Help identifying

[R-Carpenter]

Hi All.

New to the forum and new to Japanese swords. I saw this sword in the antique store basically for peanuts. Don't know what it is, how old or how should I care about it.

Any suggestions or pointers would be appreciated.

Thanks, Roman.

[Okan]

It's Chinese fake. sorry

 

[Bruce Pennington]

Probably a fake, or a best, an "island made" sword.  But Island swords don't, in my experience, have mei (except for the actual Java swords, and this isn't one of them).  So, if this mei turns out to be gibberish, then it would be a fake.

 

Photo flipped for a look at the mei:

[Brian]

No probably about it. It's Chinese fake junk.

[Ed Harbulak]

I'm not so sure it's a fake, the mei is signed Awa no Kami, Fujiwara Yasu? Tsuna?. But the nakago has certainly been mutilated and I don't see any yasuri. Needs further investigation in my opinion.

[xiayang]

1 hour ago, Ed Harbulak said:

I'm not so sure it's a fake, the mei is signed Awa no Kami, Fujiwara Yasu? Tsuna?. But the nakago has certainly been mutilated and I don't see any yasuri. Needs further investigation in my opinion.

 

I agree with Ed, it is indeed signed 阿波守藤原康綱 = Awa no Kami Fujiwara Yasutsuna.  

 

In my (admittedly very limited) experience it would be somewhat unusual for Chinese fakes to come with a valid mei (but I'm happy to be corrected on this).  

That said, even if it was a Japanese-made blade, this particular example is most likely gimei, with the characters being somewhat poorly executed and not matching certified examples at all (see here, here or here).

 

 

 

 

 

[John C]

Based on the position of the last kanji, it looks as if the mei was added after the nakago-jiri was re-shaped from its original. My vote is for gimei.

John C.  

[Geraint]

Dear All.

 

Come on!  Let's start with the fittings, poor castings, wrong wrap, menuki, well!  Then let's look at the sugata, look at the shape of the blade!  Is the mei engraved, as most Chinese fakes are, or is it chased ?  If the yasurime have been removed then how come it has tagane makura?  I could go on.

 

Okan called this from the first, the fact that this one has a recognisable mei doesn't change a thing.  

 

Roman, I'm sorry this is a fake, or at best a reproduction.  Very glad to say it was only peanuts.  Stick around and have a look at some of the stuff posted and enjoy discovering the stunning quality of Japanese swords.

 

All the best.

[R-Carpenter]

1 hour ago, Geraint said:

 

Roman, I'm sorry this is a fake, or at best a reproduction.  Very glad to say it was only peanuts.  Stick around and have a look at some of the stuff posted and enjoy discovering the stunning quality of Japanese swords.

 

All the best.

Totally fine. The sword looks good enough to be placed on the wall to decorate my other fencing gear and medals.

The blade is balanced well enough that it feels like a good parry 2 with the repost in the oponents shoulder is very easy to execute and that's also nice.

I will polish it with conventional buffer and tell everyone it's a 16th century treasure!

I use to be involved in restoring antique furniture from mid 18 and 19 century and have learned very quickly about insane number of fakes, marriages and later  "inspired" pieces. Of course antique dealers were and are a big part of the game. I've assumed the same would be taking place with Japanese swords and I would never spend any considerable amount of money unless quite a bit of time spend reading on the subject or undergoing apprenticeship in a restoration studio, involved with the subject.

Thanks all for your input!

Best regards, Roman.

[rematron]

3 hours ago, John C said:

Based on the position of the last kanji, it looks as if the mei was added after the nakago-jiri was re-shaped from its original. My vote is for gimei.

John C.  

Yeah and the kanji gets smaller and smaller as it goes down the nakago as they’re realizing they’re running out of room and trying to squeeze it in. A very amateur move for an experienced smith.  

 

 

 

 

[PNSSHOGUN]

No questions, it's clearly a fake. These have been made for decades, patina is no sign of authenticity if the whole thing looks like crap!