Another flea market find

[Dan D]

Yet another tanto I turned up at our Santa Cruz flea market. This is the fifth one so far over the years. The elderly woman who was selling it told me that her father brought it home as a WWII war souvenir.

 

The blade is 10 3/4" to the tang. 14 1/2" LOA. It's in reasonable condition, however it appears to have been lightly polished with some fine steel wool. I can just make out some fine longitudinal scratches when held just so in the light. I think this has nearly washed-out the hamon, but the some hada is still fairly visible. The hamon, if I am seeing all of it, looks to be straight and fairly thin. I suppose the blade might be getting a little tired.

 

The tang is good and black, and has a lead-filled rivet hole. The shape of the tang is rather curved. Possibly fumo-gata? The sword came in a rather ugly scabbard, which I think was originally a shira-saya that someone decided to decorate. There are a couple of kanji written on the scabbard that the carving cuts right through, so it would seem that the carving was a later addition.

 

The blade is signed, but the first character is mostly obliterated by the newer rivet hole. The second character looks like it might be readable.

 

Am hoping to learn the age of the sword and/or the likely maker, if that's possible. Thanks for your help.

 

DD

[Grey Doffin]

The mei is Kunihiro. Looks to be a very interesting piece.

Grey

[Darcy]

Well you have a lottery ticket.

 

The mei is aimed at Shintogo Kunihiro, the son and student of Shintogo Kunimitsu, but it is no good I think.

 

The shape though and especially the nakago though are.

 

It might be a bit polished down as you can see from the taper initiating above the machi. The condition of the ji does not look promising though it is not clear how much of that is roughness and how much is damage brought on by rust. Beyond the roughness it looks like fine jigane behind it which would be appropriate.

 

The surface of the nakago looks a bit fine for this kind of age but it is not out of the question.

 

So at first glance looks like a Kamakura tanto with an outside chance of being a copy from later on. But it represents the kind of thing to scoop up and put to the test for sure. If you are lucky you have something very good but it is going to depend on the situation with the ji and whether that comes out as beautiful and fine.

 

The length as well is about right for Kunihiro and his time, as Kunimitsu's tanto will be a bit shorter than this but it is in the wheelhouse for Kunihiro. His work would be expected between 24 and 30 cm roughly and this one is 26. Typical Shintogo Kunimitsu I think is about 24cm, low as 22 and high as 26.

 

Needs more research and I would send to Benson to get him to check it out. The mei will have to come off regardless and at that point if you have a suguba Kamakura tanto confirmed with beautiful jigane, then you are playing a game that is rigged highly in your favor to the point of making it very hard to lose when you look at the choices available to you. So I think you can hope a bit, but it is not a sure thing.

[Darcy]

Also address and opening hours of this fleamarket please. lol.

[Dan D]

Thank you both for the very helpful comments. A lot of information to study and digest. The knowledge on this forum is amazing.

 

DD

[Ken-Hawaii]

Dan, one quick note. That's not a "rivet hole," but is rather a mekugiana which is the hole into which goes the mekugi bamboo piece that holds the tsuka to the nakago of the blade. Please study a bit more on correct terminology.

 

Nice find.

 

Ken

[Dan D]

Thanks Ken--my bad. In John Yumoto's book he labels it as "rivet hole" so I thought it was an acceptable term.

 

Another question on this piece--would I be correct in assuming that the saya is worthless and can be discarded?

 

DD

[Gabriel L]

The mei will have to come off regardless…

It will? (EDIT: ah, somehow I glossed over "…but it is no good I think.")

 

Thanks Ken--my bad. In John Yumoto's book…

Dan, don't sweat it too much. Yumoto's book is a nice starter with a great chapter on hand-drawn kanji variations. It was practically the first of its kind, an English-language primer following WWII, so it is worth having. However, it is also a little bit dated, slim, and rough around the edges by now, mostly with respect to some of the preferred romanizations or terminologies. Something like Connoisseur's would be a great addition to your library, but unfortunately Kodansha has let that one go out of print, driving prices up too high on Amazon etc. You can sometimes find some of our members offering more reasonably-priced copies for sale in the classifieds section, and/or Grey Doffin (http://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com) may have a copy.

[Stephen]

id not discard the saya, its part of its history.

[cabowen]

Can you post a close up of the kanji written on the saya?

[Dan D]

Can you post a close up of the kanji written on the saya?

 

 

Sure, but it's been partially obliterated by the carving.

[Peter Bleed]

These fittings were embellished by or in Ainu style. I am sure that they have little to do with the blade - as we think of it. This could have been done on a cheap/old shirasaya that had been shipped north to the ainu trade. Or I suppose it could be Ainu carving done one a plain wood fitting made for a blade that had been shipped north.

One way or another, I'm here to say that these are "Ainu" mounts. I think they have nothing to do with thsi blade - aside from the fact that old tanto likes these were essentially "trade goods" at some points in Japanese history.

You ought to find somebody who likes ainu stuff...

Peter

[cabowen]

I believe the kanji are a name:

 

坂場

 

Sakaba....

[Nobody]

...............

坂場

 

Sakaba....

Maybe Sakano (坂野).

[cabowen]

Indeed, Sakano seems more likely....Thanks.

[Toryu2020]

Dan -

Nice find indeed. FWIW there will be a polisher at the San Francisco Sword Show next week and for a small fee he could put a window in it to show you the potential of your blade. Bob Benson is expected to be in attendance as well.

 

http://www.ncjsc.org/SF_token_kai.htm

 

-t

[Dan D]

Thank you so much for the info. I'm in Santa Cruz, and was planning on running up to the show. I was wondering about having a window polished in the blade. Looks like the perfect opportunity.

Does anyone know what day(s) Mr. Benson will be in attendance?

 

DD

[Grey Doffin]

Friday through Sunday unless he has changed his pattern.

Grey