>>Help Identifying My Sword! <<

[nicole425ledferd]

I have this extremely well-made hand-forged Japanese sword and I know nothing about it and am not willing to ship it anywhere for review as I believe it is a real antique Nihonto. I was hoping I could get as much input as possible from anyone who can visually identify any clues to the age/maker of what I believe is a Tachi. I took the Mekugi out which was a wooden peg and attempted to remove the wooden shira?saya? (No offense but I am VERY newly interested in nihonto) and it came out only about 2 inches. Much to my surprise the tang of the sword is heavily filed perpendicular to the edges and seemingly very narrow in comparison to the blade. The file marks are fairly clean but the unfiled edges of the grooves show two distinct layers of reddish and then alternately blackish rust. I wonder if the tang was too heavily damaged and so the blade was shortened in order to provide a solid tang to mount in the shirasaya handle? The hamon is very nice and distinctive, definitely not a machine blade. Ive posted pictures, please tell me whatever you might think. Thanks.

[Mark]

where did you post the pictures? I don't see them here?

[nicole425ledferd]

where did you post the pictures? I don't see them here?

I cant figure out how to post the pictures lol. Email me at nicole425takacs@gmail.com and i will send an email back with pics or explain to me how to post them if you can.

[Katsujinken]

Hi Nicole (?),

 

Based on what I can see here this is not an antique nihonto or a traditionally made Japanese sword. Other members here can probably provide more detailed insight.

[Toryu2020]

Have to agree with Michael,

This is a replica...

-t

[nicole425ledferd]

Just so that I can learn more...what features point that out?

[Toryu2020]

The finish on the saya is wrong - looks shelacked

The horn fittings show no age and are poorly finished

the habaki is poorly finished

the blade shows an etched hamon not a true hamon. and I suspect no true hada either.

the end of the hi (groove) stops well short of the yokote, not good workmanship but common on replicas

-t

[Toryu2020]

The finish on the nakago looks like factory work not the hand of a craftsman...

-t

[Ken-Hawaii]

Welcome to the forum, Nicole. It takes experience to look at a new blade to tell if the details are "real," but once you have that experience, fake or replica blades jump right out at you.

 

What I can see on your blade is, first, an area called the hamon that, on a real blade, would consist of a differentially-forged harder area usually bordered by what's called hadori - but on yours, there's a sort of hadori-looking area with no underlying hamon. If you check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_sword_polishing, it may help you understand what I'm saying. Second, above the hamon is an area called the ji, which is made of hada, a fine surface-grain pattern on the steel, but yours is featureless. These are features that each swordsmith worked on very carefully to differentiate himself from the thousands of other smiths. There are a number of other, less-important, things I can see, but these two alone are sufficient to say it's a replica blade.

 

The pattern has been either machine-etched (scratched) on the surface or acid-etched to make it look real. It's not. I suggest that you spend $100 & buy a few books from Amazon so you can begin the long journey of Nihonto appreciation, Nicole. A quick search on this Web-site will give you some titles. It's very pleasant work!

 

Ken

 

[Jean]

This wavy perfectly regular hamon pattern is a dead give a way for a machine made sword.

[dominnimod]

I don't think it's just a replica, I think it is a functional sword in carbon steel,replicas or decorative swords blades are simply aluminium or stainless steel. Just no Japanese or antique, factory made and made in china.

[AndyMcK]

Jose,

 

this one is purely a decorative blade, if it would be functional one (iaido etc.), it would be in koshirae, not in shirasaya-likeness product. I highly doubt this is carbon steel and to claim so without certain knowledge might lead to accidents if person starts to "test" it accordingly.

 

Like stated earlier, even a little study from books or browsing through this forum will make it easy to spot obvious non-Japanese copies or straight out fakes.

Nicole, good thing usually on these copies is that you don't go bankrupt even if you make an unwise purchase and trust me you are not alone.

 

Br,

 

Antti

[Greg F]

Welcome Nicole, i had a blade that looked like this to use for Iaido. Its a 1060 carbon steel replica. Wait till you see a genuine Japanese sword, it takes your breath away and if your like most of us once you see one you just want more as there just insnt anything in the world like real Nihonto. All the best.

 

Greg

[Hoshi]

Hi Nicole, 

 

Welcome to the board. There is a thing in the nihonto world that enthusiasts employ words in Japanese to describe things they see, which could be translated or approximated into common english easily. It's confusing when you're new. 

 

Short summary without the jargon : 

 

There is no pattern on the blade showing folding history. 

The temper line is scratched. It's not a hardened edge. 

The collar of the blade is not of the correct shape. 

The file marks on the hilt are not Japanese. 

The groove on the blade doesn't end correctly at the tip of the blade. 

The horn fittings on the wooden sheath are not finished correctly. 

[nicole425ledferd]

Thank you all very much.

[dominnimod]

Jose,

 

this one is purely a decorative blade, if it would be functional one (iaido etc.), it would be in koshirae, not in shirasaya-likeness product. I highly doubt this is carbon steel and to claim so without certain knowledge might lead to accidents if person starts to "test" it accordingly.

 

Like stated earlier, even a little study from books or browsing through this forum will make it easy to spot obvious non-Japanese copies or straight out fakes.

Nicole, good thing usually on these copies is that you don't go bankrupt even if you make an unwise purchase and trust me you are not alone.

 

Br,

 

Antti

There are many cheap, carbon steel blades, with fake hamons, and some models come in shirasaya like mounts from factories, the only way of knowing it for sure is to inspect the blade material in hand, i know my stuff, the best place to see what this is would be is the sbg forum,

There are many different types of 'functional' blades