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HI thanks, Curran for your help. thanks, Rich T / for the the tips on the photos and the translation . do not know when the next sunny day will be here it's bloody frozen at the moment. will try to get better pics soon?? Ford . Rich T / is correct with the flash making it look bad, the tsuba has nice deep black patanation to it and feels good to touch " the tsuba that is " this tsuba i have owned for well over 15 years and came through a private purchase including a sword blade and a broken tsuka so i would say its not been [ tampered with ] i hope. regards ray.

Hi all similar questions on this tsuba , large iron moko shaped ! tsuba with dragon / with human like face curling round the hitsu-ana . 1. can anyone make out the mei ! please . 2. school ? 3. tsuba 80 x 75 x 3 to 4mm As you can tell i do not know much about fittings and these are items i have aquired through the years off collecting , and i hope you dont mind on the NMB that i post a few swords / tsuba etc at a latter date . thanks . ray.

Hi thanks kendoman and nagamaki for info on this smith . is their any one that can scan this info and post the page and photo off the smith Naotsugu . [ please ] from - Dai Nippon Token Shoku Meiken . Toyko Ginza 1943 or is this info available on line ?? . thanks ray.

HI , mantis dude i think i will have to invest in a new digi camera ? or learn how to take better photos . the inlay on the tsuba is brass in my opinion thanks ray.

HI ,thanks to all, for all the feed back. Ford if you are still watching this post ,i take all the points on board, and what i was trying to say badly was that the tsuba was over cleaned wrongly by someone . and i did feel that as you said it should have a nice deep brown / black patina so the next question . 1. how much would it cost ?? to have it professionaly done . 2. and apart from yourself, is their anyone in the [ UK ] you would recommend that can do this type off work. 3. is it worth having done ? and is it good enough to submit for papers ? is the ultimate question. any more opinions !!! thanks. ray.

Hi ray again with more tsuba questions , same sort of questions any body like to sugest school or date etc . as you can see it is a large katana tsuba with grape vines i think ! and bails of straw on the front face and grape vines only on the reverse . are grape vines ? a rare or common theme on sword fittings ! tsuba 80mm x 4 to 3mm thanks ray.

Hi thanks for your thoughts on the tsuba i suppose what i am trying to say re patina is that i feel their has been at some point a patanation their , i think my photographic techniques do not show the proper colours ETC and again i think you would need too see the tsuba ? but perhaps i am wrong may be as John sugests its fine as it is !. if the tsuba is off some age why has it not got a more deeper natural patina ? than it has at the moment ,or will it naturally change with age ? look forward to more comments . ray.

Brian thanks for your reply ,your adivice sounds like a good advice ,thanks . will try and get close up shots off the details and update the post latter and i can confirm it is iron , the details on it and the surface textures as you can see are very beautifuly exicuted. one thing i forgot to say about the tsuba in the previous post was what colour off patanation would be correct ?? thanks. ray

Here is a iron tsuba that i swoped many years ago for a Tanto sum might find that extreme ! but i still think i got the better end off the deal. As you can see it has bee over cleaned at sometime [ not me ] i was wondering if their was any DIY patanation tips out there that could be shared ! without needing to be magician ? as you will see the tsuba has a wonderfull carved dragon on the front with part off the dragon showing on the reverse . any opinions on the tsuba / schooll age / etc. thanks ,ray.

Hi John , I hope the observation you have made is more than likley caused by my bad photos !! they are enlarged and not showing them at their best and do not show their true colours ETC. the one with the tigers came with a wakisashi with the ito falling a part so in the middle of rebinding the tsuka, and now that you have pointed it out ! off them all , i can see what you mean with them [ thanks ] the rest off them all came as matched sets !! thanks john ray.

Hi some pics of fuchi and kashira any opinions on the school or age i would be pleased to here about any info on them . I do not know much about fittings at all. thanks ray.

Hi just as above / in the subject box , added a clearer pic of the mei still wondering if anybody has any info on this smith ? regards ray.

Hi stephen it looks fake to me ???? but what do i know !!!!! ray.

Adding a couple off more pics . 1. off the tang , i hpoe with a clear look at the mei. 2. full blade , with HI and 27" cutting edge. 3.signed tachi mei regards ray.

adding couple of more pics of the blade etc , sorry my camera is not a very good camera for close up shots of the blade . ray.

HI from ray. thank you koichi and stephen for your help . i will try soon to post a better pic of the tang still finding my way round with my camera etc, so photography is not one of my best subject as you can tell . so basicly the translation is close to what i had , but some better pics of the tang will help to clear up the signiture ! i will try and post a new photo of the tang soon . stephen, here is the old sick'ening part of the story ? the previous owner bought the sword in 1966 for £10.00 and it was the fist sword he ever bought he went on to become a well knowing collector in the sword world in the UK , in the early 1970/80. as you rightly say it is a fantastic gendai-to and it took me a long time to aquire it, and i will be hopefully looking after it for some years to come, but point taking. regards ray.

malcolm the smith looks like kaneyoshi to me as for the rest i am at work at the moment with no access to my limited library and it would take me an age to work it out i think!! you will get a good translation shortly from what i have learned on the board being a new member their are lots of members who are very good at this .. ps - is that a tang stamp at the top of the pic cheers ray.

here is a shin gunto , i have now owned for about 15 years now. in all the time i have had the sword i cant find any info about this smith other than a mention in sloans oshigata book reffering to medals and awards he has won. is there any one got a sword by this smith ? or any other info please . as you can see the mounts are very high quality gunto mounts with a mon on the kabuto gane and a polished same saya and high ranking officers tassel and hanger, it also came with its original dark blue sword bag with a red silk cord . the sword was brought back from a sword surrender in in 1945 buy chap that says to the previous owner he simple went round the swords on the day and picked the best looking sword he could find. the signiture reads i think [ ni-oite - omija-hachiman gu -neguru naotsugu - tsukuru ] if any one can translation the full signiture i would appreciate your help please. the translation passed on to me was - [made in the capital yedo in the grounds of the hachiman shrine by NAOTSUGU. thanks .ray

some more details of the mounts , i hope the pics turn out alright was not sure how to post etc ! hope they are clear enough to be veiwed this is following on from my other post . thanks ray.

still trying to get round the tech-no part of posting sorry for any duff posts. i no this is not very[ PC ] and not every bodies cup of tea ,and it would not be my first choice for mounts from around circa 1850/80 . and i must admit when i first was asked to go and see the [ bone mounted sword ] i allmost did not bother bacause i wrote it of as just an other tourist or trade peice . the mounts are signed with a very soshu looking skript , i can not and dont think i ever will get my head round it at all bad enough on a good day with kanji ,so if any one can help please . ps. i dont know whats the right way up with the signiture !! thanks ray.

sorry / forgot the date showa 1944 i think !! regards ray

looks like [ nobu mitsu ] to me !!! is it a naval mounted sword / reason for that , it looks like a stainless steell tang !!! / sword , usual kaigunto mounts ? showa period. regards ray.

hi , i am ray , a newbie to the board. les stuart is a very good friend of mine as well as a friend of ford , i have had 4/5 swords polished by les , from his early years at polshing, wright up to the present,the last sword polished for me was in 2005/2006. and i was delghted with the finished article. ps ford we have met a couple of times in london in the past i particulary remember drooling over your fantastic naganata you had at the swallow hotel if i remember rightly regards ray