When Necessary

Bully for them - Jolly good show 👏👏 i just never thought that even a fully apprenticed gaijin would ever be let anywhere near the big boys' toys.

What does that have to do with two mekugi-ana? You really do have to some research on Yasukunito, old boy. Yasutoku left the Yasukuni shrine in 1941 and returned home to Hiroshima Prefecture. He then signed either 'Ujimasa' or 'Daito Masamune' until 1945. He never returned to sword making after the war - ergo, any of his swords signed 'Yasutoku' and found in gunto mounts should only have a single mekugi-ana.

We Well, now that I've shown him a real one, he's probably gotten his chisel guy to copy that onto all his mumei gunto.

Interesting, so a sword which a non-Japanese polished passed Tokuju.

Why on earth would a Yasukunito have two mekugi-ana?

Hi John, I believe that someone else in this thread said it ended at $15,000.

This is the response I received from Showa22 after pointing out his tanto was gimei. His reply speaks volumes.

Earlier in this thread, there was mention of the General's Gassan from Iwo Jima which appeared on eBay 20 years ago. I have a file on it somewhere but here are a few shots I had on my phone.

Regardless of the shape, the mei is fake. I just sent Showa22 an eBay PM telling him the same - so I'm waiting for the inevitable "Eff off and mind your own business" reply.

Showa22 on the left, Tokuho papered Yasutoku on the right. I've only compared part of the date in the second photo but looking at the signature should be enough.

I must admit I've never seen a Yasukuni tanto which wasn't hirazukuri (and I've been looking at them for 20 years now).

Another dated around 1989, just before he passed. The link: 脇差　濃州住兼秀作　平成元年二月日 Wakizashi [Kanehide]日本刀　刀剣販売 サムライ商会[samurai shokai]no

Hi John, Here is one apparently dated 1986 with the link. 刀　銘　濃州住兼秀作　昭和六十一年六月日

Thank you for coming straight back John. The Shin Shinto period was very odd in its tastes sometimes. I don't like the combined kurigata/ suspension ring as the two together look very ungainly. I also presume the ito and sageo are very modern (or else the sword originally belonged to the Bashou clan).

Dear Geraint, Apologies for the late response and many thanks for your very astute observations and comments - they were much appreciated. (I always get the kogai and kozuka sides mixed up but I really thought I'd gotten it right this time!) The two reasons I thought this may have had some connection to the Showa military was 1: the gunto-style hanging ring is in addition to a normal kurigata (they are actually the same fitting) and 2: also the mounts at either end on the tsuka and saya are the absolute spitting image of the standard design you find on a gunto. I guess this could be the original design which inspired the new army sword and I'm simply getting it the wrong way round. (I'd be interested to hear what John @PNSSHOGUN thinks of this.) Thank you for the links, Geraint - they were very interesting as I'm particularly focussed on the Bakumatsu era. 😁 Best wishes, Dee

Either this is a rather nice, genuine tanuki tsuba or the Museum of Genoa has egg on its face!

Hi John, Speaking purely from my own, subjective point of view then yes, I think it is a beautiful piece. I love the sugata and the thin suguha hamon. Looking at it more closely, I would have expected a wartime blade to still have its original, simple habaki rather than a wooden replacement. Also, the NTHK results sheet, while indeed stating 'Showa' is very specific about the smith's personal name "Nakata Kanehide". Therefore, they may well know something that both you and I do not - and he could perhaps have signed in that manner for a period of time. (My gut instinct tells me that it looks postwar.)

I'm assuming that the NTHK papered example you are referring to is this allegedly wartime tanto? Like you, I've not been able to find any examples of this smith's work using the 'Kane' character with four strokes at the bottom. However, as this is by far the most common form of that kanji, it would be the obvious one for an unresearched forger to choose...... and - more worryingly - an unresearched NTHK shinsa member to let slip through.

Hi John, These are examples of Kanehide's mei in 1944 - so, personally, I think you are right to question the certification. (The last picture with the translation is from Yakiba.com.)

There have been a lot of fakes appearing on auction recently; all gendaito blades inscribed to big name recipients. This one, however, looks like the real thing as it has modern NBTHK papers. https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/n1202118356

I remember seeing that sword in Prague Castle 20 years ago. As I recall, it's not a mon, it's the railway symbol again in silver.

That's it Steve. When you post anything you don't already own here, you're not just showing it to friends who want to help you - but also to rivals who want to beat you to it.

Hi Calabrese! They wouldn't have been destroyed but probably passed on to other collectors in time. I'm sure that they were all structurally sound but the smith was trying to replicate a specific sword. Can you imagine how many attempts it must have taken to nearly duplicate this hamon? (Thus proving the point that, unless ancient swordmakers were almost mystically superior to their modern namesakes, there was never a way to totally control the distribution of martensite and the resultant hamon.)

I agree with you Robert. In the process of forging a sword, yakiire is the moment when everything is 'left in the lap of the gods'. This is the point at which many blades fail and are lost - even for masters. It also (metaphorically) freezes the differing sizes and specific distribution of martensite crystals in place for eternity. A master can choose the pattern and style of a hamon, down to the placement of nioi, nie or a combination of both - but he can't specify everything about the end result. Consequently, there is always an element of surprise and revelation in the tosho's first, rough polish.

Steve, A friendly word of advice. The seller who removed the Yasukunito "once he found out what he had" may well have found out by watching this site and seeing your post. Either that or another visitor to the NMB may have used your photo, done an image search (very easy), found the sword and then made the seller an offer. That is what you risk every time you rush on here to post a new find before doing any research on it yourself first. You could well be shooting yourself in the foot by not hitting the books first.