NihontoEurope

Chris, Keith, Adam, Brian, Grey, Piers and last but not least Thomas, Thanks for commenting. Great info about the Horomino. If we forget the carving and take a look at the sword. Would it be Sukemune of Shimada? It looks nice and since it is not signed it is not gimei : ) I think the sayagaki can be trusted as to the connection to the sword, but is it a correct assumtion? The swords from Sukemune I have seen so far does not have: 1. Horomino 2. Bi-Hi I'm still in the dark : ) /Martin

Brian, Thank you. Do you think it was there as per production/"pre sale" or carved in at a later stage? It is probably a polisher that is responsible for the sayagaki. /Martin

Hello, Here is an image of the horomono I promised. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/37236755/H2.jpg /Martin

Another thing, do not have evidence, could be that the owner back in the days (days being pre 1900's) wanted to pimp up the sword like we do on our cars today. We change the wheels on our cars to make them more beautiful. I tend to compare swords with cars as an analogy, but it works. So, the owner, could have made this post production for a number of reasons. One could be for beauty and another after a polish or two when forging errors might have appeared. I will post some more pics on the Horroblimo... /Martin

Thomas, I will add some photos I have on disk. Only one new, but I can get some more later. TOKO TAIKAN 326 has some info. I do not have that book. Thank you! /Martin

Hi all, Found out some more information during my research: According to sayagaki it says: ① Shimada Sukemune ② Bearing no signature ③ Sculpture of the dragon ④ Kojyuro Sukemune ⑤KANEI ,1624～1645 ⑥ 1974 ⑦April ⑧One day ⑨End The "小十郎助宗" part gave me more info on NihontoClub and subsequently more to dig out from books (Hawley). Apparently he changed name to Sukehiro at one time and was from Shinano. So, anyone of you guys have any info? Adding dump and image from Hawley. Thank you /Martin

I stand corrected. Got stuck on this:

Mark, It is my strong believe that it should be: NORIYOSHI /Martin

Chris, for you I will rephrase BUNGO TAKADA SHIZUNORI 1558 (永禄 EIROKU) /Martin

Brian, Yes, they are nice. It is my believe that they were more common in the kotou era. Here is my specimen: 平鎮教 二代 SHIZUNORI – Bungo 1558 Enjoy! I'm looking forward seeing your pics Brian. /Martin

Hello, It looks more like a Naginata more than a Wakizashi : ) /Martin

Roy, It could have been dismounted and then displaced when remounted. Other than that I have no answers. /Martin

Guys, FYI "New" episodes as per 9th and 12th Oct. Episode 15: Sengoku Jidai Part 1 Episode 16: Sengoku Jidai Part 2 @ http://frug.podbean.com/ /Martin

Welcome Heidar! I also see you have a green belt in some style of Martial Art. I have a couple of belts in different styles myself, but never seen the one you have. SeaGullDo? /Martin

I now have a new name for you, Jean. "France no Kami Kubikiri Jean" /Martin

Hi all, Found this at NihontoClub: I checked my Fujishiro at an earlier stage, but there is no match. I do not know the probability, but he could have changed his name as he was moving to another region/school. The search is continued : ) /Martin

Roy, It is my believe that NBTHK does not paper any blade where the mei has been erased or tampered with. /Martin

John, I will check later on today. I also found an "AKI" character that might have the same-ish strokes as the "YUKI". /Martin

Piers, Thank you for the information. I have searched and searched and have found no information. Unfortunately the mei rings no bell at all for me. /Martin

Jim, Bishu Osafune on the m4.jpg. /Martin

Piers & Grey, Thanks! I will change the header and hopefully someone who knows the Shimada school can get some info. /Martin

Grey, Can the sword be trusted as such? Does it say which gen. or era? /Martin

Hi all, Is this Sayagaki correct according to the sword? The length of the sword is correct according to the text on the saya. But the rest? SUKEMUNE of SHIMADA. /Martin

Hi all, A general question about this koshirae and the fittings that comes with it. Is this expensive or just the run of the mill add-ons? Sometimes the basic metal plate with no obvious work on it can be worth $10k puls and some extraordinary work $1k. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder... Since I'm below limited when it comes to fittings and other work (I have gained a few things when it comes to Kaneie) I feel the urge to post this. If the school and age can be determined as well as a rough value it would be great. Cheers /Martin

Piers, I will try to look for smiths listed as 吉行. It could be that the litterature and the spelling on the web refers to a modern variant of "幸". Perhaps when looking at a 吉行 listed oshigata the actual mei spells 吉幸 on the nagako. I refer to the "Hiro" character which is commonly typed as "広" in book and references, whereas "廣" on the nagako. I personally think it is wrong to type it in that way in references. There are other characters that are handled in the same way. It is probably the "幸" kanji we have on the nagako. But you never know... Thank you all for looking. /Martin