What do I have here...?

[Walter]

Is it kozuka or just the kitchen knife for peeling the potatoes?

Recently have bought it on eBay to fill an empty kozuka slot on my tanto:

Here some picks:

 

 

It looks nice with the tanto, however I'm not really sure if it's genuine one...

The blade was totally rusty (all black) and I cleaned it a bit - looks like there's some mei on the blade (not sure if it's even readable).

Here the slideshow with some more photos:

 

http://s217.photobucket.com/albums/cc23 ... =slideshow

[Brian]

Walter,

 

Looks genuine to me. Not high class but original blade and kozuka. Haven't looked at the slideshow yet (dial up hassles) but if there is nothing dramatic there, I would go with low to mid level kozuka with a genuine and well used kogatana. Ok to fill a lot in a koshirae, and there is/was a mei on the kogatana (these are seldom of much relevance)

 

Regards,

Brian

[Walter]

Thank you Brian for the comment.

I just needed some kozuka for my tanto, even if tanto is Muromachi era and kozuka ... have no idea.

Wasn't looking for some high-grade kozuka, but at least genuine.

[Henry Wilson]

Looks real to me, but the kogatana looks tired. How do you make a kogatana? Sounds like the intro of a joke.... Seriously if it is tired and had a polish too many what was someone doing with it?

[Brian]

  Henry Wilson said:

...How do you make a kogatana? ...

 

Keep abusing a tanto and having it polished until it is worn down to the point that it becomes a kogatana...then keep going.. :lol:

 

I've seen kogatana worn much more, to the point that they are thin and half the width. I think that being general purpose knives much as we use a Swiss army knife, they had a hard life. This is the reason I guess why they were so easily removable from the kozuka...so that they could be replaced easily.

 

Brian

[John A Stuart]

Hi Henry, The question, "How do you make a kogatana?" in your post, although maybe in jest, is, just like any nihonto, forged from tamagahane and hardened with traditional methods. For those interested there is a course available, one day, that will teach you some of the techniques of making kogatana at a traditional forge in Tokyo. It is called 'Kozuka Kobo' and information as to the 5 w's can be had at: budos@budoshop.co.jp Ask for, Kakuta Yoshiki san. Fax 0081-3-3986-6222

John

[Jacques]

Hi,

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l2PbvBeGkE :D