Chriso

A couple of extra pics of the tsuba and the kashira for your pleasure. Sorry about the photo quality. Chris O

I was lucky enough to spend a bit of time with the Tsuba shown below and It's matching Fuchi and Kashira that I have posted on the two subsequent postings. These items are destined for an Australian Defence Museum I, and the Museum curator would very much like your opinion on these three items, and if you feel game perhaps a very rough valuation for Insurance purposes. I think it would be a shame for these items to be on display with little or no detail about them. The story is that the fittings were presented to an Australian General with an additional Shin Gunto that was surrended at the conclusion of WW11. I've posted a couple of pics of the sword on the Translation forum if you wish to check it out, Koichi San has very kindly translated the surrender tag that came with the sword. The Tsuba is signed and is in pristine condition, I don't believe that any of the fittings have ever been fitted to a sword as there is no evidence of wear. The box that the fittings came in does not seem to be the original one as it is too large to house the three fittings and they rattle around inside, yeh I know. As yet I have not had the text on the box translated. Height 73.4mm Width 71.5mm Thickness 4.8mm Regards, best wished and many thanks Chris O

Koichi San, many thanks for your help best wishes Chris O Could I please beg your assistance with an inscription on a very nice Tsuba that came with, but was not part of the surrender sword, which i am about to post on the tosogu forum.

G'day all, An friend of mine dropped over on his way back from picking up a number of Items for destined for a Military museum. A beautiful set of fittings that I will attempt to post in the Tosogu area as soon as possible, but in this instance a Shin Gunto, nothing special about it, although It was a surrender sword given to an Australian General. I was not game to remove the Tsuka as it was stuck fast and I don't have the correct tools to do the job, but it did have what I believe is a surrender tag attached. I would very much appreciate a translation of the text if anyone could please help, I'm sure the museum that the item is going to would be delighted with any help. Regards and best Chris O

G'day Joe, Sorry about the quality of the pics. I was just trying to make the point that there a a variety of ideas being thrown arouund when it comes to an item that does not quite fit the mould. I've attached a couple of other small pics and I will try to get one of the nakago (plenty of pics 1MB and above but too big to post here). Regards Chris O

This Tanto, i use the term loosely, looks very similar to one I posted some time back. I believe the discussion at that time included the possibility of the item having been made as a gift at a wedding or the birth of a child...... Best Chris

Thanks for the input James, I've emailed the owner suggesting that we take the Mekugi out and see if the tsuka will come off without effort. I'm reluctant to force the issue in case I do damage to a piece that the owner cherishes. The other option is to leave it altogether but I don't think I could bare not knowing???? Chris O

Franco and Bill, Thanks for your reply. I agree totally with your appraisal, there are a lot of less than interesting swords, knives and even guns that have come from Timor over the years and I guess this is just another one of them. best wishes and thanks Chris O

Just some additional photo's Chris O

G'day all, I had a call he other day from a woman who mentioned that her father had brought back a Japanese sword from Timor after the last war and it had been in the garage and untouched since then. I've posted some pics over this and the next post and I would value an opinion. Please excuse the quality of the pics as I only had one shot at them. Up front my thoughts are that it may be a sword that found its way to the native population, and as such has been substantially repaired as it has possibly been used as a work tool. I was unable to remove the Tsuka as I couldn't drive out the Mekugi and was not in a position to force the issue with the owner present. The sword is of average length and the blade is quite rusty. There is no sign of a Hamon or any forging floors that i could see. The Tsuka has a snake skin strip along either side, with no additional covering. While the binding looks professionally done and the Menuki seem to be home made from brass. The Saya is wood, in reasonable condition and is covered in leather which looks to be original and the same as many Gunto. As you can see from the pics there is no Fuchi and the Kashira is definitely an add on. The Tsuba seems to have had a number of small holes which have been filled. That is about all the info that i have at the moment. Many thanks Chris O

At least he is spreading the love around, I got one in Australia, almost like winning the Lotto.....not Chris O

G'day Craig, Still waiting, I guess these things may take a bit of time, so I'm not concerned yet. chriso

I actually came across a reference to these this afternoon while reading 'The arts of the Japanese sword' B.W.Robinson pp 73 but this was in reference to the mounting of Tachi. Chris O

Thanks for that Bill. I won't put it in the bottom draw just yet though. Cheers Chris O

Thanks all very much for your comments. You are right I's not in very good condition and the latch slot has not been filled in, it was either never there or the larger slot was used for that purpose???? I originally thought it may have been cast fairly recently but the previous owner stated that it had been taken off a Gunto which was being converted to civlian mounts. If it is cosha, it has certainly had a rough life but the thing that most interests me is the thickness 10mm which is nearly twice the thickness of others I have seen. I'm thinking that this may be on of those tsuba that was produced towards the end of WWll when the fittings being made were fairly average to say the least. Looks ok in the display case though. Cheers Chris O

G'day I would appreciate your comments, good, bad or otherwise on a Gunto Tsube I picked up the other day, it seems a bit out of the ordinary, although I guess it may have been made to fit the Koshirae of a specific blade. The rim has been repaired at some stage, and If I didn't know better i would suggest it was produced with a Kozuka Hitsu-ana. H. 72mm w. 63mm Thickness is 10mm at the Mimi Many Thanks Chris O

This thread it's giving me quite a lot to think about. I must admit that I'm rather taken with Nanban Tsuba and i've found that the reappraisal by Dr John Lissenden is a great read (pic below - about $80au) although it is his own version of events and goes against Helen Gunsaulus in 'Japanese Sword Mounts' (available for download from the NMB list). If we are into show and tell, I've added a couple of pics of my Nanban, and would be happy for any comment. By the way is anyone aware of any other publications on Nanban???? Cheers Chris O

Thanks very much Ted. I've had a bit of feedback, both good and bad in reference to the quality of this one, so I will take the advice and look at it in more detail before before writing it off/ Cheers Chris

I've posted a pic of the text from a tsuba that was picked up some time back, with the hope that one of you may be able to translate it for me. I have my suspisions that it is gimei but I guess I need to have it confirmed. Cheers and thanks Chris O

Thanks for that Grey. I think you are right with the Bonji, I've added a close up which shows a couple of small forging faults. Just a quick question for anyone if I may and totally off the subject, are Kozuka and Kogai all the same size or do they differ depending on the item they are fitted to such as Tanto, Katana or Wak???? Chris O

I appreciate your comments very much, thanks. I've attached a couple of pics of the Nakago but it looks pretty uninteresting to me I'm afraid. Once again sorry for the quality, I'm doing this by the light of the winter moon in Canberra. Chris O

I've attached a couple of extra pics of the fittings here. Chris O

G'day all, If anyone is able to help, I'm looking for a bit of information and a possible starting point for study on this tanto. It looks and feels great, but I'm afraid the attached pics do it little justice. I've been told that it is possibly late Shinto to early Shin Shinto. The Menuki seem to me to belong to the Tokugawa Clan, if this is the case I'm wondering if it is logical to assume that the Tanto may have been made for one of the Clan members. There is no Mei on the Nakago however there is a Bonji Horimono on the blade which seems to be quite well executed, if there is a meaning to the Bonji it it is out of my league. The fittings all match although the Kogai is missing and I would like to pick one up in the same theme if I can find one. In regards to the fittings (pics on the second posting) I would appreciate any views as to the theme they may represent, or perhaps they are just nice carvings? The Nagasa is 30cm and the Habaki is silver which matches the silver areas of the fittings.The Unokubi-Zukuri also adds a bit of definition to the shape of the blade. There is quite a nice Hamon, although it is partially hidden by the blade being out of polish Once again many thanks for any assistance (my second posting has pics of the other fittings) Best wishes Chris

G'day Henry, I've found that the following books have been quite interesting, and are available for free download through Brians post "Interesting book, article and .pdf downloads' at the top of the "General Nihonto Related Discussion" index. Japanese sword-mounts in the collections of Field Museum by Helen Gunsaulus The Japanese sword and its decoration by Helen Gunsaulus Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Japanese swords guards by Okabe-Kakuya Best Chris

Thanks for the continuing discussion, It's all a steep learning curve for me. The only thing that I can add to the original post is that as already mentioned there is a good deal of rust covering the plate and the Mimi is quite rough. The rim is raised maybe slightly less than 1mm above and below the plate. The Nakago-ana shows signs of file work which may be the result of it being made oversize to fit this particular blade. It is a nice snug fit on the blade with no extra movement. The fittings on the sword are Iron and seem quite old and I'm guessing that they may have been relocated from a previous blade, The Tsuka seems to be a fairly recent addition, so perhaps the Tsuba has been lying around in a box somewhere and has been modified to suit this blade at about the time the Tsuka was replaced. Chris