Toryu2020

Taking care of your parents can be the toughest job in the world and don't get me started on Cats! Just know you have a family here and we're happy to do what little we can for you... -t

Liberal civil rights activist and politician of the Meiji and Taisho periods. Born on July 7, 1852 in the Miharu domain (Fukushima Prefecture). His name was Banshu. After the establishment of the new government, he served in Wakamatsu Prefecture and the Miharu domain office, and later served as head of the Tokiwa household and head of the Ishikawa ward. During his tenure as the head of the Tokiwa household and the head of the Ishikawa ward, he was enlightened by Mill's ideas and made efforts to establish the Minkaikai and the Seiyosha political association. In the meantime, in April 1881, he was elected to the Diet. In April 1881, at the age of just 31, he became the chairman of the Fukushima Prefectural Assembly and fought hard for the establishment of local autonomy. In 1889, he was pardoned by the Constitution and released from prison. During this period, he served as Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1903 and as Minister of Agriculture and Commerce in the second Shigenobu Okuma Cabinet in 1915. He left the Liberal Party, which he had been deeply involved with since its founding in 1897, and frequently changed his party affiliation, which led to some suspicion of his political manners, but he never lost the principle of "universal suffrage" that he had nurtured during the Civil Rights Movement. However, he did not consistently lose the idea of "universal suffrage" that he had developed during the Civil Rights Movement, and he worked actively to realize it. He died on December 29, 1923, while still a member of the Diet. His grave is at Gokokuji Temple in Tokyo. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

So I dunno - could be a gift "to" rather than from - also Kinnen is often translated as "Memorial" but Kono Hironaka did not die until the 1920's so its not clear what is being celebrated - my thinking is the kao may belong to Mr Kamata who seems to be the author - the unclear characters are for a Bizen Osafune somebody, perhaps that was an old sayagaki that was removed to add this one? 河野広中公の愛刀則光太刀と一組揃の名刀也 明治３４年正月元旦 河野代議士より贈興紀念也　　 鎌田代 Kono Hironaka's favorite sword, Norimitsu, and a pair of other famous swords. New Year's Day, 1901 A commemorative gift from Congressional Representative Kono.　　 Kamata (signed)　 I'm sure somebody or maybe Nobody will correct my mistakes... -t

George - I am afraid this signature, mon and yasuri do not compare well to the examples in Fujishiro. What activity/features are you seeing in the blade besides a sugu-ha hamon? -t

I'm sure youre aware (but this is the internet...) The inscription says "Futatsu do ochiru" which means "Cut two bodies" if it said "Ni no do" that would be the location of the cut as seen in the illustration. Since we cannot see the artists signature nor any seal or other mention of the cutter - I would not give this lots of weight in my considerations... -t

Education (ncjsc.org)

Always ask to see the bottom - that is where you will usually see true indications of age...

Beautiful and rare - I like it too Axel. -t

John - If you look at the first photo of that piece you'll see where we use it at club meetings - sadly no Tachi koshirae in my collection... -t

This other one I think is maybe Taisho period, the "cups" are silver - sadly I have no Tachi to display with these...

Heres one still banging around the house - the "cup" for the Kabuto-gane is lined in rawhide

Kamakura is famous for a style of carving and lacquer work; Kamakura-bori - when I lived there this was in the window of a local shop specializing in Kamakura-bori ware. I used to pass by about once a month and try to buy it but the owner said it was there for advertising and not for sale - he said I couldn't afford to have him carve another...

Kirill - the monthly topics are always listed on the second page of your newsletter - Satsuma will not be until November of next year so you have plenty of time to drive down! :-) -t

Eight digits starting with 00? then yes that is your kai-in bango...

The "Kinsuji" are the giveaway - Inoue Shinkai would come to mind but he never made this shape. Very nice find, Kirill. I hope you'll bring it to our "Satsuma" meeting next year... -t

(Historical humour) I am staunchly anti-Tokugawa Eric, so I found it amusing that you would quote me when arguing for showing them any kind of respect... -t

Well if you're asking me, any insult to the Tokugawa is a welcome one and well deserved. Toーbaku! Toーbaku! Mata Toーbaku!

Brian is in Washington, Jimmy is in San Francisco. John has a point, the sword is in good shape now. If you wanted to get the signature removed and submit for shinsa in Japan you'll need an agent. I would contact Keichodo on this board he can walk you thru the steps and potential costs... -t

Eric - you raise the question of preservation vs restoration and as Brian above has pointed out there is no need to remove the signature unless youre in for full restoration. Jimmy Hayashi in San Francisco is a fully trained polisher and Brian Tschernega, on the west coast, has the skills to do what you ask. However I think if you want to get it restored best to make the full investment and send to Japan. -t

Thank you Robert, sad news indeed.

Based on these new photos I have to agree, it is gimei. The signature side is especially poorly done, with odd spacing between the characters. The ijuchi - place name - shows heavy Tagane points in the end of the strokes and I would say the Nakago-jiri is wrong for this school. As you suspected the mon is also an indicator, any insult to the shogun was punishable by death, so the Yasutsugu smiths would never let any mon out of their shop that was less than perfect... -t Still a better sword than most grandpas are leaving behind...

I don't usually go for later Nobuie works but I love both of these, the octagonal one especially. I would venture these are "Akasaka Nobuie" since they did unusual shaped Hitsu-ana and then plugged them with soft metal. I believe the shape of the ana on the octagonal piece is "Oni-gawara"... -t

Does look like habaki - what does the other side look like?

A nice inheritance. Please do show us more photos of the blade, close ups of the area under the habaki, the hamon and kissaki/boshi. The blade should confirm the mei not the other way round. If you can re-take the photos of the nakago - straight up and down, no angles on a plain background that could help with what we are seeing. A nice conundrum to have... -t

Well if Kanbei died in 1877, he wouldn't be ordering swords in 1880 and given his story not likely to want a Satsuma sword. I like Moriyama's candidate... -t