A little introduction and my first kyu gunto!

[PxN13]

Hello all! 

 

I've been on the forum since 2012 (had another account but I lost the login info for that and the email I attached the account to is also gone - was a uni email). I actually came here after I fell in love with a friend's gunto and really wanted to hunt down a kyu gunto. My taste evolved over time but that kyu gunto itch is still there. 

 

Finally, today, I scratched that itch. Got a deal on a blade from a fellow NMB member. It a mumei blade with fujishiro papers attributing it to Nobutaka (original owner thought it might be the shodai) . Really unique lacquered Saya which I've never seen in a kyu gunto before. Mount still in pristine condition and the safety catch works perfectly. Another unique aspect of the package as a whole is the German engraving on the hilt. 

 

Anyway, enjoy! I wonder if I should send it to get an evaluation and nail down the generation of Nobutaka. I'm still fairly new at the pampering system so I'm not sure how reliable the fujishiro paper is (also if anyone can help me with the translation it'll be fantastic!) 

 

 

[PxN13]

More pictures

[PxN13]

My much worse pictures. (seems like my phone won't take pictures of small enough size) 

 

Kyu Gunto https://imgur.com/gallery/0ln9zyf

[Bruce Pennington]

Hoping to hear Hamish's opinion on this, he's quite expert on them.

 

It's quite gorgeous!  I have to say I've never seen one with a locking latch.  I was trying to find a Warrelics discussion of police sabers (I know this isn't police), and how their locking buttons (chuso) were switched to this kind of latch because rain was getting into the saya with the chuso style.  The shop that was making those could have been the same shop that made this.  Or it's simply custom and the owner wanted a latch.

 

Do you know the meaning of the names on the backstrap?

[PxN13]

47 minutes ago, Bruce Pennington said:

Hoping to hear Hamish's opinion on this, he's quite expert on them.

 

It's quite gorgeous!  I have to say I've never seen one with a locking latch.  I was trying to find a Warrelics discussion of police sabers (I know this isn't police), and how their locking buttons (chuso) were switched to this kind of latch because rain was getting into the saya with the chuso style.  The shop that was making those could have been the same shop that made this.  Or it's simply custom and the owner wanted a latch.

 

Do you know the meaning of the names on the backstrap?

 

I'm not a german expert (or really speak any german), so this is mostly from google translate, but the engraving is Geschenk Kaiserl Japan Hauptmann Yamamoto. Geschenk is gift, Kaiserl is emperor, and Hauptmann is captain. So I think it's gift from? Japan emperor captain yamamoto. The previous seller thought, and my thinking as well, is that it's a gift from the imperial Japan army captain yamamoto to a german officer? Maybe someone better with German could chime in.

 

Also, anyone think that this blade would be worth to send to shinsa for an evaluation? 

[ROKUJURO]

Your translation

gift from the Imperial Japan army captain YAMAMOTO to a German officer

sounds correct, but I would like to see the complete inscription to be sure. One photo is not enough. 

[uwe]

I can only see: “Geschenk...Kaiserl. Jap(anischer) Hauptmann Yamamoto”.

So that reads: “Gift...Imperial Japanese Captain Yamamoto”?!

To be save, more pics needed, like Jean said above!

[Brian]

Message me the old account's details and I'll merge the 2.

 

[lonely panet]

i think i saw this very sword for sale on a Japanese dealers website some years back. the inscription and the quality of the blade ill pass on making comments, but the mounts and latch i can discuss.

 

i have seen a handfull of these over approx 20 years or so, all in slightly different styles but all the same in practice/aplication.

 

the traditional latch required extra manipulation of the hand during or prior to drawing and striking. this cool little change in the postion of the leaf spring changed all this. as the simple act of grasping the tsuka released the latch allowing no extra effort or time wasted, making drawing and striking faster.

 

who was the creater of this style i dont know. my feeling was a samurai or Ex, had there kyu changed and the trend followed from there from guys whom were still very seroius about there sword as a weapon in modern warfare.

 

there have been a few extra posts during the time i posted this, they may have covered what i wrote. sorry it took so long, but as some of you may know and for those who dont, im mildy dyslexic and spell check on this forum dosent help me. sorry for the bad everything

[PxN13]

2 hours ago, ROKUJURO said:

Your translation

gift from the Imperial Japan army captain YAMAMOTO to a German officer

sounds correct, but I would like to see the complete inscription to be sure. One photo is not enough. 

 

Hopefully this is a little better. 

[PxN13]

Also feel free to educate me on the blade! I'm still learning a lot and spotting quality and flaws so any help would be greatly appreciated! 

[ROKUJURO]

Yes  Paul,

your translation is complete and correct. I think it was a present made in peace times before the WWII. There were strong relations between Germany and Japan in trade and military fields which is still in the heads of older people in Japan.
I can't say much about the blade. It looks like KANBUN shape, but the HAMON lets me believe it might be middle to later EDO.

[PxN13]

44 minutes ago, ROKUJURO said:

Yes  Paul,

your translation is complete and correct. I think it was a present made in peace times before the WWII. There were strong relations between Germany and Japan in trade and military fields which is still in the heads of older people in Japan.
I can't say much about the blade. It looks like KANBUN shape, but the HAMON lets me believe it might be middle to later EDO.

 

I'm still trying to translate the fujishiro paper but if it's middle or later EDO then the estimated date of 1623 to 1624 sounds like a pretty good estimate 

[PxN13]

Quick update. I figured out that kaiserl. is short for kaiserliche, which means imperial in German. At first I was a little puzzled on why the l is there, and the use of kaiser as well but out it down to a mistranslation. 

[ROKUJURO]

Paul,

i thought that was clear by all the translations above. The years 1623/24 are early EDO ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edo_period).

Let us know what FUJISHIRO means, and in case yopu don't get along with it, please post the paper again in the 'translation' section.