Bryce

Righto then, I guess Gassan Sadakatsu added his kao at a later date for some reason as he was only 1 year old when this blade was forged? I have seen several Gassan Sadakazu blades where later Gassan smiths (usually Sadaichi) have added horimono and mei. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, Yeah someone got a good deal, but this blade has me scratching my head a little bit. It appears to be a blade signed by Sadakazu in Meiji year 3, but finished with Sadakatsu's kao, not Sadakazu? The sayagaki was written by Sadakatsu in Showa 11. Is the date on the blade actually Meiji year 30? If so then that makes sense. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Colin, Sorry mate, I am a little late to this party. Do you still have this tanto? I think it is a pretty good looking thing. I don't have any expertise to bring to the table about dating, but I can offer an opinion on the quality of the horimono. I think they look very good. Having tried to capture good images of horimono myself, I know they are tremendously difficult to photograph. It is very difficult to capture the 3D effects that can be seen with the naked eye. As a comparison, here is your Fudo, beside one done by Gassan Sadakazu. Mine is on a katana, not a tanto, but is contained entirely in the hi. From toes to top of head, it is probably about 3-4cm, which I think is similar to yours. Although yours doesn't have the same level of surrounding detail, the face is done very well. I have seen a lot worse. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Thomas, The photos aren't great, but almost certainly gimei. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, Just as a follow up, I recently obtained a copy of "Nippon Toh". This sword is specifically mentioned in the book as being made entirely by Gassan Sadakatsu and not his father Sadakazu. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, OK, so it is still a Chinese knock-off of a Japanese gunto, but it may have been made around the time of the war (or not). Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, That does not look legit to me. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, The mei looks pretty good. There are a couple of unusual things, but it is close enough that I can't immediately call it gimei without further study and better photos. During this period, there is quite a bit of variation in Gassan Sadakazu mei. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Sam, As Con mentioned earlier the second haikan was protected by leather to prevent rubbing, so the absence of wear in this area is not definitive. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Lance, It is a nice type 94 koshirae with the rare pinned kabutogane. If you search the site you will find a thread on "pinned kabutogane". Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, Everything already mentioned above suggests this is a type 98. I don't think there are any individual "cast iron" rules, but the combination of all these factors together says type 98. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Sam, It looks like a type 94 to me, especially if the gloss paint is original. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Mark, Thanks for posting. To help you here is a comparison shot of your dragon with a more detailed example by Gassan Sadakatsu dated 1920. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Jake, I have a set with very similar theme to yours. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Eric, The bonji on your blade represents the entity Fudo myo-o. I have a Gassan Sadakatsu blade with similar horimono. Your blade is not Gassan work though. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Jacques, I am always happy to learn something, fire away, show us what you know. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Jacques, The Gassan school is famous for its ayasugi hada. Sadayoshi and Sadakazu are credited with rediscovering it, but it was Sadakatsu who refined it to the beautiful uniformity we expect to see today. If we group Sadakazu and Sadakatsu together, I would argue that it isn't Ayasugi hada so much that unites them, but rather, tight, uniform, masame hada. Ayasugi hada never dominated Sadakazu's work, but it is the most common hada for Sadakatsu's Showa period work. Each of these smiths forged blades in all sorts of styles, with some dominating different periods of their working lives, but in general terms, I would describe their work as very controlled, with ko-nie and nioi. Hope this helps. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Jacques, I don't understand your question. You are asking me what characteristics they have in common, when they have so many that most people can't tell their blades apart? Is this a language thing? Is there going to be a punchline? Is this like "Two Gassan smiths walk into a bar .........". Adam, that looks like a nice blade. It is a pity that Eric doesn't post some better photos of the hada and hamon. Cheers, Bryce

Actually, maybe this is a better way of showing the comparison. I replaced Jacques oshigata, with the photo of a Gassan Sadakatsu katana dated Taisho 10 (1921). Cheers, Bryce

G'day Jacques, To add to what Adam said about Roger and Hizento mei, most examples of Gassan Sadakazu/Sadakatsu mei are easy to pick, but there are a small number where it isn't immediately obvious. We are dealing with humans here, not machines, so there is variation. There is no single thing that differentiates or unites the two, it is the sum total of a large number of characteristics. If I use the oshigata that Jacques posted, which I have already said was signed by Sadakatsu and sandwich between it and another Sadakatsu mei one actually signed by Sadakazu, you can see the differences. So Sadakazu in the middle, Sadakatsu each side. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Jacques and David, I don't own any Fujishiro books. Do you accept that it is possible to recognise a person's handwriting? It is exactly the same with nihonto mei. My sole nihonto focus now is pretty much just Gassan Sadakazu and Gassan Sadakatsu. I look at examples of their blades nearly every day and have done so now for about 5 years. To me, the fact that the oshigata Jacques posted is of a blade signed by Sadakatsu for his father, rather than signed by Sadakazu himself is as obvious to me as the difference between night and day. I have a hard time believing you guys can't see it as well. Previously I have posted about a blade signed Gassan Sadayoshi, which has a Tanobe sayagaki, stating it is actually a work by Sadakazu and also a blade signed Sadakazu, with a Tanobe sayagaki stating it is actually a work by Sadakatsu. I shouldn't say daimei are accepted as shoshin, they actually are shoshin. Cheers, Bryce

G'day David, It isn't an argument it is a simple fact. Daimei/daisaku swords are accepted as shoshin. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Jacques, The oshigata above is a daimei by Gassan Sadakatsu for his father Sadakazu. In regards to every mei being identical, here is a collage I put together of eight Sadakazu tanto mei done in this same style, all around the same time. All of these blades are papered to Sadakazu. Are they identical - definitely not. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, Great discussion. Below I have included the other photo of the mei that Gordon posted. You can see it gives a different perspective of the kanji. As I said earlier, we are looking at a fuzzy photo of a rusted nakago, so we can't be sure that what we are seeing is an accurate picture of the mei. In regard to the missing tagane in the "san" kanji, both Gassan Sadakazu and his son Sadakatsu are a little "cavalier" in their use of them. They add them or not depending on whim. Remember, this is all chiseled by hand, so no two mei are exactly the same. You have to look at the way the kanji are constructed, rather than looking for exactly, identical copies. Cheers, Bryce PS Jacques in regard to the rust, where I live steel can get that rusty in under a year, let alone 150 years.

G'day Dee, I would say the mei is well within the limits of variability you see in Gassan Sadakazu's work, especially when you consider the low resolution photo of the rusty nakago we are working with. This tanto is definitely worthy of a closer look. The horimono looks strange, because at some point, someone has taken to the blade with a sander and worn it down. It is hard to say from these photos what damage has been done and how much value is left in the blade, but I stand by my opinion that this tanto could very well be shoshin. Jacques are you saying that in general Gassan Sadakazu's mei have some peculiarities or just this particular example we are looking at in this thread? Cheers, Bryce