sanjuro

That is what prompted my question. The original polish would have only established the shape intended, therefore I guess the blade being a particularly long one lent itself well to a slightly leaf shape. Its sure not an accident, and if it were once parallel then any subsequent polishing would have maintained that parallel if it were at all possible. In any event it is a stunning blade, and the subtle leaf shape makes it quite an elegant piece I think.

Is it my imagination, a trick of the light/perspective, or is this blade slightly leaf shaped (as in the sides are not absolutely parallel)?

From a strictly collecting point of view, there is nothing to set them apart artistically as being of interest. As Brian has said there are no books dealing with them for this very good reason. I have seen a few examples over the years and apart from being cheap they were decidedly dull examples. What is alarming about them is they are sometimes peddled off cheaply to would be collectors as collectable nihonto. They therefore confuse the isue for the newbies and collectively they have a negative impact upon the perception people have of the artistic aspect of nihonto.

Steve. No problem...We are all human, and human nature being what it is, we all do things which in hindsight we may regret. I am sure the Kashima sisters will not judge you too harshly, and likewise here on the forum. If one is in the fortunate position to be able to redeem oneself as you have done, then conscience is the only consequence. If you have not already done so, It may be worth a phone call to Usagiya to aquaint them personally with the situation. Move onward toward the sword you really want. Sometimes, the sword you really want will find you.

I'm newly returned to the forum after a fair absence, and have stood aside from this topic watching as it were with some rising concern. From the beginning it was a hasty and ill concieved purchase by Steve, but having made an undertaking as he did, it should be either honoured or at least discussed with the seller before a refusal to honour a commitment is even considered, much less stated openly in this forum. If nothing else I am astounded that integrity has such a small price tag. I have always valued it much higher than a paltry $1500 US. The blade may not be worth saving, but your personal reputation certainly is.

Would you be happy with this assessment? It is if nothing else fairly safe from correction by Ford. :D .....Ooooops sorry, I mean MR HALLAM Sunrise to sunset, probably seven days a week.

OK.... So here is one of those fascinating little anomolies of detail we come across with nihonto.(And the reason for my question in the first instance, ) My sword is centre punched for a mekugi ana. The tsuka (undrilled ) fits snugly and is obviously the original tsuka for the koshirae. I have over the years seen four undrilled nakago on swords and two were centre punched for mekugi ana and two were not. Yours now makes it three that were not punched. The two that were punched (mine and one other) were both in full koshirae, both have undrilled tsuka. Go figure..... I love these little mental question marks that crop up from time to time.

For $1k I think you could do much better. Pass on this and keep looking and learning before you make a purchase, but please dont use ebay to start with. Its way too easy to get fleeced.

Probably the liberator of this sword didnt even appreciate how rare it was. How many of these swords made it out alive, intrigues me. The story behind my sword probably accounts for most others as well. It was simply taken by occupation forces and later found its way onto the market. Thankfully I have nailed down the provenance of my sword owing to the attribution on the nakago, the family mon on the saya and a bit of research. Does the nakago of your sword bear a centre punch mark where the mekugi ana should have been drilled?

Chris. Is that the character for Katsu I see faintly on the nakago? Nope...... I just saw in your previous post, Its yoshi I can see. Here's a sword of mine, a shrine sword originally from the Iwakuni shrine, no mekugi ana but a full koshirae without tsuba. The tsuka is also not pierced for a mekugi but is held in place by a sliver of folded rice paper which jams it lightly on the nakago. One is prompted to ask how the tsuka on your sword is held in place?

Sergei. My point should it need explaining, was that much of the documentation of so called Christian tsuba has indeed been provided by various Western and probably Christian sources. I raise the doubt of objectivity, nothing more. I dont give a damn about your religious proclivities or beliefs or lack thereof. Or, whether you indeed even come originally from this planet, since none of that has anything to do with the subject being discussed. Fred. My observation was more to the general attribution of Christian tsuba which often seems somewhat nebulous and arbitrary, based on the slightest and in some cases speculative evidence. I agree in this case that the tsuba in question seems to have some claim to a christian attribution based on the evidence you and others are discussing. It is a subject like many another that is in need of more research. If in that research there is found proof and evidence that is lacking then I welcome it. Until then, like Guido, I remain somewhat sceptical about the majority of so called 'Christian' attributions when applied to tsuba.

I dont wish to stir up anything nasty here, and I'm just putting the thought out there as it were, but it would seem that in the case of many so called 'Christian' attributed tsuba, The motif is merely interpreted, supposed or speculated as christian rather than clearly identifiable as such. Are we as westerners and ostensibly christian, possibly seeing and interpreting within our own philosophy, that which we wish to see rather than that which is intentionally present??

OK.... Stupid question time. What makes this a christian tsuba. I see no christian motif here at all. (then again, I'm not religious so I dont see religious themes in everything). So theres a nebulous cross behind the whatever they are's, but the cross along with the swastika is the most common shape and symbol on the planet and predates christianity.

Chris. You can't. Then again you also cant realistically claim the subject of this thread to be nihonto. :?

Surely one would think that were it anything but very modern, and intended for use by a samurai, or even as a curio that the cardinal points would be in kanji rather than western script. :? :?

A sageo munching Oni then...... Thanks Lance and Thierry. :D

A nice find indeed. Does anyone know what the little mythical monster on the kurikata, munching on the sageo is called? When you think of it this is quite a whymsical mounting. One creature that eats bad dreams and another that eats sageo cords. :D I wonder if that was intentional by the kanagushi???

John. For what its worth, I have owned good examples of handachi koshirae that both included kogai and/or kozuka, and also those that didnt. It would seem to depend on the age of the koshirae as to whether the implements formed part of the koshirae, since from my own experience the older koshirae tended not to have them, whereas the more recent koshirae did include them. I am however making an observation here based on some less than a dozen examples over time, so it is not a large sample group. Illustrated examples in various works however, do tend to support my observation. Perhaps Guido can add something here, since his observations will be based on a wider scholarship than my own.

Yep.....For one horrible moment Pete and I shared consciousness........ I may never be the same again. Thanks for that Pete, I can now hear all the voices that you hear. LOL

I tend to agree. A tsuba originally made for mounting on a tachi never has hitsu ana since kogai and kozuka were not mounted on tachi Koshirae. Having said that, some tachi tsuba were later pierced with hitsu ana in order to mount them on katana. This tsuba however, was obviously made with hitsu ana so therefore it cannot be an original tachi tsuba. The style is called aoi gata and was used on katana as a 'formal' style and referred to as han tachi or han dachi. Nice tsuba!

So do I. Possibly taken from the same design book of the Edo period but different enough not to be copies or fakes. If the possibility of them being less than genuine concerns you, then dont buy them.

All true, though many newbies will not appreciate the wisdom the above contains. Be aware also that a signed papered blade from a dealer is also likely to be overpriced since they are firstly recouping the price of the polish they had done on the blade plus what they paid for the blade, plus a tidy profit which is often inflated out of proportion by the rank of the school/smith that the blade is attributed to. The desire to 'make a killing" is alive and well among many dealers. I do not begrudge a dealer the profit he makes if it is reasonable. This middle man inflation however is what has taken good quality nihonto beyond the reach of most newbies and many of the seasoned collectors, many of whom previously looked upon nihonto as an investment.

Sigh........ I guess some people have nothing to do between picking up social security cheques, nose picking and hair twirling excercises, then attending methadone therapy sessions, so they turn their attention to desecrating cultural objects. He admits to 'sharpening' and 'polishing' activities, so I look upon this as a cleansing and confessional excercise on his part. May the gods of nihonto strike him down.

Alex. No hostility here, at least not from me. I was in fact teasing you just a little. However, I do agree with embracing whatever new slants on our diverse culture may present themselves, in order to further the appreciation of what we all see here as worthwhile. Having said as much, God, I wish the anime films stuck just a little closer to truth rather than sensationalism. There is danger in losing sight of the truth in the desire to entertain in ever more sensational ways, a young (and sometimes not so young) public that increasingly craves to lose the truth in fantasy.

Fortunately, as far as I'm aware, collecting nihonto has not yet descended into a competition of who makes the most profit. Dealers however would be fascinated by your claims. Niether I hope is it a competition between the old timers against the new wave Anime 20 somethings. 'Yours is not the future until we hand it to you, and since there is still breath in our lungs, we yet have work to do........'