Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini

May I ask the owner to kindly post the number that's stamped on the Nakago ? If I remember well Morita San is still making researches about this... No pics needed, just the number.

Shan, in the case you missed this one. Ebony Habaki, under request : http://www.nihontoantiques.com/polishin ... _sword.htm

Not sure it exactly followed these steps... Your sword is not expected to cut thru steel brest armor.

The ones of the National Museum are a must-to-download.

Milt, ya irreligious ... :D http://www.pbase.com/joanseeuw/samurai

Sorry, recently in a post of mine I quoted the disappearing of Jo Anseew site due to misinformation on my part. I'm happy to have been proven wrong. Jo contacted me today assuring he'll be around to delight us with even more ineteresting pictures. Again apologizes to everybody and to Jo especially, together with many thanks for his outstanding pictures.

When we see "porcupine-like" Samurai in scrolls/printings, it's not totally due to artist's immagination...

Ouch... a darn good question. Again, guess it depends on periods and roles. *Good* arrowheads aren't so easy to produce. Balance has to be as close to perfection as possible. I think Mark is right in pointing out that re-cycling enemy arrows on the battlefield was a common practice of Ashigaru or other similar rank-and-files archers which role on the battlefield was just to trow as much arrows as possible to the enemy. For more specialized archers, as mounted Samurai earlier then Sengoku or "sniper Samurai archers" that supported Teppo Ashigaru during re-loading in later Sengoku, likely less probable. An arrow is a complex item, which weight, balance and lenght follow rules tightened to the user needs, and variables as different point shapes for different targets/distances play a role, just to make the things more difficult. They weren't shooting for quantity but sniping for quality. Selected targets of high value. Slow firing rate, higher accuracy. Guess that re-cycling good arrowheads thru re-mounting after the battle was an option for everybody at everytime. During the battle likely was more related to certain scenarios and periods, of course with due exceptions. If you're running out of ammunitions you'ld trow even rocks to the enemy (Japanese slings are another good topic absolutely not fitted to this board :D ) And to close the off-topic post hereunder very early arrowheads that shows how much they were elaborated already in ancient times.

Yes, sorry Mark and Brian. Post amended.

deleted because sligthly going

I would confirm the 2 Stibbert's catalogues as well as shipping everywhere.

Hi Brian. Paypal forbid anything only *directly* related to gamble or also *indirectly* ? Thanks. EDIT : don't mind, skipped this paragraph :

Great pics Ian, thanks. Looks like it has a very thin Mune, doesn't it ? Any measurement ?

Guess we focused on personnel specifically intended to polish blades, not about general logistics. The logistic type and dimension varied according to the periods and the tasks of the different campaigns. I think the biggest one was achieved during Hideyoshi's Korean campaign with a ratio almost similar to present-day being 3 supporters each fighting man. But the lines of supply were the longest ever experimented by a Japanese army till to that date. More, it's hard to fix a line between "supporter" and "fighter", back then. For earlier periods we should consider that pillaging was the usual way to gather extra-supply, reducing the needs of personnel or, notably, of beast of burden, more valued then most of the peasants. About the polishing level from "The Art of the Japanese Sword Polishing " : "The Japanese have long appreciated their swords, and a large vocabulary exists to describe elements like the shape of the sword,wich is easy to see,but the less clearly discernible details of the steel and hamon,most of wich cannot be seen unless the sword has been give a quality polish. The relevant vocabulary appears to date to at least the Muromachi period (1394-1573),indicating that the Japanese were able to closely examine and appreciate their swords long ago. The earliest stages of the polishing process refine the shape of the sword to produce a functional weapon.However,references to extremely fine details of the steel and hamon (e.g.,nioi,nie,ashi,kinsuji,jihada,jigane)suggest that,at very least,the basic methods of modern Japanese polishing techniques existed as early as the Kamakura period (1185-1333)" …OMISSIS… "Dr.Honma Junji in his article discusses a sixtyh-century sword,excavated from a tomb,wich was found with portions of its blade in good enough condition to see that it had been polished with a stone similar to the Nagura,indicating that swords were already being given careful finishining work by approximately the sixth century.This particular sword is now a national terasure (Kokuho)...Another straight blade (chokuto) described in the same article was excavated in 1939 in Shimane Prefecture.This blade was from Nara period (710-794) and was well preserved,with sections still unrusted. Close examination indicated that it had been polished with a nagura stone. The nagura stone is used after arato, kongoto, binsui, kaisei stones in the foundation polishing process, indicating that blades in the Nara period were receiving careful polishes. Skilled work with the nagura stone will often bring out most of the details of the hamon. Thus,by the Nara period ,were receiving careful polishing techniques were likely advanced enough to allow the Japanese sword to have a well-finished shape and visible hamon.". From Kanzan Sato -The Japanese Sword : "A Japanese dagger (tanto) was discovered in a wooden figure in Ankokuji temple in Hiroshima.The blade has relatively clean steel surface and was accompanied by a document stating that it had been placed there in 1274 (Bun'ei, Kamakura).Scientific examination of the blade indicated that it had been apparently polished with a uchigumori-like stone since the details of the hamon and jigane were clearly visible"... Now, are we sure that the blades were really badly rusting so easily on the battlefield ? Why Samurai managed to protect their swords this way ? :

This one is *from* korea but *possibly not* korean :

Who was paying for the bill ? The "Boss". Who would have taken first class attention ? First class Samurai. I think it's not safe to use the same scale from XIII c. to XVI c. battlefields. Lots of things changed in between. Dimensions of armies and long lasting campaigns being to be considered. Maybe the large scale Armies full of specialized soldiers with at least some basic armor reached in the Sengoku made available some sort of "standard" maintenance to lessers figthers too, but hardly to the point of a trained Togishi or an armourer able to repair a broken rivet in a 32 plates Kabuto. Whealty Samurai had spare weapons/armors to replace the ones in need of repairs, leaving these items free to be stored for later care, either on the battlefield after the fight or at home (*when* returning home happend to be an available option). On the other hands, lesser items were just that, lesser and expendible items not worthy the time and attention of a professional. I'm quiet sure that medical care followed the same line being, at that time, the concept of "expendible" easily extended to human beings too. "Do it yourself" was likely a very common practice on the battlefield. BTW, in WWII the most recorded problems were about the cracking/breaking of the Tsuka, not the blade, till to the point that it was later misinterpreted, leading to the supposition that Japanese swords were prone to break in the handle (read Nakago) when it really wasn't the case.

You win the "quote of the month" award, John.

Pics of that one would be a great Xmas present to me, Ian. Much appreciated if you'll be able to post it (especially of the yokote if present).. And many thanks anyway if something goes wrong. 400 cm tsuka ? John, great pics. Like the one with Masame-like hada.

Hi Ian. Are you describing something like these two ? Chinese girl tall 160 cm : and here a Nakago extended thru riveting (John, you should remember this one...) to obtain a polearm from a sidearm. Possibly the same case of the one discussed here, thru a different method of extension. I wonder if the tang didn't get suriage after the extension (referred to the topic one)...

Polished every day ? In war swords break Somebody once said " a sword has 4 battles or four hundred years in it, whatever comes first". But not because polish, that's for sure...

This can indeed cause hagire, but is likely to snap the blade altogether, the degree of force being the deciding factor. Would add lateral stresses as well, not only on the Mune, so to deflect the opponent's blow with the side of your weapon. Maybe also an heritage of a practical use, as to say they are a good marks to see where to watch the hamon after the next time you use it in order to see if a damned hidden hagiri previosly unseeble got a little bigger.

It's due to the polluted air of Beijing...

Congratulations John.

*Might* be problems are related to what occured to the sword in between original polish and the present one, possibly also before the Togishi put his hands on it. I.E. in which conditions the sword reached the Togi. But it's just wild guessing... Anyway I wonder if the Togishi didn't advise about the possibility to have shingane exposed...

Still remember that nice one in Tachi mount we saw a few time ago... I wonder who purchased it...