid that Imgur is playing hard to get at the moment for me but does the mei look too new compared to the rest of the sword? If so then possibly a late blade with gimei. Or just possibly something quite a bit earlier. Nick, is there not a New York based sword society you could show this to? Let us know how it turns out. All the best.

Welcome, Lee! All the best.

I'm guessing this one, https://nihontoantiques.com/ Yes? All the best.