Geraint

Dear Geoffrey. Welcome to NMB. To answer your question they all appear to be genuine from these photos. Don't be tempted to clean them at all, see if you can get slightly better photos and post them here. Lots of folks will help. This has to go down as one of the best stories. All the best.

Dear David. What's not to like ? Your latest photographs confirm what I was wondering. Nice complete kaigunto with a mon, older blade signed tachi mei, certainly looks polishable if you decide it's worth it. Good find. All the best.

Dear Glen. Here's something to get you going. https://www.mandarinmansion.com/item/nanban-kogai-and-kozuka-set-futakoromono All the best.

Dear Paz. This is Japanese swords! Nothing is simple! Have a look here, http://www.nihontocraft.com/Nihonto_Shinsa_Standards.html Basically old and special, flaws allowed. New, no flaws allowed. For myself a fatal flaw would be different from tiredness which is the result of too many polishes for the sword. Others will have much more to add to this, I'm sure. All the best.

Dear Eric. A couple of thoughts for you. First, to answer your question, Older papers are generally discounted these days. The bigger the name of the swordsmith the less value they have. (I note that swords for sale on Aoi Art sometimes have both old and new papers side by side affirming the same judgement but thats by the by). Certainly no one is going to accept them on a Yasutsugu coming out of Japan, or indeed anywhere. I understand your feelings about your sword. As a very new collector and well before the internet was even a thing, I bought a nice kaigunto with a wakizashi signed Kunihiro. Even then I knew not to get too excited. I still have the sword and still enjoy it for what it is. By the way, in your research did you come across this? http://www.sho-shin.com/edo-shimosaka.html If not then you might find it usefull. All the best.

Dear Claudio. If you don't know it already then this site is your friend, https://www.shibuiswords.com/tsuba.htm#kaneiye Look up Kaneiye. (Oh, and Nobuiye) All the best.

Dear Claudio, Or maybe by the mastersmith Nobuie, look them up. (Jan beat me to it!) All the best.

Dear David. First of all two nice finds! Congratulations on putting in the research hours,that approach will stand you in good stead going forward. Any pictures of the blade of the Police sword? I can't see a mekugi so maybe not. All the best.

There are many things wrong with the tsuka, profile, section, alternating ito and diamonds. As my father would have said, "t's a bent as a dogs hindleg!" This part is not Japanese, most likely a post war repair attempt. Nothing to learn from that so back to the blade folks. Forgot to mention leather 'kashira'. All the best.

Like Bazza I have a memory of seeing a tachi reputed to have belonged to the Duke of Windsor, the only reference I have found so far is here, https://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/01/arts/antiques-swords-with-the-spirit-of-the-samurai.html The Duke certainly visited Japan in the 1920s. Of course, stupid me, the sword was offered as Lot 305 in Haynes original sale. All the best.

Dear Keith. Well I'd be very happy if I had picked this one up. Nice sword in nice koshirae, Namban tsuba and from what I can see very nice menuki that might be two mon, really interesting habaki. I trust that you know how to care for this piece, basically do nothing to clean anything except to wipe a very thin coat of light oil on the blade. Some information here, http://sanmei.com/contents/en-us/p2060.html Look for examples of blades with NBTHK papers and compare the signature to yours. There are several smiths from this school and pinning down which one may not be possible even if you send it for papers. As you probably know the problem of faked signatures is an issue and many people are wary of a sword that is signed by a well known maker without the authentication that these papers provide. We would like some more pictures, one of the overall blade without any fittings if you can. Personally I think this is a very nice sword, congratulations! Feel free to ask any questions, happy to help. All the best.

Dear Jace. I coudn't find the emoji of wiping your hand across your face in relief but I think from all the responses you get the picture. All the best.

Lovely koshirae, Colin. All the best.

Dear All. Iwonder if the image of the jar is not a sake jar and the strange joiner not a gourd? If that is the case then perhaps the design references this. https://lordsofthedrinks.wordpress.com/2018/01/28/the-Japanese-folk-tale-of-the-sacred-white-sake/ Seems a pleasant fancy if not the right answer. All the best.

Dear Tlongnaws. Welcome to NMB. There is a thread here that might help. All the best.

Glen. That last one you posted is pretty much a dead ringer for mine; seppa dai, shape of the ryohitsu, tendril design and so forth. Also the first one, having signed examples is interesting and from what I gather rare. Thank you for posting these. All the best.

Dear Peter. In answer to your first point here is a tsuba that I believe to be of Japanese manufacture. There are slight asymmetrys to the design in that the dragon on one side seems to have a pearl in it's mouth and the tendril that forms the inner mimi turns into the body of the tsuba. The material is shinchu or sentoku, the seppa dai is the classic Namban design and the ryo hitsu are original to the tsuba. The stylistic features and the undercutting on the lower half of the tsuba are quite typical. All the best.

Hi James. Welcome to NMB. For information about this smith see here, http://www.nihontocraft.com/Mishina.html As you will see he is well documented but just a word of caution, the signatures on ko gatana, i.e. the blade, are usually held lightly as many of them are clearly not made by the person whose signature they bear. Enjoy the journey! All the best.

These are really not my field but I think the give away here are the nice shiny file marks where the new mekugi ana has been drilled. Only shows in the one photo. All the best.

Dear Jace. A large shinshinto katana with an o gissaki in nice original mounts, spotted many years ago as I was cycling past an antiques shop I knew. Groaned and pulled over on the basis of, "Well at least I can have a look!" Went in and drew the blade out a little to see a sticker, yes, on the blade, which said £30. Force of habit more than anything else, I asked if there was anything they could do on that and to my surprise the owner said he could do it for £28. With trembling hands I wrote the cheque, knowing that it would make me over drawn, first and last time for that. Next problem was cycling home with it. I still have it, papered now to Inshu Kanesaki. Iron mokko tsuba, gold foiled habaki and seppa, shakudo fuchi kashira and menuki of samurai fighting in boats. All the best.

Dear David. Usually Japanese swords are measured from tip, kissaki, to the machi, the place where the tang begins. If that is so then I have a hard time believing that this is 23 inches long! All the best.

Dear John. Thank you for your input on this one. The more I look and fondle it the older it feels. I'll do some more digging. All the best.

Dear Roger. Imagine inlaying a piece of iron into the surface of your tsuba but rather than making it thin and flush with the original surface, you make it thick so that it stands proud. you can then carve the raised inlay. All the best.

C'mon Piers, stop teasing and show us the polished yari! All the best.

Dea Michael The first exmple is lacquered leather to match the saya colour. @Charles I don't think baleen, that presents as thin, slightly shiny strands, often found on tanto koshirae. Looks almost like a plastic. @Adam, I really like your tsuka, certainly looks like leather. I have two wakizashi mounted in rather similar ways, the one I posted I am fairly sure is leather, but lacquered. The other is more of a puzzle as on close inspection I think I can see a grid pattern under the surface so perhaps a thin leather wrapped around a woven tape for greater strength. Enjoying this thread guys, keep them coming!