Article on Nihonto fakes needed

[Brian]

Guys, we badly need a decent article on Japanese sword fakes. One that has decent example pics, and split into maybe sections like shape.....hada....fittings....etching....serial numbers....hamon....signatures etc.
All of our current reference pages are fairly basic and don't go into any detail. I expect this article would be very popular and maybe save a ton of buyers.
I don't have the time to sit and work on this currently, and was wondering if any of the members (or a collaboration) would be willing to work on such an article with the aim of hosting it in the downloads and/or FAQ sections.
Basically a bit of explanation of what to look out for in each category, followed by some decent pics and examples. There are plenty to choose from.
No...I am not one that believes in the "don't teach fakers what to improve" because that info is already out there, thousands of pics of the genuine article and lots of genuine ones to compare with.
Any volunteers to assist with this? Maybe some of our military guys can do the section on Gunto, and others can work on antiques. We don't need to go into gimei, just something for the beginners to use to identify some of those terrible fakes out there.

Worth asking I guess. If no takers, I'll try and work on one over time. Thanks all.

[John C]

Brian:

I don't have nearly the knowledge of others, however I can take a crack at it.

I think most of the info on fake type 95s is in that thread and just needs to be compiled cohesively. As for type 94/98s and rinji, I think the issue isn't so much real vs. fake but original vs refurbished. But again, many of the issues have been posted. My concern there is stepping on copyright toes as most of the information on legitimate sword parts has been presented by Ohmura-san. Anyone else???

John C.

 

[Brian]

Forget the legit ones. I'm talking about all those fakes that have serials on the habaki or etched flags, or shoe string ito....cast ugly fittings. Most of the fakes are trying to be Gunto, the article can easily be done mostly without having to explain what real ones look like.  For example the pic below, taken from FB just today. Then there is that damascus hada on fakes...etched hamon. All can easily be written about without doing an essay on real Nihonto.
Yes, some comparisons woul;d be helpful, but it doesn't have to be a side by side analysis. Most of the fakes are fairly obvious once pointed out.

 

 

[Bruce Pennington]

Here's a classic example of a faked Type 98:

RARE AUTHENTIC WW2 Japanese MILITARY SWORD SIGNED | Live and Online Auctions on HiBid.com

 

I had begun collecting photos for such an article a while back, but got sidetracked by the Three-month-cough + pneumonia.  Recovering now.  @John C - If you feel like writing it, I can forward my current photos and send others as I gather them.  Just an idea, what do you think?  I was going to go through the 'Types', starting with the Type 19s, and move through them sequentially.  But if you're wanting to write, the layout is up to you.

[ChrisW]

2 hours ago, Brian said:

Forget the legit ones. I'm talking about all those fakes that have serials on the habaki or etched flags, or shoe string ito....cast ugly fittings. Most of the fakes are trying to be Gunto, the article can easily be done mostly without having to explain what real ones look like.  For example the pic below, taken from FB just today. Then there is that damascus hada on fakes...etched hamon. All can easily be written about without doing an essay on real Nihonto.
Yes, some comparisons woul;d be helpful, but it doesn't have to be a side by side analysis. Most of the fakes are fairly obvious once pointed out.

 

 

I think I had a stroke trying to understand that ito wrap.

[1kinko]

I’m really ignorant of both nihonto schools and tosogu schools, but I used to be a biologist/taxonomist and always used “keys” to analyze everything from plants to mammals. If any group can create a keys system, NMB is the one. Start with one description and let the opinions argue it out. In the end a key will emerge and caveats can be added (imho).

[vajo]

The ito looks very interesting.  

[Bruce Pennington]

Additionally, my expertise is only in military swords. So if we want to add nihonto to the document we will need contributing photos from guys with good examples of fakes in that arena.

 

I have seen them out there, but I usually don’t click on those at the auction sites as I am always looking for blades with stamps.

 

[John C]

3 hours ago, Brian said:

Forget the legit ones. I'm talking about all those fakes that have serials on the habaki or etched flags, or shoe string ito....cast ugly fittings.

Ah, sorry Brian. I'm used to publishing 25 page papers.

John C.

[rematron]

I believe part of the original intent of the Fake Chinese Sword thread that got moved to the Izakaya was attempting to address this issue.  So, there’s probably some good info in there as well. 

[Larason2]

I've been working on a writeup along these lines for a bit. So I'll post it here. I also have a reproduction katana and wakizashi that may be helpful as an example of what is not authentic! I'll take some pictures of those. Here's the writeup I did:

 

What to look for:

 

Authentic Japanese blades (Nihonto)

 

-Texture of metal: Authentic Nihonto have "hada," a fine texture of metal made from a very high mumber of different folds. This can be emulated with acid etching, but acid isn't as fine, and doesn't disappear in the right light.

-Evidence of water quench. Traditional Japanese swords are differentially hardened and water quenched. This means clay is put on the blade, and the spine is hardened differently than the blade. To achieve this, the blade needs to be quenched. Most modern reproductions are quenched in oil, which leaves a dark pattern at the interface between the hardened surface and the unhardened surface. This pattern is called "hamon" In a water quenched blade, the hamon is white and subtle (hard to see in some lights). Sometimes acid etching is used to attempt to replicate authentic hamon, but it is generally more visible in all lights. Acid etched blades also don't take oil well, so they're very likely to rust. Authentic differentialy hardened and water quenched blades also show some evidence of the crystal structure of the metal, which is called "jie" Some of these, like "nie" are in certain spots. Acid treated or oil quenched blades don't have these features.

-Authentic Japanese blades have a tang (the handle part of the blade) called a "nakago." These are carefully and finely filed, and the rust is left on if it develops. Whether there is a signature on the blade or not, a Japanese blade must have these features. If there is a signature on the blade (mei), the strokes should be sharply defined, deep, narrow, and be wider at one point and thinner at the other.

-Authentic Japanese blades are polished by professional polishers called "togishi," and they will only work on certified Japanese blades. These blades have a very high quality polish, where every surface has a perfect mirror finish, but other features are visible in the right light. All of the edges and lines are perfect, and they leave no scratches and imperfections other than forging defects that are unlikely to affect the function of the blade. The blade is perfectly sharp, and usually has a convex edge (called "niku"). The spine of the blade is always burnished, rather than polished (no detail is visible in another light, a flat surface looks rounded).

 

Authentic Japanese sword fittings (koshirae)

 

-The handle of the blade is called a tsuka. The metal pieces of the handle are called fuchikashira. The fuchi (collar) is the part close to the guard, and the kashira the end cap. They should have no casting bubbles or sprue marks on them (suggest they were cast). The detail on their surface should be fine, with any carving being deep and sharply defined. If any other materials are inlaid, they should have a colour that is appropriate for their material, and there should be space all around the inlaid part. The edge of the inlay should be smooth, and the texture match that of the rest of the metal surface. An authentic wrapped tsuka is made of magnolia wood, and is wrapped with ray skin (samegawa). Authentic ray skin has nodes of different sizes, so that no two nodes are the same size, and there is an extra large node in one of the windows of the wrap called the emperor node. Imitation samegawa can have nodes of different sizes, but there is a repeated pattern, and no emperor’s node. Authentic tsuka are usually wrapped by either silk or leather, and this wrap is called “ito.” Imitation ito is usually made of plastic, and you can tell this from silk because each fibre is usually quite thick, and has a bright reflection in the light. Authentic silk ito, however is made up of very fine fibres, and the reflection of the light is very subdued. Authentic leather can be hard to tell from imitation leather, but authentic tsuka are rarely wrapped with this. An authentic tsuka is wrapped so that the diamonds are very regular, and the ito wrap is very tight. There are two decorative pieces called “menuki” that are wrapped into the ito, and these pieces should be free from sprue or casting bubbles, and they should have fine, sharp and deep carving on them. For all metal pieces of the koshirae, the surface of the metal should have a very fine polish that is otherwise opaque (never mirror finish). Rough polishes or mirror finishes on these pieces suggest a reproduction. The blade should fit snugly in the tsuka, but not be impossible to remove, and there should be a single pin of finely carved aged bamboo to hold the tsuka on the blade (rarely, some blades have two).

 

Authentic Japanese sword guards (Tsuba)

 

Tsuba should be free of casting bubbles, sprue or sprue marks (all suggest the piece was cast). If the piece is iron, you should see fine lines in the texture of the metal on the side or inside any cutouts. If you see lumps of iron that are a different texture than the rest that were emphasized by carving, that is more likely to be an authentic piece (called “bones”). The edges of the tsuba should look hammered, with a very narrow gap between the hammered edge and any carved decoration if there is any. If any other materials are inlaid, they should have a different colour and texture than the base metal, and its colour should be appropriate for the metal it is. There must be open space at the side of every inlay, they are never at the edge of the tsuba, usually at least 5 mm is necessary. The metal at the edge of the inlaid material should follow the side smoothly, and the texture of the metal should be the same as the rest of the base metal. Any carving that is done, particularly the signature (mei) should have narrow, deep, sharply defined strokes that are wider at one side and narrower at the other. Broad, rectangular, shallow, washed out details are all suggestive a piece was cast. A tsuba should have a high quality finish, meaning that polished surfaces are very finely polished, carving marks that are left very fine, and all pieces should be patinated with a traditional Japanese patina, which gives them a distinctive colour and texture. Generally, all enamelling/cloisonné/shippo yaki (fine metal rims with a glazed pottery-appearing inner portion embedded in the tsuba) can be considered authentic because this is difficult and time consuming to do, though this is rare.

[Brian]

Carlos,
Good write-up, will incorporate most of that into an article. Thanks!

[Nihonto Chicken]

I believe that numerous photos of good and bad examples are needed to appropriately explain the differences to newbies.  This would require numerous pics that would likely require more time and effort to assemble as compared to the accompanying verbal explanation.  Big project for whomever wishes to take it on, best wishes!

[Paz]

Hi @Brian I have my own website dedicated to blog and sword study of Japanese antiques. I recently wrote an article on a ko uda sword. 

 

I started collecting chinese handforged katana many moons ago, and can easily write an article comparing the two. 

 

I am also happy and would appreciate if I can  link the NMB forum in the article, so that it can give some exposure to this forum.  Please pm if you needed to discuss. Otherwise I'm happy to crack on when time allows. 

 

Thanks 

Paz

[Brian]

Paz, that would be great. Please proceed when you have time, and maybe we can combine efforts on some aspects. Appreciate it.
And by all means, a link to the forum would be most welcome.
Thanks.

[Lewis D]

Hi guys, sounds like I might have found the right forum. 
I’ve been interested in buying a military katana for some time and found this one online. Is there an expert that can confirm if this looks legit? Or a Chinese made fake? 

[Stephen]

It is a Chinese copy

[Brian]

a BAD Chinese copy.
Not even close. Much more study needed.

[jt nesbitt]

As the resident garbage collector - I have a great DEEP fake! 

What has a hada pattern, a shirasaya, a (faint) hamon, was advertised as Edo period on eBay, located in Japan, and has Japanese paperwork -----But is not Nihonto?

Hantanrento! Early on in my journey, I got suckered by this one but I didn't pay much for it and it's a great educational tool. I still think that it is a cool thing to have around anyway! -- JT