Geraint

Hi Frank. I will try to get some photos of mine for you later but for now; http://www.aoijapan.com/yari-toshiyoshi-not-guarantee Your yari looks to have been three sided, san kaku. The tsuka is obviously for the square nakago and the saya is also designed to accommodate the kerakubi, the shape at the base of the blade. Most of the examples I have seen would be mid to late edo period, they were a way of using a favoured yari according to the scant information I have come across. There is a rather spiffy example here, http://www.juwelier-strebel.de/en/asien ... -yari.html Hope this helps.

Confucius say, "Man who set money on fire lose the money. Man who polish own sword lose the money and sword."

Dear Brandon. Quickest and probably easiest to borrow a camera and post here as you will; have access to a broad range of expertise. However you might contact these guys; http://www.ricecracker.com/ BAsed in San Pedro, any use to you? Cheers.

Good work George, hadn't seen that one before. So far all that I have seen have been small, rather thick and in similar mounts in that all have some interesting lacquer work and either horn or lacquered fittings. I imagine that he was reduced to making them as a result of the Haitorei. Mine has a very prominent hada, the sort that you sometimes see on shinshinto as a result of mixing steels. Be nice to see what yours comes up like with a polish. All the best.

He is in Hawley's, from memory mas1444. I have a very similar blade by him, it would seem that he made a specialty of tanto. I have never come across katana or wakizashi but this would be the fourth tanto and all very similar sugata. Enjoy.

Hi Ben. I have never dismounted one of these but you may find one of the following; a screw on one of the menuki fitting into a threaded shank on the other, the same but with a left hand thread just to confuse things, less likely a round shank on one fitting into a hollow shank on the other. I would advise real caution, if they have not been moved for some time they might be quite tight. Looking forward to seeing what you find. All the best.

Hi Ben. Wish I had inherited something like that. You should compare to this example which looks very similar. http://www.aoijapan.com/tachikoshirae-s ... -lacquered There was a stunning pair illustrated in the NBTHK journals, male and female pheasant and quite beautiful. These seem to be much later and of much lower quality, none the less a nice thing to have. All the best. Geraint Edit. Thought I had seen another recently, http://www.thelanesarmoury.co.uk/viewph ... 348&phqu=7

The other issue that Laurent's post raises is the peril of buying an out of polish blade from Ebay. It would be lovely if every out of polish blade turned out to be wonderful once the polisher works on it but that is a risk that we take when we buy the blade, is it not? The risk is great enough when we have the blade in hand, at least we have the opportunity to study it closely whereas any internet purchase does put one at the mercy of digital photographs at the very best. While some flaws may be obvious, even in an out of polish blade, others may only reveal themselves once the polisher removes metal. Of course some of the treasure hunter lives in all of us and the temptation to take a gamble is strong. Usually the best stories about great blades bought unpolished and restored to glory tend to come from experienced collectors. I have a painful story about a seemingly undistinguished armour that had passed through the public marketplace for some time and been dismissed by many including myself. An experienced collector quietly snapped it up because he recognised it for what it was. Fortune it seems, favours those who study.

I think the images on the link are exaggerated to illustrate clearly. There is perilously little space to shape the tsuka around the nakago so in most cases it is a rather shallow inward curve as you illustrate. Here is another:

Try this Jeremy, a little down the page for your answer. http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/kosh ... shirae.htm Cheers.

If you are thinking of having a new shirasaya then it might be worth attempting the usual trick. Assuming your man used rice glue and not a modern adhesive then it ought to be possible to spring the shirasaya apart, cut back the wood where touching and re glue it. Absolutely no sanding as the abrasive will remain in the timber and cause scratching. This is probably going to fail as I suspect the glue which is causing you a problem is a modern adhesive in which case you are most likely to damage the shirasaya beyond repair, hence the suggestion that you only attempt this if you are already planning a new one. As to opening out the mouth of a saya to accept a wooden habaki, well that sounds barmy to me, much easier to ease the size of the habaki to fit. Have fun.

Oh, and one more thing; watch out for the positioning of the spring latch, this must line up from it's position in the tsuka, through all seppa and tsuba and also into the koiguchi of the saya. They are much more of an individual fit than you might imagine, any misalignment will show up very much and destroy the sense of completeness.

Hi Christophe. As I am sure you are aware this is going to cost you far more than you will ever be able to sell the sword for. However, if you are determined to try might I suggest something like this, http://www.guntoartswords.com/010621.html Perhaps this sort of koshirae with tsunagi displayed alongside your blade in shirasaya would be a good compromise. You will have the sword and koshirae both in original condition and at least you could get back what you payed for the koshirae at a a later date. As soon as you start playing with them to fit the blade you are going to devalue the sword. If you have to start buying fittings and parts separately and then attempt to assemble them it will not look good unless you pay professional restoration fees. Also it will never be part of the swords context in most people's eyes. If you are going to do it be aware that gunto saya are by no means all the same size and won't take blades that are not original. If you have a little adjustment to make it is sometimes possible to remove the koiguchi and slide out the wooden liner, open it and adjust to your blade. There is a pretty limited range of tolerance for this. The tsuka will probably not have the mekugi ana in the right place so you will need to do some careful work to correct that. Still ready for it? Whatever way you chose have fun. All the best.

Hi Peter. I am sure there was one some months ago. I will have a look. All the best.

Hi Knowlton. You ask what gives it away as fake and the list is quite large. In the final analysis a long time looking carefully at the real thing trains the eye to spot inconsistencies at a glance. The tsuba and saya fittings are all very poorly cast and don't match genuine shingunto fittings at all, best seen in the crude shaping of the scabbard mouth and the casting faults on the hanger. The habaki is poorly shaped and the front edge is strange. The characters on the tang are wrong as is the way they are cut into the metal, the surface of the tang does not carry the finish you would see on a genuine sword, the carving on the blade is not good and most importantly fills the whole width of the blade, including what should be the very hard steel at the cutting edge, genuine carvings are done in the softer steel of the main part of the blade and not in the hamon. The overall shape of the blade is poor and the kissaki is badly formed. As you can see that is quite a number of features, other fakes are much more subtle and once you get into the realms of spurious signatures on Japanese made swords then it gets even harder. Something about this attracted you, why not have a trawl through the genuine swords displayed on the dealer websites listed at the top of the message board? You will see some beautiful works of art so you are in for a treat, and I am sure you will easily see what separates them from your copy. They are fascinating and I should issue a health warning here, once you start to explore you may find yourself well and truly bitten by the bug. Welcome and have fun! PS Enjoy cutting the coconuts but when you own a real Nihonto please resist that urge. All the best.

Ah, he is a fortunate man! Both tsuba are Japanese which is a start as so much of what you see is reproduction, to be kind. I note a dragon theme, is that important? For what it's worth I like the second rather more though it needs some TLC. I note that the seller only ships to the USA. You might also have a look at this site, http://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/ or indeed this one, http://www.ricecracker.com/ May I congratulate you on your anniversary. Best wishes.

Moriyama san; " He had his signature "Echizen- Daijo Minamoto Kunisada", too ", does appear to suggest that the same man used both signatures, is this a mistranslation?

Hi Rob. Well, it was a wakizashi or short sword. The saya and blade probably belonged together, it goes downhill from there I'm afraid. The hilt is a later add on though it looks Japanese. Pure speculation now but perhaps a damaged sword fudged together as a souvenir for a service man. It looks as thought eh copper habaki has been soldered to the blade, and if this is the case then it has likely damaged the blade in collectors terms. I would think this is best preserved as an object of family history in memory of the man who brought it back. All the best.

Come on Brian, I'm sure you know the famous Japanese legend of the praying mantis searching for the flaming pearl?

Woah! More light, less heat. Tom clearly hit a number of buttons with his first post and got predictable reactions from us arising from painful experience, unexpected reactions for a neophyte. Tom, depends on wherabouts you are but there are some easy ways to progress with this. The second photo does show a flaw and it may be serious but the quality of the images makes it hard to tell very much. There are risks with polishing which include the fact that a fatal flaw may show up and you still have to pay the polisher for their work. There are at least two sword societies in the UK and a number of collectors who could advise you. If you would rather not publish your location feel free to PM me, I may be able to make some suggestions for you. The mei, by the way, is very familiar as many Bizen smiths signed this way. Don't give up, enjoy!

So Let's see. Your first three nihonto and it starts to look as though one might be an Echizen Shimosaka wakizashi with horimono in rather spiffy koshirae, one sets out to be an Aoe tachi, also in koshirae and then there's the other one! Wow! Well you certainly need to find some expertise locally and start reading. These are a real find, well done. Can I suggest that you post pictures of the koshirae for the wakizashi in the tosogu section of the board?

Hi Howard. I'm afraid I found the image doing a routine search so no chance of seeing the signature. You would do well to take some good images of the kabuto and posting them here so that the real experts can comment. Good pictures, front elevation, side elevation and plan would allow for some assessment. From what I can tell Munehisa was a late smith working in Kaga, so probably 19th century. All the best. And I see you have already found the Nihon no Katchu board

Yes Gianfranco a little light oil will do no harm. By the bye, board rules are that you sign posts with your name, easy to add in your profile. I really think you should find someone who will give you a hands on assessment but these, particularly the first two, are interesting swords. This could be the start of something big, you may have been bitten by the Nihonto bug and contracted an incurable disease. You are in for a fun time! All the best.

Hi Howard. Others will chime in, far more expert than I but at least I can tell you that it is a suji kabuto. Seems to be 62 plate. Have a look at this among many others: http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/LotD ... ID=4250952 Looks to be refinished, the mon on the fukigaeashi might be Sakai family.

Hi Gianfranco. What a find! If my first three swords had been this good I would have been thrilled. The first has a very good looking koshirae and is a wakizashi as you give it's length, assuming you measured from the tip to the notch on the back of the blade. The koshirae look very good in spite of the damage and I would say well worth restoration. Respectfully disagreeing with Brian I understood umbari to be associated with Higo mounts not Bizen but I am sure more knowledgeable fittings collectors will put us straight on that one. The second sword is interesting because it has tachi mei, extra holes are not uncommon as words are remounted and shortened at the nakago end of the blade. Both these things suggest that this is an old blade and certainly worth showing to somebody in hand who can advise you. I think I can see "Bitchu no kuni" , others may make out more. Fuch and kashira look really good and the presence of foiled seppa and double habaki are usually signs that someone took great care with the mounting. The wire loop at the end of the hilt suggest use in WWII. The third sword has a mounting ring on the scabbard which would probably have had a leather combat cover. Depends where you are but there may be a society near by where you could get some better hands on advice, for now please don't try any cleaning or restoration yourself, members here will recommend people for you who will do good work, perhaps a little light oil on the blades. Have fun.