Help Requested for 4 Kanji on Fuchi

[tbonesullivan]

Well, this is a Shin-Gunto with what looks to be a Maruni chigai takanoha (丸に違鷹羽) Mon on the Kabuto-gane.  It also has 4 Characters on the Fuchi, which are giving my rudimentary Japanese skills fits. The one farthest to the right looks like 近, but it seems to have an extra stroke. I checked the list of 8 stroke kanji I have, but couldn't find anything. The others I have no clue on.

[C0D]

looks like 蔵巻藤近 (Kuramaki Fujichika?), i'm not sure though

[Nobody]

Read that name from R to L.

Kondo Kenzo

[C0D]

then it might be this guy http://sado2298.blog.fc2.com/img/201603251039547ad.jpg/

[tbonesullivan]

Oh wow, I never thought there'd be any information about him.

 

Is there any meaning to the Mon other than the link to many famous Samurai families? I've seen the same mon on various other Shin-Gunto swords.

[C0D]

Hard to tell, it seems that mon is quite popular

[Bugyotsuji]

Make sure, when researching, that the left feather crosses over the right, and examine the ground, and the stripe patterns on each feather. (There are distinct differences.)

[Ian B3HR2UH]

David that is really unusual ( and nice ). Could you tell us what the blade is like ?

Ian Brooks

[PNSSHOGUN]

WOW, that is just fantastic. Have seen family names in fancy silver Kanji before but nothing this extensive.

[tbonesullivan]

On 1/29/2021 at 1:57 AM, Ian B3HR2UH said:

David that is really unusual ( and nice ). Could you tell us what the blade is like ?

Ian Brooks

 

I only the blade was as interesting as the fittings! It does have a Bo-Hi, and a temper line, but the blade is definitely Showato and the tang is unmarked. Not even an arsenal marking. It's also got some edge damage, hopefully from service during wwii.

[vajo]

Could you show us the whole koshirae?

 

[tbonesullivan]

4 hours ago, vajo said:

Could you show us the whole koshirae?

 

 

Sure! It's pretty typical Shin-Gunto, though the scabbard has a gloss finish, not matte. Also the Tsuba is perforated / skeletal.

[Stephen]

Does the blade have a mei? Please share.

Tsuba is of higher grade.

[tbonesullivan]

Just now, Stephen said:

Does the blade have a mei? Please share.

Tsuba is of higher grade.

 

It's mumei. There's not a single marking on it, and I went up and down with a magnifying glass to see if anything was on the spine of the tang. It's got a pretty nice temper line, and the BO-HI, so I was expecting a signature.

[PNSSHOGUN]

It is a Zohei-To - Arsenal made blade. I think the Tsuka has been rewrapped at some point but not too well.

[tbonesullivan]

15 minutes ago, PNSSHOGUN said:

It is a Zohei-To - Arsenal made blade. I think the Tsuka has been rewrapped at some point but not too well.

 

Yeah, it's not the usual color, and definitely not the same material I'm used to seeing. The ray skin looks like it is real though, and not the plastic stuff.  I've seen the nitrocelluloid faux ray skin decompose, which caused the wrapping to turn red and disintegrate, and the wood started crumbling too.  Reminds me of when they find old guitars from the 50s, kept carefully in the cases, and the nitrocelluloid pickguard decomposed and pretty much destroyed everything.

[vajo]

My personel opinion is that the sword is resampled. The blade did not really fit to the fittings. The seppa didn't fit to the rest. The Tsuka is badly rewraped. 

The Tsuba is a high quality one. The Fuchi/Kashira is very nice. Overall good parts combined with a cheap blade.

[vajo]

Btw celluloid same is not a sign of bad quality!

I like swords with celluloid same. The, are much more robust than rayskin.

Nagamitsu gendai-to uses celluloid and burlap. Are these cheap ones?

[tbonesullivan]

8 hours ago, vajo said:

Btw celluloid same is not a sign of bad quality!

I like swords with celluloid same. The, are much more robust than rayskin.

Nagamitsu gendai-to uses celluloid and burlap. Are these cheap ones?

 

Oh, I wasn't implying that at all. It was a good material for the time, but over time it can decompose. I also don't know if all used nitrocellulose, as most may have been cellulose acetate, which is much more stable. I've only seen the decomposition a few times on blades, so I would assume most were not nitrocellulose.  They still use Nitrocellulose on very high end guitars to this day, saying it sounds better.

 

I just like the look of the real ray skin over the celluloid.

[Stephen]

Even not signed one can still read the nakago file marks and end shape. Otherwise it looks like a NCO blade.

[tbonesullivan]

53 minutes ago, Stephen said:

Even not signed one can still read the nakago file marks and end shape. Otherwise it looks like a NCO blade.

 

I'm going to try to get a better look and picture of the Hamon. I'm pretty sure it's got Nie crystals along the edge, I've pulled Type 95 NCO blades before, and this shows no signs of being one.  This is one I'd love to be able to bring into a NYC Token Kai meeting, but right as I was about to go to my first meeting COVID came knocking. 

[Stephen]

Does it have mino file marks?

[tbonesullivan]

18 hours ago, Stephen said:

Does it have mino file marks?

Here's a close up of the tang file marks.  I also used my 16x magnifier on the hamon, which is a NOTARE / wave shape. I can see Nie along the transition, and there is some activity.

[Stephen]

Kesho file markes and well finished.

Toss up?  he seen a kizu and did not sign? or it got rushed. 

[b.hennick]

The mekugi ana seems to be very far from the machi (notches).

[PNSSHOGUN]

On 3/4/2021 at 6:20 PM, vajo said:

My personel opinion is that the sword is resampled. The blade did not really fit to the fittings. The seppa didn't fit to the rest. The Tsuka is badly rewraped. 

The Tsuba is a high quality one. The Fuchi/Kashira is very nice. Overall good parts combined with a cheap blade.

The fittings are normal for Zohei-To as nearly all examples are found in early style good quality mounts. Whta is most unusual are the Mons, not seen very often on Zohei-To.

[Stephen]

Good point more wonder