falconj

gidday all, I am unsure of the correct kanji meaning on this sword, to me it does not make sense, :? or is it something I am missing, any help very much appreciated 会 kai ? e ? 陽 yo ? aki ? haru ? 臣 omi ? 兼 kane 元 moto the nengo on the other side of the tang indicates man-en period (1860) many thanks in advance regards John

I thought this was the original question that Justin asked, that the NBTHK did not clarify the sword at least Dr Tokunoh Kasuo would have ventured an opinion on it's origin or smiths work regards John ps, not all red is being chugalugged, still some available, and I hope to catch up with you all again soon, Justin, David, and Alan and all on the other side of the rabbit proof fence!!

thanks for clearing that translation up Morita-san I had it as the "Colonel Tanaka Unit and "Imai" as the owners name I have updated my records regards John

Gidday All, I finally found the missing tags that I was thinking of, these maybe not as clear as the last ones to read, but I still think someone may be able to decipher them regards John

gidday there George and all, yes, I seem to remember that we checked and actually contacted him on the option of returning the sword to the said Ltn??? Sugito back in about 1987 ??? and yes, he was still alive then and I think living in Nagoya from memory, but was not really interested in the return of the sword, that he had purchased as a young officer, from an armament shop in Tokyo, before being mobilised and going away to the WW2 conflict, but I don't know his status now unfortunately, but I do still have his sword and the tags. regards John

thanks George and all, I had a slightly different translation to you George, and I believe his name was Sugito, as always I may be wrong see below regards John

here's one set of two sets that I have, I will have to search a bit harder for the other missing set, its here somewhere :? regards John

I have been trying to contact the Florida Token Kai and I am not having much luck, the email addresses I have been using are coming back as not deliverable. does any board members have the current email contact addresses for the club or any of the administrators? and could you either PM or email me with the links to them. many thanks in advance regards John Falconer

Gidday Justin, just went through my book on mon, translated by Fumie Adachi, and out of the 5 examples of 'kashiwa' or 'oak leaf' similar to your's, all have 4 'veins' on each leaf, sorry mate, just added to the confusion, I suppose!, however he does say that:- 'the courtier and his household used the same crest among them, and that the warrior let his family use his crest as it was, but had his retainers use variations of his crest or mon' regards John

I think you are right Peter, very nice and a fine exact example of 'dai-sho' and thanks very much for the photo's Kunitaro-san, excellent!! regards John

George san, you may be right, ( PS...it is always possible that this sword and the one I mentioned has had its original blade removed and a "dummy" zinc blade put in before presenting it to the occupying powers for bestowal as a gift to some Occupation official etc...just thinking...I can't imagine a Japanese officer carrying such a blade. ) I do remember reading about this in maybe 'shokan' or some book similar , that if time permitted the person surrendering the blade would swap his family treasure blade for what ever was available to avoid losing their treasure, but I often wondered if they kept the good blade, how did they smuggle it home on repatriation?? or maybe bury it?? hide it, somewhere, hoping to return??? someday? regards John

Hi George, Yes, lovely clean fittings, but what do you make of the 'mon' photo is a bit fuzzy, but maybe some variant on the 'tomoe'?? regards to all John

looks great Clive, many thanks, ps:" Can't retire - spent most of my money on women, liquor, german cars and Nihonto -- all the rest - I wasted. " wow, are you sure you are not an Australian? Dr Barrett :lol: regards John

thanks Jean, as always!, and the other kanji?? maaaate, your thinking cap please ? regards John

I don't believe it is a sayagaki inscription as such and could be and maybe it is the owners name or whatever? the blade in the shirasaya is signed 'kanemoto' any help will be much appreciated regards John

many thanks for that information Ian, I rather suspected that, that was the case, as in the way it is constructed, however, I suppose there was a women's and men mempo because of their face? size ? preference, that must also come in to consideration? or not? regards John

Thanks for this information, maybe a question for Ian ( or perhaps other's) was iron and cowhide the only manufacture type of making mempo etc? , I have a few, and one in particular that I bought in Japan many years ago, I was told that this armor was made from a form of what we would call paper-mache and then laquered, it is extremely tough, but I may have this interpretation wrong in the Japanese-English translation as I usually do, could this form of armour manufacture have been used? I believe it to be a lady's mempo. thanks John ( maybe just a gullible Australian )

great idea john f

Jean C, I think Malcolm is very close to the theme of this tsuba, I have one similar which was attributed to a 'genji tale theme' tsuba, very interesting that this one you have is seen with the 'smoke theme' as well regards john f

thanks Brian, I will send them all to you, maybe tomorrow mytime regards John

I think these are the articles by Chris Bowen, I also have the article 'Amahide: who was this Gendai Smith? by Mal Cox and another by Jerry Newman called the 'The Amahide Kokuin' but I am unsure if I should post them all here? or where Brian? I can send them to just those who want them. regards John

I have a photocopy of an oshigata which is of a sword made by 'amahide' it has not been fully translated, but is very likely a traditionally made custom order made sword signed by 'amahide' some of the kanji have not been translated, but I think the kanji relates to the teacher of 'amahide' and it looks like it could be/is a special order blade made for his teacher, Clive , if you can translate this, it could give you the answer that you look for, sorry and apologies for the poor photocopy attached, regards John

Clive, I think his teacher was 'Seki Sengo Masayoshi' 正吉, but I would need to check that in some records that I have 'hidden' somewhere. regards John

there are a few 'nobuyoshi' that signed with an engraved 'kikumon' earlier in the En-po and Kwan-ei period's , but can not find any in the Ansei period to the date indicated that this sword is from by the seller! not saying that it is no good either, needs further investigation! john

it worked for me, looks very good, well done John