Kunikane Puzzle

[Shugyosha]

1 hour ago, PNSSHOGUN said:

If you look closer the cutting test is inlaid in gold as usual, does not look like Kinpun Mei at all.

 

@Jim Manley can we please see the Kai Gunto mounts as well?

 

It must be my eyes then John because I've looked again, magnified it as much as I can and it still looks like it is brushed on rather than inlaid. Perhaps Jim can clear this up too?

[Shugyosha]

Hi John,

A bit more on this. Looking at some of the strokes, for example the hat on the “gold” radical of tsuri 釣 and the “mouth” radical in otoshi 落 it looks to me as though the brush has painted over another stroke or radical which looks more like calligraphy than carving with a chisel.

Also, there are instances where the brush has smudged the stroke slightly which I don’t think would occur with a chiselled inscription: on the top of the “ju” radical on “ju san”and the foot of the spear radical on “sai”.

Also, there is no loss of gold anywhere after at least 150 years - it has the freshness to it that Peter mentioned in relation to the mei.

[Jacques D.]

This sword is gimei, Kunikane was permitted to engrave the Kuyo krest at the end of his career and the style of this mei doesn't match the one used at that time.

[Jim Manley]

The cutting test is gold inlay which has been filed flat. I can't do an adiquate job of capturing those details. As for the hada, yes it has a more course look which is most pronounced just above the hamachi.  I completely agree with Peter and others that it has the presence of a newer blade.  But I've never seen or handled an authentic early generation Kunikane and the photos in my limited resources don't adiquately convey the subtitles.  The underlying, if unstated question is, to what lengths would one go to create a "fake"  first generation Kunikane?  I was hoping the board members would enjoy this, I know I am and certainly appreciate the scholarship and opinions.

jim

[Shugyosha]

Thanks Jim. Sorry John, eye test pending methinks. 

[Jim Manley]

Detail on the Mon and drag of the saya.  There are both Arabic numbers and kanji in the curved indent on both sides of the drag but they are too faint to be legible. Another oddity is that the tsuka shows significant handling wear.  There is no damage to the tsuka ito but it appears the blade was carried but seldom removed from the saya.  Likewise, the habaki shows no scratches or wear one might expect on a blade in "normal" usage. I'll endeavor to get more / better photos of the kai gunto fittings. All of the seppa, and tsuba are stamped 79 except 2 seppa which are stamped 42.   

[Toryu2020]

Kuyomon were used by many families - here are the kuyomon of the Hosokawa and Date respectively...

[PNSSHOGUN]

Hi Jim, the Tsuka is from a Shin Gunto and the Saya is a Kai Gunto with extended patent drag. Does everything fit perfectly? 

[Bruce Pennington]

YO! Good catch John!  Curious to hear, Jim, about John's question of fit and feel.

 

I will have to add, though, that F & G has some pics of what Fuller believes is Naval Officers with gunto having mixed fittings like this - naval saya, but army tsuka.  So, this could be one of those, or it could be a post-war add-on.

 

Jim,

The drag on the end of your saya is a patent number.  Fuller explains it here:

[Shugyosha]

Were there instances of mixed koshirae? If not and it is a put-together koshirae, does that suggest that the surrender tag is not a genuine part of the package?

[PNSSHOGUN]

There are sometimes mixed features or small parts, most of these would be post war swaps. More picture of the mounts would be needed to be sure.

[Bruce Pennington]

I have to amend what I said about Fuller.  He has 3 pictures of a senior naval officer carrying a Type 94 shingunto.  It was Dawson, page 433, showing a senior NLF commander with a gunto in leather combat saya, 2 haikan (ashi), but with white same'.  Dawson doesn't comment on it, but it's either an army tsuka on naval blade/saya or a civil sword re-fitted for war.

 

IF it was done, it seems to be tied to Naval forces who fought on land, commonly called Naval Landing Forces.

[Surfson]

I distinctly remember looking at that sword at the Chicago show and liking it very much.  I have even mentioned it in a conversation or two over the years, since it is not that often that we see masame hada executed that well on an older sword.  (I remember seeing a mumei osuriage blade with that kind of masame at the auction following the Compton sale for Compton items that had either been accidentally omitted or for items that had not made reserve at the Compton sale, where the reserves were very high.  In fact, I bought a few really nice Compton items at that poorly attended sale).  

 

For some reason, I recalled that this sword was owned by the late Paul Davidson when I saw it.  Jim, did you get it from Paul?  

 

Either way, it is a beauty, and if it were mine, I would feel compelled to submit it for papers, regardless of what the search of mei examples yielded.  

[Peter Bleed]

I don't think this was Paul's sword.

Peter

[Jim Manley]

Merry Christmas and happy Boxing Day ! First, I mixed up two seppa from another blade, a Takeuchi Kunihiko, that has identical fittings but is a larger blade.  All the Kunikane fittings are stamped 79 even the inside of the fuchi.  I found no armory acceptance stamps on any of the parts. I'm certain the military fittings were made for this blade. As for its provenance,  Don Whitehead discovered it and I subsequently purchased it from a gentleman who said he'd obtained it as part of a payment for a diamond.  There was a second blade as well. It was in a D guard obviously old, and I've always wondered if it was the real treasure. As you can see in the photo, the habaki was made with two ears that fit into the groves in the blade. Someone took great care in its construction and must have had the blade in hand. 

Jim

[Jim Manley]

A couple more pix of the saya, habaki and tsuka. 

Jim

[PNSSHOGUN]

There's a pretty high chance either the Tsuka or Saya was swapped at one point, beyond the fact one is army & the other navy, the Patina is not a match. As much as I love Gunto fittings the real interest is in the blade and Habaki, a good case for a new Shirasaya (if you don't already have one!).