Cheap Flea Market Find

[Mortis]

Thoughts on the mei? Sword has no hamon that I can see and the nakago has virtually no patina, if there ever was. It is sharp though.

[Fuuten]

Apart from the signature (which doesn't look great), we need better photo's.

[IanB]

Justin,  Sadly you are now the lucky owner of a Chinese made sword trying desperately to be Japanese. I hope you did not pay too much.

 

Ian Bottomley 

[Mortis]

Thank you gentlemen. No I did not....$25 dollars, so I didn't have very high hopes whatsoever, one way or another. Had in mind a cheap piece for "public" display. Thanks again.

[Stephen]

wall hanger

[ROKUJURO]

Can you imagine a Japanese owner of a sword hanging it on a wall of a room in his house? I can't, so I don't see a way you could use this except for garden work.
Public display may be an idea, but then with a big sign saying: THIS IS NOT A Japanese SWORD!  (R. Magritte: Ceci n'est pas une pipe)

[Stephen]

who  said it was ever owned by a Japanese??? huh ?JEAN?  its a chinese knock off AKA wall hanger to those who don't know the difference 

 

 the negativity  is becoming tiresome 

[Brian]

Go easy. Nothing wrong with someone decorating his wall with anything he likes Jean.
I know we all dislike the Chinese fakes and the way they deceive people, but $25 for a cutting/stabby thing isn't bad, and useful for messing around with. We don't need to grind people to dust.

[Pete Klein]

 

Sorry...

[GARY WORTHAM]

Thanks Brian, for the positive comment !!

 

His next, more educated purchase may be a good sword / with mounting; which could propel him into this world we are are captured with.

[PNSSHOGUN]

If it looks ok then nothing wrong with it as a decorative piece for $25. Some of us are just bitter because our "decorative" pieces cost a few thousand dollars!

[Mortis]

Thank you all. Never was I under the illusion that this might be some lost treasure, but for 25 bucks....meh? Cutting/stabbing thing useful for messing around with?......exactly. Useful for garden work?.....ok! It is actually pretty sharp. Bet it would open up a pretty good gash on some poor fool/intruder should they ever set foot in the NOT "public display area" (aka the place in my house where the good, papered/polished swords are kept...lol...I have but one)..oh yeah!

 

I have pretty thick skin. I don't care. The one uhh....unhelpful comment above.....can still be pretty helpful. A kick in the ass can still be considered a step forward. I love this place, am grateful for it's existence, and I apologize for cluttering up the board with junk.

[Jussi Ekholm]

Do you have more pictures of it? I think it might be a really good buy for 25$'s. You normally won't get even stainless steel wakizashi replicas that cheaply.

[Stephen]

lol that would be funny, if it was a mumei blade that someone wanted a mei!  Yes lets see the rest of the story fittings and all!

[Brian]

A kick in the ass can still be considered a step forward. I love this place, am grateful for it's existence, and I apologize for cluttering up the board with junk.

Precisely the reaction we expect and look for here

And no....you are not cluttering anything. Feel free to post them. I don't want people to be too pc...tough love and all that. But once the point is made, it's made. No need to reiterate it...again...repeatedly 

But yes...we will be blunt and tell people exactly what they have, and what is advised. After that, it's their call.

Sounds like you will do just fine

[Mortis]

Ok fellas, here's some additional photos. Blade is in shirasaya, brass habaki, and honest to God, I think I can see some hada in this thing. Also, I don't know how to prevent the photos from becoming inverted in some cases.

[Stephen]

Ill go out on a limb and say true Nihonto, an  that the nakago was severely messed with, even has heat marks, some pix to large to open or broken.

[Stephen]

 

cant tell from pix, on the heat colored is there a mei below it? 

[PNSSHOGUN]

Doesn't look too bad to me, might've lucked out. Anyone able to translate the mei?

[Brian]

The kanji are fake as heck.
IF it is a real sword, and that is a big IF, then it is the front end of a katana that has broken and a new nakago cut. The dimensions of the blade and overall thickness don't really fit a wakzashi.

[Stephen]

clear shot of the other side of nakago please

[Mortis]

Stephen,

 

I'll get on that when I get home from work tonight.

[Mortis]

I'm gonna go with Brian's theory. If the photos turn out right, you can see there's a portion of the nakago, near the hamachi, that is (or was) polished and has no file marks. There are other spots here and there that show the same, easier seen in hand of course. Also, both the mune and ha machi seem very shallow for a blade that doesn't look so old.

[Stephen]

Nakagoana looks punched not drilled

[Bazza]

But the yasurime (not yasurimei) look VERY unprofessional and not from the hand of a Japanese artisan.

 

BaZZa.

[Stephen]

Might be what ya all think it is, i see the nakago as being have severely messed with