Bazza

The horimono has a WW2 look about it to me as does the odd-looking nakago jiri... Time will tell. BaZZa.

Off the top of my head - ETCHUU??? BaZZa.

The point shape to me suggests a yari with armour piercing capability. BaZZa.

Rich, I'm glad at least one sentient being is purring in your household!!! Salud Boo. Bestests, BaZZa.

Ed, here is your tsuba (right way up) with one hitsuana for a kogai: Here is a tsuba with one hitsuana for kozuka: Here is a tsuba with two hitsuana: Kozuka hitsuana on the left, kogai hitsuana on the right. The shape tells all. QED. Having said that, the shapes of hitsuana vary quite a bit, eg., some tsuba have two hitsuana shaped as for a kogai. Regards, BaZZa.

Very nice find Ed. I like the tsuba and note that it was crafted for a kogai only and not a kozuka. Not a problem of course as it fits a kozuka too, but interesting nonetheless. The whole ensemble is very nice and I find the lacquer quite appealing. Nothing seems to have been stuffed around with and I'm sure the blade is worthy of a polish. Best regards, BaZZa.

No, no, far from a waste of time IMHO. As a tsuba babe-in-the-woods I too was wondering. Got it wrong as I thought #1 was the better, but #2 has what appears to be tekkotsu and so might have been the better. Prices?? Neither appeal to me and I couldn't be persuaded to buy either at any price... BaZZa.

Danke Peter, very interesting indeed. BaZZa.

Well, last resort, try a dental pick. They come in many varieties from small to large with different "hook" and "point" shapes. Try here: http://www.fishpond.com.au/Health/Dental-Hygiene-Tool-Set-Stainless-Steel-Dental-Tooth-Pick-Mouth-Mirror-Tarter-Scraper-and-Plaque-Remover-Dentists-Tools-Set-Ideal-for-Personal-Use-Pet-Friendly-free-Protective-Case/0702334642177?utm_source=googleps&utm_medium=ps&utm_campaign=AU&gclid=CL_O6djH4tICFY4EKgod6hIMFw or here: https://www.hobbytools.com.au/dental-pick-and-scraper-set-stainless-steel-6-pc/ (looks like a better deal) Good luck, BaZZa.

Is it a real cutting test????? In my time I have seen some very, very dubious cutting tests. Buy for the blade, not the gold that glitters!!! BaZZa.

Yes, I think ​​Geishû gets the Guernsey. I didn't look at it closely before as it seemed a real mess of strokes. Good call Ben. BaZZa.

Laurie Allen died on Thursday 15th December 2016 at 76 years of age in Sydney, Australia. Laurie was a devoted student and collector of Japanese Arms and Armour. He was known to many around the world by correspondence, but not on NMB because he was only, in his old age, just coming into the world of the computer and internet helped by one of his savvy grandsons. I did my best to keep him up to date with arrowhead happenings on NMB. Laurie was a widely liked and respected collector in Australia for his great knowledge and friendly and generous manner. At a gathering he could be relied upon to come up with a pearl of wisdom unknown to others. He was a great general conversationalist with a great sense of humour as well and our meetings were liberally lubricated with beer, wine and good food. For all these and more reasons I did not want to see him slip into obscurity, so here I am to shine a light on our dear mate and share his accomplishments with you all. The photo below left shows his ready smile, the Laurie we all remember, and the other his obvious pride in being a grandparent. The photo below shows Laurie late last year, enjoying himself at an art show with a beer in his hand. Laurie started collecting around 1964 and I got in contact with him shortly after, even though we lived some 650 miles apart. We have been firm friends for just over 50 years, visiting each other through the years and meeting with other collectors in our home bases. I’ll let him tell his own story as it was in December 1972 - see attachments from the To-ken Society of Great Britain “Programme”. Over the years Laurie had many good pieces of tosogu and Nihontô, numbers of which were sold as business exigencies arose. I was fortunate to be able to acquire some of these and in turn pass them on as my own finances became stressed! The time came when nearly everything was sold and Laurie offered me a karimata yanone by the Shinshintô Satsuma sword smith MOTOYASU, MOTOHIRA’s brother. I was enjoying this piece when Laurie asked if I would send it back to him as he had decided to collect yanone. That was the beginning of an odyssey that occupied Laurie for the next 30 years or more. At its peak his collection comprised around 300 yanone, while at his untimely death he had some 40 yanone. Sadly, as was always the case, better pieces had been sold to keep his business afloat. Laurie had a voluminous correspondence with people all over the world. In the United States Dr Charles E. Grayson, George Vitt, and Paul Goodman, whose collection was sold at Bonhams’ a couple of years or so ago. He had a correspondent Mr G van Brug in the Netherlands and in Japan a Professor with an interest in archery. He was a corresponding member of the Society of Archer-Antiquaries in Great Britain from Volume 1, No. 1 of its Journal. He was also well aware of some of the great early collections – Morton L. Smith, and the James Goodspeed collection, the latter once described as “...the finest private Japanese arrowhead collection in the Western world.” A great concern of Laurie’s was the poor condition of many of the arrowheads he encountered. He approached a polisher in Japan who polished an arrowhead Laurie had in the form of a miniature magari yari, but declined to do any more. From his knowledge and experience Laurie understood there were no shortcuts when it came to polish. However, to “see” his arrowheads better he devised his own techniques through his understanding of sword polishing. He was rewarded with success when hada, hamon and yakiba could be clearly seen. A visiting professional polisher from Japan on seeing Laurie’s work expressed surprise and complimented Laurie on his achievement. The picture below shows one of his successes among many. Unable to buy traditional racks to display his arrowheads, Laurie designed one and had a retired cabinet maker turn them out. Thus in his last years Laurie could sit in his lounge room watching television and seeing three racks of arrowheads on his entertainment unit. Here are photos of those. He also had the retired cabinet maker turn out custom boxes in Japanese oak for his better arrowheads - there were a lot of boxes!!! Laurie had other strings to his bow... He developed an interest in kabura-ya, Whistling Arrowheads. From research and drawings he made a few of these and fitted them to shafts. He also had a strong interest in Sôhei, the Warrior Monks of Old Japan, and undertook research into their history. His remaining passion that I can recall was the Mongol invasions of Japan. On one trip to Japan he made a point of visiting Hakata Bay just to behold the wall the Samurai built to forestall the Second Invasion of 1281. A favourite possession was a diptych of one of the invasions with Samurai fighting the Mongol warriors. Our good mate Laurie is sadly missed by all. A bright note is that his entire collection was bought from his family by a good and worthy friend in collecting. Barry Thomas aka BaZZa.

? ? shu (as in province) 住 Ju? (yes) 末 Sue or Matsu? ? BaZZa.

Bottle opener??? BaZZa.

MORIHIRO?? BaZZa.

John "Masayuki" Yumoto's little beginner's book has a handy section in the back pages that gives variants for some characters. Well worth being conversant with. Bestests, BaZZa.

Mate, you are truly, TRULY, getting up the noses of "the ones with more experience". I know because I've been around for a long, long time and those people have NOT responded to any of your impolite, self-seeking questions. Not one such person. Their names simply don't appear here. One notable exception is one of the above who is one of THE most most experienced here. See if you can guess... BaZZa.

Oh, gentlemen, SERIOUS. The emoji I used was the closest I could see to jaw-dropping surprise and if I was Darius with that avatar I would jump on it. I've seen a similar "sort of" tsuba that I'll put up as a separate thread. BaZZa.

:o What a find!!!! BaZZa.

MORITAKA SAKU?? YASUCHIKA inscribed. Not genuine. BaZZa.

BOOZE - why didn't I think of that!!! Well, I saw matsukawa hada once long ago on an osuriage mumei wakizashi. It looked a little more regular than Darcy's photo, which is why I hesitated. But then, I thought it was probably a trick question anyway and the blade was likely to be anything up to a Shinshinto utsushi!! I absolutely enjoyed this even though I had that emasculated feeling rambling in my mind over centuries of sword history. Thank you Darcy for a challenge that got the juices going. Thank you for taking the time to put this tasty morsel before us. The explanation was your silver platter and that was a very useful read for those who have never seen such a sword in hand. Bestests, BaZZa.

Norishige is matsukawa hada. I think this is someone else and I'm still thinking, thinking, ... BaZZa.

Speaks for itself. http://historydaily.org/myriad-year-clock-complicated-timepiece-made-Japan/ BaZZa.

G'day Paul, From what I know of Mutsu the file marks should be slightly up (agari) rather than down (sagari). As for the mei itself I would need to study it at length and even then one should have the sword in hand, remembering that: The blade confirms the mei, not the other way around. Having said that, I'm quite sure that the mei is that of a Hizento (look at the -ZEN kanji), but which one is the tough bit. No easy answers as for the Hizen school this is tricky at the best of times, remembering also that IMHO the Japanese were better at their own fakes than we are at sorting them out, given that some "fakes" are student's work with the approval of the Master. Remembering also that Omi Daijo had at one time 100 people working in his studio. What do we really know with our books... Bestests, BaZZa.

Certainly not Mutsu BaZZa.