Bazza

I'll have a wild stab and say it looks like a sanmei with a fukurin rather than a solid piece as "yamagane" would suggest. Regards, Barry Thomas aka BaZZa.

I have a ca1600 Kanemoto katana in Shingunto koshirae that has a polisher's mei with date Taisho 6 (1917), so it appears it was occasionally done well before WW2. I think I have a note somewhere of a polisher's mei in Meiji period?? I recall seeing a sword with a mokume pattern done in that place where the polisher's mei occurs and have a photo of it somewhere... Regards, Barry Thomas.

Photos, yes please!! To be candid, I have steered away from this thread because of its immensity (111 pages!!) and the paucity of my time, but tonight decided to have a peek. Having enjoyed the discussion on matchlock guns I'm sternly reminding myself that I promised long ago (? string of excuses) to put up pictures of my three Kunitomo guns - two by the same artisan Katsumasa. So, Chris, there is a meikan for gunmakers??? There is a long story with me and teppo. It begins with avoiding them like the plague because they were primitive things compared to swords!! Then in the Nanka Token Kai newsletter under John Grimmitt (or was it Hawley's day?? Either way a very long time ago) there appeared a series of articles on teppo by Keith Mueller, a collector in Phoenix, Arizona. These articles opened my eyes (it goes on all the time...) that there were indeed high quality Japanese matchlocks other than Udonju. Serendipity not long after that brought a lovely gun under my gaze and I acquired it. Around the same time I missed a kakaezutsu to my eternal regret, but it is still around somewhere. On its massive barrel was a large copper 'sheet on-lay' of a man riding a sea dragon. I still have some poor photos somewhere. There is another one in another State I have seen. What I enjoyed in the last two pages was the discussion on simplicity. These three guns of mine are not elaborately decorated. They are quite simple, yet elegant, and of superb workmanship. I have not at all been attracted to guns with lots of decoration. I guess the same feeling is with those who collect iron sukashi tsuba rather than Edo virtuoso kinko. But I begin to ramble... Thanks for the great discussion and I'll drop by more regularly. Best regards, Barry Thomas aka BaZZa.

For the benefit of the discussion and with apologies for the delay, here are some pics of my Gassan Sadakatsu dated March 1939. It has a NBTHK Hozon paper. I suppose this infers it is made by Sadakatsu himself, but as Chris Bowen said of the subject sword under discussion in this thread: “Most likely this is a daisaku. It would still be considered a work of Sadakatsu, nonetheless, and would paper as such. No shame in that....” I have always considered my sword as made by the hand of Sadakatsu himself, but now I begin to wonder… If anyone wants the full high resolution image please PM me with your email address. Best regards, Barry Thomas.

Gents All, A very interesting thread indeed, as I have a Gassan Sadakatsu katana dated 1939. Polished in Japan it has an NBTHK Hozon paper. I've not been able to study the mei presented here due to other commitments, but I doubt the blade in question is by the hand of Sadakatsu because he died in 1943. Many blades in his later years were most likely made by his son, Gassan Sadakazu II. Put "gassan sadakatsu" (with quotes) into google to pull up more information, including a lovely tanto on Darcy Brockbank's website. I'll try and put up photos of my sword tomorrow. Regards, Barry Thomas aka BaZZa.

This picture also reminded me of Roger Robertshaw's sandai Mutsu Tadayoshi wakizashi that I saw in Sydney a couple years ago. Quite the most stunning hada I've seen in my years of miserable existence... Does anybody else who saw Roger's sword think the same?? Regards, Barry Thomas. aka BaZZa.

Now, Dear Sir, how about some pics of your Mutsu no Kami Kaneyasu?? Please... Regards, BaZZa.

Looking at this I am reminded of a "pillow" spear or "hand" spear I had for a time, called I believe a "te yari". It had similar furniture, but the point was a largish arrowhead with a short tang. With a pearl-shell chip lacquered pole it had a Meiji look about it. I couldn't initially recall the name so I went looking for it on google. I also found some other links on yari that seem appropriately placed in this discussion: http://www.koryu.com/library/harmstrong1.html Then I found reference to a book by Serge Mol titled "Classical weaponry of Japan: special weapons and tactics of the martial arts" Then another essay on yari http://www.yachigusaryu.com/essays/yari ... d_use.html And another http://home.online.no/~rogelia/yari.html One of the 47 Ronin apparently carried a te yari http://www.maqld.com/legend_of_the_47_ronin.htm So that's my little ramble around some interesting reading I haven't seen before. I hope it is of interest to some of our members. Regards, BaZZa.

A bottle opener?? As in beer bottles???? Bestests, BaZZa.

Eric and all, A friend brought to my attention another English language book about tanegashima. It is less about the gun itself than about how it came to be introduced to Japan by the Portuguese. "The Bewitched Gun - the introduction of the firearm in the Far East by the Portuguese" Rainer Daehnhardt Texto Editora (1994). No ISBN number It is bi-lingual, being both in Portuguese and English laid out in side-by-side columns. A very interesting thread, thank you all. Regards, Barry Thomas aka BaZZa.

Dear Brethren, I almost hesitate to put this up, but it may be of general interest. I've just seen perhaps the longest shingunto in my experience and when I looked at the blade and signature I thought "Chinese repro". Then I looked over the koshirae and, yep, it's genuine shingunto. What made me think it might be Chinese was one of the most dreadfully cut mei I've ever seen. The owner thinks it is a Shinshinto blade, but I think it is a Showato. Perhaps the owner thinks it is Shinshinto because of the three mekugiana. I can't find any reference to the smith anywhere bar a single mention on this Board. I think the tachi mei reads SEKI JU KANEMATSU KAZUNORI SAKU, and if a Showato would be perhaps the longest I've personally seen. The blade is not dated. The blade is 74.5 cm long and the tang 26.2 cm. The other surprise was how straight the blade is. I would appreciate hearing if anyone can confirm my Showato guess and the reading, and if such a jumbled mei has been seen by anyone else. I've attached some pics. Best regards, BaZZa.

This sword is currently offered in a private sale on ebay, Item No 320622011717 Regards, BaZZa.

Gentle Folk, Just in on Chris Bowen's discussion list FYI. Very nice to see Ford Hallam and Brian Tschernega in the prizes. Regards, BaZZa. ---------------------------------------- From: Kenji Mishina To: 'Token Kenkyu Kai' Sent: Friday, September 10, 2010 5:44 PM Subject: NBSK Sword Craftsmen Competition Dear members, We just uploaded the photos of all of entry works to the 1st NBSK Sword Craftsmen Competition. Please access to the NBSK official site “English” then click “1st NBSK Sword Craftsmen Competition result” if you are interested. NBSK site : http://www.nbsk-jp.org/english/front_page.html The NBSK is moving to a new office of the 3rd Floor of the 1st Terminal Building of the Haneda Airport. The building was completed recently and the Haneda Airport newly opened as International Airport (it used to be an airport for domestic airlines and to some Asian countries like Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan). There has been a complaint that Narita Airport is too far from central Tokyo and no good hotel around there. The Haneda Airport is expected to be the main hub airport of Japan in the near future. The NBSK obtained a show case in the 4th floor of the New Hadeda International Airport and we are planning to display items related to Japanese sword culture there. Mishina *************************************************** Kenji Mishina 三品謙次 Japanese Sword Polisher E-mail : m-kenji@parkcity.ne.jp http://www007.upp.so-net.ne.jp/m-kenji/ ***************************************************

Dear JPH, This contribution probably comes under the heading of "useless information", but I submit it "just in case"... There is a style of forging called tanzaku kitae, described in one online dictionary as "Forging together various pieces of different kinds of steel and iron to get the required qualities for sword steels." A more comprehensive description is found on David Pepin's website about a RAI NORIMICHI katana: -------------------------------------- "RAI NORIMICHI" WAS ONE OF THE FOREMOST STUDENTS OF "RAI KINMICHI" IN KAN-EI (1624 AD). HE FURTHERED HIS STUDIES WITH THE "HORIKAWA MON" UNDER THE TUDOR SHIP OF "UMETADA MYOJU", AND WORKED IN OSAKA (SETTSU PROVINCE). HE WAS TRULY A MASTER AT "TANZAKU KITAE", THE COMPLEX COMBINING OF "HADA STEELS", I.E.: MASAME, AND ITAME (EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO PROPERLY ACHIEVE). THIS BLADE IS A SUPERB EXAMPLE OF HIS GREAT SKILL! -------------------------------------- http://www.samuraisword.com/nihontodisp ... /index.htm Regrettably my Rai Norimichi katana is out of polish so I cannot comment on whether any "twisting" is evident in this forging technique. Regards, BaZZa.

tateware, to be precise?? google [ tateware sword ] Regards, BaZZa.

Curran, Is that a way of drawing attention to the apparent mizukage, with an oblique suggestion of retemper??? As it is Tokubetsu Juyo I wouldn't think so and this seems to say that the hamachi is original, as it was made. Regards, BaZZa.

Well, yes. These things can go on forever, but there is just one thing I would like to say, and I say it to people who express the horror so eloquently written above, even to my own Mother, now 89. I am also very well read in the area of World War 2 atrocities. We must not forget that tens of thousands of good Japanese people were abused - and murdered - in their own country by the political police, the Tokkō, Japan's approximate equivalent of the Gestapo. The enemy here is not the Japanese officers handing over their swords, it is the untrammelled abuse of centralist power and the militarist mindset of total control of the population. It has happened in modern times, it is happening even as we speak. I am not in two minds and have no trouble reconciling the abuse of power over centuries with the fabulous art of Nihonto. And of course, there was lots of abuse with the Spanish sword, the English sword, the German sword... Edit after reading later posts: War is the most profitless of all human activities. Regards, Barry Thomas aka BaZZa.

Steve, The hamon running off before the habaki area is called yakiotoshi and is a rarely seen feature. However, it does occur from the Kamakura period into Shinto times. I have seen it only once. Just put 'yakiotoshi' into google and read about it, but go here: http://www.sho-shin.com/sai9.htm to see it on an old sword, a Bungo Hikozan School blade of the early Kamakura period. The relevant text says "YAKIOTOSHI is an expected feature." Regards, BaZZa.

Greg, I would opine that the "paint" is in fact urushi, real lacquer. The fabric wrap (hempen cloth??) is I believe a typical underlay for lacquer even on old koshirae, and indeed I have seen cloth under lacquer on an antique saya with lovely decoration - regrettably, like yours, this knowledge came only because the lacquer had suffered damage. I imagine this gunto saya lacquer was quite expensive at the time, as good lacquer is today, and as it always has been in quality work. What blade is in this koshirae?? Can you post some pics of the nakago?? Regards, BaZZa.

Jason, Lovely!! Thanks for sharing. Over the years I have found THREE excellent sets of menuki in otherwise abysmal swords!! A suggestion if I might - very selfish as I want more detail!! - crank up the scanning resolution to max and crop the image so we get more pixels on the menuki. Bestests, BaZZa.

Does anyone else think this particular nagabonji has been done with a Dremel tool or somesuch????? Charles raises the question in my mind since the first look - the carving does not look "proper" - perhaps the recent work of an amateur??? BaZZa.

Thank you Chris for an excellent "word picture". I couldn't have put it better in a week of thinking and drafting... Sincerely, BaZZa.

Dear Robert, I'm sorry, but it's not possible in my life at present to put up pictures as I've not made any, but Chris Bowen (I think?) hinted at the difference in one of his posts. I'll think about this and re-visit the topic later and see if I can give a word picture. Regards, BaZZa.

This thread has been most enjoyable indeed. Captivating. It's at the heart of what I intuited about Nihonto from my earliest years of collecting. I'll make a statement about Gendaito and polish that might get me a broadside, but that's why we are all here... Based on observation I've come to believe there are THREE polishes - "easy" sashikomi, hadori, and "hard" sashikomi (as in taking longer and more difficult to do). WW2 era Gendaito have a kind of sashikomi that is "easy" to do (read quicker) and shows the hamon clearly, but leaves the hada more difficult to "see". The swords do look good at first blush, but leave one with a "lacking" feeling because the hada is not so easy to discern. For these reasons I disagree with my dear and esteemed friend George Trotter and would polish such a WW2 era Gendaito. I have one such a sword that I'll run past George when we get together in a few months (we are at opposite ends of Australia!) before I send it for polish. Another issue is that Edo period blades of quality that reach us in good condition often have a "worn out" polish such that they look similar to the WW2 era "easy" sashikomi described above. The use of uchiko "wears out" the rendition of hada, but leaves the hamon outstandingly brilliant. A polisher visiting Australia many years ago looked at a Shinshinto katana a friend of mine has that is in excellent condition with everything visible, even the hada. It did not come anywhere near my criteria for "worn out" polish. Yet, the polisher looked at and said "It is beginning to dull. I would start on the second stone". Which underscores Chris Bowen's point of leaving it to the expertise of the togishi. The grandfather of this particular togishi was taught by the Hon'ami of the day - and he thought this sword should be polished again. I'm not sure these comments have been helpful, based as they are on a very "small sample" database, which cannot begin to compare with Chris Bowen's very extensive empirical database. So I suppose they might come under the heading of "BaZZa's Random Rambles"... Regards, BaZZa.

Ahhh, Keith, it's good for us all. I think the small column below SHIMADA reads "nagasa 1 shaku 4 sun 7 bu (about?)". The last character is a little blurry, but I guess it means "approximately", "close to", "about". Regards, BaZZa.