Peter Bleed

Indeed, the 2015 Chicago show was a big success. Mark and his family made it run very smoothly and were warm and positive. There was a good turn out and lots of very good stuff to see – tho I have to say that I was unable to find any Sendai Shinto. Well, actually, I heard of one that is about to come on the market - - for $189,000. Without seeing it, tho, I did not commit to buying it. Peter

Friends, Once agin the the NMB has worked. I'm sorry Fuuten, if my inquiry was vague. Indeed, I wondered where - in geographihc space - spear poles were made. My expectation is that there were places that supported specialized groups of workers who made spears. Think Osafune, Sekai etc. I did not mean to ask about "where" yari were mounted - on the end of a wooden pole. I am lucky enough to have had a couple of "old" yari disentegrate in my collection. On the basis of those experiences, I can tell you that yari poles were NOT split like katana saya/tsuka. The pattern I have observed is that yari nakago were fitted into deep grooves that were carved into the pole and filled with a carefully fitted sline. Yari seem to have been fitted very tightly so maybe it is not surprising that even shinto yari often have heavy nakago sabi. There are also cases I have seen of yari with blades that were secured below lacquered exterior coats that offered no means for removing the mekugi. Thus, altho signed, these weapons seem not to have been designed to be dismounted. These yari were for fighting, not for inspecting! And Barry, as i read your note my reaction was the one that Ian came up with. Tools and skills of working curved honoki saya are likely to be very different from what was needed to make straight red oak poles. In fact, I wonder how hard it would be to "find" straight oak boards suitable for yari shafts. They may well have been rather carefully cultivated. And Ian, I am sorry to say that I was unaware of the paper you told us about. Would you please give us the complete reference. Thank you all. Peter

Earlier this week, I found myself in a conversation about the number (and logistical implications) of the arms used at battles like Nagashino. Thousands of guns, swords, and yari were involved in these affairs. We are aware of where guns and sword and yari blades and were being produced, But I have never seen anything on where yari were mounted. Can anyone point me to information on where this work was done? Thanks Peter

Don't worry, but I am pretty sure that antibotics won't make it go away. Peter

Have you seen the blade that Andy Quirt just added to his list? Peter

A couple of years ago Chris Bowen taught us the focus of serious Japanese collectors - - “Koto, Goto, Seto.” All three are nice, and Chris shared this insights with at least a bit of irony, but I see this as another of the rules that marks Japanese sword collecting. We foreigners either learn – and obey – the Japanese rules, OR we blaze a new trail - - and draw the approbation of the experts. I think that my “collection” – and my real hobby – is the process of collecting. I love hunting for stuff (swords, buki, mingei, and militaria, ethnographica) discovering it, recording its lore, figuring out what the heck it is, and then having it around. I love stories as much as I love things. Now if I could only walk in our basement! Peter

April is turning out to be full so I have pulled out the blades I'll be bringing to Chicago: two gendai blades, including a nice Nagamitsu, a kaigunto dress sword, a nice signed Mino koto tanto, a gotta-be Kamakura Hoko, a set of Soten fuchi-kashira, 5 signed shinto shoto and a raft of tsuba. I'll keep digging and I hope everybody else will getting out their Sendai shinto and Ainu blades! Looking forawrd to seeing the crew! Peter

Ian, My Bos call probably a bit rash. This is certainly mammal Sus or cervid might be fair. I'm sure there are peolple who could identify the species. I'll do some digging. Peter

Well, they "could" be lots of things, but having excavated lots of bones (including whale and human) I'm pretty sure that these are Bos. Peter

Curtis, It turns out that you started a rather interesting thread. When i began reading it I had no such hopes. I assummed we'd agree that this 'sword' is trash - - and move on. But Ian Bottomley - as he often does - found an intersting and overlooked point of dimension. To reframe the issue, Ian points out that LOTS of low end bone-mounted blades were being coming out of Japan in what seems to have been Meiji time. These things rather "look" Japanese, altho they very rarely have tradtional Japanese blades (albeit they do have habakis and are shinogi-zukuri etc.). Following those facts, Ian asks 2 questions 1) where'd all those bovine bones come from? and 2) who was making those wretched swords? These questions may be beneath the interests of "serious" NMB members, but I think they are interesting and relevant to Japanese swords and sword collecting. I also have an opinion.. . . 1. Where'd the cattle bones come from? In fact, oxen would have been fairly common in premodern Japan because - even if they were not eaten (altho of course they were) they were the major agricultural draft animal. Every village would have had a couple. I think Japan could have generated a lot of beef bones. It is also worth pointing out that the Namban trade featured lots of animal tissue. A common commodity brought to Deshima from Annam or the Philippines was "shark skin for sword handles". Hide, pelts, and exotics were also brought down from what is today Hokkaido 2. Who was making these bone-mount things? Ian suggests that these blade may have originated in China. I'm am challenged by that suggestion. As i said, they "look" Japanese without actually looking very good. If newly unemployed sword artisans made them, I think they would be better. They also seem not to be at all common in China or in collections formed there. I think they're Japanese. So who might have been able/interested in this kind of manufactured stuff? Let me suggest the "Buraku-nin" or "Eta" who formed an emergent political and economic community in Meiji Japan. I have NO evidence that they made these things, but a major source of export income to Japan during the early Meiji era was. , . . bone tooth brushes. Brushing teeth was a big health and hygiene fad at that time and the US loved'em. This trade and this market were commanded by Eta and they got lots of government support. They certainly knew how to work bone and they knew how to carefully protect their monopoly. Thank you Curt and Ian! Peter

Well, okay. I giess I got the information I was looking for. I'll tell my friend that he has a bit of militaria that gets no respect from the polite Japanese sword collecting community. Beyond seeing this sword as potential "merch" (hey, I hang around with the militaria crowd) I have to also admit that this sword raised some questions in my mind - from a historical perspective. I wondered about who was making these swords. I also wondered how these swords were being marketed to IJA officers. And I even wondered if they were somehow out the offical sword production pipeline and if that might reveal something about WWII sword history. No such luck. This instance shows that there are swords that aren't any good and don't deserve collecting - even if they must somehow have been related to the history of swords. If that was the case during WWII, I'll bet it was the case during the Kamakura era too. Peter

Friends, Please allow me to beg the help of the Board for an EASY answer to a simple question. This afternoon a freind showed me a sword he had just bought. It is an early War shin-gunto that is unsigned but... right at the end of the nakago is a hot stamp that is the top part of a "hyaku ren.." stamp. the bottom of the jiri lookslike it was reshaped. The blade is a wretched little dung-ball (albeit it pretty good polish) with several straight masame kizu, It has all the charm of a Seki blade, but it also has evidence of lamination. So, is this collectible? Peter

Its just you, SAS. To me this looks like a completely "normal" utility grade, "old" sword mounted up for War service early in WWII. The Officer's name was Hayashi, and in 1941, he, or his family, ordered up a nice rig. In 1989, this would have beena piece of merch, but then the bubble burst. . . . Peter

Why is it so hard (for me) to send a PM Any of this look interesting? Wakizashi signed Chikugo ju MORISADA saku (MOR225) dated: Bunroku 4th year 8th month. (1595). Blade measures 15 ½” and is in essentially full polish so that its construction fully visible. It shows a flowing suguha hamon. The hada is itame with some coarse grain, but it is solidly tight, there are no blisters or flaws. The kissaki is not robust, but fully intact. The blade has a silver foil covered habaki, a round iron tsuba with traces of nunome design. Nice black saya which is missing the kurikata. The tsuka is solid, with brown wrap and odd soft metal fittings. This is a handsome, clean, signed, and dated koto by a respected smith. It presents nicely. What’s not to like? 750.00 Wakizashi signed Fujiwara YOSHINAGA. This is certainly a Shinto, but it deserves shinsa. The delicate and graceful blade measures 15 ¾”. It has a flowing medium suguha with itame hada. The polish is excellent so that all features – and no kizu – are visible. In a red spiraled lacquered saya which lacks a kojiri but looks very nice. Iron sukashi tsuba features swallows. Tsuka is slightly tattered but basically intact with woven tape wrapping. Matching f-k, and nice round crane menuki of shakudo. Again, a clean, handsome blade. $850 Wakizashi signed Hizen Kikuchi KUNITOMO (KUN 1323etc). This blade is 17 ½” long and is in pre-War polish so its features are all visible – this includes some open grain, but no serious kizu or killing flaws. The blade has several areas of stain but no pits. It needs polish but can be appreciated as it is. It certainly could be shinsa’d as it is. The hamon is midare suguha with what sure looks like a yakidashi. This seems like a collectible blade, but the koshirae can absorb lots of attention. It has a silver foil covered habaki. The saya is very nice, heavy dark orange lacquer with no accommodation for a kozuka. It has a black kojiri. The saya and other saya fittings. These fittings look like gold/silver washed plain mounts. Like the rest of the rig – they are tarnished and blotchy, but I have left them that way because I am not sure how they should look. The sword has nice smallish iron four-lobed iron tsuba lightly signed Kanehisa with 4 seppa, two with silver foil. The tsuka has black (rusty) f/k. The tsuka is covered with ¼” wide rings of silver. The center of the tsuka has a broad shakudo ring around a pair of nice gold kiri-mon button menuki. The tsuka was covered with tape when I got it, so the rings are blotchy deep blue/grey. I left them that way because I have no idea what this sword should look like. I’m sure the mountings can be appropriately finished. This is a project in a couple of regards. It needs to be researched to determine what it should look like and then it needs to be appropriately treated. All this seems doable and, potentially, fun. $2000 Ko-wakizashi, signed Sadamune, on the omote side of the nakago there is a date Kem?? 2, but there is a meguki-ana through the second character, and what appears to be an animal figure instead of the year character. Both sides of the nakago seem coated with black lacquer. In good shirasaya with a nice silver foil covered habaki. The blade measures 14.5" (37cm) good polish, suguha, itame , bohi on both sides above ken-bori and bonji on one, fine hi-bori with bonji on the other. There is open grain under one bonji. This is an interesting sword that looks old and at least in the style of famous blades of Kamakura age. $1600. Wakizashi signed: Harima no Kami Fujiwara TERUHIRO (TER 60 etc). This is an interesting sword. This blade measures 21 1/8”. It is in excellent polish and all of its characteristics are visible. It has a konie deki notare hamon and fine itame hada. It is nice looking sword eventho it has a bit of a flat flaw slightly in front of the habaki. Nearby there is another bit of open grain on the mune. These are solidly closed and have been polished over many times. There is a two piece habaki, with gold foil over the larger silver foil cover. The blade is in a nice black lacquered saya without accommodation for a kodzuka. There are chips and dings in the saya, but it is serviceable. The tsuka is represented by a wood core that retains same insets on both sides and a shakudo fuchi, but no other fittings. It appears to have been a distinctively atypical tsuka. This is a collectible sword that can easily be brought back to an authentic state. $750 Shobu-zukuiri ko-wakizashi : Echizen Kuni KANETANE (KAN 2462etc). An easily restored blade. I just got. It is currently a 15 ¼” ubu wakizashi in original polish with overall light rust/stain. There are a few small(!) nicks in the kissaki but it absolutely will polish, easily . The condition shows the full blade. It has no kizu and is very healthy, but it is real dirty. The hamon is a wide notare . There is a habaki and a black lacqured saya that could be brought back, altho I assume the next owner will have the blade polished and put in shira-saya. The nakago is ubu 1 hole, but some asshole glued the tsuka on and I have not cleaned off the glue. I think it is elmer’s and will come off. Why do people do this? $350.

Terrific thread. Thanks Fred and George. My take away is that use of many motifs, techniques, and elements of "namban" style on a tsuba DOES NOT mean that everything on the guard is about foreigners. "Namban" was a style that went in many directions. It was the "Hello Kitty" of its era Again, thanks Peter

Indeed, this is a fun and interesting piece. Thank you very much Chris. I urge you to develop a full treatment of the topic. There has to be a book there! Again, thanks! Peter

This is indeed a very useful reference.Gordon did us all a favor and everyone ought to own them. Peter

I hadn't seen this page but I'm glad to have it. Thanks for keeping it before the Board. Peter

We may be spending too much time on this item whihc is looking less and less like a Japanese weapon.I think Thomas is right. The "pan" does seem very similar to the fixtures on Chinese opium pipes that were made to accept the removable fired-clay bowls which were loaded with the dope. My advice to David is, if you do buy it, DON'T carry this thing by a drug sniffing dog! Peter.

David, Interesting banger,but I am suspicious. The "stock" looks like it was made of a stack of 4x4 with Chinese coins inset. Doesn't look like a 5K item to me. Peter

Indeed, I think the general assessment was that the 2015 Tampa show was rather flat. It was good to see old friends and there were nice things to look at. Individuals found some things, but there was little 'action." I brought nothing home. Still, Tthere were hints of old style American sword collecting to be expereinced at the show. In addition to clean and kantei'd blades, there were also some "as found" items. Those are blades that offer a disctinctive kantei challege that shaped american sword collecting. What is under all that gunk? Can that shape be corrected in polish? Gimei? Can you do any better? etc etc. The supply of discoverable swords is clearly deminishing, but the woods are full of clean and completley assessed "swords." The sport has changed. Peter

Dear Friends, We must note with sorrow yet another passing. The recent issue of Man at Arms tells us that Dick Dodge passed away on Nov 30 while in Japan. Dick was one of the really "early guys" who figured out that Japanese swords were under-appreciated treasure. He boldly - and kindly - entered the frey, helped and entertained, explored and organized. He was good company, daringly bold, completely fair, and amazingly perceptive, I will remember him fondly. Sword collecting will never be the same. Peter

I leave for Tampa tomorrow. There seems to be no weather between me and the Show. I'm looking forward to seeing you all! I'll be the old guy asking about Sendai Kunikane. Peter

this is chinese! Peter

Dr. Ford was mild, tough and smart. He made a major contribution to the JSSUS and to sword collecting at a critical point. He was also a really nice guy. Our world is reduced. Peter