The Blacksmith

The best leather preservative that I have ever found is Connolly's Hide Food. I do quite a lot of leather work, and this is by far the best IMHO. It was originally made for Rolls-Royce IIRC. Apply it, rub it in, let it absorb, and then polish with a dry cloth and in the case of your Rolls-Royce, you can sit on it in you finest clothes soon after without problems. Beware of some saddle soaps, as this has been known to damage stitching.

Many years back, I worked with the Royal Ballet, and while we were on tour in Budapest, we attended a garden party at the British Ambassadors residence. Whilst looking around the house, which we were welcome to do, I noticed several stunning Japanese antiques, and on a table a raku vase, which I thought to be possibly the work of Shoji Hamada. When I asked the ambassador about it, he was surprised to find someone who recognised the work and he informed me that he had been at the embassy on Tokyo, though I do not remember if he was actually ambassador there. The beautiful vase, which was indeed by Shoji Hamada, was presented to him whilst he was at the embassy. An absolutely exquisite piece by a master.

Car body material is usually paper thin, maybe 24swg or about 0.5mm or similar. A far better material is dexion steel shelving. Easily formed and worked, and has a bit more meat to it. This material is an absolute delight to work in, though if the armour is perhaps to be fought in, then this is not advised, ordinary cold rolled steel is preferable if it is for fighting in.

Why on earth would anybody do this??

Where there is some pitting and rust on the nakago, it definitely looks to have been wire brushed to me. I do a lot of polishing etc in my work, and this doesn't look polished to me, just wire brushed. Just my personal opinion of course!

I think that the nakago has simply been wire brushed. It doesn't look plated to me. I cannot beleve that it 'hasn't been touched' for forty years. Personally, I think I would take that bit of information with a rather large pinch of salt. No offence meant! Russ

Something, in fact several things, about this sword simply screams CHINA to me!

Is the star possibly an acceptance stamp? Regarding the unusual yasurimei, this looks to me the work of an engineer/ machinist, not a swordsmith. The longitudinal file marks are the result of a technique called 'draw filing', which is quite common amongst engineers. It leaves a similar, but much finer marks to sensuri. Possibly, this blade was made in a machine workshop? Russ

Thank you for that John That was sort of as I expected. I wonder if some of the copies now available perhaps have a bit more accurate kissaki and bo hi terminal. Some of these copies are frighteningly good, though thankfully, they usually manage to get at least one detail slightly incorrect. For now........... Russ

For an aficionado of WWII period swords, this thread is absolutely fantastic, so thank you to all who have contributed to it! I collected shin Gunto swords many years ago, and thought that I knew a bit about them, but now obviously not. Thankfully, it was in the late 70's , early 80's that I collected, so fakes were not such a big problem then. I will try and find the pictures and upload them of some of the swords that I owned. Amongst them was a copper handled Gun sho (?) katana, which I wish I had the number of. At the time, it cost me £65 ! If only........ But, my question is, I think that though many of the swords shown here wouldn't fool me (though some undoubtedly would! ), it has been mentioned several times about the Bo hi and the shape of the kissaki. I think, that I would know the difference, for the most part, with the shape of the bo hi at the habaki, but what about the kissaki end, and as has been mentioned several times, about the shape of the kissaki itself? If someone might be kind enough to post some pointers of the differences, and what to look out for, I would be extremely grateful. Thank you in advance. Russ

Almost certainly fake, I am afraid to say. Serial number is in the wrong place and the wrong style. The shape and ending of the fuller is wrong. These swords also didn't have the drag on the end of the scabbard, nor, so far as I am aware, did they have the screw in the grip holding the hilt on, they were held simply by the screw at the top of the grip with the knot holder going through it. I believe that the serial number on these only went up to 6000. Just a few of the things things that stand out to me, but I'd be happy to be proved wrong by the other more knowledgeable members. Whilst I am after one of these swords, I personally wouldn't want this one. Sorry.

Boy, oh boy, how I wish I lived on your side of the pond! Beautiful set up, and some lovely items on show. The amount of beautiful items there just leaves me breathless. Thank you so much for posting the pictures!

I would have thought perhaps it was Fudo Myo o that has worn out a bit with polishing ?

That is a fantastic thread with so much information that I have certainly never thought of let alone seen. Thank you so much for posting the link! Russ

Looking at the hada and the kissaki, it simply screams CHINA! But, looking at the first photo, apart from the leatherwork covering the ishizuke, to me, from a distance it looks fairly legit. The leather work has been aged too, and this is a worrying development, especially for new collectors. I used to collect many, many years back, but am only recently getting back into Japanese swords. Personally, I was , and am, very interested in Shin Gunto and swords of that era.

I wish more collectors of antique weapons and armour, not just Japanese, thought like this! I totally agree with you 100%, and have sadly argued this many times on different forums. Unfortunately, the 'I bought it and it's mine to do with as I like' philosophy, seems to be all too prevalent amongst some 'collectors'. Shouldn't really call them collectors, they are accumulators at best.

Many moons ago I had a Shin-Gunto katana, with a Bizen Sukesada blade, which I showed to Victor Harris at the British Museum to see, if like the original poster here, if he could give me some idea of the probable actual smith. The blade was a bit tired and had been through the wars, in fact, since it was possibly Eisho period, ca. 1520, it had probably been through several wars! Vic dated it approximately and said that they had one with a similar blade, but in better condition, which he would show me... Vic then disappeared for some time, and then returned with a sword in its fukuro which he handed to me. Upon observing due etiquette I withdrew the sword from the bag and there was an absolutely stunning gold mounted katana, with an almost identical blade, but in pristine condition! By far the nicest sword that I have ever been privileged to examine! Apologies for being slightly off topic, but still relevant to Bizen Sukesada.

Just a slight observation, if I may, but the kabutogane looks to me to be a replacement. Certainly the kuchigane and fuchi seem in a quite different condition to the kabutogane, which still has its gilded edges. Possibly this was replaced/added when the tsuka ito and perhaps samé were restored. ?

The auction of the fake ended, and supposedly it was 'sold' for $355. I doubt that it has in fact been sold, I think this was probably the dealer bumping up the price with fake accounts, and my guess is that it will appear again. After the seeming initial flurry of eager would be buyers, there were no more bids after the original posting here on Friday.

Hopefully, those are not actual bids, and is the seller trying to up the price and get some susceptible fool to really jump on the bandwagon, thinking that they are getting a bargain. Rare for me to think, or say such a thing, but I agree with Brian's sentiments in post #2. I don't normally think thus, as we can all be fooled at some point by the really good copies and fakes, but this.......even a little knowledge or one decent book.

With regard to the excellent photos of the original post. If the koshirae are mounted on a tsunagi, why the horrible cord tying the tsuba to the saya?

Indeed. I had thought possibly Takayasu might have succeeded too, having been Ozeki for so long, but alas he has slipped well down the ranks now, as has unfortunately my favourite, the Georgian, Toshinoshin, who dropped rapidly from Ozeki, and who I think will perhaps retire soon now.

Beautiful koshirae! Thank you for posting them. For the record, the three yokozuna pictured L-R are, Kakuryu, Hakuho and Kisenosato. All three now sadly retired. Hakuho, being of course the most successful rikishi of all time. Terunofuji is the sole yokozune wrestling today. With the exception of Kisenosato, all the yokozuna I have named were born in Mongolia!

Thank you, and that makes it sound even more like I have come to the right place!

Hello all, A new member here just introducing himself. I have been collecting edged weapons for well over fifty years, having begun when I was six! Anything sharp interested me, and still does, but I quickly understood that Japanese swords were something special, and they began to have a special attraction and interest for me. In the late 70's and early 80's as my interest blossomed I built up a reasonable collection of Japanese weapons and some armour, as well as a few other Japanese antiquities and artefacts. Japan has always held a special interest for me, and though I do not have any Japanese weapons in my collection at present, my interest has been re awakened and I am now building up my library again, with a hope to add at least a couple of decent swords to my collection again. So at present I am greatly enjoying reading up on Japan again, and not least brushing up on my kanji! I will also soon as the winter passes, go out in the woods and find some suitable specimens to restart another old passion of mine, bonsai! I am greatly looking forward to reading the forum posts, meeting kindred spirits, and brushing up on my favourite aspect of edged weapons and history. It is great to be here at last! Thank you. Greetings from Norway! Russ