lonely panet

Hello all, I hope you are all well and collecting still. a big thanks to you all for helping me with translations in the past! can I ask for some help with this little nut cracker please?? a small character on a good luck flag I can find in my books or on the kanji pages either a big thanks in advance regards Hamish

Thanks for all your help, looks like my box has been miss-used. I didn't know KOTO were made this small, though I know nothing at all about them!!!!! regards Hamish

Hello all, I have a old wooden sword box with a name but I cant complete the translation. the first character is fuzzy but I think it might be TACHIBANA?? if anyone can help please.

Hi everyone, thanks for the info in the menuki. the story about these is I noticed a crappy WAK on ebay not getting any bids, I noticed the menuki and the quality of them. long story short, paid $200AUD, for the WAK just to get the menuki so I think I did well thanks again for your help gentleman regards Hamish

that would explain the smile :lol: :lol: :lol: hamish

pt2

Hi guys, I hope your all well! I don't know much about menuki so im hoping for some info on some I got off a old buggered wak. there of 3 very happy looking tadpoles done in gold, they feel very heavy compared to there size do they appear to have any school traits or are they just run of the mill stuff regards hamish

Hi guys, its been a few weeks. I hope your are all well, I picked up a cheap type 32 and blow be down it has 3 unknown arsenal marks if any ones seen theses or known what they mean regards Hamish

Hi Roku its hard to tell, the blade has staining but all I can see is this single event. does any one know how the average showato was made (ie kawagane ETC) regards Hamish

Hello all, I hope we are all well I have a picture of some activity at the border of the hamon, it looks like sunagashi or inazuma. but the blade in question is a showato with a seki stamp signed Nagamura Kiyonobu. so the question is, am I seeing things or are showato capable of this type of activity? regards Hamish

Hi guys, its been a while but I have picked up dress sword with a aluminium gripe instead of the normal buffalo, same or Bakelite. the sword itself is longer then normal, but the overall quality is low so I assume it was made toward the end of 20s or early 30s. have a look regards Hamish

Hi Steve well by the lack of replys to your question, this should be a good guide to how tricky picking false tassels are. they are getting very good these days, so I only buy from friends who I know that have had the tassels for years. from the photos shown it looks ok to me, but once again its a tricky area. if you happen to get bitten you can only learn from the experience and move forward. I hope this can help in any way regards Hamish

thanks you very much Chis, well I missed "minamoto" and it was in Yumotos book too. but I would have never got saku (to stylized for me) regards Hamish

Good morning all, I hope your all well?, I was practicing my translating with what I though to be a easy mei.. hahahahahha but im stumped on it, its not in john soughs book, nor did jahn yamotos book helped. 1.... 2 YOSHI 3 TAME ??? 4 KANE or MOTO can any one point out any hints to some pages in books to help me practice my skills, iv tried to use the kanji mei page on the website but it didn't help much because of the obsure amount of strocks in the kanji regards Hamish

Thanks for taking it easy on me for this very silly mistake..... sadly I was raised with English as a first language, so no excuses. this aside the shape of the blade interests me a lot, the blade is quite thin compared to the size and shape. the shinogi is very raised and has a oroshimune. dimensions are nagasa 43.2 cm thickness of habaki moto 5mm and blade hight at habaki is 28mm thickness of mune at habaki 3mm kissaki thickness 3mm blade hight is 20mm mune at the same place 2mm regards Hamish

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Hello all, I hope were all well and collecting like made. Iv picked up a wakizashi because it was a bargin, I though it was late koto and gimei. Im sure its gimei because the the date is placed between 3 mekugi ana and makes little to no sences. heres is the first 2 kanji, the others are abit obsure and hard to photograph. Can anyone please confirm my thoughts, that these make no sence at all.

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Hi guys, Here's another odd example for the peoples. This one is much smaller, lighter and shorter. also the blade is dead straight, considering the early Japanese army was based some what on the victorious German army who had straight bladed dress swords it could be plausible that it might be inspired or influenced by Das Germans. regards Hamish

I understand your concern, im not buffing it, or taking to it with stealwool. Im just wishing to clean it so it will look like this... regards Hamish

Hi all, Im interested to know if anyone knows how Jim Dawson managed to clean the examples picture in his last book? I have 3 examples, one I cleaned with autosol just to give the metal back some of its WHITE METAL finish it was issued with (prob wont do it again) the second is a blue mineral finish so no need to clean the 3rd I haven't cleaned yet. the stamps are in excellent condition and don't want to blur them in the process. can anyone offer advice to help me put it back to the original issued condition. regards H

pt3

pt2

Hi Matt, and every one else, iv finally got around to taking some photos of the beefy sword some people have asked for , the blade was a bit tricky to photograph but I hope look good. regards Hamish

Hi Matt, That's a fantastic Generals dress sword, a pitty that you had to part with it but we cant keep everything. The beefy blade is infact a just a very large Nichol plated blade, but its very broad compared to a type 19 cavalary sword considering the blade construction is basically the same. the logo shown from the sword is unknown to me and not recorded in any books I have so im assuming it could be a early model. just out of interest whats the going rate for a generals grade dress sword? im in the market for one and a price range would give me something to save for. regrads Hamish