Katsujinken-Ya

Hello all, I have just packed my Gore-Tex outfit and will be around in Oxford, later today. See you, Dieter

Hello, here are two other styles of habaki. The silver one is actually part of the later war gunto koshirae. The blade is seki monosteel one. The second habaki is nicely made of copper with finely chiseled ornaments. The blade is a koto one signed "Nagamitsu". Dieter

Again there is the discussion around wether, or wehter not choji oill is the right thing, at all. When living in non humid climates simply wiping off the blade softly with a microfibre cloth after studying your blade will be fine. Only occasionally a further treatment with i.e alcohol might be necessary. It can be a good thing after kantei with other people. Spit, fingerprints and other nasty things. Also check the saya against previous inproper teratment! There might be dirt like rests of uchiko, oils, pieces of wood and what have you inside the saya. In such case, have a new saya made! Oils can be acidic. This can cause the kind of redox-reaction we do not want on our blades. German made Ballistol gun oil (has been around since WWI) is alcaline and some people, I know, use it for nihonto in general. I have been using it for iaitos and my shinsaku practice katana with no visible effect, so far. However, in case of collective blades I prefer to have nothing on, if possible. Only for transport. Dieter

Hello Richard, here is a pic of a Yasukuni sword´s habaki. If someone else has pictures of other habaki coming with yasukuni swords, we could make a nice comparison! Dieter

Hello, I have no records about the makers. As a reference here are two gunto mounts. One on the left is an officer grade gunto mount. The other one for a sword by Miyaguchi Yasuhiro from his early Yasukuni time. Most parts of both koshirae loock ready made. The designs on the Yasukuni one, however, are slightly easier to read and the cast is a better quality. The laquer is alo diferent and the copper part in the alloy appears to be higher. Since there is no real standard szise for gunto koshirae there must have been specialised workshops involved to customise the mounings for the particular blades. The book on Yasukuni swords by Tom Kishida might be a source for aditional reading. Maybe, someone in this forum has more ideas about this. Dieter Hammer

Hello Martin, that uchiko is not so good to use to clean fine blades on a regular basis seems to be common sense, nowerdays. I can remember an article from the 1950ies or 60ies in which a then Japanese sword authority advises collectors to clean and treat blades with uchiko very intensively. Either he based this on the fact that many blades he might have come across in the US were covered with heavy machine oil by ignorants, or he wanted the people to ruin their captured swords on purpose . The first time, I watched someone using alcohol on Japanese blades was while visiting a Japanese dealer in Tokyo. He was wiping off a blade with some liquid and I asked him what secret solution that was. Alcohol, it came out! It works really well, especially if you aditionally, carefully wipe the blade off with a micrifiber cloth (german: Mikrofasertuch). Do not employ too much pressure! 90% ethanol or even conventional methylated alcohol (german: Brennspiritus) is technically fine for this application. Make sure that all liquid that could contain a rest of water is entirely evaporised prior to resheathing the blade into the saya. Especially watch the part covered by the habaki! The chemically purest alcohol available is "spiritus absolutus". Your pharmacist will like you when you ask for this. Uchiko I use myself only on my iaitos after training. It works well to remove the sticky sweat from the mune. If you use a less precious Japanese jitsuyo-to for training with a less elaborate polish, uchiko will be fine for the same purpose. Another reason to use uchiko is when the blade is obscured by human debris such as fat, bone, blood, tissue..., after a sucessful combative encounter :lol: . Having sayed that, this will be unlikely the case, will it? Cheers, Dieter

Hello Richard, the Kimuras do make good swords. I have one by Kimura Kanehiro "Kaneteru" for sale on my website. Here is the link for your interest: http://www.katsujinken-ya.com/2.html . However, do not feel obliged to buy it. Coming back to your initial question about ranking and having a sword made in Japan. It would be wise to clarfy first what purpose you need the sword for. If you wish to have an outstanding work of art made for you that will be an everlasting piece of human cultural heritage, you might want to commission a Ningen Kokuho for that purpose. Your commissioner´s name as part of the mei will be thus immortal for centuries. Well, you do not get this for free :lol: . Easiest would certinly be to see as many Shinsakuto in real and develop an eye and thaste for the subject. Once you find a nice piece meeting your esthetical standards, buy it. The same, as with old swords. It is a totally different thing once you are loocking for a sword you plan to use for training Japanese swordsmanship of the various kinds. Not all swords are equally ideal for all styles. Long ones, short ones, heavy ones... . There are some standard configurations most Japanese smiths can do and they are not too costly. Mountings are another issue. For the time being, I will leave you with the question, what you need the sword for. Rgds., Dieter