ChrisW

Huh.. a gendaito wakizashi. Definitely an odd possibility considering the mounts it is in. But I suppose gendaito were made from 1868 as well, if we're being strict on time period. But wasn't the gendai Muto smith "Hidehiro" and not Tadahiro?

That was my feeling too. Definitely a Hizen blade, but the signature seems off. My thought was: if this is shoshin, then it is a low ranking smith at best. Would anyone have time for the surrender tag?

Would this guy be TAD40 in the swordsmith index?

Hello everyone, This piece is a wakizashi with what appears to be a WWII surrender tag, a Namban tsuba, and all the fittings intact. The blade has minor chips but doesn't appear to have any major issues. The nagasa is 17 3/4". I would love a translation of the nakago, surrender tag, and if the mei seems correct or is gimei. Thanks gentlemen! ~Chris

Thanks for the explanation Jean. That does make sense.

Wonderful post! And that bottle opener is indeed a thing of beauty! I had always thought there was a difference in how the metal 'sings' when struck? Doesn't a folded metal tsuba have a brighter, more harmonic sound; whereas cast iron has a duller thud to it? Or is that my imagination?

A gorgeous blade, but $2500 just isn't in the cards for me. If you were amenable to trades, I'd do that, but seems like cash is always king! Congrats to whomever pulls the trigger on this.

Agree with this strongly! Without being one of them, we won't know the reason why unless they would pass word along. Definitely resubmit later, it deserves Juyo!

Thank you gentlemen! We've worked hard to make our Token Kai what it is. Dan, Barret, and Drew: I couldn't have done it without them!

I've been hesitant to share the ITK website, but I might as well get some opinions and feedback on it. Its just a basic site to share info on attending our meetings and connect regional members. Anyone here is welcome to join and or attend the meetings of course. You'll have to forgive me if the website seems crude; I am no web designer! https://indianatokenkai.wixsite.com/indiana-token-kai

The next public meeting for the Indiana Token Kai is on Saturday, November 19th at 10 A.M. The meeting location is the Morgan County Public Library in Martinsville, IN. The topic of discussion is: Gendaito and Showato! As always, reach out to me if you have questions on attendance or in general.

Beautiful, but also YIKES.

First and most important thing: do not attempt ANY restoration work yourself. Second thing to do: clean it with guidance provided here! Per the care guide on the forum here: ( I just cut and pasted it for you) The starting point to preserving a blade is to pick up some light machine oil, the type sold for sewing machines, or some traditional oil for Japanese blades which is called choji oil. This refers to clove oil, but is actually a light machine oil mixed with a tiny bit of clove oil just for the pleasant traditional scent. Do not use pure pharmaceutical clove oil. Many other oils such as gun oils and vegetable oil can gum up, leave stains or have other adverse effects over time. A few drops on a clean and soft cloth, lightly wiped over the blade when it has been handled should do the trick. In climates that are less humid, cleaning does not have to be done very frequently. Less is more when it comes to Nihonto. Uchiko powder and commercial sword cleaning balls containing powdered abrasive should generally be reserved for blades heavily out of polish, and even then very sparingly. They can be used occasionally on Nihonto to remove old oil, but bear in mind that they are abrasive and will dull a new polish over time. Removal of old oil can easily be done with pure alcohol, otherwise known as dehydrated alcohol or waterless ethanol. This is 99.5% pure alcohol. Be careful when cleaning the area close to the tang - try to avoid moving the tissue up from the nakago - the tissue might pick up rust particles from the nakago (tang) and scratch the blade. Move the tissue in one direction - from the tang to the tip. Never ever move your hand up and down - you could cut yourself badly some day (and blood will stain a blade.) Scented or otherwise hampered tissue paper is be avoided. Normal tissue is fine and a lot easier to get a hold of. The best cloth to use is micro fiber cloth, sold for photographic lenses. Microdear is known as the best of these brands and can be found online. These can be washed in water when they get too dirty. For newly polished blades or newly made blades, the following is the traditional routine:- For the first 3 months, the blade has to be cleaned every week because it can rust easily. After that it is cleaned once a month for 3-6 months and then only every 6 months. It has to be cleaned every time you use it or show it to someone. It has to be cleaned every month for 3-6 months if you move it out of its usual resting place (you move to a new house where the humidity level is different). Also, do not do anything to the tang, leave the black rust on the tang as it is. Also, leave any removal of deeper rust to a professional. If you need to remove any lose rust or gunk on the blade itself before oiling it, use as high a purity of isopropyl alcohol that you can find (electronics grade is usually good for that). Avoid abrasive materials. I would wait for those who can translate to give you an opinion on the quality of the blade, but if the koshirae ensemble is any indication, it appears to be of good quality.

I don't have any in mounts in that price range but I will be at the "Mooresville Victorian Christmas" set up as a vendor out there. If you, the young collector and his guardian wish to see my collection, I'll be there all day. I'll have all my nihonto, as well as the rest of my non-nihonto. Were I you, I would definitely take Mark up on his offer though!

I am so very happy for you Dan! Wonderful news.

Highly unlikely to be a real nihonto inside.

Having seen the blade personally more than a few times at our ITK meetings, I was quite upset when Dan informed us of the loss last meeting. Here's hoping the scumbag who did it gets caught and suffers a lengthy jail sentence.

New site looks good Grey!

Without a complete surrender tag, there is no guarantee that you could even begin to find the original owner's family. In many cases, they typically do not even want the blade back or it promptly ends up for sale on a prominent dealer's site if the sword is of consequence. In the case of a non-traditionally made sword, it would be seized by the police and destroyed anyways. Being that this smith made showato, it would almost certainly be destroyed.

Better safe than sorry, some people equivocate metal polishes/honing oils with regular oils. I've seen it happen firsthand so I am always certain to make sure they know to avoid abrasive oils like honing oil.

Upon first glace, this is a kikumon-signed and dated wakizashi in fairly nice handachi style fittings. Please make sure to not handle the blade with bare hands and oil it with a non-abrasive oil (mineral oil is fine). Also only lay the blade on a clean cloth of some kind. Nice blade! My gut feeling is yes. Congrats on becoming its caretaker! Here is an article discussing care for it: (hmmm.. main link is down, Brian, any ideas on what happened?) Here is another guide, but disregard anything it says about uchiko powder (that stuff is best left to professionals): http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/care.htm

This! This should be standard policy.

Congratulations!

The Masazane caught my eye too! This one deserves more attention and will likely realize a higher price but the rest... well, we'll have to see.

A fool and their money is soon parted. They're living in a fantasy world but its Bonham's... so they'll probably get some of these values.