Geraint

Dear All. Just thought to share this with you. Some years ago I bought a very nice wakizashi in an attractive issaku koshirae, the sword was fitted with what was described as a polished copper tsuba. Now this tsuba is a good fit to the koshirae but I can't help feeling that it has replaced something rather more special at some time in the koshirae's history. However, on inspection the tsuba turned out to be a san mai construction, two thin plates secured to a copper core with a silver fukurin. I assumed that this might mean the two outer plates were shakudo and time has proved this to be the case. Not the best photographs, we are in the middle of a Cornish summer so it's raining, but you can probably make out the construction and the colour of the shakudo after some time of just leaving it alone. In hand the colour is a lovely raven blue black. The tsuba looks better on the sword and I have replaced the missing, rather small kozuka with a shakudo example to match. All the best.

Dear Jonas. I cannot help you with the signature but the state of the koshirae is not very good. It looks to be lacquer over horn fittings. Nothing wrong with that however; kozuka and kogai are rough replacements of what might have been quite nice examples, the overall condition is now rough with quite a lot of damage and some very unfortunate attempts to restore, viz the shoddy overpaint on the dragonfly kojiri. It might have been quite nice once but now............. Your cash, your call but this will likely be one of those that you stick in the back of a drawer after a day or two. All the best,

Dear Jake. Some of the indicators are: the flattened shape of the tip/kissaki, the poor shape of the tang/nakago, the mei/signatgure is cut rather than chased. the fittings are low quality, the hilt wrap/tsuka ito all crosses one way. If you want to compare with the real thing to get your eye in then have a look at, say here, https://nihontoart.c...th-3x-certification/ All the best.

Thank you Mike, an interesting story. It seems that Mountbatten brought back several swords, at least one is screwed to the wall in Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, a kaigunto in that case. It would be interesting to track down all his presentations. All the best.

Judging by the size of the nakago ana that first one must be for a nag-inata! Don't worry, I'll show myself out. All the best. (Just to explain the confusion a nag is a slang word for a horse in the UK and tsuba with large holes in them are often described as for naginata. They are always better when you have to explain them!)

Dear RJ. Can we have a first name please? This might be Bishu Osafune Sukesada. If you think this is in good condition then don't buy anything yet. Compare here, https://www.toukenko...&katana_A030320.html and in many other places. The hadori, if it is even that, on the sword you posted is at best amateurish, the shape of the nakago is odd and the boshi needs looking at. Does this sword have papers? If so then let's have a look. Personally I would walk away from this one. No, actually I would run. I see I have been beaten to it. All the best.

Dear Don. If you feel that then start having a look at horimono to compare with this one. Enjoy the journey. All the best.

Ah, I begin to see I think. Descriptions of hamon are not as precise as most sources of information would suggest. For a diagram one might illustrate a consistent hamon shape and some smiths do this very well. Generally speaking hamon are not quite so cooperative and once you move away from identified smiths with distinctive hamon patterns then everything becomes a little more subjective. Have a read of this thread for examples and comments. There is also some interesting stuff here, http://www.ksky.ne.j...sumie99/yakiire.html You might have to follow the links around a bit for this one. A lot of hamon descriptions are 'something or other with....' For example Mino den suguha is often described as suguha with fushi. As to toranba think high waves, the example we are looking at is more swells, so the description is suguha in places with swells, lots of ashi and yo which describes what is going on inside the hamon. Any use? All the best.

Dear Mark. You may have more success if you post this in the Wanted section, as opposed to the For Sale section. All the best.

Dear Gerry. Why would you want to disagree with the stated description, suguha with notare? All the best.

Dear Howard. As to the theme see here, https://art.thewalte...cross-the-uji-river/ All the best.

Dear Steve. Think along the lines of Umetada Mitsushige. All the best.

Dear Piers. Well, that just says everything you need to know about me! All the best.

Dear Sam. I don't think anything is wrong with this tsuba other than some wear and a rather poor attempt on someone's part to make it fit a nakago, hence the rather bizarre marks around the nakago ana. These suggest to me that the tsuba was probably added to your sword some time after it left Japan so probably no problem with changing it for a better fit. If you want to do some research start looking around Kaneiye, I suspect this is one of the many works copying his style. All the best.

Dear Jussi. If you view the individual links there are some prices in terms of what one might offer the seller........... or do these not show for you?. All the best.

Dear Charles. By contrast I wish I was within reach, a papered daisho in koshirae for that money? Not to mention the Daido blade and koshirae. Oh well. I'll just have to keep looking. Welcome and all the best.

Ah! My mistake but it's still a nice thing. All the best.

Dear Christian. A nice find! Just to follow up on Ray's translation. This is an earlier blade that has been mounted for use by a Naval officer in WWII. The fittings are nice and include, I think, a fishskin lacquered scabbard with an unusual extended drag as we call it in English. In other words the fitting at the end of the scabbard has a sort of fin to take some of the wear, not a standard feature. You can do your own research on the Inshu Kanesaki school, (Inshu is the abbreviated form of Inaba), but just for a start they worked throughout the Shinto and Shinshinto periods, from about 1600 to about 1860. It is not possible to tell what rank the officer who carried the sword held and without some sort of documentation that part of the story will have to remain unproven but this is a very nice sword, please take care of it. Some guidance under FAQ at the top of the page. Welcome to NMB and all the best.

Dear Mike. Well you have a very nice, papered naginata in koshirae. That's a nice first blade and an unusual choice as most people want to go for the archetypal katana. Enjoy the journey! All the best.

Dear Stan. Look at the regularity of the cast seam marks around the inside of the nakago ana and hitsu ana. A sure sign of a modern casting and as such I should give up any hopes of it being shibuichi as no one would be using an expensive material for this. Probably have to chalk this one up as payment for your learning unless a dealer sold it to you as antique...........? All the best.

And also to add, there is no kogai, rather a kozuka and blade. The signature is still irrelevant to the sword. All the best.

Dear Howard. Personally I would not categorise this as Japanese. Quite a number of Asian archery systems use tanged arrow heads, as opposed to socketed, and I would start looking at the Indian subcontinent. All the best.

Steve and Tim, thank you for these posts, really educational and what NMB does best. All the best.

Dear Justyn. I don't think this was ever intended to be shirasaya but rather an interesting and subtle koshirae. Before you remove the filler, which I agree is horrid, you need to do some research to find out what it would have looked like so that you can replace it accurately, I realise that this post is part of that process. ( I have a feeling that I have a reference to one like this somewhere, it will take me awhile but I will have a dig) As always, if in doubt, don't. Find someone who can do it justice. Look forward to seeing the result. All the best,

Ahhh. I hope to be wrong on this one but a number of alarm bells are ringing for me. Seeing these photographs I would be assuming that it is a recent reproduction. It's pretending to be Bushu ju Masatsune. Is the colour silvery like that? Are the marks around the mimi nunome zogan in gold or do they look like etched designs? Do the designs continue over the edge of the mimi? What can you see inside the kogai/kozuka hitsu? Here is one for you to compare it with. https://sword-auction.com/en/product/14811/af22548-鍔：武州住正常（保存刀装具）/ Others will chime in I'msure. All the best.