Japanese Sword and Gun Control Papers

[moss]

Hello all,

I am wondering if some of the members on the board can help me....

Is a Katana in Japan holding Sword and Gun Control Papers more likely to be Nihonto or not?

Also I believe that there is conjecture over validity of some of the appraisals on different decades.

eg 50s 60s 70s .Apparently some years the registration was not so strict????

Is any of this true or all myth?

 

Thanks in advance Moss

[Bugyotsuji]

Hi Moss, your question is multi-faceted and difficult to answer simply. This may be why everyone has passed over it.

 

Besides which, much of it has been asked and discussed before(sometimes heatedly) on this site.

 

So, to clarify your first question. Are you saying that you are aware of a certain Katana in Japan, and it has paperwork, and you want to know if it is likely to be 'Nihonto', as opposed to... xyz (?), precisely because it comes with said paperwork? Is this correct?

 

Your second question is about the validity of paperwork in certain year periods. The quick answer is that yes, there is a common sense that in some years the powers-that-be were more generous (looser?) than they are today. This accounts for why some swords may come with their earlier paperwork, ... and the buyer wonders why there is no up-to-date Kantei-sho attached..

 

You are aware of course that there is/was more than one organization offering Kantei, and there could naturally be disagreement between them on occasion?

 

The quick answer in my opinion is that the system is generally good, but not 100% watertight. (As always, I stand to be corrected by following comments.)

[Nobody]

In principle, only genuine traditionally made Nihonto (including Katana, Wakizashi, Tanto, Yari, Ken, etc.) can be registered. Therefore any blades with its registration paper in Japan can be thought to be genuine Nihonto.

However, there are some exceptions. I have seen several non-traditionally made Gunto with Japanese registration papers on the net before. That does not mean the change of registration criteria. I suspect that the mistakes occurred because of the lack of judge’s ability.

 

As for the second question, I do not know if there were loose changes of its strictness for many years.

 

BTW, from Jan. 2009 the law has been partly changed, and Ken or any double edged blades with the blade length 5.5 cm or more must be registered.

[moss]

Thanks Piers and Koichi,

I guess I was just trying to clarify things as I recently bought a Katana off a friend of mine in Japan which was registered in 1953,it has a fiery hamon ,is mumei and has been mounted at least twice in its life.

Presently it is in Military mounts.Once I buff it up with the grinder I will post photos.......Aarrrg just kidding!

I know that my attempt at humour is poor,just wanted to raise your heart rate.

Hopefully some of the members on the board can help with what it may be?

Many thanks I will post some photos late next week.

Cheers Moss

[Gabriel L]

...Once I buff it up with the grinder I will post photos.......Aarrrg just kidding!

...just wanted to raise your heart rate.

 

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(caps intentional)