Photo of sword identification?

[Misconstrued]

I had made a post earlier ago about this, but the photo wasn't in that good of quality. I'm wondering what the giant nihonto (tachi?) in his hand is and a rough estimation just based off this photo. I'll list both the before and after photos.

 

 

[Misconstrued]

Before:

[Misconstrued]

After:

[DTM72]

I cringe every time I see this photo. There are other photos of this same guy, holding the same sword with his bare fingers on the blade.

Also cringeworthy to see all the swords just stacked on top of eachother. (My kids would be happy to see that I used "cringeworthy" in a sentence.)

[Misconstrued]

I hate how a sword is out of it's sheath laying on the floor. Not to mention where the heck these swords even ended up at.. I think the whole confiscating swords eas stupid and shouldn't have even happened. It was just absurd.

[Brian]

There is zero that can ever be identified or deduced about that sword. It's been discussed for years.

[IBot]

Seeing the above pictures reminded me of a similar event. Yesterday I was scanning my overcrowded and totally jumbled book shelves when I came across a copy of 'Bushido' magazine that was published in the US in the 1980's. In it was an article that brought back memories of one of my visits to my old buddy Dr. Galeno when the whole affair that the above images reminded me of surfaced. It concerned a considerable cache of blades that had been discovered in Thailand. The condition of most was terrible with deep patches of rust that could never be polished out or broken kissaki and so forth. Most blades were without habaki or saya. What was remarkable was the age of some, even as old as the Kamakura and in odd cases the Heian period. I seem to remember they were being sold off at $5 each. I don't know if anyone ever found out how they ended up in Thailand or where they originated from. I'm sure other members must remember this event. 

Ian Bottomley

[Paz]

To be fair these guys didn't give a crap or have a reason to. 

They just defeated what to them was a barbaric enemy, and they obviously would have no reverence to their culture. 

 

These were meant to be destroyed. Bit silly. Reminds of the dumb UK laws on swords that got pushed in 2015. Just forget understanding and go straight to destruction. 

 

Also just noticed where the saya is placed 😆 

[Bruce Pennington]

Agree with Brian, that without seeing the nakago, or greater detail of the blade, ID is impossible.  John, @PNSSHOGUN, ran a thread on long swords, where several were discussed:

 

 

[Misconstrued]

I had figured it couldn't be identified. I was just wondering if anyone had any sort of clue. Time to hit the books 

[Nihontocollector752]

Kidding me, don't you see it is the Honzo Masamune 

[Lee997]

I have the book this picture was used in and following pages showed an even more difficult to see picture of an American soldier attempting to shovel this mountain of swords into a furnace.

[Misconstrued]

9 hours ago, Lee997 said:

I have the book this picture was used in and following pages showed an even more difficult to see picture of an American soldier attempting to shovel this mountain of swords into a furnace.

That's awful..there were some really nice swords. Even if they weren't 'high quality' each of them has their own history, and I hate knowing that these swords in this photo are all gone, and will never be seen or held again. 

[Dave R]

Times change, people move on and opinions and ideas do the same. Just a thought though, in the 19th century these were just old swords, bought and sold from Junk shops in Japan as well as in the West. I remember them selling for pocket money sums of cash until the bubble of the late 1970's. Would we value them the same if there had never been this "mass extinction" event? Would Nazi memorabilia have the same value if there had not been a similar mass destruction? 

 As for why it happened, it was at the specific request of our wartime ally who had suffered dreadfully at the hands of the I.J.A. 

[Nihontocollector752]

13 hours ago, Dave R said:

Times change, people move on and opinions and ideas do the same. Just a thought though, in the 19th century these were just old swords, bought and sold from Junk shops in Japan as well as in the West. I remember them selling for pocket money sums of cash until the bubble of the late 1970's. Would we value them the same if there had never been this "mass extinction" event? Would Nazi memorabilia have the same value if there had not been a similar mass destruction? 

 As for why it happened, it was at the specific request of our wartime ally who had suffered dreadfully at the hands of the I.J.A. 

Ok so we are now calling katana junk, it was perceived that way by westerners only and never by the Asian communities who until today understand the significance of their swords. No, we will not compare them or contrast them to Nazi memorabilia because they existed well before the xxxxing Nazi regime, who does that anyway....

 

 

[Dave R]

10 hours ago, Nihontocollector752 said:

Ok so we are now calling katana junk, it was perceived that way by westerners only and never by the Asian communities who until today understand the significance of their swords. No, we will not compare them or contrast them to Nazi memorabilia because they existed well before the xxxxing Nazi regime, who does that anyway....

 

 

 

 No, we are not calling katana junk, and I think that putting words in my mouth as you just have tells me and others, something about you..... Not something to your credit either. 

[Nihontocollector752]

Sure sure, vilify me but you wrote your thoughts clearly and the train of thought was indeed miserable. 

[Dave R]

1 hour ago, Nihontocollector752 said:

Sure sure, vilify me but you wrote your thoughts clearly and the train of thought was indeed miserable. 

 

 Just a reminder, this isn't Face Book, it's a site for serious collectors and those with a genuine interest in Japanese swords and culture.

[Brian]

Enough now. Can we be adults and leave the personal $#@# at home?
As Dave said, if you feel like arguing or insulting people....take it to Facebook where it is the rule rather than the exception.
There won't be a next warning.