Who's that WW2 era sword?

[KtG]

Hey guys, I've recently come into possession of a WW2 Japanese sword and would like some help identifying it's type and any info that you learned gentlemen can provide. I haven't disassembled it at this stage and I'm reluctant to remove the mekugi to check the tang due to the condition it's in (see 2nd last image). I hope the pictures are sufficient, if any more need to be taken please let me know. Thanks in advance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bazza]

G'day Kyle,

 

Your photos are good enough to show you may have a good, old blade in restorable condition.  Do nothing to the blade at present except to wipe it with a cloth or tissue using sewing machine oil, then clean off the excess.  As for the mekugi, don't worry about it all at all as it is replaceable with a bamboo chopstick whittled to shape.  Get it out as carefully as you can and let us see the tang photographed from both sides with the habaki off.  The tsuba appears to be an old one and the whole rig looks as if it has had a hard life in the back of a shed.  The blade is the very most important thing that should capture our care and attention.  A close up photo of the kissaki (point) would be good, both sides.  With the habaki off also p[ease give the length measured from the back notch in a straight line to the point.

 

Fingers crossed for you.

 

Best regards,

BaZZa,

aka Barry Thomas

Melbourne, Australia.

[PNSSHOGUN]

Agree with Barry, looks like a promising blade circa 1500's. The Saya/scabbard would've originally been covered with leather, the handle is in pretty poor condition as well. An exciting find, from the looks of the gunk on the blade it has been used for keeping the garden neat!

[KtG]

Thanks for your quick replies. You are both indeed correct, it's spent the last 40 years in my dad's shed, my grandad brought it home after his service in the navy and it's been neglected ever since. I've removed the meguki and taken some photos, hopefully the lighting is decent. The total length of the blade from the end of the tang to the kissaki is 89.7cm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PNSSHOGUN]

Kyle this is potentially a very old sword, worth further investigation by a professional. Not sure where you are in Australia but we have a professional Togishi (Japanese trained sword polisher) in Melbourne: https://touken-togishi.com/

 

For the moment you will need to get as much of that red rust off the tang by gently wiping it down with a Tshirt or old towel. Do not use any abrasives or cleaning materials, just a soft cloth and some gun oil to halt some of the active rust.

[Grey Doffin]

Hi Kyle,

If you haven't already whittled a new peg for the handle, do so ASAP.  The peg locks the blade in the handle and prevents it from falling loose and damaging either the blade or the person handling it.

Grey

[KtG]

Okay, I'm back. Please forgive any incorrect terms I may use now or in the future, I have only a passing understanding of katana terminology. 

 

The sori is near exactly 70cm. I removed the habaki and could find no discernible inscriptions on any part of the tang. I found what looks like kanji on the spine and front of the habaki but can't make anything out due to the gunk.

 

I wiped the blade and tang down with a small amount of gunoil, hopefully I didn't go overboard. I'm gonna include a few more photos for reference. Thanks to everyone for their help so far.

[KtG]

[KtG]

[KtG]

[DoTanuki yokai]

I would say its late kamakura. (1192-1333)

The blade was shortned but the nakago (Tang) was shaped down on both sides evenly so there was no mei (Signature) left to save on this  i think.

I think this is a very old and valuable blade but wait what others have to say. (Johns advise sounds good)

The dots that looked like kanji for you are just a typical decorative pattern on habaki

[Bazza]

Kyle has been put in touch with a highly esteemed Board member who lives close to his area.  We may await more news with bated breath...

 

BaZZa.

[Brian]

I like this...shows a lot of promise. And if it is decent, you are very lucky to have Andrew in Oz who can polish and restore it.
We all await news.

[Infinite_Wisdumb]

Man its cool to see barn finds turn out!

[Bazza]

Jesse M,

If you like to read how barn finds turn out this one is a doozy:

BaZZa.

 

[KtG]

Hey guys, thought I'd give a quick update on the sword. It's now in the hands of Andrew Ickeringill down in Melbourne. From a quick preliminary look at it he suggests that it is late kamakura, even possibly earlier and has a rough idea of the school the blade came from.

 

There are a couple of problems with it however, the most glaring is the bend in the blade that has resulted in mukade-shinae. As well as some chips near the kissaki. 

 

That being said over the next 2-3 months in between polishes he will be straightening the blade and doing an appraisal and a window for me. Once that's been done I'll be back with more news!

[Brian]

You got it to the right guy. I bet it turns out awesome. Congrats! We're all hoping with you for a great outcome. Andrew's work is superb.

[Shamsy]

Andrew is a great bloke, that will be an absolutely gorgeous sword when polished. Please make sure you post a plethora of photos for us to enjoy.

[KtG]

Hey gents,

 

Bit of thread necromancy here, but I've just finished work and thought I'd take the opportunity to give interested parties an update. Please excuse this lengthy delay, these last years have certainly been interesting.

 

As I mentioned in my long ago reply I got the chance to have my blade appraised by Andrew. I'll include a copy of the appraisal and relevant photos if I'm permitted. If sharing appraisals is poor form, please let me know. Without further ado, a wall of text.

 

DIMENSIONS:

Nagasa (Length): 69.7cm

Mihaba (Width): 3.0cm

Kasane (Thickness): 0.7cm

Sori (Curvature): 2.2cm

 

PROVENANCE

The nakago (tang) of this sword is mumei (unsigned) and shows no signs of an attribution. It appears to be o-suriage (significantly shortened from the bottom of the nakago), it has two mekugi-ana (peg-holes), the lower of which is likely the original, but it’s possible the original was even lower and is no longer present. In other words, this was originally a much longer sword.

 

Since the nakago is mumei, my appraisal must be made based on the workmanship in the steel, considering the details of the steel are mostly obscured in the sword’s current condition, a window has been opened and I’ll be basing my appraisal largely on the workmanship revealed in the window, but also on the sugata (shape of the sword).

 

The sugata of the sword displays the following features:

The curvature is quite deep.

The tip is small-medium sized.

The width of the blade is about average, but the width of the shinogi-ji is comparatively quite wide.

The shinogi is quite high.

The iori-mune is steep.

These features would point me towards a sword of the late Kamakura period/early Nanbokucho period, made in the Yamato tradition. (Kamakura period = 1185-1333, Nanbokucho period = 1333-1392)

(Yamato tradition means it was made in a style founded in the Yamato province, current day Nara prefecture)

The window has revealed some very interesting and high-quality workmanship:

The hamon is based on suguha, with ashi, yo, sunagashi, uchinoke and nijuba activities. The brightness and clarity of the nie is very good. (See attached pics hamon1 & hamon2)

The jigane is a mix of masame-hada along the hamon, mokume-hada along the shinogi, and some ko-mokume in between. There is a lot of ji-nie attached to the mokume-hada, there are plenty of chikei, and some faint utsuri. The quality of the forging is very good. (See attached pics jigane1, jigane2 & utsuri)

The boshi is ko-maru with hakkikake. (See attached pic boshi)

 

The features revealed in the window fit into the Yamato tradition well, in fact the jigane seems to be a textbook example of ‘Shikkake-hada’.

 

‘Shikkake-hada’ is a particular style of forging pattern often found in works of the Shikkake school, which was a prominent Yamato-tradition school that spanned from the late Kamakura to late Nanbokucho period. In the books, Shikkake-hada is described as having prominent masame-hada flowing along the hamon, with burls of mokume-hada sitting along or just above the shinogi, exactly like the jigane revealed in this window.

 

The hamon is a good match for the Shikkake school as well, it’s of a quality that I’d expect to see from the school, and all the activities I see in the hamon are common traits of the Yamato tradition. The boshi also fits well for Shikkake.

 

Therefore, I conclude that this sword was most likely made by the Shikkake school. Though, I can’t discern which individual smith made it, as the school has very few signed reference examples to compare with. The vast majority of swords made by the Shikkake school have school attributions, rather than individual maker attributions. But judging by the sugata, I’d say this is likely a fairly early example of the school.

 

There is a possibility that the sword was made by a different Yamato school, as I’m only able to see the workmanship clearly in one area of the sword (other possibilities I considered were Tegai school or Senjuin school), however I believe the odds are definitely on Shikkake.

 

And there we go, the origin of this mystery sword becomes more clear. I'd like to thank everyone for their advice and information. Also a special thanks to Barry and John for helping me get this far. 

[PNSSHOGUN]

What a great result, thanks for the update.

[Brian]

What an awesome job of evaluating Andrew has done. As mentioned before, Australia really is very lucky to have him there.
Love to see the thought process as he has done here, and congrats, that's a fantastic outcome. In fact, it may be well worth completing the restoration.
Well done, and to Andrew too.