Gaikotsu Katana? Help, info needed

[Bridges]

Hey all, I rarely leave the militaria section but this Katana has caught my eye. ST Croix is selling this, a member of NHB so his reputation goes before him however, I’m not knowledgeable on Nihonto in regards to traditional katanas…can someone explain the skull and bones fittings? I’m hitting dead ends in online research. I’m not really seeing any historical uses of the skull and bones in Japanese Nihonto so I’m assuming this was added after the fact? I’m in the dark on this one.

[Brian]

Bones on tosogu very often reference the Plains of Musashi and the bones lying on the battlefield long after the battle ended.
It's a common theme on fittings and quite a poignant one.

[John C]

  On 1/7/2023 at 4:35 PM, Bridges said:

skull and bones

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You can find more of this theme from Fred Lohman, if you decide to get it and deck it out.

https://www.Japanese-swords.com/pages/skull.htm

 

John C.

[Matsunoki]

Hi Noah

Bit more info on this thread-

 

[Bridges]

@Briando you think the fittings were added post production? I know pictures only tell so much but if I buy this I may outfit it with more traditional fittings. I had someone translate the tang and they said the smith is, Fujiwara Teruhiro. I’m going to do some more research on this smith when I arrive home.

[Bridges]

@John Ci saw that in my research! The solid Sterling would be a neat addition.

[Bridges]

Thanks! @Matsunoki

[cju777]

  On 1/7/2023 at 5:59 PM, Bridges said:

do you think the fittings were added post production? I know pictures only tell so much but if I buy this I may outfit it with more traditional fittings. I had someone translate the tang and they said the smith is, Fujiwara Teruhiro. I’m going to do some more research on this smith when I arrive home.

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Hey Bridges,

 

Not sure if you mean if the motif was added to the fittings later or if that set of fittings were added later, but I do want to point out that with traditional nihonto, a blade likely had a number of sets of koshirae during its active period of use or even more than one at a time. The blade would be stored in the shirasaya and depending on the function put in a certain set of fittings. I am not a fittings expert but during the periods they would have to spend in Edo, there were certain requirements of style and even more so at Imperial or Shogun residences, etc... NMB member Guido has an article or two to download on that. And if blades were passed down, fittings were probably upgraded and changed with the styles of the time. 

 

You may have also been asking if those are contemporary pieces made now and added to the koshirae, that I can't answer. Skulls and bones have been seen as used though as folks shared above. Once you figure out the smith or find a rough period it was made, you can try and find fittings from that time period and have a set made up -- depends on how you want to define "traditional." 

 

Hope that helps!

[David Flynn]

The hamon looks like a Showato.

[Bridges]

@David Flynnthat would make more sense, I’m having issues with the signature on the tang… from what I’m gathering, Fujiwara Teruhiro quit making katana in 1644 but there were 13 generations of his school that used his signature long after his death. Another issue is, upon cross examination of the many generational signatures here, 

https://nihontoclub.com/view/smiths/list?id_op=%3D&id=&name_op=starts&name=teruhiro&kanji_op=%3D&kanji=&province=All&start_era=All&school_nid=All

I don’t see the signature I posted on this list, maybe I am just a poor reader of Kanji(this is a fact). Not too mention the tang has virtually no oxidation.

[Tensho]

Saw this on ebay. Not liking the looks of the fuchi..  

[Seth]

  On 1/7/2023 at 8:07 PM, Bridges said:

@David Flynnthat would make more sense, I’m having issues with the signature on the tang… from what I’m gathering, Fujiwara Teruhiro quit making katana in 1644 but there were 13 generations of his school that used his signature long after his death. Another issue is, upon cross examination of the many generational signatures here, 

https://nihontoclub.com/view/smiths/list?id_op=%3D&id=&name_op=starts&name=teruhiro&kanji_op=%3D&kanji=&province=All&start_era=All&school_nid=All

I don’t see the signature I posted on this list, maybe I am just a poor reader of Kanji(this is a fact). Not too mention the tang has virtually no oxidation.

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Also, it is listed as oil-quenched in the description.

[Bridges]

I’m going to hold off on purchasing this. The time frame the smith lived and what you all are telling me about the blade is not adding up. Thanks all!