Geraint

Hi Dominic. Just a thought, the fit of the tsuka doesn't seem good for sword 1. If it's as bad as it looks then someone has been tinkering, (swopped out tsuba, seppa missing, replaced tsuka and so forth). Of course it might be that the mekugi has not been replaced and the mounts are just placed on the blade. You don't mention what the asking price is for these, don't pay over the odds. Neither is a Chinese fake and nor are they junk swords, they are just what they are but still command a price and are collected. Enjoy.

Dear Sean, "Pickedup",...........where on earth do you just pick up a sword like that? Good koshirae and interesting mei. Yous should start with Kunikane and Kunisuke in your search. I am sure that you already know that image seven is the date and you should be able to crack that one. Looking forward to seeing how this one pans out, (Ah, but I see that John has done the work for you.) All the best.

Dear Oliver, Just before anyone else reminds you please sign your posts with your name, you can add it in your profile. Just to recap, what you have is a shingunto mount from WWII containing what seems to be an earlier blade in fairly good condition. Already this makes it interesting, though as has been said the tassel looks off. Not to worry about that because your other dagger is a naval dirk, also in fairly good condition but it seems to have two sword tassels fixed to the suspension rings. If the braids and in a pair of tassels with a barrel knot then that seems to be what you have. Even the tassels are now of interest to those who have a sword without one. Really wise to resit the urge to clean until you can get some advice, if all else fails some light machine oil rubbed over the blades with soft tissue, thin coat mind you, will keep them in good shape. Not sure where you are in the UK, I'm in far south west if that helps otherwise look up either the Northern Token Society or the Token Society of Great Britain. Two have two military swords in one go is great going, take care my friend, you might have to start a collection! All the best.

Dear Geoffry, Hard to make out but I think one side is the province, possibly Bishu no ju, and the other the smith. Can't help you much but might be Kiyosada? I;m sure others will chime in here but an overall picture of the blade would be useful, along with dimensions please. All the best. Stephen beat me to it.

Ouch! Spot on Bazza. I was all set to blame my photography skills until I went and checked. Must be slipping, it rings like a bell! Well spotted, I'll just go off now and stick my head in a bucket.

Dear Hoanh, I have been lead to believe that they are associated with early versions of the mount but that is worth checking. I have one which sounds a littel like the one you describe which houses an earlier signed wakizashi. All the best.

Dear Ofek. Didn't you do well! I think both koshirae are interesting, the tanto looks to be in very nice mounts and I have to say I like the wakizashi mounts a lot. I would suggest shinshnto for the tanto and I would get it polished. Not so sure about the wakizashi but if nothing else a tsunagi for the koshirae, Enjoy! All the best

I think Oleg was right first time. Refinished saya and duff tsuka but the blade itself is sound as far as I can see and the niju habaki with pierced mon is nice so if you want to rescue time for polish and shirasaya. All the best.

Hi Alex. Short samurai = short sword. It is not unknown to find a daisho where the dai is shorter than what we would call katana length. In a way that answers both of your first two questions but as the badge of a samuraI was the daisho then a wakizashi would be carried. Sometimes one finds katana/tanto daisho, from memory there was a shinshinto example in one of the London auction houses some years ago. (Festing sale?) The reason usually given for the reduction in length from tachi to katana is that tachi were intended for use when mounted but were too long for foot combat. That being the case ubu Koto tachi would have been a problem carried as a katana which is why so many are suriage and why at certain periods, copies of koto suriage swords were in fashion. Does that help? All the best

Dear Mike, Just to add to what Jussi has said, Hawley lists two generations, both of whom used the "no Kami" title at times. An article in the ToKen Society magazine, reproduced from Rei magazine says that the existence of three generations has been established. Either way the sword needs to be looked at by someone knowledgeable and in hand. The first generation was a son of Horikawa Kunitake and a student of Dewa Daijo Kunimichi. They also make polearms, (one naginata in the V & A museum in London). I am sure members can advise you about sword study groups and other things depending on where you are located. Enjoy! All the best.

Dear Petr. Well certainly not Showa. The nakago and shape suggest Soshu school ko wakizashi. Time to go slow, not sure where you are but if there is a local study group worth showing it to someone. Above all please don't attempt any restoration yourself. Looking forward to what others have to say. All the best.

Dear Gordon. If I was to hazard a guess I would say that this is a pressed kodzuka. These are usually dismissed and seem to have been made for Western markets. Tell tale signs are, rather blurred details, erratic gilding, no undercuts, no sign of inlay. The give a way would be a shot of the mouth where it is usually possible to see that the plate is very thin. Colour is always tricky with images but the brown toning might suggest patinated copper rather than shakudo. Hope this helps. All the best.

Dear George, The sword mounting is a type called hoso tachi which is specifically for court wear. The mounting style is very slim so while it does look small it may be a normal size sword. We will never know what the blade is like but you can do a search for images of hoso tachi and find some examples. All the best.

Indeed he was Jim, not to mention the bendy kodzuka, ko gatana and kogai! Can't help thinking that drawing this would be tricky. Thanks for the link. All the best

Dear Michael. A nice find. Jean is spot on with dating but the koshirae is pleasant and well worth the cost of a good re bind. It should be easy to tell if the saya is not original, looseness around the habaki or lack of alignment would indicate this but sometimes tanto have saya that do not match the blade so worth checking. Enjoy. All the best.

The brass plate looks as if it might have been engine turned, perhaps a European piece adapted to the tsuba. The wire net seems to have a mesh that gets larger as it moves toward the rim. Intriguing. All the best.

Dear Chris. I don't have an oshigata for this smith but the nakago jiri is atypical for Bizen work. The brass habaki isn't good either. Hopefully someone else can supply an oshigata but I suggest proceed with caution. All the best.

Hi Ken. Absolutely right though in this case I am not so sure that the oshigata is wrong as I can't see exactly what happens to the hamon in the photographs. I think the second part of your question captures the point, we wonder if it might be. Then other factors come into play don't they? With the example in question there are no other indications as far as I can tell. The example sword, assuming the oshigata is accurate, certainly seems to have a very abrupt ending to the hamon which looks odd, perhaps this is more an indication of the fashion for replicating shortened koto blades, perhaps the sign of a second rank smith but it certainly doesn't look good to my eye. If nothing else I have just spent some time looking through most of the oshigata on Aoi Art and at least it's made me think a lot more about this particular issue. All the best.

It seems that as a rule so would Tsuruta san. http://www.aoijapan.com/wakizashi-sokanansei-4-6-gatsu-sakujitsu-saku Typos all round! All the best

Hi Iain. I know that Tsuruta san has described this as shinogi zukuri but what do you think? In the oshigata the hamon does seem to end quite suddenly but this is less clear in the photographs. In this case we can be sure that the nakago is ubu and therefore the answer to your question about smiths resigning a blade after suriage does not enter the discussion. On a broader note in certain cases we find that a smith who performed suriage might inscribe that fact on the nakago, something to the effect, "I Fred Blogs have shortened this katana by Joe Simkins". I have never come across a sword where the suriage was done by the smith who made the sword in the first place. As you are studying the tanto page you will see that very few of the blades, or at least the oshigata end in the rather nice neat way we might expect, even when clearly not suriage. Hope that helps, I am sure others will chime in here. All the best. Just crossed your post Grey, did you mean to write hirazukuri?

And very good it is Jean. Grev mentions that he has a copy of this one. Perhaps we should find a way to get the two of them together over a pile of Namban tsuba and see what they both come up with? All the best.

Dear All. " Peter said in another post that this was O-suriage koto, but this tang doesn't look very koto". If osuriage then the entire Koto tang could easily have gone meaning that the new nakago would not look as old. Unless efforts were made to replicate the age of the nakago then you might expect it to look 'of the period' in which suriage was performed. The fact that it might have been an old family sword does not necessarily mean that the family would know very much about swords, nor that they would hesitate to send it to war with their son, nor that they would feel the need to find the best craftsman to engrave such a message. I am sorry that this does not add much to our consensus about the sword in question. All the best

Hi John. Sounds to me as if you already know what you are going to do. No one here will tell you not to do it but...... A possibly gimei katana with recently assembled mounts of average quality.......? Personally I would have had a hard time letting that Echizen Seki in Higo koshirae go. Just as well we are all different. Whatever you decide I hope you really enjoy the sword you ends up with. All the best.

Dear Ofek. I think I would be reaching for my wallet on this one. All the best.

Dear Jamie. I am sorry that you are disappointed by the sword. I can't see quite clearly from your photos but the tsuba looks to have been attacked with a round file to make it fit. I assume that the fittings do not have matching numbers? How is the fit overall of the blade in the tsuka and saya? You mention that there is evidence of a locking catch in the shirasaya, which I assume to mean the wooden liner for the steel saya. Is there a suitable cutout in the metal fitting for the scabbard mouth? I am clutching at straws but if all the other parts are a good fit then it night be that a replacement tsuba has been added to an otherwise associated koshirae. If all this is not the case and you want to contact the auction house then the catalogue description is a problem. They made no claim for the provenance other than what it is so not much to go on there. As for the description of the sword they itemised the blade and described it as in fine condition overall which it seems to be. I am very much afraid that they would say that the description was correct. I have never tried to return anything to Bonhams and one would hope that they would give yo u a sympathetic hearing but I would not hold out too much hope I am sorry to say. I do hope that this does not put you off completely. Next time buy from one of the more respected dealers of the For Sale section here. All the best.