W K Clifford

Since you own these blades, for the benefits of us who dont have the savvy, is it possible to post some pictures. Better still, is it possible to post pictures side by side with not so great swords by famous smiths so that we may learn what you all mean by those uncanny descriptions? you see, for most arts, only comparative study makes sense....

not very good handwriting, wouldn't you say? not much schooling for these sword testers (and swordsmiths!) of course they did not need it.

on one side it says 明和七年四月中旬 (mid April, 1770) 於腰車切全刃穿地入 I am not sure how to make sense of this. On the other side I am only sure about these 薩州臣喜八郎試之 (Sasshū or Satsuma royal servant 喜八郎 tried it)

I stand corrected.

濃州 (mino) 關 (seki) 住 (resident) 二十三代 (twenty-third generation) 兼房 （kanefusa） 作之 (made this) this is a highly ranked gendaito smith, am I right?

I second that. Let me learn the lesson..

you'll have to post better pictures, man.

Hi Mark, thanks for describing it. fake mei does not mean bad blade, of course. I am glad that it turned out to be alright. do you think the Yamano cutting test inscription is real? i mean, isn't it a bit strange that it is not kinzogan? even though Monroeville is only 15 minute away by car from where I live, i did not go. I was sufficiently discouraged by the discussion here, let's put it that way (had to work too).

wow, Mark, you are a brave man. Did you examine the blade itself before bidding?

that would be my answer too. Is it right, Reinhard?

this is the blade by 長曾彌興正 mentioned above. It was carried by 伍贺启次郎, a general in the navy, before it was surrendered. This 伍贺启次郎 must be from some prominent samurai family.

possibly one of them is yours? haha. mine was returned last month, phew...

To follow up on what I said in the other post about nihonto in China, here are some pictures i've found online of some nihonto in The Museum of Military History of Revolution in Beijing. I actually go to Beijing every now and then, but it never occurred to me that I should have a look at these nihonto in the MMHR. will certainly do so next time and will take some pictures and post them here. swordsmith: 藤原重行. rumor has it that this sword belonged to the commander of the Japanese invasion force in China 冈村宁次. But the tassel is 佐官平打刀绪, so it could not have been carried by a general, a colonel at most (not my opinion, of course, I am not that knowledgeable). There is also the opinion that since 冈村宁次 is of a humble origin, he would not have carried a sword of this caliber. but i don't buy this argument. This was from the personal collection of a high-ranked communist general. Among these are swords made by 志津兼俊, 运寿是一, 兼时(Showa smith). can the more savvy members tell which one is which in this crappy picture? among these are swords made by 肥州菊池住同田贯上野介, 築前住源信國吉包, and possibly 藤原忠行. again, can you tell which one is which? also there is a blade by 長曾彌興正, another one by 月山貞一, yet another by 吉原國家, but i did not find any pictures of these. i am sure there are many more that are not on display.

yeah, perhaps the major saved the life of the colonel or something like that.

the carvings are absolutely Chinese, does not seem to have anything to do with Korea. the sword was most likely confiscated from surrendered Japanese soldiers at the end of the war. In the Revolution Museum in Beijing I have heard that there is a large amount of such swords. I'd like to get my hands on those. No doubt some of them would make Juyo or even higher. 白起 (a chinese name) 少校 (major) 留念 (for you as a memorabilia) 空軍 （air force）上校 (colonel) 張新亞 (a chinese name) 敬贈 (from me with respect) 一九五四年九月四日 (09/04/1954) so why would a colonel give a major a sword, and with respect! intriguing... can we see the blade please?

Thank you for the wonderful remarks, Reinhard. Where did you get the picture? I have been wondering where those resourceful members of this forum get their references from. Googling does not seem to be the trick... my knowledge on nihonto is rather poor. So that nakago is a textbook example of what, if you do not mind my asking?

Hi George, thank you for trying to help. Yeah, i can read one side of the nakago but not the other. Thanks to Morita-san, i now can read both.

The Yamano cutting test result basically says two bodies were cut on 寬文五年十二月二十五日 (Xmas!) and the tester was 永繼. Isn't it a bit odd that these were carved on the nakago instead of written on it (in golden ink)?

many thanks for all your responses, especially for those of Morita san's a brief research shows that this blade is more on the fishy side. the reason is as follows. there are only two 讚岐守 with the last name 生駒, and both of them were in the early Edo period. however this inscribed fictional name only appeared shortly before the Meiji reform. So the inscription was retroactive? that would be eve more unusual. make sense?

there is also the testimonial on the other side: fake?

interesting. doubted in what way? since, for instance, in the case of this sword, it was obviously not made by Muramasa, what's the purpose of such a fictional inscription. i mean, the mei is supposed to use to fool someone, right? but in what way?

so does this mean, having the name of a fictional swordsmith inscribed on the nakago? (as you can see the condition of the sword is not very good)

what does it mean?

i think it is 玉峰