buchtas

Lovely sword and beautifull hada. What was the price if you dont mind me asking? As a beginer I am interested in getting to know the prices

Talking about preservation/use of the blade and comapring to other tools, vintage cars etc. If I am not mistaken, swords that are centuries old are usually altered, shortened, reshaped etc. And I dont see the nihonto community scoffing at those types of blades, why is that then? The same blades were used by generations descending from the original owner of the blade or someone that made the adjustments. And if someone wants to honor the craftsmanship of the blade and use it for Iai with the respect and experience of years that is part of the baldes history/future. Same with antique firearms, they are collectible and worthy of preservation, but taking it out to the range and make it roar with fire and smoke once or twice a year does not hurt it, especially black powder guns. And the feeling of using such piece is just off the charts. I also understand the preservation point, as someone who works at the museum as restorator/conservator. Getting to handle and work on pieces of art is fullfilling but occasionally swinging a sword i get my hands on, or just trying the antigue flintlock mechanism... it is tempting, on some pieces i wouldnt dare of course, but there are some that wont be harmed in anyway since I know from experience what i can do to not hurt the item.

joined NBTHK-EB this year, looking at attending the meetings soon when I will be able

I read through the original post, dont know about you but they speak of hamon but I dont see any on that piece on before or after pictures.

Hi, just a quick question to all of you, about your experience wiht Jauce and its shipping abroad and how it works, i want to get into a tsuba collecting a little bit more and Jauce by all accounts from this froum seems like the best option. So I am curious how it works and how the shipping is working ? Thanks for any insight.

Since there is some activity here I will throw in my piece for the realistic: I just love Tanba no kami Yoshimichi blades (very early edo period) up to like 5th/6th generation i believe they belonged to Mishina school, some to Osaka school and some belonged to Kyoto school of the same name. I dont know how to describe the hammon and jigane. I find this type very attractive and unique. A bit of an answer in between those two answers: A nagamaki or naginata with the signature Yoshimichi hamon As for the dream piece, a one of a kind sword we have at our museum, I have provided a link to some pictures and some info in this post I made when I joined this forum. I love everything from the horimono to the hamon and jigane, but this is something i will only be able to take care of for the rest of my life but not own it. EDIT: the name of the blade pattern is called "sudareba" at least from what I read. should also add an example what i have in mind:

Thanks a lot, the fakes were fortunately obvious even to my amateur eye. but it is fascinating what can be learned about the fakes as well anyway thanks again

The seller updated his offerings and just for refference those are his offerings, all descriptions state original EDO Period, but most of them look, well like obvious fakes, at least to me, but someone might disagree so here they are To me, first and third one look like worth getting for me, just for the looks, but I would really like to avoid buying fakes.

Thank you for the info, I am glad I was right about it being genuine

Hi, I was browsing today on one of the auction sites and found this piece, the seller usually sells knives (lately Japanese kitchen knives) and wet stones, but recentl offered Japanese scroll with block print, a nice looking jingasa that is still up for auction and few tsuba, granted most of them are obvious casts, and very bad ones, but 2 or 3 look genuine, auction started from zero and i just said what the heck, plopped the number i would be willing to go for, I was byuing some collectible ammunition anyway, and won it, for about 40 dollars, maybye less (conversion is a bitch ) And since my first tsuba are still in Japan with my sword, I was kinda feeling like getting something along the way so here it is. Seller states Edo and that it is original nothing else, seems like estate sale or something but anyway I humbly ask the knowledgable scholars here if thay would be so kind to help me with at least identifying what I got myself into or if I made a missstep. Photos here are from the auction site, I will have the piece in hand probably later next week. To me it looks rough, but from what I had observed in the past year or so, i came across one or two tsuba that had similiar or nearidentical trees, that is why i decided to go for it, but that is just my amateur opinion so far, any input will be appreciated, thanks everyone. M.P.

this is really thick and not uniform layer of the stuff, really not good looking

Restorer here, anti corrosion agents based on tannin are probably the best and the most gentle anti corrosion solution there is. It neutralizes active rust and turns it into black oxide that is inactive and harmless to the item. And it makes a nice surface colour, depends on the mixture used. We use it in our museum very extensively and sucessfully, not only for conservation but also to to give artifacts we are restoring its period correct patina. I can give example of proper museum level use: Sorry that this example is not a nihonto but it will have to do. Here we have a rapier style sword, that was missing the handle and was bathed in phosphorus based acid by our predecessors in 70s. That bath, removed all the rust but also, well made everything very porous, and my job was to get it to a presentable state in other words restore it as close i could get it to the period correct state. Aside from making a new wire wrap i had to polish the blade, and then use tannin to patiante the pommel and crossguard/basket. as you can see it was in very sorry state this is roughly half way before beign finished and you can see on the pommel and crossguard that i was already using the tannin to slowly get it to where i was happy with it. and this is finished sword completly restored to a period correct look with adequate layer of tannin on the pommel and the crossguard. This example was already cleaned by the accid so no rust was there but if I was to get a, lets say plain round iron tsuba (i found an example here https://shogunsgalle...n-w-golden-dew-inlay) I would approach this firstly with very fine carding wire wheel to get the surface rust away without damagind the surface of the tsuba and then would repetadly used a tannin, you would have to force it with a brush, that has a thick and strong hair, down as hard as you could, you have to get the agent into every microscopic crevice you can so it can neutralize the rust and change it to the black rust, and then I would either let the tanin there if I was satisfied with the surface colour or just wire wheel it off to have a clean iron finish but free of rust. So this is my opinion and way i was taught by todays standarts but feel free to add to the debate, restoration/conservation is focused today on as non invasive ways as possible and also reversibility of the procedures done. PS: if anyone is curious about my background, studied restoration for 3 years, graduated and now working for a military history institue in prag as a restorator/conservator.

Yes i will copy the measurements here: Description states a Tanto. Blade length: 27.7 cm Curvature: 0.4 cm Number of Mekugi hole: 1 Motohaba: 24.2 mm Motokasane: 5.1 mm As I stated above, "i buy the item not the story" I was very skeptical of this fact from the start, that´s why i asked here. On the other hand what would boys da sword mean ?

that is exactly how I feel about it, as I sated i go by "buy the item not the story" i just like how the blade looks

Hi everyone, while browsing for swords, as one does, I stumbled across this piece that has in its description celebratory tanto from Muromachi period called "iwaizashi" I would like to ask studied people from this forum that would be able to explain if there is any truth to the statement ? The description states that presented tanto was made as a gift for celebratory occasions and is engraved with chiyotsuru inscription. I will add the full description with pictures below This tanto is a celebratory dagger made in the Muromachi period and called "iwaizashi," and is a rare piece that is rarely found on the market. It was made as a gift for celebratory occasions and was very auspicious, and this piece is engraved with a chiyotsuru inscription. Chiyotsuru is a school of swordsmiths that flourished from the Nanbokucho period to the Muromachi period (1336-1573), also known as the Echizen Rai school, because it was founded by Chiyotsuru Kuniyasu, a member of the Rai Kuniyasu school, who migrated to the Echizen region. Since the crane (tsuru) has been a symbol of good fortune in Japan since ancient times, it is believed that they asked Chiyotsuru, which means crane that lives a thousand years, to create a celebratory dagger. As in any other collecting field buy the thing not the story, and I really like tha blade itself but if the story proves somewhat true it would be a strong contender for my next purchase. So I share it with all of you good people here, the people more studied than my self. Have a great day everyone.

Hi Georg, thank you for you hint, that is an interesting background of said royal house, I did not know about that and it is fascinating. And thank you for the links, might be a great place to visit and research. And Little off topic here I am pleased that you like our website, I can most definetly recommend you to visit our museum, but be aware it I recommend to take 2 full days to go through all the exhibits, we have someting like 4 to 7 K items on display, 99.9 percent originals, small items to artillery. Also if you are interested in rare guns and know Forgotten weapons he will be posting some videos from our collection he was fimling there 2 months ago, I know that since I was helping him film.

Where would be the best place to do the research or how ? just curious

This thread was very interesting and enlightening, definetly took some lesons from this, even tho I am bit late to it. But still want to ask, (I know that hands on approach is the best way to train kantei) are there any literature recommendations for this ? On how to recognise nuances of each blade and then make an educated attribution ? I suppose Markus Sesko books are a good start right ?

Hi Mick, Thank you for the info, I didn´t know about this to be honest, do you have any links or sources for that mention ? I would be interested in digging further into it... When i get to it. But it is interesting that something like this was auctioned off in 1923, most of his collections are still in Czech Republic, at least what Nazis didnt loot. I find this interesting.

Very nice display, I like the naginata there. You have given me inspiration on how to make my own display when I have space for it. Also I think i would be kinda ticked off by the middle section of the sliding mechanism, but that is just me.

UPDATE: Didn´t expected to make an update so soon but it seems that koshirae is almost done, some touch ups and sageo is still missing, but yes for anyone interested, quality of the completed koshirae is just astonishing. Adding detailed picture of the saya and overall picture. ENJOY

hi, i do not know yet, no document in the museum states anything about signature and given the knowledge how the collection was kept in the past, i dont think it was ever removed from the fittings, I intend to be the first one to check the nakago

Hi, I am still new to this forum but i want to share with everyone a unique piece, that is my absolute favorite among our vast collection, from the military history institute museum I work at as restorer/conservator. As the title, possibly somewhat confuzingly states, It is a amalgamation of a Japanese blade and Austrian officer navy fittings. I will post some photos but I just found out that the are not great, i can and will take better photos of the blade around monday next week. I will write everything we know about it plus some history toward the style of fittings it is housed in, and the blade was not removed from the handle yet, I have to get to it and find out if it is signed. I will write some history here: Austrian naval officer were issued navy sabers first in 1827, later in 1837 it was changed to more archaic straight blade "kord" or small sword in english. In 1846 new style of saber was adopted again, this model was based on frech navy saber. This model was used during revolution years of 1848-1849 by officers who joined the rebels. After their surrender loyal navy officers requested new type of saber since previous one was, as a symbol of the emeror, disrespected and loyal officers refuzed to wear it. New model 1850 was created with elaborate carving on the handguard, anchor and mermaids, and later in 1871 hangers were added to the scabbard. for refference i have link to our museum website with example: https://www.vhu.cz/e...rnictva-vzor-185071/ Ownership of thissSaber with katana blade was by previous museum staff attributed to heir to the Heir to the throne of Austro-Hungarian empire Franz Ferdinand d´Este. It would be plausible given the quality of the workmanship on the golden fittings and the blade it self. Heir could have acquired it as a gift from Japan during his travels around the world between years 1892 and 1893. There is also some archival evidence (not sure if we have any photo evidence as well) that he admired the swordsmanship while visiting Japan beign avid and quite skilled swordsman himself, although proficient in saber combat only. Visited some showcases of sword combat and possibly participated in some form of friendly sparring. Unortunately this acquisition story is not supported by evidence and place of discovery. Current research by our curator of arms states that this saber belonged to one Hieronymus (Jeroným) VIII. Colloredo Mannsfeld (1870-1942) There are two pieces of information that suppor that it belonged to him, First: he held rank of Corvette Captain and was for quite some time stationed in Tokyo, later he became naval attaché in Berlin. He was overseeing Mansfeld holdings in Bhoemian lands including castle in town Zbiroh where this very saber was found, which is evidence number two. Either way, now to the saber itself: https://www.vhu.cz/e...ictva-vzor-185071-2/ Speaking about the condition, only damage is to kissaki, some light scratches and wear, possibly due to sheating and unsheating of the blade, othervise it is in great condition. This is the few photos i have so far, I hastily took some because there was not time to fiddle with it, we were close to opening the museum after years of renovations, so I had to put it back on display fast. What I will do next week is to get quality pictures of the blade so that everything can be viewed clearly. I know that Japan had many military swords that bore influence from European sabers of the time that were standart issue up until the return of the katana style of blades before Second World war, but i think this is very unique in that it is standart naval officer saber fittings fitted with nihonto. Photos may not speak to its quality but in person the quiality is amazing. I post this here as a curiosity and subject of research i plan to do with this blade, I plan to take it out of its fittings, probably will be first time since its creation. I hope you like my post here, would be nice if this could spark some good conversation or posibly any ideas of its origin, but I understand that without closeup of the nakago and quality photos of the blade it could prove very difficult. Maybye we can follow up at later date. Anyway thank you for reading this far, In near future I will take this off of the display and do some closeup exmination and share what I found. Cheers

Hi, thank you for your kind words I will relay them to my wife aswell, we are so happy and proud with the work too. The project is yet to be fully completed, currently only thing that is missing is saya. And regarding the dealer/agent I work with Mr. Pablo Kuntz from "Unique Japan" i do not know who the craftman/craftwoman is tho. I follow unique Japan for years and years, he has amazing reference PDF files of swords he sold over the years and before and during the choosing phase my wife and I went through his catalouges looking for insipration for our koshirae project, I can highly recommend his website and himself. When we recieve the completed sword i will make a post in appropriate thread with all the details.

Thanks, both of you. The best part is the story how I got to even get them. Almost 2 years ago i visited Japan with my girlfriend, now wife, and visited a sword dealer. He prepared some pieces to look at to choose as my first katana, i wanted to buy a sword just in shirasaya. And at the very end he also showed us some fittings and my wife goes "ooooo this is pretty can we get it and build the rest of the koshirae" And so we went from me wanting just a sword to having full koshirae built for our sword and along the way, since my wife was overseeing the fittings we want for the koshirae i stated that I want some tsuba and here we are 😁 And we already have new tsuka wrapped with gorgeous sakura theme, unfortunately we were not able to get a nice sakura tsuba for it in over a year of seraching but the one we have fits nicely.