Can anybody tell me anything about this Wakizashi?

[slavia631]

Hi,

 

A friend of mine just impulse-bought this Wakizashi on ebay (I know, I know):

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... Y.m238.lVI

 

It is mumei and in rough condition, but the seller claims that it is Gendai. Can anybody gather anything about the blade from the auction photos? I could not tell him much about it, and I still have a long way to go in my studies before I will be able to.

 

I appreciate it,

 

Andrew

[John A Stuart]

To be truthful, Andrew, it is a good thing the impulse of your friend was so inexpensive. Unless he is going to try to polish this himself I see no reason why one would gamble on a wak that, by the pictures, shows no attributes what-so-ever. Signed wak with papers can be had for what this will end up costing if sent out. Very poor shape, esp. for gendai. John

[slavia631]

Agreed on all accounts, but I thought I'd see if I could help him find anything out about his acquisition, since the money is already paid.

[Brian]

The nakago just doesn't look like the right shape to me. If this is a Showato (no proof yet that it is a Gendaito) as claimed then I would expect it is possibly the forward part of a broken wartime blade that was reshaped and patinated. Just my theory.

 

Brian

[Grey Doffin]

Unless the blade, once in hand and not judging by photos only, shows promise, there is no logical reason to spend more money on it. If I were in your friend's place, I would put it back on ebay and use the proceeds towards purchasing something better.

Grey

[randomnobody]

Hello all; the impulsive friend here.

 

I must admit I did know better than to bother with this but I'm afraid a matter of circumstances left me with somewhat impaired cognitive abilities. I won't get into what or why, but suffice to say, it had been a long weekend. I needed something sharp and pointy, but had no money, and this was cheap with a bit of character, to boot.

 

I was disappointed with the poor photos and wanted to get a better look at this thing, so I figured I'd throw out just one bid and see where it got me.

 

Unfortunately, I won. So now it's paid for, and should be on the way shortly. I intend to look it over, learn from it what I can, and throw it right back on eBay, just as Grey Doffin has said. That is, unless there's something the photos aren't showing, which I doubt anyway. I'm afraid this was really just me losing to my own curiosity and boredom. I'll do better next time, I promise.

 

I believe it was Brian who pointed out the shape of the nakago, which also had me intrigued during the auction. It was among the things I was wanting a better look at.

 

I don't intend to do anything with this piece, short of give it back to eBay and hope I can at least break even, but if it turns out to have something that intrigues me (whatever it may be) then I may just use it as a base to learn polishing. Especially if it's worthless to begin with. Either way, this was certainly not intended as any sort of investment or proper collecting, merely a matter of something to look at, then pass on to the next person.

 

Thanks to all for sharing their ideas. I may share some better photos once it arrives, if I feel it may be worthwhile at the time.

 

Meantime, since I finally managed to sign up here (procrastination met with technical difficulties) I'll be looking around to see what I can learn from all of you, and hopefully I'll have something really nice to show you all soon.

 

Thanks again.

[Guest nickn]

has the blade arrived?

[randomnobody]

has the blade arrived?

No, not yet; shipped on April 23 from Australia via Registered Post, so should arrive within a week. I'll see what it turns out to be when it gets here. Most likely I'll be trying to sell it off for whatever loose change it may fetch...

[randomnobody]

Or it could very well arrive the next day. Who knew?

 

Anyway, for those of you who might be interested, here's a photobucket album with some of the better pictures I was able to take (I am by no means a professional, even amateur photographer, but I do snap a few shots every blue moon, especially since acquiring a new camera, but even 10 megapixels with advanced autofocus and blur resistance can't help me, I'm afraid...) of the erm..."item" for your analysis.

 

http://s190.photobucket.com/albums/z179 ... ody/sword/ (let me know if that link doesn't work; I'm still new to the whole photobucket thing, just don't want to drain bandwidth here over this)

 

I can say that it feels a subsantial hunk of steel, whatever it is, and is a bit more reusted than the auction photos let on, most of it fairly new rust. I took an opportunity to attack it with some cheap-o uchiko I got in one of those "free maintenance kits" with some cheap-o production piece I bought a year or so back (I figure if it's crap it won't hurt and at this point even if it's something halfway decent ( ) then it's at the point where it won't hurt anymore, anyway) and a good bit of rust came off onto the tissue I was using, nice and orange rust. There's still a good bit left on the blade, of course, that I'm sure only a polish will do anything to. I don't possess the capacity to do it myself but might see if a friend wants the practice, just for fun.

 

At any rate, here are some shots of mine, the link to the auction should still be in the first post of this thread for comparison and basic measurements.

 

I'm not sure what to make of the nakago, and what I can make out as possibly the hamon looks like it might be real enough, the rust pattern (far less on what I'm calling the hamon than the rest of the blade) has me curious, I think I read something about the effects of steel hardness on rust formation, but can't recall...) and while I thought I saw signs of yokote in one of the auction shots, there isn't one visible, and the kissaki is a rather odd shape to me, I don't think it's supposed to be a shobu, but it's a bit more gradual than most shinogi-zukuri's I've seen. A closer look after initially submitting this post (hooray for the "Edit" button) reveals what may be a sign of once having a yokote, but perhaps a crappy polish removed it? I can almost make out a point where the blade sort of dips into the kissaki...but it's not terribly obvious. Anyway, have a look for yourselves.

 

Whatever it is, it seems to have been made well enough, once upon a time, but I'm not seeing Japan in the picture, myself; save perhaps a WW2 semi-mass-production model at the very best.

 

Disclaimer: I have no idea what I'm talking about. Obvious, no? Seriously, my only real exposure up to this point has been modern productions, the best I own being a Hanwei Practical Katana. Take from that what you will. I do have one antique, though, which I actually bought from slavia631; I believe it had been thought by members here to be a Shinto Seki or something to that effect... The thread is somewhere.

 

I'll be quiet now.

 

Oh, thanks in advance for looking and any opinions at all (good, bad, or ugly; I can take it).