william m

Oh dear . Well from my experience. it stops when you have a baby! My swords now live in the loft and the Japanese ones in a locked cuboard.

I spoke to my Japanese colleague and he says that the character by itself doesn't mean anything but he thinks it could mean something like "present" or "show".

Well that makes sense! Shame it wasn't something more exciting but thanks for the reply.

Hi all, I recently bought a lovely little police sword with a traditional blade from a forum member. Link to sword pic. Last night I disassembled the sword and found this strange mei hiding under the habaki and am wondering if anybody has any insight into this? Interestingly I found this exact same Mei on a very simliar looking sword belonging to a chap on another forum. The mounts and length were almost identical with the only difference being that the Mei on his sword was above the habaki, while mine was hiding underneath. Quote: George Wheeler: The character is the same as that found in a two character Kami (God) stamp on page 82 of Fuller & Gregory. That stamp is listed as "...significance unknown. Very rare." George's sword with the same mei/arsenal stamp

OK so it looks like I have quite a few leads on what this could be, ranging from on if it is genuine or not, whether it was scratched on at a later date as an ID and even what exactly the name is due to the unambiguous characters. Thank all you all very much for your input! Whatever the kozuka really is, I am happy as I think it matches up quite nicely to the wakizashi I currently have it mounted in. Thanks all!

Incredible. Thank you very much for posting this. I had wondered how some tsuba were made but I would never had thought that such intricacies were done with chisels.

OK here we go! Looks like I was a bit wrong with the width estimate but its still pretty small. I wonder if it was just worked in with a knife.

Haha, unfortunately I left the kozuka at work when I was using the studio. I will measure it up tomorrow.

The problem is that the signature is really very small. It must be around 1.5mm in width.

Ah apologies, I have now added my name into my signature. Thanks for the tip, I have gone through the names and I think this is the closest I can find. What do you think? 守 Mori is pretty close and it could also be 家 but I am less sure of that one.

Hi all, I have had in my possession for quite a long time now a rather nice Kozuka (Compared to rest of my stuff) and I have never thought much into researching it and have just had it mounted into my nihonto. Recently a friend while looking at it identified a signature on the spine, which to my shame I had not seen before! My Japanese friends say that the writing is of an old style and is most likely "Gak Kou 学　光" but cannot be sure as it could also be "Ei Kou 栄　光" I was wondering if anybody here could help me identify this signature and possibly suggest a time period? Thank you!

Yes I thought the sword would be quite young due to the very healthy blade. In regards to the etch, I think the entire sword was coated rather than just the hamon area. What interests me in the sword is the boshi and the very controlled hamon. I will have a look in my books to see if any school specalised in the hamon+boshi combination. Thanks guys William

Haha, a kitchen knife handle! I would never had guessed.. Even though the fittings may be of poor quality, I still like them. I suppose im a sucker for flashy junk! hehe. Anyways thank you both for your advise, it is greatly appreciated. Regards, William

Hello all, This wakizashi is mounted with the fittings as per my previous thread. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3211 If possible could anybody tell me something about the wakizashi? I am redoing the sword's tsukamaki for a friend and I think it would be nice if I could provide some info on the sword itself. The nagasa is about 53cm long, the niku is very thick. I think the sword may be suriage as the balance isn't quite right it feels a bit heavy. Thanks in advance!

Hi Brian, Sorry but I thought these were really nice! haha. I guess I have had a lot of junk in the past. The kozuka I agree is nasty, the design is exactly the same on both sides making it difficult to slot into the saya. I am surprised with the menuki and tsuba, as I quite liked them. I wouldn't mind having a set like these. But anyways no offense taken :D , these fittings are for a wakizashi that belongs to a friend. I am planning on redoing the tsukamaki so I thought I might as well post the fittings up on the board to see what you guys thought of them. Thanks for the reply Brian! Regards, William

Hello all, I was just wondering if anybody could shead any light on these fittings I have? Thanks in advance! William

New photos!

Fantastic, I will try that as soon as I find some toothpicks. Thank you very much! Regards, William

I have recently taken this pair of menuki from a wakizashi I plan to re-wrap. The menuki have some kind of staining/oxidisation, which is coming though as a kind of light green. I have tried detergent and a toothbrush but has had little effect so far. Any other methods I could use? Thanks! William

Ah! okay very odd! Thanks for the info. And if anybody is interested here is a photo of the menuki I have taken off the tsuka.

A second opinion. The mei on the waki 2 says "Bizen no kuni yosozaemon no ju sukesada" The silver tsuba is signed Masamene, Buko sei mami.

Okay up are some new pictures and also the mystery deepens. Waki 2 has a mei on both sides. Here is an image of the new mei. tsuba http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/ ... G_0880.jpg swords http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/ ... G_0884.jpg http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/ ... G_0875.jpg kissaki http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/ ... G_0876.jpg The Fuchi puzzled my Japanese collegues. They think it is a name of school but cannot read one of the characters as it is not modern Japanese. http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/ ... G_0882.jpg http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/ ... G_0883.jpg http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/ ... G_0881.jpg Once again many thanks for your responses, I really enjoy reading them all. :D

Yes the tsuba are quite nice, the silver one is signed with both the school and the smiths name. I had a Japanese college at work translate the tsuba for me. Now I know the school and smith I should hopefully be able to date the tsuba. I didn't get around to taking better photos last night, ill try again tonight! William

Ha ha don't worry Simon, I had nothing to do with that. May I ask how you were able to identify the mei, I looked in one of my books "The connoisseurs Japanese sword book" but the amount of information is quite overwhelming! I think I will have to stick with tsukamaki. Any request on anywhere I should take photos of tonight? Thanks! William

Hi Jacques, Thank you very much for the help so far. It is greatly appreciated! :D I will get some better photos hopefully tomorrow. Can't wait to find out exactly when these swords were made! Cheers! William