Yari Question

[76_liberty]

I’m new to collecting and have a lot to learn. I recently picked up a few swords and a yari. The person I purchased the yari from didn’t know anything about it. I’d definitely welcome any information anyone could give me on it. It doesn’t have a signature. Any idea when it was made, by who, or what area?

[Ken-Hawaii]

Please sugn your frst bane so we know how to address you. That's a pretty generic yarim which could have been made any time over several hundred years, but I'd guess Muromachi. At that length, it's probably classified as a su yari.

[Guido]

Please sugn your frst bane ...

 

I feel you, Ken - being all day long at home, I too tend to drink too much ... 

[Geraint]

Dear Chad.

 

Nice little yari, shape would be called hira sankaku, three sided  The kerakubi, the bit at the base just above the tang, is not long so I agree with Ken that it is probably Edo period.  No signature on the tang?

 

To have a look at a few more try here, https://www.aoijapan.com/japaneseswords/kenyarihinawaju/

 

All the best.

[Bazza]

I feel you, Ken - being all day long at home, I too tend to drink too much ... 

It's a very big club!!  My Darling Son has forbidden his Mother and I to leave our property in the present crisis, preferring instead to leave stuff for us at the front gate.  He rang not 10 minutes ago to say there was a case of wine and beer at the front gate.  What a thoughtful lad...

 

BaZZa

(hic)

[76_liberty]

Thank you all very much for the help with my yari. It doesn’t have a signature on the tang. I was nervous about buying it because I’m a new collector, didn’t know anything about it, and was concerned about paying too much. I gave $350 for it. Was that a good price?

 

Sincerely,

Chad

[Geraint]

Sounds OK to me Chad, enjoy

 

All the best.

[Bugyotsuji]

Is there a pole and sheath for it, Chad?

[Peter Bleed]

Chad,

Thanks for initiating an interesting conversation. My sense if that your spear has rather nice lines, but -frankly - the nakago (tang) seems really very small to me. The ana (hole) is well place, tho. So I wonder with the unit has been rather seriously shortened at some point. Real, but re-worked is my suspicion. What do you think?

Peter

[76_liberty]

It didn’t come with a pole or sheath, just a shirosaya.

Chad

[76_liberty]

I’m really new to the hobby, so I couldn’t even guess if it were shortened or not.

[Ken-Hawaii]

Pete, did yari get shortened very often, nakao or hacho? I think that would make it less useful.

[SAS]

From a phsics standpoint, it would seem that the larger the blade of a yari, the larger (longer) the nakago would be, as the forces exerted in use could result in side loading and other forces that could result in failure if not sufficiently strong. A yari I recently acquired had a bent nakago which seems to have occurred in use, as the force required to bend it was significant. Maybe some styles had shorter  tangs by design?

[Bugyotsuji]

A perfect balance and interaction between the long iron nakago and the akagashi oak shaft must have strengthened the combination against cutting and smashing. 

 

Many nakago have rusted in place and prove impossible to remove without destroying either the pole or part of the nakago. Such nakago may have been cut down and rounded off.

 

白鞘 Shirasaya is nice to have. I bought a spear in shirasaya recently, but sadly it does not quite fit the looooong pole I had in mind! 

[Ken-Hawaii]

My first yari felt like it had been set in concrete, so all my other acquisitions have been with already-separate blade & shaft.

[Ganko]

I have seen a number of short yari remounted as tanto.

[Blazeaglory]

Did someone try cleaning it or buffing it at one point?

 

It looks like a nice little yari under there. The bottom of Nakago is bent a bit which could be a sign of breaking? Battle damage? Regular damage from being stuck and forcefully removed?

 

Over all it looks like a nice out of polish entry level yari with some minor issues. Can't vouch for authenticity but 350$ isn't a bad price at all.

[76_liberty]

I have no idea if someone tried polishing it or not. I picked it up from a gun collector at a show in what looks like a new shirasaya.

[Surfson]

I agree with Dwain, that it looks like it has been "polished" with fine grit sand paper.  Even if true, it appears to be healthy and has a suguha Hamon with some activity.  As to the deal you made, the price of a Shirasaya would be about what you paid for it, so you did fine.  The question is whether you want to invest in a new polish and, if so, whether you can find a polisher to take on the job and whether it is worth the investment.

[Bugyotsuji]

A friend once gave me half of a yari blade. I can only assume that the Japanese police cut it in half, refusing to allow it to continue the normal process from discovery to registration, where it would have been considered worthy of preservation, i.e. artistically or historically important. 

[Surfson]

I think I see an intact boshi on this one, do you agree?

[SAS]

I do...

[Blazeaglory]

I see an out of polish boshi\hamon. I think it would polish up really well. It seems well made

[Surfson]

I agree that it is worthy of polish

[76_liberty]

I took a few more pictures so you could see the shirasaya and the hamon a little better. If it had a better polish it’d be easier to see. The lighting isn’t the greatest also. Hopefully I can get it polished sometime. Does anyone have any recommended polishers? Also, I only have a few blades so far and none of them are papered. Do you think this one would be worthwhile?

[Blazeaglory]

Can you take pics of other side? So far it seems like a good candidate for polishing but it's not as out of polish as I first thought. But more pics of both sides would help as well as the Nakago/tang

[76_liberty]

Here are some more pics from the other side.

Chad

[Bugyotsuji]

Chad, if you have the money to do it, then why not? A polished yari blade is breathtakingly beautiful to behold.

 

As the old Japanese saying goes: 目に入れても痛くない. Naturally this is absolutely the wrong place to use it, but you can get a laugh from sword afficionados if you casually slip it in as praise for a blade! 

[Tom Darling]

Would anyone venture an estimate of the cost to have it polished. Peace.

 

 

Tom D.

[SAS]

The going rate as far as I know is $100 per inch x 10.5 inches, but cheaper polishes can be had.