My grandfather gave this sword on my 18th birthday

[RLG77]

My grandpa gave me a sword for my 18th birthday,  I am now 46, I have had it in my gun safe a friend showed me Swords of the emperor,  and one of the Swords said rare scabbard and my friend was hey that looks like yours, I said yea it does, so here I am any help would be appreciated

[RLG77]

 

[RLG77]

[RLG77]

It's all most impossible to get a picture under 3 mb

[Rivkin]

Outside website can help. Would be interesting to see the sword and all.

[Bruce Pennington]

Hello Richard!

 

Many of us got our start in sword collecting the same way as you.  

 

This is the Iida latch.  It's a combination latch and dust cover, preventing dirt/water from entering the saya while the sword is out.  You can see many other examples on the discussion below:

 

The writing says:

"Monopoly Patent, IIDA Model Lock Cover"

 

Would also love to see the rest of the sword.  You can google "Photo size reducer" and get several online photo reducers.

[Brian]

2 hours ago, RLG77 said:

It's all most impossible to get a picture under 3 mb

It's actually very easy. And necessary. Pics don't have to be more than about 96-120dpi. Max width about 1200.
You'll find that pics are perfect decent at under 400kb.
Just Google free online picture resizers.

[Karu]

6 hours ago, RLG77 said:

It's all most impossible to get a picture under 3 mb

You can uploads images on https://imgur.com/upload 

[Stephen]

11 hours ago, RLG77 said:

It's all most impossible to get a picture under 3 mb

But many do all the time. 

 

What are you using a dig camera or cell phone?

[Scogg]

I also struggle with image sizing sometimes. My phone likes to take HUGE images apparently.

I often get around this issue, by taking a screenshot of the image I have just taken - then cropping the image to highlight the item - and deleting the original so I don't have multiple photos of the same thing.

The screenshot and cropped version of your picture should be considerably smaller in file size than the original. Be careful to crop the image appropriately, so you don't include your phones battery life, time, and reception %. 

Best of luck, and cool sword,
-Sam

[John C]

Agree with Sam. I usually take a screen shot; click on the i to check the file size; use tools to change the DPI (usually from 144 to 114) if the size is too large.

 

John C.

[TimJ]

Photoshop is the best tool but it's expensive.

[Stephen]

Delete 

 

 

[Ray Singer]

A few additional Iida latch examples here. 

 

https://www.google.c...412&bih=842&dpr=2.63

[Smee78]

I guess I learned another new thing today, I had no idea about the Iida latch. How common were they and were they regulated to certain blades?

[Bruce Pennington]

@IJASWORDS or @PNSSHOGUN probably can answer this better than I, but they were, as I understand it, from a particular shop or 3, so not that common.  However, we do see them on the forum fairly regularly, probably because of their distinctly unique construction.

[Smee78]

Thanks Bruce, 

 

I seem to learn something new frequently on this site.

 

From a practical standpoint, I can see how they would be useful in keeping debris/water out when out in the field.

[SteveM]

Scabbards with working Iida latches must be very collectible. I don't know how many were made, but my guess is that the extra cost and extra steps in the manufacturing process would have meant they were somewhat expensive and inefficient to manufacture, and would have been stopped when Japan started to run very low on resources. That is just my guess. Feels like we only see a couple of these every year. 

 

The designer of the Iida latch ran a sword shop in Tokyo, and his descendants still run that sword shop to this day. Iida Kōendō is the name of the shop. Its one of the higher end shops in Tōkyō. 

https://iidakoendo.com/

 

 

[PNSSHOGUN]

From a video interview of the current owner, he described the Iida latch was created in response to requests from wealthier officers with good quality swords wanting extra protection in China. They seem to have first appeared in the late 30's.  Attempts from other members to contact Iida koendo for further information have been unsuccessful.

 

Imai Sadashige blades are fairly often encountered in Iida latch mounts, can recall at least five within the past few years. One would imagine there to be an agreement between the two. If a member from Japan were to reach out to the store, perhaps they may have more luck receiving a response...

[Bruce Pennington]

@RLG77

Richard,

Any chance of seeing some shots of the blade?  Is the nakago (tang) signed?  Hope you're still around!