Scogg

Great thread! My recent purchase with very strange one piece habiki that seems to mimic the bo-hi with soe-bi.

I'd recommend posting in the "wanted to buy" section and detail what you want and hope to learn from your next sword purchase. I bet people on this board would be happy to help, and some have incredible collections and/or recommendations about sellers Those three swords look alright to me, as a fellow beginner, but like has been mentioned - I think you could find something even better I currently have two out-of-polish nihonto's and I also collect some fittings. I still dream of having a papered Nihonto in full polish. I fear if you spend money on swords like this, you will be in a similar situation I enjoy collecting so much, that collecting gets in the way of my collecting

I did not even consider this as a possibility. That’s a good idea too. Thank you! It will be a fun thing to hunt for. I’ll be at the SF Nihonto show in August, maybe I’ll find one there Thanks again everyone, as always y’all are a big help. Cheers, -Sam

Thanks to both of you for your replies. That’s great to hear and know. It will be fun to look for a matching tsuba that fits Chris, now THATS a beautiful tsuba. Basically exactly what I’m looking for. The nanako is amazing

Hello all, I have a wakisashi that I really like the koshirae. I was curious about the ethical implications of replacing the Tsuba? Also, is it a simple task of matching motohaba and kissane measurements, and maybe adding or removing a seppa? I'm thinking of replacing this fukurin tsuba thats worse-for-ware, and finding a Shakudo Kiri-mon Tsuba to match the fuchi and kashira. I know that might not be an easy thing to find, but it would be fun project to be on the lookout. Is this something that's way over my head; that I should forget about, and leave for an expert? Is it a taboo to change a part of the koshirae? Thanks for reading! -Sam

Hi Jon, Fellow novice and new member here. Any updates on this auction? Were you able to purchase this sword for a reasonable price or did you decide against it? From what I can see, it looks like Shobu Zukuri Wakizashi. Would be especially cool to me if it's a Naginata Naoshi. Some nice, albeit worse-for-ware fittings. Personally I wouldn't try to restore them, and fondly call their condition "the unforgiving nature of time" The conditions looks like the hada and boshi would be hidden no matter how hard you looked. Which, as a fellow novice, would be the biggest bummer to me. Maybe a wipe down with non-abraisive cloth and 99% isoproyl alcohol, and a light coating of choji-oil/mineral oil would reveal it's hamon Not sure what else you could learn from it other than: proper care/storage/assembly, measurements, and identifying geometry features. That being said, learning those things with a sword in-hand has been valuable to me. If it were me, I would likely pass on this particular sword unless it went for the prices you mentioned; and maybe wait for one with more areas I could study. But what speaks to you speaks to you, and that's part of what's fun about this hobby to me; and at the end of the day its your $ Best of luck Cheers, -Sam

Truly a once in a lifetime find (for me) - I will probably be chasing this high for years, haha Guntos are indeed demanding high prices these days. I've been keeping my eyes out for an affordable type 98 or Type 3 (although I should probably be saving that money for a polish instead) Thanks for the input Cheers, -Sam

Hi JT, Thank you! - reservations understood; I am also a very amateur member Thank you for the time, effort, and care you put into this response. I appreciate it a ton, and this is exactly the kind of information and discussion that helps my notes and propels my studies Soe-Bi / Koshi-Bi with Soe-Bi. Thank you for that identification, thats perfect for my notes, and now I can refer to these features properly. And thanks for confirming that you also see Itame Hada; I was worried my eyes were misidentifying that Very exciting that you believe it to be late Muromachi. After these discussions, and further study, I also believe it to be o-suriage. I believe I can see the hamon run into the nakago. And thanks for the kind words about my sword, I just wish that Kissaki were in better shape Im glad it appears to be OLD / pre-shinto. I plan to learn everything I can from this sword. As a novice, it's been an invaluable study tool, and has taught me a lot already. I hope to learn even more from it! As far as a polish goes. I would LOVE to have it polished / assessed by a togishi. That will likely be my next step with this particular blade. I've never sent a sword in for polish, so that alone would be a learning opportunity for me BOOKS! I love books. I've been pouring over "The Connoissur's Book Of Japanese Swords", "Markus Seskos encyclopedia" , and "Kanzan Satos The Japanese Sword" for a couple years now. They have been awesome resources. Although, I'm now starting to see the biggest progress in my studies from seeing swords in-person and discussions. Next on my reading list / shopping cart are the Kentai 1 & 2 supplements from Markus Sesko Thanks for chatting this sword with me! I appreciate it a lot, and you've given me some great information to look into Cheers, -Sam

Piers is on the money, that it's phlox To complicate things a little more, and for the sake of discussion, theres a 5 pedal flower called "Dianthus Japonicus" " that is native to Japan and China, and looks very similar to the photo of the cherry blossom OP shared. It's a carnation variety

Thank you! I'm happy to have found it I think you're right on the money about the Tsuba. Other than a tiny hint of gold, it doesn't match the rest of the koshirae that well. I didn't even think about the slots for kozuka and kogai, but that makes even more sense now Maybe it had a matching kiri-mon tsuba that someone sold individually. Fun to imagine what it could have been. I enjoy it and it's fukurin nonetheless!

Hi Dale, thanks for that info about the saya, that's interesting and great to know There is 1 seppa above the tsuba and under the habiki. The one in the photos below seems to fit properly, whereas the two underneath are several millimeters larger than they need to be; almost like they belong to a sword with a larger motohaba. not sure if that's normal or not

since I accidentally bumped my thread. here's a recent attempt to capture more activity

Thanks everyone for your help, and discussion about my new blade and Koshirae. Especially helping me identify the Menuki. So I figured I'd share a post featuring the whole set of Koshirae This O-Wakizashi is in a World War Two saya I think. The kashira and fuchi feature gold kiri-mon, on shakudo nanako background. A Ford Hallam video was shared with me about shakudo nanako, and it was really fascinating and informative The Menuki are both shiode and kura; which are tiedowns on a horse saddle. The nunome zogan Tsuba features a copper fukurin, and depicts a dragon in the clouds and some geometric lines - unfortunately its very hard to see and photograph because of poor condition, but it looks like there was once some gold in the clouds. The Habiki is really interesting to me, and seems to mimic the bo-hi of the blade. The whole set is mumei, like the blade. The blade post can be found at this link: https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/45168-wakizashi-in-koshirae-discussion-and-check-my-notes/ I would love more opinions about the blade hada and possible age Thanks again, I've learned a lot! *More photos incoming in the comment's*

Wow, what an amazing coincidence. Those are a really beautiful set. Thank you, and everyone, again. I was able to learn so much from you and this koshirae I knew I liked it, I had no idea how fancy it really was. This is all very exciting

Thank you! I really like it too Maybe in a while, after some photography practice, I will post post photos of the whole koshirae set

Thank you! those photos help me see a lot more The Bo-hi is actually on both sides, and extends about halfway up the blade. The horimono line (not sure if thats the right term) extends past the bohi a few inches. One one side that "horimono line" under the bohi, looks to have been polished down a bit. Suggesting, to me, that this blade has seen a polish at lease once. Please correct me if any of my statements or assumptions are incorrect here

Oh, man, If it were Nanbokucho I would literally jump for joy! I know thats just a guess, and short of shinsa, I might never know - but that would be so exciting to me! Way to give me some hope, haha I picked this up for $200 dollars (USD), and I justified that because I really enjoy the Koshirae. My initial thought was Shinto, but that Nakago looks old to me. So if the blade is interesting at all, I consider this a big win Thanks for your input, its much appreciated. Looking forward to researching more about Yamashiro school features -Sam Edit: If any other pictures would help, let me know and I will do my best

Hello all, I have shared images of this sword on other groups/forums, so apologies if you've seen it and discussed with me before. I'm a novice and a beginner, so I'm trying to hone my ability to identify features. Also practicing photography and measuring - which is more challenging than I could have ever imagined! I found this o-wakizashi at a local Militaria sale for a price I couldn't refuse. What drew me to the purchase was the koshirae in particular, which features kiri-mon fuchi/kashira, ww2 saya, horse harness menuki, a really interesting habiki, and nunome zogan tsuba with fukurin. It's Shinogi Zukuri, mumei, torisori, and I think Ubu. Hamon is Suguha throughout, it features an iorimune, and ichimonji nakagojiri. I think the Hada is itame, but some swirls in the hamon make me think maybe mokume? Would love to hear opinions on this I think the blade has issues in the Kissaki. Which I know is about the worst place for issues to appear - especially because it makes it hard to study that area... Would love to hear any and all opinions and observations. Im particularly interested in how old it might be, I was thinking maybe mid-edo after discussing with some other collectors, but i'm a novice and beginner and it's just a guess Nagasa - 56.6 cm Sori - 1 cm Kasane - 6.5 mm Motohaba - 2.6 cm Sakihaba - 1.6 cm Kissaki - 2.6 cm Nakago Length - 14.7cm . . *posting additional comments for more images* .

Sounds like an amazing piece. The craftmanship that goes into items like that is truly incredible and impressive Which is exactly why I'm here! Seeing collections and reading these forums has helped a lot in my studies

Thank you Dale, and Piers so much. That is spot-on exactly what it is! This is great for my notes Cheers, and thanks again! Ya'll on this forum never cease to amaze me