palousian

I can't say when swords were first made in Japan, but I think the first iron was being made in the Hittite empire (modern Turkey) c.1300 BCE.

This seller commonly mentions kitae kizu on blades selling less than around $10K US, inviting potential buyers to ask for further details. I have also wondered why they don't just show these up front.

Well, thank you for your responses. if anyone has information or examples of similar koshirae, or have any ideas about when/where/who my koshirae may have been made (AOI gave me no information beyond what was in the original post), it would sure be interesting to see it. Cheers, Paul

Honestly, as near as I can tell, the Koshirae is pretty robust; though the saya weighs less than a wooden one, it would probably be durable in use.

The Fuchi and Kashira are copper, covered in lacquered leather, and the Tsuka is wood covered in lacquered leather (it seems to be conventional except for the leather being used in the role of same). I just weighed the Tsuba--only 22 g, and it sure seems like it is indeed three (?) layers of leather with lacquer. Maybe there's a thin layer of copper inside there? The early-Edo koshirae in the link I posted, above, has an all-leather Tsuba--indeed, it appears to have a very similar construction to my koshirae. I'm obviously not going to test this out, but it sure seems like a very tough little thing. My actual weapon for "use," a Kingfisher bokken (https://kingfisherwoodworks.com/collections/featured/products/hand-cut-aiki-bokken), has a nice fat leather Tsuba, which is very durable, and has saved my musician-hands from serious injury on more than one occasion. I confess to wondering whether I could seek out a Higo-style iron Tsuba that was as thin as this one, so I could have it with this koshirae, but whoever made this koshirae seems to have been on a mission, and who am I to second-guess them?

Greetings! I have just received my first katana with koshirae. I had been looking for months, as I want only one, and I figured that eventually one would stand out for me, and that would be it. And that turned out to be the case. The elegant blade is fabulous, but I confess that the tiny homare kizu (on the mune) was what sealed the deal for me, as I also have a bit of an "honor flaw" of sorts (long story). As I purchased this from AOI-art, their photos are better than mine, and here's a link... https://sword-auctio...kubetsu-hozon-token/ I am intrigued by this koshirae, and I haven't ever seen another like it, but I'm not as experienced as everyone here. I love the minimalism of the textured/lacquered nerikawa throughout, even for the tsuba and instead of same for the tsuka. I wonder whether this style of koshirae is familiar to anyone here, and whether anyone could provide information about it, or could show me other examples. I searched the archives and found this apparently-early-Edo nerikawa daisho koshirae in a thread from a few years ago, but I think mine is much younger. https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/6503-literal-meaning-of-handachi-applied-to-sword-koshirae/page/2/#comment-292921 Thank you for your expertise! Paul

You are misinformed on this point. In blind tests with modern violins and fabulous old Cremonese violins, generally the new instruments win the comparisons. My bow, made by a major living archetier, is the equal or better of any old bow. Some old violins are over-repaired and too rickety for performance, although their sound/playability is not a factor in their value. People like old violins much like they like old swords. Time gives them soul, whatever that is. But in a practical sense there is no difference, and I would say that, without question, playing an old violin is no disrespect to it. I believe that it's only that playing a violin is very much a living tradition, while beheading your enemies is not.

It is very interesting to compare my different interests on this point. The most relevant comparison is violins. In fact, there is a violin equivalent of NMB--maestronet.com--a similar forum devoted to violins. While violins have only existed for about 500 years, the value of the finest examples far exceeds any nihonto in existence. Arguably, the cultural significance of either item is about the same. The difference is that no one tells a violinist with their exquisite 1706 Stradivari that they should put it in a case and never play music on it. Even though playing on a violin can cause damage, there are highly-skilled luthiers who can repair these instruments and keep them alive. There are some fabulous old violins in museums, but even then they are sometimes lent to great players to perform on (https://www.youtube....EBA5EA4076B&index=34). No one would say to a violinist that they should only play violins made recently; in fact my Magnus Anton Fichtl from 1775 gets a couple of hours of workout every day. While iaido, with the repeated drawing and sheathing, can damage a blade, I believe that even suburi would be considered out-of-line here. I suspect the difference is that the actual intended use of nihonto, which is to say life-taking and life-giving, is no longer a living tradition. Still, I would urge you all to give Nicholas a bit of a break here. He makes a reasonable inquiry.

Hello, everyone. I am an aikidoka (30 years of training, thus far), and I am here because serious interest in nihonto has sort-of crept up on me in the last ten years. For twenty years, the only swords I used were bokken and shinai, but then one evening a friend who is a blacksmith handed me a katana, and going out into his backyard and practicing some suburi was a revelation. So I started to look into what was involved in acquiring one, and my first inquiry was with a friend I know from my native plant interests, whose late father was an important kendo master. I asked C.--do you know about swords? And her answer... "I know a little." Which is to say, more than a little, but then she said, "I have a sword, I don't know what to do with it and it sits in a closet somewhere, but I will give it to you." She had given her father's swords to his students, but one of those students saw this sword in a pawn shop and told her to buy it, which she did, and she took it to K., also a kendo master and sword polisher, had it polished, and put it away in her closet for decades. I thought that what she really wanted was for me to sell the sword for her, so I took it to K., and asked him if they could help me submit it for shinsa, and then help me sell it for her. He knew I was a musician and that I played the violin, and after examining the sword and showing me some of its features (it is a wakizashi in shirasaya by Hyuga Daijo Sadatsugu--I did submit it to NBTHK and it made Hozon. Image below), he bluntly asked me, "Do you know about violins?" I said, "I know a little." Then he asked me if I would look at a violin for him. Of course. He brings out a very low-quality violin, made in Czechoslovakia in the 1920s. Violins like this were made by farmers in the off-season, and they could hack out a fiddle in a day, sold by the dozen to wholesalers ("dutzendarbeit"--"dozen-work"...like all those Muromachi-era quickly-made mumei katanas, right? Whenever someone finds a "Stradivarius" in their attic, it invariably is one of these with a Strad label stuck in it). I remembered the sword etiquette of not speaking ill of a sword, so I endeavored to describe this fiddle in the most positive terms, stressing the real skills of these makers to make a functional fiddle in a day (true), that the materials were very good (also true of a lot of these), and that some of them sound and play wonderfully (also true, sometimes). But I respectfully pointed out one other significant issue and described it using the nihonto term--"fatal flaw". The violin had a sound post crack on the back. I told him that it is technically reparable but would cost thousands of dollars to have a luthier do the work, so this sort of thing is only done on very valuable violins. So, when I again mentioned submitting the sword for shinsa, and then selling it for C., K. looked me in the eyes and said, very firmly, "No, you must not sell it! You must keep this sword, it has chosen you, and you must learn from it." When I told C. what my plan had been and what K. said to me, she laughed and said, "See?! I TOLD you that this was your sword!" And that is how I acquired my first blade. I don't intend to become a collector (I have that affliction in other areas--antique tribal carpets, musical instruments), though there are now two other blades in my life. But K. was right that C.'s wakizashi (below, and--apologies about the quality of the images) has indeed taught me. And it ultimately led me here. Thank you for all the information! Paul