Austo1

Hi have a couple that will cost $130US including tracked postage to the US however both haved issues. One has wear from the saurute and snags on the straps as can be seen in the pics. The other is the in the middle of the pic with the green background. Nice tassel however missing the blue tassels on the righ side tassel.One has to look to notice it. These are the both the lowest price ones that I have available. Kind Regards Doug www.guntoartswords.com

G'Day All I just receieved into stock a very nice Minatagawa Masatada which I would like to share with the gendaito collectors. Mei: Kikusui - Minatagawa Jinja Masatada and dated November 1941. Made the month before Pearl Harbour. Please take a look at the pics. A couple other nice gendaito have also surfaced. Tsukamoto Masakazu - Brother of Tsukamoto Okimasa (Imai) Sadashige - This swords nakago can be seen on page 150 of John Slough's book. It is the same sword. Regards Doug www.guntoartswords.com

G'day Brian Unfortunately the blades are long gone, generally seperated because the owners didn't realise the future value of the koshirae and tassels back then, however one was seperated because the purchaser was a Militaria Collector and not a Sword collector. He knew nothing about swords and didn't bother to buy the accompanying blade in shira saya. It is the one with the dark leather combat cover attributed to Lt. general Ozaki Yoshiharu. The koshirae was purchased at the Ozaki estate sale in November 2003 in Chiba prefecture. I presume that each would have a similiar story to explain how and why they were seperated. Kind Regards Doug

G'Day Stephen Here are a couple more pics however I didn't take any closeups. Kind Regards Doug

I thought that I would share a pic of three Original Japanese Generals Shingunto Koshirae that I have picked up over the years. Please enjoy Kind Regards Doug www.guntoartswords.com.au

I would like to have it in hand however from the photographs it looks good. Kind Regards Doug http://www.guntoartswords.com

I thought that I should post a pic to show what one means when refering to a loose crown. The top tassel is a chinese repro............... the bottom Generals Tassel is an original. Please note the loose crown on the top tassel. It is hard to tell from photographs however the red colour on the repro's is more a crimson red rather than the orange red of the originals. There are also othet differences between an original and a repro that can be seen when holding a tasselo in hand. I have noticed of late a few of these chinese repro's being sold on ebay as original tassels, both with and without swords. Regards Doug http://www.guntoartswords.com

I am sorry to say that from the photographs your tassel looks like one of the chinese reproductions. The crowns above the tassels are typical of the chinese ones. Regards Doug

I recently aquired an Amahide gendaito in Rare special order shingunto koshirae. Thought that the gunto collecors might appreciate a look. The metal fittings all have a blackend silver tone finish and the tsuaito is also black. The sword is near mint condition...... Ohumara san has an Ikkansai Kunimori with similar metal fittings on his website however it has white ito and red saya. Kind Regards Doug http://www.guntoartswords.com

The Generals Tassel was also an obvious reproduction, this can be confirmed by the loose weave of the crowns that sit above the tassels. Regards Doug

G'Day Stephen No, I didn't buy it, although a friend did. He collects gendaito, however he is only interested in blades that are in their original gunto koshirae. No matter the swordsmith, he will not buy gendaito in shirasaya or civilian/saumurai mounts. He is happy with his purchase and I am sure the seller is happy with his sale. Regards Doug

The Okimasa has Sold. A very good gendaito, however the buyer wouldn't have been interested if it had not been in Gunto Koshirae. Regards Doug http://www.guntoartswords.com

The koshirae are all in 100% original condiition although the sword with Saidan Mei has had a polish. The blades are suriage as stated in the descriptions, however it is difficult to find good quality antique blades that are Ubu or Suriage and still mounted in excellant gunto koshirae. Even in Japan, these types of sword now command a premium. It is much easier to find good quality gendaito in gunto then it is to find good quality antique blades. The majority of high quality ubu shinto were probably remounted or placed in shirasaya years ago, and had there gunto koshirae thrown away. These are probably some of the same gunto koshirae that I now sell on my website. Regards Doug http://www.guntoartswords.com

G'Day Brian The swords are in my Gallery Section which is a section for display/reference only. These are minty gunto from my personal collection and are not for sale, although I will never say never........... I don't know why you can't load my website, will check with my son and see if he knows any reason why. Regards Doug

G'Day All I have just added four good antique blades in gunto koshirae the gallery section of my website. I have been meaning to updatre this section for some time. Thye swords include: Ishido Toren with Saidan Mei and Generals Tassel Omi no kami Hisamichi with field grade tassel Shinano no kami Nobuyoshi with compamny grade tassel Omi no kami Hojoji Masahiro in Kaigunto koshirae with tassel Please take a look. Regards Doug http://www.guntoartswords.com

They are all genuine tassels. A lucky find....... Regards Doug http://www.guntoartswords.com

Hi Chris Thanks for the link to the website. It is a great site for reference for all Imperial Japanese Militaria. I previously had the site bookmarked to my favourites however I lost the link sometime back, Regards Doug http://www.guntoartswords.com

G'Day Rick Naval tassels are a darker chocolate brown colour and late war army tassels are a lighter tan colour. Regards Doug http://www.guntoartswords.com

Austo1 Regards Doug Austin http://www.guntoartswords.com

I always have genuine tassels available for sale. Regards Doug Austin http://www.guntoartswords.com

Hi Roy I have had a couple of dealings with Emils Kaplans. I found him to be an honest and trustworthy buyer. Payment was received when expected and communication was good. Regards Doug Austin http://www.guntoartswords.com

The above translation for the Kanefusa reads correct. I am a former owner of the gendaito in question and have also seen another gendaito signed by the same smith however with a different slogan. Fuller and Gregory also list this smith. One must remember that showa period smiths often signed with different names. I personally don't believe that this sword can be disgarded as a fake. Doug Austin

Also wondering when one will receive the certificates. 8 months is an unusually lengthy time to wait for a certificate. Doug Austin

From the paper, this appears to be from the NTHK npo and not the Yoshikawa grp. NTHK. Why they have papered a sword with a seki stamp, I don't know. However, the Yoshikawa grp, definately wouldn't. .............................................................................................................................. In response to the above: I had a 23rd Generation Kanefusa with Seki Stamp removed that was papered by the Yoshikawa NTHK 20 years ago. The sword has probably passed through many new owners hands over the years however I still have a copy of the Kanteisho Certificate dated 3/9/1989. One can clearly see a deep file mark where the stamp used to be. I have often smiled to myself over the years when reading on forums and the like. the argument that no blade with an arsenal stamp would ever receive a paper from any reputable sword organisation. Regards Doug

I agree with Bill DD. Look at the individual work of the smith. I have personally owned a blade by 23rd generation kanefusa which had an Arsenal Stamp removed and was papered by the NTHK some 15 years or more back. This was at a time when the general opinion was that no blade with an Arsenal stamp could be classed as gendaito let alone receive paperers. "Look at the blade" Regards Doug Austin