WW2 Era Japanese Gendai Gunto Katana Noshu Taniguchi Yoshikane Tsukuru Kore

[Swords]

Hi everyone I’m selling this sword I need cash for another It seems nice  Gentai WW2 era sword prices I see on eBay are between 2300 -2900  

probably a little  high but I don’t have many places to buy swords being a small collector 

Anyway Since I already have this sword I was thinking of getting it polished for 800.00

since I only paid 1300 for this sword I figured i would be into it at 2200 incld shipping The polish would take care of the scuffs scratches and tiny nick plus The sword it’s probably a decent  smith since it was made early 1941 because of when the exibition was held

It won 5th seat not great but better than nothing 

Any help would be appreciated Is it worth spending 800 ? The way I see it is I’m not spending a lot since after polish it should look super nice and cheaper than other swords I mentioned 

 

Steve 

 

[SAS]

Your projected cost of $800 for polishing your sword is about 1/3 the cost that a competent polisher would charge; therefore i am thinking that you should skip the cheapo polish and sell the sword for your cost, and move on. Otherwise, the chance of your sword being ruined by an unqualified polisher is too high, as you generally will get what you pay for, and it is easy to ruin a sword if one does not know any better.

[Swords]

Actually the person I know have been told by known prominent sword persons Because this sword only needs scuffs and scratches and should bring out the hamon as well as the tiny nick If  It’s not going to Japan maybe much more but he is a respected person 

 

steve 

[ChrisW]

Out of curiosity, who is the polisher? There's some good ones in the US and then there's a lot of "Bubbas."

[Swords]

I don’t want to name him since I got this price however after and hopefully it looks good and if interested  I will let you know 

 

steve

[Swords]

Maybe should have added Dose anyone have information about this smith other than I’m John Slough book 
 

steve

[Bruce Pennington]

@Ray Singer has a lot of experience selling gendaito.  You might PM him with your blade and ask about his feelings on value for this blade and smith.

[Swords]

Hi Bruce I did try to contact Ray but is out of the country but should hopefully contact me when he comes back. Any way I have a question regarding folds Since my sword was made say earlier say 1941 or later how was the forging process for a typical katana such as mine and  how many folds were there ?

Also  how time spent per sword?  I just wish I knew the date on mine other than it was in the 1941 exhibition so I’m sure many were produced at different times  Any help would be appreciated 

 

Steve 

[MarcoUdin]

Don't mean to be rude, but how do you know this was in the 1941 exhibition? The description you posted says the swordsmith was in the exhibition, not this sword. Then again a seller on ebay can say whatever he wants.

[Swords]

It wasn’t my description! I was told by the seller  But after hearing from others it may have been but because many were made during WW2 it’s hard to tell if this one was actually used in the exhibition

I wish it was!!

 

steve

[Swords]

I was looking for how many folds were there in  a typical traditional made WW2 era sword and total time made for each one 

From what I researched there were 8-16 but didn’t know if some were more or less depending on smith. Anyone know?

 

steve

[IJASWORDS]

If you fold a sword once it has 2 layers, a second time 4, a third time 8, a fourth time 16, a fifth time 32, a sixth time 64, a seventh time 126, a eighth time 252. etc etc. If you folded it 16 times it would have 32,768 layers!! 

So are you asking about times folded or layers? 

[Swords]

I guess both would be good to know 

 

steve 

[IJASWORDS]

This is another example where a simple GOOGLE search will tell you, and more importantly WHY. 

[Bruce Pennington]

On 6/6/2021 at 6:04 PM, Swords said:

if some were more or less depending on smith

That is exactly your answer Steve.  And each smith likely varied depending upon the intent of the individual blade - is it special order?  is it showato headed for an arsenal?  Is the smith's quota ahead or behind, so does he have time for more labor or less?

 

No way to know.

[Swords]

Ok so many questions what I’m really  looking for was this smith anyone known?  was his work good or bad I’m hoping it’s traditional because  I had another who wasn’t sure? Lastly I know according to the book of John slough page 223 he won 5th seat dose that mean he was the worst being last or better than your average smith who wasn’t one of the 250 smiths that were ranked I feel like I bought a crappy sword because of the negatives I got ! But I do appreciate all opinions good or bad

 

steve

[Ed Harbulak]

Steve, his family name was Taniguchi Kazue, he's listed in Markus Sesko's index of Japanese sword smiths as working in the Showa era, meaning WWII. He was a good enough smith to enter the 1941 exhibition which means he was making traditional blades. He is listed along with 67 other sword smiths who ranked in 5th place which was the rising  swordsmiths category. Meaning he was an up and coming smith who didn't come in first, but neither did a lot of others who entered. That doesn't mean he wasn't a good smith, it just means there were others who did better. Don't go by the ranking in the 1941 exhibition, judge the sword for the quality YOU can see. You obviously liked it enough to buy it, but now you are too hung up on what other people might think. Look at it this way, in 1941 he was good enough to enter the competition and made a decent showing. There's nothing wrong with that.

[Swords]

Hi I had an uncle named Ed who passed away got bless his Irish soul Your right I was hung up on everyone else’s opinion but thanks I needed to hear this!  thanks for the additional info regarding this smith

It May not be rated number one but deserve to be a runner up  

I didn’t spend a ton of money so I will cherish it for what it is and judged it by its own merit

Time to move on 

 

steve

[David Flynn]

"Time to move on".  Thank you.

[PNSSHOGUN]

Hi Steve, you're all over the place with these questions. If you do some of your own research about the sword judging competitions and forging methods first it's easier for us to answer your more complex and difficult questions. There is a wealth of information at your fingertips using the search function on the forum and google.