USkragnut

This is a rather wide, large blade that I believe is gendaito, even though it has what looks like a seki or chrysanthemum stamp. When the blade is clean (it is in oil in the pictures) there is a visible hada on the shinogi gi when viewed in bright light at an angle. I dont know how comon this is, but the blade is signed in hirigana rather than tradtional kanjii. Trying to sort through Japanese shorthand has left me scratching my head. I at first I read it as YOSHI DA KANE TOSHI but now I think it it KANE KUNI or maybe KANE KUMI. I can find no reference to any such smith. The saya is the late war field replacement type and the tsuka needs to be re-wrapped. I do not think either are original to the blade, as the tsuba is of very high quality iron type, cherry blossoms with a pure silver disc installed for a moon (mostly tarnished now) and is signed with a makers name and province. It would be unusual wouldnt it, to find a quality pierced tsuba like this on a machine forged and oil quenched showato, wouldnt it? Sean

Honestly, I would like to sell it but I have no idea what it is worth. Sean

G'day blokes, from the USA again. Was wondering if anyone can translate and ID this swordsmith, or give me any kind of idea when it was made? I will try to get some other pics if it would help, the sword is a friends. Regards, Sean

You know, the more I look at this, the more I agree with you guys...the squiggles are probably the remainder of an oriental dragon. The nakago has been cleaned, but not heavily and doesnt appear to have ever had the characteristic draw file marks on it. A neat blade, I will still have it polished and the hada brought out along with the hamon. Wonder what stories it could tell? Cheers from America! Sean

George - the shirasaya is plain, no markings. Sean

Can anyone date or comment on this wakizashi? Its definately traditional constuction, the polish is rather bright on the Ji and Yakiga, but there is a definate hada pattern on it. Whats interesting is that the hamon seems to dissapear near the boshi. It could be just the polish, but I wonder if maybe its a broken katana that was made into a wakizashi? The mei has only one character and the polishers scratched in signature is visible under the habaki. Not sure what the squiggles are on the back side of the nakago, maybe forging voids?. Can anyone read these kanji? Thanks for your comments blokes! Sean

Does that mean stamped, machined, or traditional forged construction. Where did this smith do his work? I am really a newbie, sorry!

The story on this one was that it was collected off of Saipan. The hamon follows the blade perfectly including out to the kisecki so I dont think the blade has had any major damage polished out. Polish is two tone, rough grit on the concave portion of the blade and bright on the top and sides of the tang. The tang is peaked on the back, about 35 degrees. There are a few faint tiny pits here and there that the previous polisher decided not to try to remove when the blade was redone. This was some time ago as the blade shows lots of evidence of being drawn and reshealthed. There are some scratches on one side where some dumbell tried to remove tarnish with a brillo pad. Nothing that couldnt be carefully removed. There are two mekugi pin holes in the nakago, presumably one from the original tsuka, and the saya looks more like a traditional shealth rather than the typical metal military one. The tsuka is military with a lanyard loop. The habaki is what looks like nearly pure copper with maybe a hint of tin and is better fitted to the blade than a typical WWII sword. The blade is convex, not hollow or flat ground, with no chips or dings in the edge. Its sharp. Not quite hair shaving sharp, but sharp enough to cleave the free standing corrugated box it was shipped in cleanly in two with a diagonal downward cut, and nearly halfway through on an immediate reverse upper cut. This was probably due to my amaturish skills at tamashegiri. There is what looks an arsenal stamp above the writing. The evidence of an old tsuka, the expert older re-polish, the peaked nakago with draw file marks, and traditional saya make me wonder if this was a family or ancestral blade. Unfortunately, I cannot see a pattern in the metal that would indicate traditional folded and layered construction, but this may be because the blade is covered in oil and highly polished. If this exists, is there a way to bring this out? I would like to translate the engraving on the nakago. If anybody can help with this, it would be greatly appreciated. The wooden saya is light as a feather and beautifully constructed but unfortunately is delaminating, the laquer flaking, and is nearly useless functional wise. It is a very dark maroon color, not black. I suspect the leather cover was added to match it up to the brown ito wrap on the tsuka. The leather is very thin with a slight texture. It is reasonably gpod, but fragile and dry. Pigskin I presume. The stitching on it is coming apart on one side. I would like to repair and repaint the saya but I dont know it this would hurt its value. Opinions?