IanB

Rob, I'm now retired but of course still keep very much in touch with the Royal Armouries. The guy who really needs to be in on the project is Dr. Dave Starley. He was Science Officer at the Royal Armouries but has just been ousted by the management! I will try and make contact. We had many long discussions about wootz and it is from him I learned of its intractable nature. It is essentially a crucible-steel and could only be made in relatively small quantities. Because it decomposed when heated above 750 it couldn't be welded. I came to the conclusion that this is why so many early Indian long swords have a riveted strengthening rib down the blade - they could only make a decent sized blade by beating the block of wootz rather thin. As far as the Japanese would be concerned it didn't matter since they would have done their usual folding and welding. All they wanted was a carbon steel. As for the Dutch and English steel, I wonder what its composition was. I would guess that at best it was very variable. I suspect it was being used more for its novelty value than anything else. The aiguchi had been around and known about for a while. It used to belong to Clem Milward of the ToKen Society and appeared an article in Apollo magazine in 1940 and was exhibited in the 1968 ToKen Exhibition in Oxford. The blade has traces of an inscription that reads on one side - ME FECIT SOLINGEN 16?5 and on the other - F???SS KEISSER ANNO. The tang is also marked with a crossed scepre stamp in an oval. I cannot trace a suitable member of the Keisser (also Kaiser, Kayser or Keyser) family, but the first letter might be a P in which case it could be PETRUSS. I'm sorry I don't have a suitable photo but the unknown smith has shaped it so as to leave the original riccasso and has added yasuri to the tang. If you are interested I wrote it up in 'Arms and Armour' Vol4 No.2 2007. Ian

I've just done a few calculations and if Adams was right about the weight, the bars of steel he was talking about would be somewhere near 1.7cm square. We also know that the Japanese were getting steel imports in the form of 'gourd shaped' ingots as well as 'nail shaped' ingots. The former may well have been from the Portuguese base in Goa since this was not a form that the Europeans would have produced. If so it would have been wootz steel from an Indian or Central Asian source. Since the structure of this material breaks down above 750 deg. Celcius, to the Japanese it would work like any other carbon steel. Jan Piet Puype of the Legermuseum, Delft did some work on the export of sword blades by the VOC. I had done some similar work at the Royal Armouries and what seems to have been happening was that they would obtain a native sword and have copies made in Solingen. These copies would then become a desirable item of trade in that region. I found that in the RA's collection of Indian swords, some 75% had either Italian or German blades. I also bought an aiguchi for the RA collection a couple of years ago with a blade made in Solingen (with an inscription surviving in the fuller) that had been reshaped from a cavalry sword or a hanger and then re-hardened in the Japanese style to produce a yakiba. This was mounted with fittings bearing a Matsuura kamon and a saya covered with Dutch leather. I also own an armour having the front of the do covered with Dutch leather. Quite a trade Ian Bottomley

The following may be of interest. It is taken from letters written by Will Adams to the East India Company. The first being sent home in the ship Cloves in 1613. In a list of trade items worth shipping from England he states: 'Stylle in long barres still holding his old prise at 20 crown the picoll, which is 125 l Inglish wayt and sometymes being coum worth 3 l 15s'. In other words long bars of steel 125 lbs sometimes fetching as as much as £3 15shillings. In another letter (undated) he describes the most suitable presents to send to give to Ieyasu and says: ' And for marchandis, he deessired to haue soum 100 barres of steill 4 squar, in length soum 8 or 9 foout; which goods the Hollanders haue brought and sold to the emperour (Ieyasu) at 5 l starling the picoll, which is Inglish waight 125 powndes'. In this case square bars of steel 8' or 9' long that the Dutch had sold for £5 sterling. Ian Bottomley

All, There is bit about these in Nihon Katchu Bugu Jiten by Sasama. The early ones are mounted in a relatively short shaft, one of which is hirumaki like an early naginata. A later one is on a longer shaft with a top mount and ishizuki. Ian

Nick, A letter from the seller seems to be the way for you to move forward. If nothing else it will raise an 'issue' which then puts the onus on them to prove it is a replica. Since they do not appear to have anyone qualified to decide what is a replica it puts them in a pickle. If it is any consolation, I'm in the same boat as you, having a wakizashi sitting there with, I think ,a 17" blade. Clearly they are not bothering to measure the blades, just detaining everything in case they slip up. Since I haven't seen the sword, only photographs, I can only state that it is my 'opinion' that it is old even though I know it is - I wouldn't have bought it if I didn't think that. I'm not sure how they would react to an endorsement from the ToKen or Northern ToKen. I doubt they have heard of either organisation and again it could only be an opinion based on photographs. They do want is a piece of paper that they can put in the file. I did get a katana through without too much hassle by quoting the seller, the fact that I had worked for the Royal Armouries and that I had published books. I'm trying it again with my wakizashi but the holiday will have disrupted the post so I don't know yet whether I need to send additional material. If you still have trouble after a few more days email me. Ian Bottomley

All, Yup, they are still using a photo I commissioned way back of an armour in the Pitt-Rivers Museum in Oxford. I like the standard text rather than actual descriptions - cute :lol: Ian

All, This is very reminicent of a couple of swords that were sent from Japan for sale in Christies decades ago - lavish gold mounts, white jabara bindings, decorated saya and no papers. Note with this one there is only one seppa and that rather dubious. Love the F/K though. Ian Bottomley

Welcome to the Board. As Grey has said your sword is signed by Kanemitsu of Mino province and is perfectly real. There were quite a few generations who used that signature, the most likely being the one working around 1660 or so. Treasure your new acquisition and learn all you can about it. Ian Bottomley

Without revealing Moriyama San's spoiler, you might like to know that there were a couple of smiths using this name. One worked in Kai and Sagami around the end of the 16th century, possibly for the Takeda family. The second, around the mid Edo in Hitachi province. The way the first kanji is written indicates that this helmet is by the second of these two. See Kei Kaneda Chappelear's book, Japanese Armour Makers for the Samurai. Ian Bottomley

Ford, I bow to your artistry as well as your willingness to share this with us. Superb! May I ask, the silver you are using - is it near 100%? I've tried with stirling silver in the past and failed miserably. I assumed the alloying made it too hard. Ian bottomley

I think the 'high ranking officers' must have been overwhelmed to have been issued with one of these. No doubt it came with a handy booklet entitled '101 Fun Things To Do With Your Issued Wiget'. Ian

Well folks I said I would keep you informed of developments with the import of my daito so here it is. I am delighted to say that I now have my sword :D :D :D . Even better, it exceeds my expectations, but that's another matter. HM Revenue and Customs managed the following timetable: Sword was posted in Japan 16.54, 21-04-2008. left Osaka 4.32, 22-04, arrived at International Hub, Coventry 21.07, 22-04, awaiting Customs charging 21.20, 22-04. Letter sent to me 23-04 and reply sent following day. It then languished until 20.19, 9-05 when it was finally released and forwarded to my local depo for collected on the 12-05. All told a total of 20 days or so. Now for the sting. Having admitted it was antique and releasing it, they then charged me at full 17.5% VAT (instead of 5% since it is antique) and added Import Duty as well. . So now I have to embark on the tedious business of trying to claim back money I should not have had to pay. Since I am already in dispute over a similar charge applied to a sword I sent for polishing, and have been since last December, it remains to be seen how long this will go on. Ian Bottomley

Milt, Normally with animate subjects both menuki face the blade, hence one looks one way the other the opposite. On this basis not a pair but a very good association. Ian Bottomley

Darcy, Portraits of the 36 famous poets painted by Tosa Mitsuoki (1617 - 1691) are hung around the prayer hall at Nikko Toshogu Shrine. They are National treasures and I suspect the portraits of the poets on the blade may well have been taken from these. Mitsuoki did both commercial work as well as holding the office of edokoro azukari to the Imperial Court in Kyoto. Ian Bottomley

Carlo and All, To think all of this neurosis around the world started, if memory serves, in Victoria, Australia where someone was killed with what the authorities thought might have been a Japanese sword. It's as though the rest were waiting for an excuse to apply yet further restrictions on us all. Ian

This would be useful I agree but the Home Office took the stance from the outset that there must be no licencing or similar administrative work involved. No doubt officers do recognise certain names when shipments come in which would certainly speed things up. As an update, I rang Coventry yesterday and was told that there didn't seem to be any problem with my shipment but that because of their workload it would be another 10 days or so until my sword is released. Ian Bottomley.

Reinhard, I think your second example is good evidence that embellishments with lacquer was not unknown. In fact the two examples are so similar they may have been made in the same workshop. On the same tack, (and let me say I know nothing of tsuba), I suspect this technique had a much longer history. We all keep coming across iron tsuba, often signed, yet without a vestige of decoration. Were these also decorated in this way originally? I know from my armour experience that lacquering iron isn't always a success. Getting the first coat to stick involves heating the metal before the base coat is added. Get it wrong and the lacquer flakes off. Were these plain iron plates originally decorated with lacquer that has failed to stand the test of time? An interesting thought. Ian Bottomley

Stan, I hate to disagree with some of the points raised but the leaf and the flower are not upside down with regard to the tsuba. You could argue the butterfly is or it might just be flying down to the flower. What I agree with is that it couldn't be used on a sword but I don't think it was really meant to. I think it is a genuine tsuba that has been embellished with lacquer to sell it to a tourist in the Meiji period. Without seeing it in the flesh it is impossible to say what they have used to fill the holes in the original tsuba with. If I'm correct, and it goes cheaply, it is an interesting and rare survivor of a period when a lot of artists were struggling to live and were trying all sorts of stunts to get money out of tourists. Ian Bottomley

The Royal Armouries collection contains two examples, one by Motohira in a gunto mount the other by another shinshinto smith whose name escapes me (senior moment ). There is another in Liverpool Museum with a long sayagaki to the effect that some retained smith (this time I'm excused it must be twenty years since I saw it) was ordered to study the original and make two copies. The daimyo selected the one he liked and gave the other to the smith. Ian Bottomley

Mark, I'm sorry that happened. I suspect that they had taken the attitude, quite rightly from their point of view, that if it came in over the counter the owner didn't want it and it should be destroyed. I do not think letters from organisations such as the ToKen would do any good since most police forces will not have heard of them. This idea has to be accepted at a higher level and then it can trickle down. Things have been mooted and we will have to wait and see if there is any interest shown in the idea. Ian

All, In a more charitable vein and being serious for once, I feel that the guys at the International Hub are in something of an impossible position. They have been taxed with implementing a law that requires them to differentiate between something real and something fake that by definition imitate the real with varying degrees of closeness. How can they differentiate without many years of study. I used the analogy of the £20 note. A bank worker might recognise it, if it is sufficiently bad, but most members of the public couldn't. We have had enough examples on the NMB which members could not agree was real or not. What is needed is a system of help; a pool of people willing to advise either the police or customs in those cases where there is doubt about the authenticity of a sword. I would be grateful for member's views on this idea. Ian

John, Better than that, I was able to mention I had done some of the preliminary work with the Home Office and include a page for the consultation document on the amendment to the act with my name on it. With a bit of luck that might cause a few minor palpitations amongst the stony-hearted ******s. I have also been reading the act and although I am no lawyer, para 6 is reasonably clear since it states that for paras 3 & 4 (collectors and martial arts practitioners etc) ... a person shall be taken to have shown a matter specified in those paragraphs if - a) sufficient evidence of that matter is adduced to raise an issue with respect to it; and b) the contrary is not proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Now this suggests to me that if you do offer evidence that a sword is old, they have then to prove it isn't. I suppose the word 'sufficient' might be a sticking point but you will have raised an issue. They then have the onus put on them to prove it isnt old. Ian

HM Revenue and Customs seem to have moved with some haste on the new legislation. Having bought a sword in Japan I am now trying to get it through the 'ring of steel' that has been erected around our islands. They appear to have adopted an attitude that assumes the import is illegal. After sitting for a week in the infamous 'International Hub', during which time the tracking system reported that it was awaiting Custom Charging, they then put out a standard letter of notification that the parcel has been detained. This letter is an absolute delight. Couched in pseudo legal gobbledygook even the opening paragraph is incorrect since it states that the parcel contains a 'prohibited sword(s)'. In fairness it goes on to mention the act and rather coyly tells you about the 'defences'. Finally, just to fill you with confidence in our noble law enforcers, it describes the parcel, listing: SENDER, with my name and address and the DECLARATION with 'ANTIQUE Japanese SWORD 300 YEARS OLD'. Just to make life easier, they send you one of those really friendly little government booklets full of dire warnings about seized objects being destroyed, and other sundry useless information. It does however state that there is no time limit on how long you can take to make your claim for the recovery of you property but suggest a month. The letter however graciously gave me 14 days. Finally there is the sneaky little entry that states that '... to restore a seized thing this will normally be on payment of a fee.' That fee being of an unspecified amount 'depending on the specific circumstances'. So you import a perfectly legal object that they say is illegal and then have to prove it to be legal and pay for the privilege. Pure govermental emb*gg*rment! I will keep the board posted on developments. Ian Bottomley

Guido, I did not say the yokote was not a ridge, of course it is, but the sharp line you see with a well polished sword is caused to a large extent, by the striations from the polishing stones meeting at right angles - hence my comment about it being an optical effect. The loss of the polish through abrasion also rounds the ridge and it loses its definition. This is what I think has happened here. Unlike the shinogi, the yokote is a much more shallow angle which when rounded makes its original position rather indefinite except by reference to the junction of the shinogi and ko-shinogi. Ian Bottomley

I have to agree with Peter, the real hamon is clearly visible above the acid etch. The tsuba is real, the menuki look nice enough (of shakudo with touches of gilding) the binding is real and so is the same. The way the muck and dust has accumulated around the menuki and the build up of verdigris on the tsuba and seppa are just right and virtually imossible to fake. As for the yokote, its largely an optical effect anyway and once the polish has gone can soon be blurred. What I am seeing is a perfectly genuine sword with a blade that some idiot has scrubbed up with wire-wool and etched a false hamon on. I would get the black deposit from the etching off straight away to make sure it doesn't do any more damage. In the UK we have an impregnated wadding metal cleaner called Duraglit which will do the job and is mild enough to not harm the blade. Ian Bottomley