BC Smith

Got mine today, from tesco books for those living in the UK, at a grand cost of £18.90 with free delivery. http://www.tesco.com/books/product.aspx?R=9784770031303&bci=381|Interior%20Design%20%26%20DIY*12|%C2%A310%20to%20%C2%A320*23|Coming%20Soon Although it will state that delivery will take nearly 28 days I received mine in 2 days. You have to go through a bit of a sequence to get the free delivery though, click on the free delivery details link. I'm sure this will quickly become one of the must have books. Bernie

My first impression is that the blade does look similar to sankaku yari, but the nakago is wrong for one. Looking at the block effect where the nakago is "attached" on could this be the answer? A nakago joined onto a yari to make a ken? :? A very skilful job if this was done. Perhaps for some special purpose that we will never know about. I've seen one or two yari converted into "tanto" but they had retained the typical yari nakago.

Hi Andreas, have you tried? http://search.ebay.co.uk/ws/search/AdvS ... pe=8&pfid= You should then be able to contact him via the messaging system Bernie

This may help out a little more, a couple of pages from "MON The Japanese Family Crest" by W.M.Hawley & Kei Kaneda Chapplear. Satcho sells these at a very reasonable price. http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/ ... armon1.jpg http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/ ... armon2.jpg Regards Bernie

Hi Pierre if you want more info on the NCO gunto try here http://www.h4.dion.ne.jp/~t-ohmura/gunto_070.htm Ohmura san has done a fantastic job on info about all gunto with this site. Bernie

Hi very close on the date I believe its the fifth month, translation being, Showa ju yo nen go gatsu kichi jitsu, A lucky day in May 1939. It would help more if the photos were larger and the orientation of the nakago correct, that is before you upload your photo turn it 90 degrees so that the kissaki (tip/point) is at the top of the pic, saves my eyes on strain and prevents a crick in the neck. Hope I got it right someone will correct me if I'm wrong. :D Bernie

Hi Darcy your being very modest, but my huge apologies for forgetting to mention Bob Benson who deserves the same huge credit for a great publication, I mean this sincerely because most books on the subject I tend to read a couple of chapters then put the book down for a few days before returning to it but yours and Bobs book I just keep on reading, on the second lap now! Bernie

Hi Dirk, with regards to books and your now insatiable appetite to learn more about Nihinto don't forget a book entitled Japanese Swords of the Bizen Tradition by our one and only Darcy it's available at a really affordable price, but I must warn you this book is highly addictive, I've read it through once and am a quarter of the way through it again and just can't put it down. :lol: Find details for Darcys book here http://www.militaria.co.za/nihontomessa ... php?t=1522 Bernie

Hi Brian, yes I agree it does seem as though the mei is too high up on the nakago but if you have a look in Sloughs you can see that the mei is in the correct place. For this particular smith it's page 188. Bernie

Hi mike I think it's Kane Shige Slough's page 66 Welcome to the board Bernie

Hi Hank welcome to the board, what a fantastic treasure you have there, you have certainly come to the right place as there are people here that will help and advise you on your pieces, so many claim that the sword they have was captured from a general these days, but this one story is certainly believable that it came from a high ranking officer, your father really looked after this piece and in doing so has preserved a gem for a long time to come. Bernie

Put them on e-bay at a $50 starting bid the proceeds would have paid for shinsa, any if lucky a lot of the polishing cost. But it's always great ideas that come after the event :D Bernie

Richard to be honest you can put a very sharp edge on a plastic knife which would however dull very quickly. Bernie

Richard if you have access to a commercial polisher or a polishing mop that you can use on a bench grinder at home then you could use the paste that is available for them as they do go to a very fine paste, be very careful you don't want it flying through the air nihonto or not. this is the type of polishing that will destroy a nihonto that happens all too often,(shiny swords on e-bay spring to mind). A route I would take would be to clamp the blade then use a dremel with a felt polishing attachment. On another note these swords were never made or meant to have a sharp edge as they were never meant to be a "real" sword only a fancy display piece. Bernie

Hi Richard, I also have a Franklin Mint piece it's an efu Tachi supposedly a copy of the one that was presented by the emperor to Minamoto no Yoritomo, I believe the blade is chrome plated so any scratches will most probably be there to stay, if someone offered me £1000 for it I would have no hesitation, I bought it for £75 some years ago and only keep it because it looks pretty and the only piece that I allow the "sages" to run their thumbs across the blade then declare how sharp it is, also it's the only "efu tachi" I will ever get my mitts on. The one you have is I believe named "the Sword of the Samurai" by franklin mint, the stands that they come with are the best part of them, initially why I bought mine. Thinking about it you could try Autosol which you can get from any car accessory shop and is a chromium polish. A point to remember is that the likes of franklin mint creations are not Nihonto although many sellers would want you to believe they are just to sell them. Bernie

Seeing as the subject is being discussd here this is where I felt best to post. Yesterday whilst hobbling through town with my daughter I noticed a secondhand shop on the corner, basically a junk shop as it's known here in the UK, so I thought I'd stop and peruse though the offerings, entering I noticed a book section mainly of well thumbed and read novels, then on the top shelf somthing caught my eye, it was the familiar script and title "Japanese Military and Civil Swords and Dirks". Pulling it from the shelf it was in pristine as new condition, apart from a lot of dust and asked the chap in the shop "how much for this mate?" Well he said it's in pretty good nick.. ohoh here comes the killer, Ow about thirty quid, I choked nearly dropping the book, stuffed £30 in his hand and practically flew from the shop before he changed his mind. I wish he had more of the same. Sorry for being so longwinded about it. :D

Hi Deron, funny you should show that but further into the program a comparison of a katana and european sword is made and the katana looks like a chinese made Hanwei practical plus katana in fact it is used in a few scenes,so your guess is as good as mine :? Bernie

Hi Deron, already checked to see if this is for sale, no luck though, there is a decent copy on the net but that would be a pirate version! Bernie

It's one of the best TV programs that I have seen so far, it's from National Geographic channel called Samurai Sword and has a great few minutes of Gassan Sadatoshi working at the forge and scenes of a tatara in action. Those in the UK can see the full program on National Geographic on the 13th May 12.00am. Bernie

Hi stever, I do believe you are on the right track, hishu and hida being the same province, hida I think is the older name, from what I could make out from the pic of the kanji it refers to hishu on honshu rather than hishu on kyushu known as hizen, as the kanji is different to the one in the mei pic. Well they are to me! :D The pic might explain it better Regards Bernie PS the more I look at it I think I was wrong in the first place and the mei irefers to hishu on kyushu, which would mean hizen or higo that'll teach me to squint at the screen rather than find where I put my glasses :lol:

Hi Anthony, another noob here but I do believe that the Hishu part of the mei refers to a province on Honshu island. If i'm wrong then others more knowledgeable will correct me. Regards Bernie

Hi The stamp appears to be a sword company stamp not an arsenal stamp, I believe it belonged to the Kamikodo Tokenya shop, you can find a little more at Rich S site http://www.geocities.com/alchemyst/logo/logo.htm Always a good starting point for me Bernie

Thanks again I am in your debt Bernie

WOW! thanks nobody, you make it seem so easy, I would take as a guess that the "Sanuki no kami" is a title meaning Lord of ? as I have not come across sanuki before. Many Thanks Bernie :D

Been trying for a while to translate this mei, and my heads beginning to hurt so nows the time to admit defeat and call on the gurus. I think I may have kanji's 4 and 5 as fuji wara. Bernie