Rich S

Here's my webpage on him: http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/yoshchik.htm Rich S

Steve - As I'm sure you know Fukumoto Kanemune was the son of Amahide. Many of Kanemune's mei are Nakarishi Mei (signed by a separate mei cutter). There are many variations. I have three on my oshigata page. Rich S

If the tsuba is loose enough to rattle with both seppa in place, I commonly make a leather seppa and fit it between the tsuba and upper seppa or between upper seppa and fuchi. Might give that a try. Rich S

Charlie - I think (?) the metal plate tsuka are not common. I've only seen a few over the years. Not aware of any particular school or period of their use. Rich S

In the second pic, there looks like there might be a plug just above the first two horizontal ito and below the first cross-over ito. On some metal plate tsuka, the design in the metal plate is the menuki. Just some thoughts. Rich

Yes, there was a group of tsuba referred to as Tembo, NBTHK and NTHK have both papered them as such (I have one). Tembo basically means those tsuba with stamped designs; commonly Kanji, but other designs also. Here's a link to my page on them. http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/tsuba/saotome.htm Rich S

Yes, they represent Chinese coins, which the Japanese used until they developed their own coinage - but I don't recall when that was. Not an uncommon motif. Rich S

Bill - Yes, betseki would be a fourth level ranking. But keep in mind that this old ranking has no relationship to modern rankings in Fujishiro or Hawley, etc. It is more just a listing of smiths working at this period. As mentioned, betseki is one of the honorary rankings bestowed on senior smiths of the period. Rich S

As I tried to explain on the site, Betseki is an honorary ranking given at that time to senior smiths. Ishido Teruhide blades have been papered by NBTHK and are considered true gendaito. I used a civilian mounted Teruhide as my iai sword for many years (back when I had knees that actually worked :-) A very good and desirable smith. I don't think that is an arsenal stamp at the end of the nakago; probably just an assembly mark. Rich S

This is the list I have as of 2000. Maybe more since then. MUKANSA SMITHS: Amada Akitsugu (National Living Treasure, Niigata Prefecture) Osumi Toshihira (National Living Treasure, Gunma) Hokke Saburo Nobufusa (Miyagi) Yoshihara Yoshito (Tokyo) Yoshihara Kuniie (Tokyo) Gassan Sadatoshi (Nara) Kanbayashi Tsunehira (Yamagata) Yamaguchi Kiyofusa (Iwate) Kawachi Kunihira (Nara) Ono Yoshimitsu (Tokyo) So Tsutomu (Fukuoka) Mikami Sadanao (Hiroshima) Miyairi Norihiro (Nagano) Seto Yoshihiro (Fukuoka) Hiroki Hirokuni (Kanagawa) Enomoto Sadayoshi (Shizuoka) Rich S

Hmm, you'd thnk I'd know what was on my own website See the above message about advancing senility. Rich

Oops, please pardon my advancing senility :-) Nambu, not namban. Rich S

IN Slough's book, he states on the Mantetsu blade pages, that the "W" stamp was on blades made by Takehisa and Haruhisa. Also found on Namban pistol magazines made in Nagoya. Rich S

There are some similarities to Saotome, but something doesn't quite ring right. Is the tsuba cast? The surface is either very speckled rust or casting bumps. Rich S

I have owned numerous blades by both mentioned smiths, still have a few of each. IMHO they are of approximately equal quality and skill. Still for some reason Emura blades seem to bring more on the market (for reasons I don't pretend to understand). Rich S

I would venture a very unsure guess at Kumazawa Kanetoshi saku. Never seen that kokuin before though. The style of carving the mei seems to point to a Seki work IMHO. Rich

Thanks for posting the mei. I don't want to try to pass judgement on the mei. With so many folks making and signing Emura blades at the prison, it's next to impossible to say with confidence which he actually made and which were made by prisoners. There are zillions of variations in Emura mei (many that I haven't posted on the site). But I should say that I've recently seen several "Emura" blades that struck me a rather "weird". With prices for his blades in the 4 figures, sooner or later someone will or already has started carving their own "emura" blades. While the Japanese shinsa are not infallible, I would tend to trust their judgement over my own and I've owned dozens of Emura blades (still have three). Rich S

Could someone post the nakago and mei or point me to the exact URL of same. I'm on a slow dialup and can't load all those pics. Thanks Rich

Can't read the mei but a rough guess based on style- Echizen Kinai school Rich

Could be kyo-sukashi, but also about half the tsuba of this style many folks will classify as Saotome. Nice tsuba no matter who made it. Rich S

I believe the top scan's smith name is Kunitoshi. Although not 100% sure of the "toshi". Rich S

I suspect that all the above are correct. Also I think some horimono were added after the war to appeal to GIs as souvenirs. Rich S

I think (?) that is called orishigane, but memory (like most else) may be failing. Rich S

Very strange indeed. What is stranger is that the Kanji are carved correctly for Emura (see oshigata B on my Emura page). My "guess" is that a student carved them backwards or maybe was just really pi$$ed at the boss :-) One of the weirdest I've ever seen. Rich S

Of course one possible solution is not to buy swords that are in serious need of polishing and personally, I see little point in papering gendaito. Other than Yasukuni and Gassan and a couple other smiths of their level, there is little chance of most gendaito being gimei. Just my approach to the topic. Rich S