DTM72

At a recent show, an older gentleman took my card. He contacted me today, offering me what he believes to be the elusive copper handled NCO. He has a flip phone and cannot send pics. He is local and I am looking for tips on positive identification. Let’s start with what I know, or think I know. Should have serial number between 1 and 7000. Should have thick brass tsuba with top latch. Should have only one screw through the kashira aimless repaired in field with additional upper screw where mekugi would go. Should have clear stamps on fuchi. Should have good beginning and end to bohi. Things I am not sure of; Type of drag on saya Color(s) of saya Please add anything additional I should look for. @Shamsy @Bruce Pennington Thanks in advance! Dan

Item was relisted. Reserve NOT met $3600. Hmmm.

I will have a table at the Orlando sword show/shinsa, and will be offering a submission service as well. Click the link below and scroll down for my post, detailing what to expect for submitting your item(s). Dan

I will try again soon, and take better pictures. Thank you for your replies so far!

I tried that. It doesn't seem to work. I wore the armor this past weekend. I tied the obi tight and got the shoulder straps off my shoulders. Still, the sode shifted rearwards. Maybe I need longer rear strings to shift the sode?

When a shin-shinto smith makes a blade in honor of an older koto smith, what is it called? I was thinking it is clled utushimono but I can't seem to find anything on here or Google about it. Whatever it is called, please give me the name and kanji for it. Much appreciated!

For those few who actually wear armor, do you have any trouble with the sode rotating behind the shoulders, leaving the shoulder exposed? I have thought of adding a cloth strap so that it holds to the arm. This is a replica suit of armor from Iron Mountain Armory so don't worry about me ruining an original antique set of armor! I will say that part of the problem may be that I have NOT been tieing the armor tight to my waist, and the shoulder straps are bearing all the weight. I have been using the yoroi obi on the exterior. I realize I need this on the inside of the do, with a sarashi obi on the outside. Maybe getting the shoulder straps off of my shoulder may help the problem, but I'm not sure this is THE fix. Help is appreciated, Dan

My guess may be spot on or in outer space. I'm willing to try. Early Shinto - Magoroku Kanemoto School - Kanemoto 4th https://nihontoclub.com/smiths/KAN1586

You probably passed right by it. She was literaly covered under a pile of other swords of all different types. You could not see it! he was only about 5-6 tables down from me, in the same row. The dealer was starting to pack-up and asked what I was looking for. I said "any Nihonto, especially if it is unusual." He said he has 2 ken. Dug through the pile and handed both to me. The first honestly looked like a yari, and was in poor polish. The second was this one. You know what they say, "you don't choose the blade, it chooses you". I think it must be true. BTW, when I laid it on my table, the wife snatched it up, checked it out and said "I like it, it's mine now". lol. Could be worse, she could hate this collection/hobby and not allow me to do it.

BTW, I have a papered Saneyuki for you to compare with as well. Mine is the later Saneyuki https://nihontoclub.com/smiths/SAN571 Yours could be https://nihontoclub.com/smiths/SAN569 It's hard to tell from the deterioration on the nakago, but the style of the hamon poiints more towards SAN569. My SAN571 has a pretty wild hamon with multiple spots of tobiyaki floating above the hamon. <-- something the Kanbun smiths were doing compared to the earlier Edo smiths before them. Warring period was over, and demand for swords was low, so gotta add some flash to the blades. Especially the Mishina guys and their kikusui and sudare-ba style hamon that came in around 1650's. (Yoshimichi 2nd) and especially Yoshimichi 4th and Kanemichi 2nd in 1670's <--Kanbun & Empo Era.

Sorry about that Chris! At the end of the show on Saturday, My wife, son, daughter, best-friend and his daughter, helped my to pack-up and load out. I promised them all that I would buy dinner. No joke, pack-up took 20 minutes, including putting everything in the truck! Went straight to dinner after the show, got stuffed, then to the hotel to shower and sleep. Got up Sunday morning, had a half-assed breakfast in the lobby, then hit the road to South Carolina. Stopped in Lexington, KY for Skyline chili, since we don't have that in S.C. Long story short, sorry I didn't message ya! Was ready to get home. <-- 9 hour drive.

I think he was referring to the mounts as "cheap tourist". Would love to see more of it, regardless. @Geraint

1 shaku = 30.2 cm = 11.9" so this is a big tanto or ko wakizashi. I'll put the measuring stick to it tonight.

Koshirae I know there was no plastic prior to 1907 and was not widely used until WWII. Could this be a type of carved and painted bone? the claws of the dragon are not painted and have a possible appearance of a bone-like substance.

At the Show Of Shows in Loiusville, Kentucky a few weeks ago, I picked-up a last minute deal as the vendors were packing up. To my partially educated eyes it is a koto ken shaped tanto. I don't have measurements (yet) but the nagasa is around 12" - 13" in length (30.5cm - 33cm) The nakago is ubu and has a mei of Amakuni. I was not thrilled with the koshirae as it felt like plastic to me. Wife loves the koshirae as it has some dragons and fire on it. Open to thoughts, opinions, etc. on this piece. Would enjoy seeing pics and discussion of other kens out there as they seem to be somewhat a rarity.

These tassels came from swords that were in the book "Swords of the Emperor". Very well known collector by the name of John Plimpton. Mr. Plimpton intended to collect one or more of each type of sword type released after the Meiji restoration. he owned many rare and hard to find versions....as well as the tassels. https://www.headstam...ror-standard-edition

Bringing this back to the top. Mark still has some nice, hard to find, tassels from the Plimpton Collection. Unfortunately for me, he no longer has one that I am looking for. Maybe he has the one you are looking for. Good luck to all! Dan

My best guess 水 = Sui 心 = Shin 予 = Shi 正 = Masa 眞 = Sane 造 = Tsukuru

@Bruce Pennington Mantetsu stamp alert! @Rjizzle10 I am in Charleston, SC. Where in SC are you located?

I think you may be mixing two terms into one. JI HADA - 地肌 - surface pattern of the hada SHINOGI - 鎬 - ridgeline of the blade All I can see on the surface of the blade are scratches or sanding marks. The line running parallel to the back edge of the blade (Shinogi line) is high up on the blade. (more taper, and less thick back edge) This is usually indicative of an older blade. Would need a better picture of the blade laying flat to tell for sure.

That picture narrows it down to Bizen, Buzen, Bungo, and Satsuma. now we need to see the pictures of the overall sugata and the boshi to narrow it down even more. Since the nakago is suriage (shortened) we cannot pinpoint the school based on the nakago shape and filemarks. 安 光

Was good bumping into you @ChrisW! One of my trips back to Indy, I will be sure to meet up with you and the ITK, even if it is just for coffee. @AlphaRaider would love to see the pics you took! I had the table in the far back left corner with 2 suits of samurai armor on either end of the table.

Your possibilities now are Awa, Bizen, Bungo, Buzen, Musashi, Sagami, Satsuma. Muromachi is still a large timeframe. 安光 1st Bizen Meitoku (1390-1394) 安光 Buzen Kakitsu (1441-1444) 安滿 Satsuma (1368-1592) 康光 1st to 5th Bizen (1394-1555) 安光 Bungo Kakitsu (1441-1444) 泰光 Awa (阿波) Tenmon (1532-1555) 泰光 Musashi Genki (1570-1573) 泰光 1st Sagami Eiroku (1558-1570)

OK, now we know Mike (Yasumitsu) lived in the 1392-1572 time period. If we can see how he signed his name, this narrows the search. Seeing pictures of Mike (the blade in question) will help us to determine where Mike lived. Help us help you.

I agree 100% with the above, do NOT try to remove the handle, 100% chance of it NOT being signed and 75% chance of scratching the paint on the tsuka and messing-up the screw itself.