Ted Tenold

Try Robert Hughes. http://www.keichodo.com His email is on the site. Maybe he can help.

Then again, one has to consider that the patina we see on unretouched pieces is a result of an original treatment by the artist that *then* ages with time. When the entire piece is cleaned you loose both. Time will indeed alter the retouched treatment but it's likely it will still standout oddly against peer pieces in a hundred years. Proper restoration may bring it to the first step or close to it, but the "tincture of time" will always be lost and natural aging of the piece hindered. Time may heal all wounds but scars may still remain.

Looks like a variation of Tsuji to me as well. Hawley's lists six Kanetsuji with one signing as this one from (1555) listed as "sharp". Fujishiro lists one as well rated as Chusaku and wazamono (sharp). No oshigata I could find in a brief search.

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I also have seen the metal reinforcment plates under the samegawa before. I've also seen a variation of reinforcement that was done with copper strips formed and fitted under the samegawa on the ha and mune of the tsuka rather than the hira. Quite interesting. The dust cover at the koiguchi is a very interesting variant. I haven't see that before. These are quite obviously high grade mountings. Just as an observation, I suspect the handle has been rewrapped.

True, but you have to carry them to get them home. :lol:

I've prompted this hypothesis for a few years now. The greater portions of the Kera or "bloom" from the smelter are not suitable for sword manufacture. Only a minor percentage is. Yet they had to be doing something with the rest of the material. Let's face it, this was precious stuff to make back in the days before Mr. Bessemer. Tea pots, door hinges, tansu fittings, tools, nails, stirrups, horse bits, and yes, why not tsubas. The lower end of the carbon contents would have different working properties suitable for perhaps the carving, cutting, and sculpting of such works as Kamakura tsuba. Ford would be better able to discuss "working perameters" part of the discussion, but I think that the regional differences we see in tsuba plates and manufacture techniques are attributable to same reasons we see regional differences in sword steel and working styles.

Having once been a resident of Califonia, I can say that there's not much that isn't illegal. Heaven forbid you should even say the "G" word. Yes, Sword canes are most definately illegal. They are also illegal in Japan to my understanding. It has more to do with the mounts being covert than it being a weapon. If it has a decent enough blade, the blade must be taken out of the mounts and shipped in something more descript, such as definable koshirae or a shirasaya. On rare occasions there are actually decent swords in them. Most times they are low or no quality. The ends have to justify the means. Hope this helps.

This design is called "Botan Yujo" or "Botan Yujo Yasuri". The design resembles peonies (Botan). I am not aware of this being indicative of any particular region. Many styles of habaki are such as Higo, Osaka, and Kaga styles. Gassan Sadakazu often made silver habaki for his swords and he favored this pattern.

Jason, The stories may seem plausible, and may well be true but I'd want to exercise some prudence as well. Trust, but verify. The polish may not have been completed due to some kind of flaw, fatal or otherwise, that arose during polishing procedures and disqualified it as a good candidate for completion. The person may have *said* he needed the money so he pulled it from the process, but I'd want to make sure. To do that, you'll have to send it to someone qualified to make a determination, and because it's in rough state, that person will likely have to be another polisher. Again, maybe the story is completely true. If you can get in touch with the polisher that started it in the first place, you may be able to corroborate the story. In any event, it'll take putting it in front of another polisher to determine it's candidacy for restoration.

Briarfox, Please sign your name to your posts per forum rules. Handles are okay, but your name is required on the posts. These NCO swords are classified as military sidearms more than swords. From a Nihonto standpoint, they're more like a "sword-like object". Naval Jelly doesn't leave the metal blued. Gun bluing will leave it blued though, and that sounds like something a grandpa might do. Well, at least mine might. :lol: Anyways, it might be best just to leave it as is. I wouldn't fret too much or put a ton of effort into fixing anything. These types of swords can be had in complete and good condition for a few hundred bucks. I've never seen a scabbard for one offered seperately, but you can put an add on in the want section here for one. I'm not sure if these are a "one size/shape fits all" kind of sword either. Traditionally made blades have individual scabbards made for them, but one such as yours were machine made.

The gunome are a bit more rounded than I'd expect for Kanemoto and especially so for generations after the 2nd (Magoroku), because they became increasingly pointed and sharp looking. Earlier Kanemoto also stayed closer to the edge, with valleys nearly touching or dropping off in some works. Maybe take a look toward the smiths in Kanefusa or Ganmaku schools. Mino can be tough to pin down one guy sometimes due to their transience and shear numbers.

Reinhard is correct. The kissaki is polished perpendicular to the edge through all stages. In the body of the blade the stroke is changed to distinguish prior marks from fresh, but it also aids in maintaining crisp junctures in the geometry of the sword. However, even in the body of the blade the stroke eventually become parallel to the length of the blade in two or more stones. Typically, from chunagura through uchigomori the strokes are in the same direction, parallel to the edge. The marks can still be distinguished and the removal of the prior ones is a matter of training the eyes to see them as well as observing the clarity of the steel. I've seen many polishes in which the yakiba or ji (especially if there's lots of nie in the ji) looks cloudy or hazy. This is generally caused from not enough time on the stone, poor technique, poor stones, or a combination of these reasons. But through the body of the sword the marks from coarser stones can be distinguished more readily with the stroke angle change. Not so with the kissaki. The kissaki is more difficult because the strokes don't change at all there (though there are some rare exceptions) and finer stones can actually "round off" the tops of course marks rather than remove them effectively masking them. In the end there will be evidence of those courser marks if they are not removed. The kissaki is also a much more confined and complex area. In this sword there is another concern; the appearance of the koshinogi on the right image. It's rounded with poor definition. Perhaps the foundation was not reset and the kissaki just touched up to bring up the boshi. It’s difficult to say from the images what stone may have left the scratches shown in the kissaki, but it could be poor choice of tsuya (i.e. hazuya) for the final finish, lack of removing prior scratches or both. It's also very easy to leave scratches if the tsuya is not properley matched or prepared. Working the boshi/kissaki to a fine finish and full definition can take a very long time. A well defined, scratch free kissaki really is an equation of time, material, and skill.

Let me just say this first; Personally, for what my own opinion is worth, there's a lot of things about the sword that do not equate it to what I regard as genuine Hankei work. Given this, the papers are dead to me with no further consideration. Hey, that's just me. For anyone reading, go to the books, read the descriptions, search the net, and make your own judgments. Here's one: http://www.nihonto.us/HANKEI%20WAKIZASHI.htm Therefore, I wouldn't use others' opinions about it's "gimei-ness" to judge the papers. The merit of the papers lay with the NBTHK and the confidence in the sword lay in the willingness of the seller to stand by it as genuine. The only real way of determining if the papers are righteous is to submit them with the sword for upgrade. If the papers are good *and* the sword is good, there's no reason it should not upgrade to current papers. If the sword is no good, the old papers won't matter anyways and the reply will be "no upgrade". 'Nuff said. Just because papers have an old date, does not mean they weren't printed last year, last week, or yesterday. If forging bank notes can be convincingly accomplished, then forging papers isn't really a super-human challenge, especially with home and office printer technology being what it is.

There is one very critical common characteristic of a Hankei mei that must be considered when comparing works. This one does not illustrate it. Can anyone comment on it? Hint: It can be difficult to tell from oshigatas. *Edit*: Jacques beat me to the submit button, however there are a rare few known incised works on record at the NBTHK. There are also a few fairly distinctive features of Hankei's shape that are characteristic of his works. Are they in this one?

Thanks for posting those Franco! I recognize a few folks in them. The first image is very interesting to me. The person kneeling nearby in the hawaiian shirt and beige vest is Mike Christianson. He purchased two of the blades from Sadahito. Both were made at a forging seminar (I think Bill Fiorini hosted) at which Sadahito-san was the guest teacher while here. The tanto they're signing is a little shobu zukuri piece that I eventually ended up polishing for Mike. It was signed by Sadahito as having been made by him while in America. It was a lovely little sword that had a very gentle flowing hada and yakiba on one side, while the other was a violent midare. Because of the contrast from side to side, I nicknamed it "fire and ice". The name kinda stuck, and some time later I saw it in an auction catalog (Chait's if I remember correctly) and to my surprise and amusement, it was described as the "fire and ice" tanto. Ever wonder how these blades get their names? :lol:

Not precisely in San Diego, but not far enough away to be too inconvenient. Mike Christianson of Masamune Sword Shop in Loma Linda California. (909) 799-2088 Mike Yamasaki and/or Cyrus Chan at http://www.tetsugendo.com. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SWORD SOCIETY - Nanka Token Kai - Meeting held second Friday of each month at the Japanese Cultural Institute, 16215 S. Grammercy Place, Gardena, CA.

Joe, Kasumi do is a reletively new addition to the professional inventory. It is indeed a lateral type of stone akin to uchigumori stones, but with slightly different composition and properties. Uchigumori stone inventories are becoming increasingly depleated in qualitative supplies. To address your intentions I would say this; There is *very little* cross pollination from traditional polishing to modern metallurgy. What does exist is pretty much exclusive to the synthetic stones which are in great diversity and supply. Modern metallurgy is quite simply a completely different animal, with elements that are *not* ammenable to the capabilities of natural stones like uchigumori. Modern composition steel are made to be deeper hardening, scratch resistant, etc., and natural stones won't provide the same results as when applied to Japanese sword steel. The sword and polishing were (and are) and concurrent development in craft. For the most part, on modern steels the stone just erodes with no appreciable effect, or at least not the visable result that someone looks for in a "traditional" finish on a Japanese sword. Therefore, the stones, which are also precious, end up being used up for no real gain. Adding to this, they are expensive and if not properly cared for and used, will end up being left fallow or destroyed and the money spent on them for naught. Furthermore, even within one catagory of stone such as uchigumori, the stone and steel much "match". There is not one stone for all applications. Polishers carry many types of the same catagory to properly match the age, type, and composition of a sword. So purchasing one stone in the hope of getting one that will work on on a broad scale is a bit futile. Hope this helps.

I suspect exportation of it would be a sensative, if not prohibited process though. I have seen several late Edo examples of baleen wrap and it is both beautiful and delicate. All of them were on top shelf koshirae with nice blades. I also have seen another example of a tsuka that was carved from solid horn to resemble baleen. I have an image of it somewhere and will post it if I can find it. The work it took to carve it was amazing.

Charlie, It is open to the public. Bring lots of friends! :D There is an entry fee; Friday $15.00 Saturday $10.00 Sunday $10.00 Weekend Special $25.00 You can see the show info at http://www.ncjsc.org/SF_token_kai.htm See you there!

Charlie, I'd highly recommend against cutting the menuki out. Though as a horse fittings fanatic, I'd love to see them unobstructed. This style of ito is quite uncommon, and it displays very good workmanship of wrap. Ito such as this requires good skill to wrap. Look at the junctures where the green borders meet and notice how precise they continue through the center of the wrap overlays. Also look at the "points" of the diamonds and note that all the green colors terminate precisely in relation to eachother. Now considering these things, look at how accruately and uniformly the diamond all are the same size, placement, and shape. There is some shifting in the overlays and crossovers, and that's to be expected with older wraps because the wood and same underneath shrink causing the wrap to loosen with time, but the craftsmanship is still quite obvious. Multiple color itos can magnify lesser skills of a craftman much like bad body work on a car that will be painted black. Though the "tome" (knots the tie off the wrap at the kashira) are not shown, I'd predict they also are well done. Cutting this wrap off effectively destroys this craftsmans work. As for the menuki, they are *wonderful*. I wonder if they might be solid gold, though that is difficult or impossible to determine without cutting them out, and it's really not that critical to find out at the loss of the wrap. The shakudo inlayed eye is a nice touch, and even from the distance shown the carving looks very good. Finding a fuchi with pine and chidori (these are plovers btw, not cranes) may take a while, but I don't see it as impossible. The harder of the two handle parts to replace is the kashira, and you still have that. If you can get to the San Francisco there are a couple folks that have large selections of orphan parts. A good guy named Cole Cantrel is always there with masses of them and he may have something that will work. There are others folks that also may have something for you.

In the lower image, the upper left quadrant of the plate (between 9 and 12 o'clock) has some markings that could be residual from a prior design. Also note how flush the sekigane are with the surrounding plate. I think this plate has been reworked and resurfaced and Guido's assesment reinforced. The style of carving the kanji is not as refined as I'd expect.

Franco has touched on a good point here; prevention. The care that has been given to nihonto has also, to a greater or lesser extent, been drawn from the centuries and become traditional application as well. That said, we should remember that we live in a time of temperature controlled environments, enclosed transportation, improved roads and buildings, etc., that weren't part of daily life in old Japan. The swords were worn in the rain, snow, heat, humidity, cold. Houses in Japan weren't exactly a testiment of good R-factor insulation. All these things were contributory to the preventative maintenance implemented to prevent deterioration. Foul weather covers, transportation boxes, even lacquered samegawa, ito, and tsubas are examples of protection against the elements. All this considered, I think the swords have survived the centuries amazingly well. So, returning back to the oiling question, putting a light coat of oil on the nakago certainly neither harms the blade, nor prevents the aging process from occuring, though in the latter it likely extends the period of time it takes to acquire that "tincture of time", but that isn't a bad thing. Just as an additional note; for practitioners it's a different story because oiling the nakago inhibits the frictional contact with the tsuka foundation important to retaining the blade. This frictional contact is what keeps stress off the mekugi when everything is properly made and maintained. The Mekugi only prevents forward movement that would break this contact between the tsuka and the nakago. But then deterioration of the nakago of the sword isn't really the first area of concern on a practitioners blade anyways.

I think everyone needs to step back and take a deep cleansing breath on this thread. *MOD Lever Engaged* Dave is new to this and came here with the intention of finding out what he could about this sword on behalf of someone else. Let's not go spouting off all kinds fluff, no matter how confidently you might feel about your opinion, about what we *THINK* the sword might be. This is how misinformation starts and disappointments begin. I certainly don't want NMB to be the origins of that. Even a modest assessment of the blade requires the whole form and the nakago to be seen, and the measurements need to be taken. More importantly it should be examined in hand by a knowledgeable person. A show would be the best place to get some varied qualitative feedback. It doesn't make a darned bit of difference if it's Shinto, Gunto, or Heian. Good work needs to be preserved and good work was made in all periods. Let's try to provide this individual with some information of value and tell him what he needs to do instead of clog his cogs with all kinds of terms he may not be famliar with and just confound him more. Let's resume with productive info and shelf the speculation. Use the pm function for wrestling.

That looks to be the correct reading, but it looks like it was scratched on with an awl.