Toryu2020

Bernard - The Nihonto Koza translations by Watson contain an excellent article on gimei by Kajihei, a legitimate smith in his own right who was forced by circumstance to make fakes. There was also a thriving business of knock-offs at Kuwana, it seems this was a place to go to earn your stripes by cranking out swords for tourists. Not unlike art students copying the great masters in Paris. The problem being that they were copies, so they did their best to produce swords in the style of another artist, you'd be hard pressed to identify the original artist from the workmanship - if you could you'd have a gimei and it would take some pretty twisted logic to value something that is meant to look like Kotetsu but was made by Gassan at Kuwana with a bad signature... -t

Kusunoki san May I point out that Sonno Joi is a decidedly anti-bakufu slogan - extolling the Tokugawa to do as instructed by the Emperor, excercise their mandate as Seii Tai Shogun and defend the nation against the foreign incursion. They were powerless to do so thus they failed... -t (for To-baku!)

The Fujin and Raijin have to be pretty rare I agree, The telegraph clearly puts these into Meiji when there was in fact a backlash against westernization and lots of rumor and suspicion surrounding such magical objects as the telegraph. Not sure those could really be called menuki but a very neat subject anyway. fish turning into dragon = Toryu-mon Man on turtle = Urashima Taro ninja frogs? = Gomoku all fairly common... -t

There are styles of shirasaya based on the place or region of manufacture, I have not seen any good documentation on this in English or Japanese, an area of interest for me so if anybody knows of a good source I'd love to hear it. I was told that Daimyo at least had saya-shi to make shirasaya for all the better blades in their warehouse. Early sayagaki were often little more than the mei or "catalog" numbers inscribed by the lords curator of swords. With some study I suppose you could guess at age but without a dated sayagaki and lacking evidence of machine tooling all you have to go on is patina of the wood. Most importantly inside the tsuka and koiguchi... -t

Lucky Barry! Teishitsu Gigeiin is the Meiji equivalent of Living National Treasure, I would research the mei carefully. Do post some photos of the blade if you get the chance. -t

You are all indeed welcome, No matter the area of interest in this field one cannot know it all, though I apologise if I sound like that some times. The rabbit holes are so deep you can never exhaust your thirst for knowledge, for my part I learn something new everyday here, I had wanted to say "indeed RARE" in my first post but dropped it somehow. -t (for tom)

Michael - The Meikan lists at least thirteen Shitahara smiths that signed with these characters. Thus there is a good likelyhood that this is not a fake signature. The work will bear this out, close ups of the jigane (the grain pattern in the metal) will be the next step. It may be hard coming up with the exact generation as there aren't a lot of good references for all but the best in this line. If it were dated that would be the the biggest help. If genuine not a bad sword to find in gunto koshirae by a long shot... -t

Keith et al - Satsuma-age was not a practice from the rebellion, rather Satsuma was a place where the population had a greater proportion of Buke than in other Han. This created a great deal of hardship on the members of the class, farming and other labor forbidden to samurai in other han was authorized even encouraged in Satsuma. Since it was poor farmland to begin with the average income was quite modest compared to other places. In addition there was long standing disdain for outsiders especially those associated with the Tokugawa regime. This fostered a very different kind of culture and aesthetic than was found in the capitols of other han. Here the attitude was one of pure machismo the sword as pure weapon absent all but the simplest adornment, "not like those nancy boys in Edo" you could almost hear them saying. The practice of Satsuma-age comes from this attitude and the stingy economy under which the Satsuma Samurai had to live. There have been good blades with well known signatures that have been reshaped in this way but they are indeed... http://www.bidders.co.jp/aitem/142223961 -t

Ken et al - Leather was used more often prior to 1600 and it is popular in Japan now as it stands up well to the mold and humidity there. Silk became the norm in the Edo period because of the variety of colors and patterns that could be produced, the peaceful times allowing for a wider market. Silk is preferred by some as it is generally better at absorbing sweat while still providing a solid grip. As you point out the burn test really is the only way to know for sure, if your ito is frayed you may only need a tiny snippet to confirm your suspicions... -t

Weidas - I am afraid you will need better pictures of the overall nakago and close ups of the mei if anyone is to help you... -t

Steven et al - my understanding is that there was a thriving school of tsuba makers at Akasaka in Edo (now Tokyo) that fed a thriving tourist trade with Nobuie style works. I would seek out examples of their work to compare. This is more 19th century in my humble opinion... -t

Akao as has already been said, and thats the last name Stephen not the first... -t

Jean - From the Meikan; Bizen (no) Kuni Nagamitsu (sig.) Bizen Province, Genroku, dated work from Genroku 13, further info may be found in the To-Ken Kaishi. @Ray sounds like you need to start another thread. FYI I believe the March topic at the sword club is "Kamakura" so there will be many Soshu blades and signatures for comparison, and if you ask nice maybe some books on hand to help you with your research... -t

Whoops! not Bishu Bizen, Sorry don't know how I missed that. There is a Bizen (no) Kuni Nagamitsu from the Genroku era. -t

相州　　Sôshû The Meikan lists a Nagamitsu from the Ko-Mihara school circa 1389 - perhaps a much more interesting find than one of those old Osafune things... -t

Matt - Kuwana ju something Naga is what I see, as has already been pointed out. It is possible this was Muramasa school - a lot of swordmakers worked in Kuwana in the late-Edo period. A huge crossroads town and tourist attraction. Clearly you will want to focus your search on Muramasa and other smiths working in Kuwana and Ise... -t

Excellent link Rob - So it appears they were for the most part on the omote side, unlocked by action of the right hand on the tsuka. Visible when worn in the dress or redoubt? position.Thanks to you both. Chuha-dome! one learns something new everyday... -t

All - I have a question for the Militaria collectors among us; What is the Japanese term for the push-button saya lock that we see on many Gunto koshirae? and it being sometime since I looked at any are they typically under the thumb on the ura, when the blade is uppermost or on the omote and to be pressed (opened) by the index finger. I think I know the answer but want to see if anyone else has considered the question and if there has been perceived any consistency. Any help appreciated... -t

Tell that to Bob Hope!

Well I counted eleven, and even without those two strokes it seemed clear he was going for yoshi - 4 out of 5 is a great start and how we all have to do it... -t

Sorry, Dirk...

Zan my friend, Count the number of strokes in your Kane and then count the number of strokes in kanji number 5 and you may want to look again for another candidate... -t

陸軍恤兵部派遣　　日本ポリドール慰問団 Rikugun Juppei-bu Haken Nippon Polydor Imondan or Army Relief Group (Sponsored) Nippon Polydor Comfort Corps Imon is consolation, but in this case we think relief or comfort. This is, as I said tongue in cheek earlier, most likely a group of recording artists who toured around to give relief/recreation to the troops, like our USO. I expect as has been suggested that the officers are in charge of whatever base they were at, though this almost looks like they posed after surrender they look so dour. Tip of the hat to Colonel Creswell for his invaluable assistance... -t

Alex - The Meikan lists two Moriyuki that are Shinshin-to smiths. Is this a Showa-to we are talking about? Any chance we can see pics of the mei and the blade? Might help us with the search... -t

Jello- If it's kanji study, then many sword books will only give you a "survey" of the most commonly used characters. For some this is all that is needed. However if you truly want to make sense of it all you have to put in some time studying the language. Start with Hiragana and Katakana and then onto first grade kanji and off you go. The initial investment in study time is often a turn-off for new students of this subject but listen to the old farts for they can tell you that little investment pays off in big ways later, usually by helping you avoid serious buying mistakes. "A friend of the devil is a friend of mine..." -t