Geraint

Hi Salvatori. The tsuba is signed Hirado Kunishige but the signature is thin and does not inspire me with confidence, I have not come across the use of a kao. The style of the tsuba is also a concern but have a look for yourself. Here are a couple from The Monzino collection. All the best

Hi Jim. In the first example you give the suggestion is that the smith intended to form one hamon but misjudged the temperature which caused a different hamon to form. The second example seems to be similar in that it suggests the boshi turned out to be other than intended. Is this what you are driving at? If so then the commentators are suggesting that there has been some misjudgment on the part of the smith during yakiire. If you are asking how they could come to this conclusion then I suppose it is because the hamon is unusual both for the smith and perhaps not a form that suggest conscious control on the part of the smith. Any use?

Dear Gheorghe. A pretty little tanto. There seem to be several possible smiths working in the shinshinto period who signed this way; Kofu Fujiwara Shigemitsu, a student of Shigetane, Nakagawa Shigemitsu in Shinanao, another in Tosa and Nakagawa Shigemitsu of the Yamaura Saneo school. (All these from Hawley's Japanese Swordsmiths.) I think it will be hard to narrow down exactly who made your tanto but enjoy the research and let us know if you get a result. All the best.

Dear G. Given the nakago jiri what has lead you to the Kaga Kiyomitsu group? We have only the nakago to go on but have a look here to follow up on Peter's suggestion. http://www.sho-shin.com/sue6.html Looks like it might be worth buying if the price is right and the condition is sound. Have fun.

Hi Brian. I have e mailed though I felt embarrassed asking. Not heard yet. Will let you know if I do though I can't really see the debate here. All the best.

Dear Ben. What you have is a Japanese tanto, possibly a wakizashi if the length of the blade form the tip to the notch at the back where it joins the habaki is more than 30cms/12". The fittings are nice though seem a little neglected. The blade has been shortened at the tang which accounts for the three holes for the peg and as far as I can see the signature might read Bizen no ju Osafune.... and then we run out. This would mean that it was made in Osafune in Bizen province. One of the major sword producing areas in the past. The mountings are attractive. All in all a nice piece which you should look after. Please, please do not attempt to clean it or restore it, a little light oil wiped on the blade is all you should do. If the bug bites and you want to start collecting then sooner or later you should show this to someone in hand who can give you more advice. Thanks for sharing it. Enjoy. All the best.

I had a feeling we might restart this one when I saw the ken, (Yes, I know but really! We can be pretty sure that this was a typo can't we?) on Aoi Art. Very pretty thing! All the best

Mick. You probably already have this information but the incident features in Fuller and Gregory. The sword and the caption are in the 5th Royal Enniskilling Dragoon Guards museum and although the name of the Japanese officer is not given the text says, "..a Japanese officer armed only with this sword climbed into a tank and stabbed both Captain Carnaby and his gunner before being shot by Lance Corporal Jenkins, MM, in hand to hand combat in this tank." (MM = Military Medal, a gallantry award.) All the best.

I guess all we need now is a gold sharpie for the kinzogan.

Hi Grev. Typically this paper would only tell you about the blade, any comments about the saya would only be on a paper associated with the koshirae. All the best.

Or have a look at his one Klaus. http://www.choshuya.co.jp/1/0803/member_frame_sword.htm Scroll down to number two sword. Have fun.

Hi Chris(?) Jidai mono probably used to indicate what we might call a 'period' piece, which in the UK means, "I'm pretty sure it's old but I can't tell how old." I don't recognise it but as a parrying weapon it is almost useless. The quality is low and the finish is rough so if I were you I would pass on this one. Have a scroll through this page, you will find all sorts of interesting stuff. http://www.aoijapan.com/fittings/tsukaothers All the best.

Dear James. Finding detailed information about a smith is difficult for many reasons, we are after all talking about someone who worked a long time ago. You have probably already come across this, if not then well worth buying. https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=tVEWBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA206&lpg=PA206&dq=Shinto+Shimada+school&source=bl&ots=jJsDMViwPa&sig=BHTubxtEKEX_-1hswkU2BdeJjcM&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Shinto%20Shimada%20school&f=false You might also find this useful for background, http://www.sho-shin.com/tokai6.htm Most likely you will have to piece together information from a variety of sources, though Markus has done most of that work for us, and don't be surprised if they contradict one another sometimes. Enjoy the sword. All the best.

Monsieur Gerard. The marks on seppa an other fittings are numbers to help when assembling the sword parts. All the best.

So from this we can conclude. 1 Ken are usually, if not always, ryoshinogi in form. 2 Quite a few hira sankaku yari exist and are not uncommonly found mounted as tanto. 3 We wonder what has happened to the kerakubi if this was a yari. 4 The nakago is not terribly well finished if the blade was formed this way which seems to suggest o suriage. Or of course, it just might be an odd tanto that someone felt like making this way................... All the best.

Sergei, |Some information for you here,http://www.aisf.or.jp/~jaanus/deta/y/yatsuhashi.htm Yatsuhashi and irisa are a classic element of Japanese gardening on the grand scale. All the best.

Hi Justin. From the look of the fittings your first guess is almost certainly correct, gold lacquer over horn. If you have the Boston Museum catalogue there are some spiffy gold koshirae and the difference is apparent. For the answer to your second question have a look at this, http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/3799-resin-glue-or-bitumen/ Nice looking koshirae and blade by the way. All the best.

Dear Sala. I am not sure that we will ever get to the bottom of this issue but I must admit I have always found them interesting. I agree that the quality of the two examples is not high and it may be that they have been assembled during the Meiji period to produce saleable weapons for the Gaijin. However very good quality examples exist such as this one, http://www.juwelier-strebel.de/asien-kunst/Japan/yari-naginata.htmland the one at the top of the page which is papered to quite a good smith. Are either of the two you illustrate signed? It may be a combination of some samurai choosing to have a favoured yari mounted this way and more latterly dealers having trouble selling polearms but finding a ready market for exotic wakizashi. All the best.

Hi Salvatori. The condition of the nakago is always dependent on how the sword has been looked after to an extent. I fell it is quite likely that the sword may be Meiji or Taisho as the finish and patina are commensurate with a Taisho blade that I have. Even shinshinto may have very clean nakago, have a look at this one on Ed's site, http://yakiba.com/Kat_Nobuhide_Takahashi.htm I am NOT suggesting that your sword is by this smith, simply noting that the condition of the nakago leaves quite a bit of room for yours to be pre war. Looking forward to seeing some images of the polished blade. All the best.

Dear Diego. What makes you think that your blade is strange? All the best.

Dear Guido. My mistake, skim reading I assumed that the later publications had revised the listings but on more careful reading note that they only assigned a notional value to each blade. All the best.

Dear Jason. Just to add that a copy of the listings with some points value is to be found at, http://www.jp-sword.com/ The rubric seems to suggest that while initially the ranking was based on cutting ability it latterly came to be more of a general ranking. All the best

Hi Ken. It is just the mei of the blade, sort of, "What's in this shirasaya? Oh yes, that one." All the best

An interesting tanto on Aoi Art at the moment. An unusual blade form for Mino den but have a look at the koshirae. http://www.aoijapan.com/tanto-noshu-seki-ju-kanesuke-saku Any thoughts? All the best

Great find Andi. I had seen this sword in a book on German arms and armour but had assumed that it was in the style of a Japanese sword, the caption did not indicate that it was in fact a nihonto in sheep's clothing. Thank you for posting. All the best.