Early Murata-To, And How To Id Them

[lonely panet]

Hi guys,

 

well we all know of the Murata-to, with in the IJA area.

but not having seen any in hand, how would  one recognize ? would it be completely rust free, or resistant to corrosion at  slower rate

 

I ask this because I have a neat type 19 Kyu gunto with a Mukade-giri-maru style blade, small amounts of rust on the blade.

 

does any one have an example to post

[Stegel]

Hi

I have what may be a murata blade, (i don't know for sure)

It is of the Kogarusa maru style, the hamon is a straight type.

Here are some pics of the blade with another gunto by Kanenori, also the same style of blade. (not straight hamon)

I couldn't find any of the tang, so i'll try to take some over the weekend when i get time, but it has from memory the screw type mount at the end.

Are these generally oil-quenched??

 

 

[lonely panet]

from what I can read, most were oil quenched and acid applied hamon.

 

but with a mei, how do we know

[Brian]

Not lack of interest. Just lack of answers.

[Stegel]

I didn't realise that you were asking for answers Hamish!! i thought you were going to explain more on these, sorry about that.

We're both looking for info i suppose.

I was looking about on the web and found this one, it  has the same style tang as mine, but mine is mumei from memory.

 

http://www.japanesesword.com/Images/Swords/06/1106/1106gunto7/1106gunto7.html

[AikiScott1]

I have had several Murata-to, or at least what I am pretty sure we're Murata-to (Modern Japanese Swords and Swordsmiths gives a pretty good explanation.) From what I have found, Murata-to are rather light in hand, thinner than showato, oil tempered, and the nakago has a particular look and weight, almost like it's aluminum. I hope this makes sense, it's just what I have noticed.

 

-----Scott M.

[jct3602]

Hi -

     Have an example, was in general's mounts with tortoiseshell, D-guard, gold-washed wire, etc.  However, it seems to have no hamon, or possibly an ito-suguha that just is not coming out very well.  enclosing pictures.

Has both signature and date mei, but not one of the standard mei for Murata-to.  No armory stamp or production number, and date is very early for the Kogerasu-Maru style blades.  Hope this is the type of stuff what you were looking for,

 

Yours,

john twineham

[ROKUJURO]

Please read

http://ohmura-study.net/911.html

for more information. 

[jct3602]

Hi Jean -

    Your recommendation for Ohmura is excellent.  Do you have some way of finding a log of the topics in his works?  I have taken the http://ohmura-study.net/and substituted various numbers after the net/ and before the html and accessed various items of interest.  However, it is not a very skillful way of doing things, lol.

 

Yours,

john twineham

[Thierry BERNARD]

Hi Jean -

    Your recommendation for Ohmura is excellent.  Do you have some way of finding a log of the topics in his works?  I have taken the http://ohmura-study.net/and substituted various numbers after the net/ and before the html and accessed various items of interest.  However, it is not a very skillful way of doing things, lol.

 

Yours,

john twineham

http://ohmura-study.net/900.html

[ROKUJURO]

Thierry,

thank you!

OMURA's English is incredible, but I have the impression that he knows his stuff!

[jct3602]

Thierry,

 

Many thanks!

 

Yours,

john twineham

[BenVK]

I picked this one up recently which I believe to be a modified Murata-to

 

Seems the threaded end of the nakago has been cut off to fit these mounts which are a curious mix of styles.

No markings that I can see.

 

I think it's quite an interesting sword.

 

 

 

 

[Stephen]

I see it a better blade, cut down shinshinto maybe, once signed be my guess. Deserves its own thread anyway.

[BenVK]

Hmm, I dunno, it looks like a mono steel blade with either an oil quenched or etched on hamon...

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

OMURA's English is incredible, but I have the impression that he knows his stuff!

Maybe as far as modern swords go IMHO.

If talking of anything more antique than a couple centuries I tend to take Ohmura with a great pinch of salt...