Papers for WWII Swords?

[SwordGuyJoe]

I have a few WWII blades and I am curious if a person can get certification papers on this era of blades? I looked at http://www.nihontocraft.com/Nihonto_Shi ... dards.html and did not see any description/instructions on this type of blade. Does anyone know?

[Brian]

Machine made or partly machine made swords are illegal in Japan, cannot be owned there, and cannot receive papers. That includes most WW2 swords. The exception is good Gendaito that are traditionally forged and folded and water quenched. They will receive papers from time to time. These include swords like Yasukunito, and from smiths that did Gendaito such as Emura and Nagamitu. But the standard rules apply, and the swords have to be in good condition and made from tamahagane without doubt...showing hamon and hada.

 

Brian

[SwordGuyJoe]

Interesting that you bring up Nagamitsu - He is one of the two I want to have looked at... So I would follow the process and just ignore the date information?

[Clive Sinclaire]

As well as Showa-to which will be destroyed if found in Japan, the NBTHK will not issue papers on swordsmiths that are still alive. I am not sure but think the same applies to the NTHK.

Clive Sinclaire

[bdgrange]

With respect to Emura work I have owned a couple of Emura swords. One was very nice with choji hamon.

The trouble with getting papers on an Emura is that no one knows who made

the individual blade. He may have signed most but they were being made in a prison

by inmates. There are theories as to the sig. being an indication if he himself made

the blade or someone else. There being a short sig. and a longer one. I would never expect

to see papers on one in any event. There is still demand in some circles and he is written up in Fuller and Gregory.

I would not expect to go the route of being papered if the blade is a WW2 gunto though.

Exception being Yasukunito, Okimasa, Gassan.............oops the list goes on. Maybe just Seki

smiths not being papered or any stamped blades..............oops except star stamped.

Heard from a reliable source that star stamped are now rejected by NBTHK.

Just my two bits. In time tastes change and the edu. is a costly one.

bill de

[Rich S]

Both Nagamitsu and Emura have routinely received papers by both

the NBTHK and NTHK. But you are right about the Emura blades. No one

is really sure which he made and which were made by inmates. That

doesn't seem to prevent them from getting papers however.

 

Rich S

[bdgrange]

It seems to me I have been down this road before.

I of course acknowlege your devotion, contribution, and knowlege.

My own is colored by my experience and study.

I still would recommend investing in work by different smiths, certainly if

I intend to attempt and invest in polish, shirasaya and NBTHK costs now or down the road.

This is just my own view point.

WW2 gunto are facinating to me and the provenance many times is more evident than

earlier works.

kind regards

Bill dd

[Rich S]

Of course one possible solution is not to buy swords that are in serious

need of polishing and personally, I see little point in papering gendaito.

Other than Yasukuni and Gassan and a couple other smiths of their

level, there is little chance of most gendaito being gimei. Just my

approach to the topic.

 

Rich S

[pcfarrar]

If your looking for gendaito worthy of papers stick to the smiths on the top three tiers of this list:

 

http://www.jp-sword.com/files/seki/gendaito.html

 

I've also heard of a few star stamped swords being rejected at shinsa recently.

[Austo1]

I agree with Bill DD. Look at the individual work of the smith. I have personally owned a blade by 23rd generation kanefusa which had an Arsenal Stamp removed and was papered by the NTHK some 15 years or more back. This was at a time when the general opinion was that no blade with an Arsenal stamp could be classed as gendaito let alone receive paperers.

"Look at the blade"

Regards

Doug Austin

[pcfarrar]

  Austo1 said:

I agree with Bill DD. Look at the individual work of the smith. I have personally owned a blade by 23rd generation Kanefusa which had an Arsenal Stamp removed and was papered by the NTHK some 15 years or more back.

 

23rd gen Kanefusa is a bit of a grey area as he was known to make non-traditionally forged swords that are hard to distinguish from the real thing. The better smiths are the ones that didn't make non-traditional swords at all, and some even made their own tamahagane like Hokke Saburo Nobufusa.