Geraint

Dear Neil. Here's one by Mishina Yoshiaki. All the best.

And by comparing yours to the Ebay example you can see that yours is much better, as Jean suggests. Go slow and keep looking. All the best.

Hi Jonathan. Thank you for the images, it's a nice habaki. Don't be too quick to dismiss the tsuba, it might, as you suggest, just be a cheap casting, it's hard to tell underneath all the crud. However it is in the Namban style and might be more interesting. Soft metal Namban are rare. Perhaps some hot soapy water and a soft brush might help to reveal detail. If you don't already know it see ere for some more information, https://www.shibuiswords.com/Asian Sword Guards.html Whatever it turns out to be enjoy your sword. All the best.

Dear Phil. Well if that is your first sword you did well. Personally I rather like the severe koshirae, the mounts. Kirill's description of it as a stick references the very straight blade with pronounced taper and rather small kissaki or tip. This does tend to indicate a Kanbun Shinto blade, one that was made around 1660. The shape also recurs during the Shinshinto period as Jeremy suggested, the nakago patination and the presence of two mekugi holes tends to add to the Kanbun Shinto call. A lot of collectors would pass this by because it's unsigned Shinto but I think you did well with this one. Enjoy! Welcome to the endlessly complicated world of Japanese swords! All the best.

Dear Jonathan. I would be very interested to see some more photographs of the tsuba and the habaki if you have them. All the best.

Been having the same issue intermittently, just now, 10.43 BST with the subtext nginx/1.18.0 Did a search for the Nihonto messageboard link and got a file not found then when I clicked on Sales we got there. Keep up the good work. All the best.

Dear Yves. Assuming, as Barry suggest, that the sekigane are not part of the original tsuba then they were added to make it fit a specific blade. Usually they would suffice so it seems probable that this tsuba has seen ervice on at least three blades, the original, the one where sekigane have been fitted and finally the one whch required the punching to make it fit. As you know some tsuba makers used decorative punch marks as identifiers but I have never come across evidence of this applied to those who later modified the tsuba. The use of decorative punches is unusul but I have seen it before. All the best.

Just to add to the information about the jumonji yari, I thought I had seen the feature somewhere and find that, of course, the Knutsens book illustrates several naming them Uekama jumonji yari. All the best.

Dear Bjorn. Interesting assembly. You are right, the first wakizashi is in the best condition though it doesn't look to be in great polish. The two naginata are, in my opinion, clearly wakizashi blades re mounted, not much to g on but the signed one might be interesting. The jumonji yari is interesting becasue it didn't start life as a jumonji, the tip is a sasaho yari and the lower bars appear to be an addition, in other words a separate component through which the tang of the yari passes. The Higo mounted sword is attractive but they don't illustrate the nakago so who knows what you will find but you are certainly going to have to add the cost of a polish to that one. The sankaku yari seems OK but again it's going to need a polish and if you are not within driving distance to collect posting them can be a real problem! Do let us know how this works out for you. All the best.

Dear Greg. Nice tsuba! If you have not alredy found it then here is a site that you can enjoy for many hours, https://www.shibuiswords.com/tsuba.htm All the best.

Dear Jan. I think Chris has it, it's a consequence of the polishing over time. On the positive side at least it narrows down the pool of Juyo swords for you to buy. On the negative side, now I've seen it I won't be able to get it out of my head! Thanks for that. All the best.

Dear Paz. Well no one else has jumped in so I will. Nice sword! And as it is papered to confirm the mei even better. As there is only the one man signing in this way you can pin it down fairly well, no worries about multiple generations in different areas. Do you have some information on him? If not then let me know and I will send you what I have but Sesko's Nihon Shinto Shi is your friend here. All the best.

Dear Jean-Sebastien. First of all thank you for sharing your sword. I like it. As the sword is papered we can assume that it is the smith you have identified. He is the only one of the Bitchu Mizuta school who signed in this way. Sesko identifies him as Ichizo, brother of Oyogo Kunishige and states that he ws awarded the title Yamashiro no Daijo in the second year of Shoho, 1645. Hope that helps a little. All the best.

Dear John. Forgive me if I state what is already obvious to you but here goes. When you say the blade length is 32" do you mean overall or the nagasa? If in doubt see here, http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/measure.htm Next, the nakago has had some very rough treatment, it looks as though someone has taken a grinder to it in places. For an idea about how it should look compare here, https://www.aoijapan.com/katanakashu-ju-ise-daijo-fujiwara-kaneshige/ For best hope of some good responses a picture of the whole blade with the habaki removed would be helpful. All the best.

Might also work with this idea, https://www.nihonto.com/8-12-21/ Perhaps a bit less intrusive than the buttons? All the best.

It still seems to be the case that the habaki is a good give away, as in this example, it's not Japanese. Best case scenario; a theatre made souvenir. All the best.

Dear Richard. Well, there's always something new! I think you are right, it is intended to protect the kinpun mei but rather than risk cutting away the bearing surfaces f the tsuka this way the mei can be viewed without removing the tsuka at all. (I see that Jon and I are thinking along the same lines. ) All the best.

Hi Pippo. Not a sword container but a quiver, check this one out, https://www.olympiaauctions.com/sales/arms-armour/as081221/view-lot/29/ All the best.

I think that it is the original edition, clearly there is a reprint available which would give you all the content but not the association with one of the great collectors. I feel that this must be a book collectors price. Suffice it to say that it is not in my collection! All the best.

So I was browsing a local auction house sale and saw something I would quite like, a catalogue of the Seymour-Trower collection, one of the early and influential collectors in the UK. As I have a book from his library I thought it would make a nice addition. The pre sale estimate was £30 -£40 so I had a go at £100. Well that was a waste of time! That's a lot of book! The only consolation is that mine might be worth a bit more than I thought. All the best.

Mike, if you search for "Inshu Kanesaki" you will get more results. Inaba being the province in which they worked and by the Shinto period schools are more diverse so province names are less sure as a guide. Found this one, http://www.users.on.net/~coxm/?page=oshigata_sword_s2 Plenty more to see but not a great deal more information as yet. Keep up the good work, this mountain has plenty of false summits but the climb is fascinating! All the best.

Dear Mike. Nice sword, thanks for sharing. Over the years I have kept an eye out for this school as I have a late generation katana. My notes contain the following, though I cannot tell you where I got the information from. "The first generation Inshu Kanesaki was a swordsmith in Yamato province. The second generation moved to Seki and learned under Kanemoto. The third moved to Bizen province and served the Ikeda family at the domain of Okayama. Following the master, the fifth moved to Inshu province in 1632. The Kanesaki clan prospered there as a retained swordsmith for generations." That pretty much echoes what Thomas has said. All the best.

Ah, Paz, if only things were that simple! I see Paul had beaten me to it and covered the ground. Many collectors are confident in announcing that a given wkizashi must have been a merchant's sword but if you look at some of the outstanding daisho koshirae, which by definition must have been owned by samurai, you can see some very spectacular mounts. All the best.

Dear John. Thank you for sharing this one, really nice koshirae. Really like the vajra shaped tsuba. I have a much plainer example which I have always associated with Meiji export work. I think aoi mon were scattered about pretty freely after the restoration, an extra selling point for the gaijin perhaps. Are the mounts silver plated brass do you think? If so then that would relate to some of the late tachi koshirae from the same period. Just for interests sake here's mine. All the best.

Dear Franco. I think perhaps the yokote is at the point where both the ha and the shogi change direction, most visible in the first photograph. You are right, the usual clearly defined line is not evident in the photographs but the change in angle is there. All the best