Tanto with Blade signed in Bo'hi in Shirasaya - Scabbard has kanji as well

[tbonesullivan]

This is one I've been avoiding for a while, mainly because I've never seen a Tanto that has any kind of signature or message in the fuller / Bo'hi.  As best I can tell, it reads 源 宗 定 - MINAMOTO MUNESADA, however I'm very iffy on the last character. I also have no idea whether it would be a maker, or just someone's name. It does look like a Mei.

 

The SUGATA is a very nice Kanmuri-Otoshi, though unfortunately it's got some staining oxidation in areas.

 

The scabbard is marked with 是 永 和 夫, though I'm iffy on the third character. Usually when I see writing on a Shirasaya it gives the name of the smith, but this just looks to be a name.

 

As always, any help you can give is much appreciated!

[ChrisW]

Is the bohi intact? This blade's shape looks very odd to me. Looks like it was made from a much longer blade.

[Brian]

Blade shape points to a later Meiji period or later souvenir/tourist blade. Wouldn't be surprised if it's oil quenched.

[lonely panet]

imho its late or post war

[ROKUJURO]

Look at the NAKAGO! Typical for late manufacture as Brian suggests.

Does not look oil-quenched to me, but is probably a repurposed part of a broken blade.

There is a KIZU in the upper end of the BOHI which lets me believe that the blade had a defect there.

[tbonesullivan]

15 hours ago, ChrisW said:

Is the bohi intact? This blade's shape looks very odd to me. Looks like it was made from a much longer blade.

 

I managed to get the habaki off. 

[tbonesullivan]

2 hours ago, ROKUJURO said:

Look at the NAKAGO! Typical for late manufacture as Brian suggests.

Does not look oil-quenched to me, but is probably a repurposed part of a broken blade.

 

Is there a way to tell if it is definitely oil quenched? I can see NIE at the transition, and there are some ASHI within the hamon, which does have that iridescent quality to it. I also am pretty sure the body of the blade has very tight MASAME hada, like other blades from the Meiji era I have seen. The scabbard definitely looks to be post WWII.

[Bruce Pennington]

Just wanted to poke my nose in to say that's a REALLY cool tanto, David!  I'm not into tanto blades, but if I were, I'd really love that one!

 

Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

[ROKUJURO]

1 hour ago, tbonesullivan said:

Is there a way to tell if it is definitely oil quenched? I can see NIE at the transition, and there are some ASHI within the hamon, which does have that iridescent quality to it.....

David,

you named the indications of a water-quenched blade. If there is HADA in addition to a good HAMON, you can be confident it is a traditionally made blade.

Oil-quenched blades don't have NIE, and if there is NIOI, it is so fine that it looks like a narrow strip of fog on the blade.

[tbonesullivan]

4 hours ago, ROKUJURO said:

David,

you named the indications of a water-quenched blade. If there is HADA in addition to a good HAMON, you can be confident it is a traditionally made blade.

 

Now I'm wondering if the characters in the Bo'Hi were what was on the tang of the blade before it was broken (if it was ).

[ROKUJURO]

That would be an unusual place for a MEI, but looking at the distorted NAKAGO, one could believe that it was not executed by a trained swordsmith. So this person might have thought this to be a better place than the too short NAKAGO.

[ChrisW]

I just realized, I meant to say BOSHI not bohi! One missed keystroke changes the meaning completely. But I can see from your photos that it appears that the boshi is intact. This does appear to be made from a longer blade, as the nakago is rather crudely executed and the bohi travel on through it.

[Brian]

I don't think this is made from a longer blade. I think it's just typical crude nakago of a post war souvenir.
You won't find a wakizashi or katana with a bo-hi like that ending in kanmuri otoshi

[SteveM]

@tbonesullivan you have the correct reading of the name in the bohi.

You also have the correct kanji for the name on the saya. The most common reading would be Korenaga Kazuo.

 

Coincidentally, Korenaga is the family name originally used by Umezu Yoshijirō, a famous WW2 general whose sword (apparently) was posted in another recent thread.　https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/42528-what-you-think/ 

No connection (that I am aware of) with the name on your saya. Just an interesting coincidence, as the name is slightly unusual.