Yukihiro

A gentleman with some knowledge of nihonto (he sells tsuba mostly, though) and who had the sword in hand did tell me it was Shin-shinto, but I am at a loss as to defining the school this wakizashi might be from.

Well, I have tried to look for information using key words such as o-wakizashi, suguha, ko-maru, short kaeri and the like, all of which were, as far as I could judge, characteristics of this sword, and the results I got seemed to point to Hizen and Nidai Tadahiro. Of course, I am what you would call a noob, so you could say that this was some kind of desperate attempt to try and discover where the sword was possibly made and by whom.

Thank you for your reply, Bazza It looks like I will have to live with the idea that the maker of my wakizashi will never be identified...

Hello, I have been looking for information and, above all, for other swords that might match the style of my mumei wakizashi and have wondered whether there might be a remote possibility that this sword be Hizen and made in the style of Nidai Tadahiro. Didier

Maybe some additional information can be provided by the faint traces of yasurime (katteagari?) on the nakago?...

Sori is barely half an inch (1.3 cm) on this blade: very shallow indeed. So, if I understand correctly, the sword is definitely Shinto.

Starting from scratch as far as "nihonto knowledge" is concerned, I am at a loss when it comes to ascertaining the origin and possible date of manufacture of this wakizashi, that is the reason why I am most thankful for your contributions. I imagine the task is made all the more so difficult by the fact that the blade is mumei.

Merci, Jean ! I am surprised that this blade can be THAT old - it does not seem to have been polished a lot, judging by its thickness and the fact that both the ha-machi and the mune-machi are well preserved. Well, at least that was what I had gathered from my readings. The blade is ubu, too.

Thank you for your reply! Does the length of the wakizashi (o-wakizashi?) give us a clue as to the origin and date of the sword?

Some more photos:

The koshirae : The kanji on the tsuba were read Nobuie (gimei) by the members of the French forum Etude du sabre d'art japonais (https://token.forumactif.com/).

Here is my very first nihonto : a (presumably) Shinshinto wakizashi (mumei) with a nagasa of 54.5 cm (21"1/2) : The hamon is suguha, but I don't see a lot of activity in it (if at all!). As far as I can tell, the sword is ubu. Could anybody on here tell me more? Is it possible to ascribe this wakizashi to a particular school or style? I have read that merchants were forbidden to wear long swords, so, as this wakizashi is rather on the long side, do you think it could have been worn by one such person? Thank you in advance for your replies! Regards, Didier

Doesn't this tsuba remind you of another one?... http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/28235-unusual-open-work-tsuba/page-2?do=findComment&comment=294929

Bruce, These tsuba with round holes seem to be rather scarce : maybe less than 1 or 2 % of the total number, judging by the time it took me to browse the Internet to find but ONE instance of a tsuba with such holes.

To go back (if you don't mind) to the original topic, here is another example of a Japanese (???) gunto tsuba with holes drilled in it that I have found... Could this one also be a Chinese fake? (I have posted a photo of mine for the sake of comparison)

Thanks to everybody for the input I find the ones that have been posted on here rather cruder than mine, but I'll search the Net for other examples (whether fake or genuine) to get to the bottom of it.

Unfortunately, I cannot see the fittings you are referring to, Chris. I had noticed that the holes were somewhat off centre. The blossoms on the tsuba don't look particularly crude to me.

Alright, so they are sakura after all! Thank you for putting things right

Well, I think I have found a partial answer to my question : they are not sakura, but ume flowers, like on this Edo tsuba.

Same principle, indeed, with holes drilled through the plaque. The sakura on mine are different, with their central crown, from any I have seen so far. Were there "non regulation" gunto tsuba made by smaller workshops or could this one, if it is legit, be a very early example ?

Thank you for your reply, Chris. At any rate, I wasn't able to find one with the same sakura on it anywhere on the Internet. It does look old, though, and not artificially aged, so who knows...

Hello to all, This is a gunto tsuba I found last week in Paris - it looks pretty non standard to me, so I would like to have your opinion. Regards, Didier

Whose mei is this? Kojima's or Kanaya's? The na (Nagoya arsenal) stamp is present, so I suppose it can't be a gendaito.

Helllo to all, There were apparently at least two swordsmiths who bore the name Katsumasa during WW2 - Kojima Katsumasa and Kanaya Katsumasa. My question is simple : what were the differences between the one and the other - Mei? Quality of swords? Place of residence?... Thank you in advance for your answers! Regards, Didier

Thank you for your replies. Yes, showato or not, these blades do deserve some attention and care.