Bryce

G'day Toni, Mon on the fuchi are less common, but not uncommon. Here is one of mine. In your photo it appears that a new mekugi-ana may have been recently drilled in the nakago. If this is the one being used it may indicate that this koshirae has been recently paired with this blade. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, Unfortunately I can't add any photos of a Gassan blade to this discussion, but I have been looking at Gassan Sadakatsu blades online. I have noticed that there is an almost 50/50 split between Gassan Sadakatsu blades signed katana-mei and tachi-mei. Is this just a random thing or is there a reason behind why he would choose to sign katana-mei or tachi-mei? Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, So far I have done a random survey of 83 gunto on the internet where the photos are clear enough to determine type and chuso and the results are that 95% of type 94's have a central chuso and 90% of type 98's have an offset chuso. Not definitive by a long way, but there is certainly a strong trend. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Neil, Beautiful sword! Are you sure it wasn't made in Showa 8, 1933? Cheers, Bryce

Thanks guys, So no hard and fast rules. How about we do a survey? In my small collection I have 2 * 94's , both with central chusos and 4 * 98's , all with offset chusos. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, I was thinking today about the differences between type 94 and 98 shin gunto. Most type 94's I have seen have a centrally located chuso, while type 98's have an offset one. Do you ever find type 98's with the central chuso? Cheers, Bryce

G'day Dave, John Grasso is a terrific bloke. He is very helpful, has some amazing swords for sale and probably has some gunto bits and pieces laying around he can help you with. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Bruce, I don't know what it represents, but this is the classic "Gassan" habaki which is used by the Gassan family. I would love to own one of these some day (and matching blade of course!). Cheers, Bryce

G'day Dave, I think you are missing the koiguchi from the mouth of the scabbard rather than the kojiri. Here is a shot of one of mine. Are you the radio guy from 4TO? Good to have another North Queenslander on board. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Paul, Is this the famous Awataguchi nashiji hada? Cheers, Bryce

G'day Bruce, I just discovered this thread. Here is mine from the Nobuyoshi gunto. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, Here are some more photos. The koshirae is in almost pristine condition. The saya is the lacquered wood kind which I think is quite rare. What makes this sword really stand out is the beautiful, two piece, gold and silver foiled habaki. Unusually the fittings which are the mid-war type, are not numbered or marked in any way. The boshi is ichimai style with a long kaeri. The only down side is the blade is suriage and machi okuri. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, I was lucky enough to acquire this sword recently. It is a nice sword in its own right, but it also came with some interesting provenance. Allegedly it was once owned by a Japanese army officer by the name of Zenzaburo Ishizuka. This Nobuyoshi blade was handed down to him from his father. When he went off to war, he left this one at home and took a showato with him instead. When he surrendered to American forces in the Philippines at the end of the war, he handed over the showato, while this sword remained safe with his family. The Nobuyoshi sword was never surrendered and remained with his family until it was sold. This explains the pristine condition of the koshirae. Unfortunately I don't have any real proof that this story is true. I thought I would share this story because it gives some insight into how the gunto that we love, ended up where they did. I imagine I would have done the same thing, saved the treasured family sword for special occasions and taken a less expensive showato into the field. Cheers, Bryce

Thanks Michael, I was hoping it shed some light on which Nobuyoshi we are talking about. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, Can someone please tell me what the kanji preceeding the smith's name on the NBTHK paper and also the book excerpt that Ian posted say? Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, I think that this mei looks very similar, although lacking the "Rai". So did the shodai nobuyoshi sometimes sign with Rai or are they both gimei? Cheers, Bryce

Wow, the stuff of dreams! Cheers, Bryce

Wow Gethin, That is a great collection! Seeing so many kabutogane side by side like that is also a great chance to notice the subtle differences in decoration between them. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Yas, With the blade in hand you can see the file marks on the nakago. The particular mei you have circled is subtly different from the others you have illustrated including mine. My sword has NBTHK tokubetsu hozon papers. I didn't realize that this smith had swords that had papered Juyo. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, Thank you for your replies. OK, not an utsushi, just an unusual nakago for this smith. When it comes to differentiating the shodai from the nidai all of the kanji are done differently, but to me the easiest to pick are the first, last and second last kanji. Cheers, Bryce

G'day guys, Would you call this an utsushi of an older blade? It is by the Nidai Tango (no) Kami Kanemichi and is ubu, but the bohi runs all the way along the nakago. The dimensions are: Nagasa: 69.5cm Sori: 2.0cm Motohaba: 2.9cm Sakihaba: 2.0cm Kissaki: 3.0cm Kasane 0.7cm The hada is a very tight koitame. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Bruce, I think it would be better if this thread was over here. Are the numbers stamped on the habaki just assembly numbers like the ones you see on tsubas and seppa? We have seen several with the assembly numbers stamped on the edge of the habaki like this one of mine. Perhaps this is just a rougher way of doing the same thing? Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, What about these examples? The first I would call sunagashi, but the second which occurs in more discrete lines I would call kinsuji, even though there are several running parallel to each other? Cheers, Bryce

G'day Guys, You sometimes see a similar feature on British cavalry swords. It is generally considered to be an alternative attachment point for the sword knot, which was wrapped around the wrist to prevent the sword from being lost in combat. Normally the sword knot was attached at the top of the knucklebow, but some swords have this alternate attachment point. Here are a couple of examples circa 1800 and 1854. Cheers, Bryce

G'day Tom, What is the nakago translation of your sword? Thanks to other NMB members this is mine: 大東亜戦二週年紀念昭和十七年十二月 Daitōasen Nishūnen kinen, Shōwa 17 nen 12 gatsu 8 Commemoration of the 2nd year of the Pacific War, 1942 December 8 為野倉實氏鍛之 Nokura Minoru-shi no tame ni kore wo kitau Made for Minoru Nokura Cheers, Bryce