What exactly do I have? I'm stumped!

[French nihonto]

Not easy to do, I agree, but it might be the least invasive solution, apart from the spectrometer. But much less expensive 

[Matsunoki]

21 minutes ago, French nihonto said:

Compare this with a tanto tradionel, which is about the same size. If it's silver, the difference will be significant. 

This is supposedly a Wakizashi. Comparing it to a Tanto tradionel  (whatever that is) is pretty pointless.

i guess physics is not your strong suit.

[French nihonto]

Il y a 1 heure, Matsunoki a dit :

Je supposeque la physique n'est pas votre point fort.

Oh, dear. It's a shame, that's what I do for a living. Maybe I should think about doing something else. 
Tanto or Wakizashi is not the point. I had forgotten the size of the blade written in the first post, which I read yesterday quickly between 2 trains. That doesn't make me someone who is bad at physics, at best someone who has memory problems I grant you. 
My suggestion was just a basic comparison of weight between 2 blades of the same size. If it's silver, you'll immediately feel it on such a 'large' object.
But we know here that it's not silver.
Sincerely 

[Onigoroshi]

8 hours ago, Franco D said:

Thoughts:

 

Solid silver?

Highly doubtful. Precious metals were/are precious and not used wastefully and splurged on a tsunagi.  

Silver plated, possibly, "if", then something probably done in more recent times. 

 

Saya/koshirae, if memory serves, perhaps, an Owari style koshirae. You can check/confirm with Sesko's Koshirae Taikan.

 

Ko-gatana, the mei looks possibly valid. Needs further research.

 

Kozuka, is it iron?, needs further evaluation. 

Can anyone read the kanji on it?

 

Habaki, yes, the habaki looks wonderful. Could we see images of the ends and inside? 

 

Close up pics of the fuchi/kashira?

 

Basically, this is a koshirae someone thought well enough of for preserving. 

 

If mine, I would try to discuss and learn more about it with an expert like Brian Tschernega.

Ask if he thought it was worth having him do restoration work.

 

Regards,

 

 

Thank you so much for the information. The kozuka is iron. I tried to make a rubbing but the writing isn't deep enough. I did manage to take some better pictures (hopefully). 

[Onigoroshi]

[Onigoroshi]

[Onigoroshi]

[Onigoroshi]

[Onigoroshi]

[Onigoroshi]

8 hours ago, French nihonto said:

I really doubt it's silver.
The simplest test would be to weigh it. Quite simply, silver has a much higher density than steel, aluminium, and so on. Weigh the blade, and you'll see straight away if it's silver or not. 

I don't have a scale here with me, but the blade itself is quite heavy, heavier than aluminum would be. When I compared the weight to a steel blade a few years ago by having one blade in each hand, this blade was noticably heavier. I'm still searching for someone locally to do an XRF scan to determine the composition. I may have a lead on one at a university, but I'm not sure if they will do testing for the public. I'll try and have a jeweler perform a rub test this week and post the results. 

[Bugyotsuji]

The habaki is gold stretched and wrapped around copper, beautifully done. I love the texture of the iron fuchi and kashira pieces.

 

Also, I think I am beginning to see 宗明 Muneaki on your kozuka, signed with a 花押 kao. Much closer now to being legible. Thank you.

[Onigoroshi]

22 minutes ago, Bugyotsuji said:

The habaki is gold stretched and wrapped around copper, beautifully done. I love the texture of the iron fuchi and kashira pieces.

 

Also, I think I am beginning to see 宗明 Muneaki on your kozuka, signed with a 花王 kao. Much closer now to being legible. Thank you.

Thank you! Is there something I can do to bring the kanji out more? I've done color fill in the past with paint on guns and have mineral spirits on hand to clean the paint off once I'm done. Should I try it?

[Bugyotsuji]

32 minutes ago, Onigoroshi said:

Thank you! Is there something I can do to bring the kanji out more? I've done color fill in the past with paint on guns and have mineral spirits on hand to clean the paint off once I'm done. Should I try it?

You could rub it some more with a horsehair brush, or gently with a brass brush, the brass being softer than the iron, but it will leave a yellowish tint which you'll want to remove. Best thing is to wait until someone with more language ability sees this thread! It's readable now, and must be a Mei by someone who is happy working in iron, e.g. an armo(u)rer with an artistic bent. Muneaki (if that is correct) could well be a Myochin armo(u)rer.

[Franco]

2 hours ago, Bugyotsuji said:

Best thing is to wait until someone with more language ability sees this thread!

 

Sound advice.

 

Perhaps the metal tosogu collectors will chime in and say more about these fittings?

 

Thanks for posting additional images.

 

Regards,

[Bugyotsuji]

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, so I will suggest 宗明錐(鐫?)之+花王

Muneaki chiseled (drilled) this (work), plus signature flourish.  

[SteveM]

宗明鐫之　would be my guess as well. 

No idea about the other side. 

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Onigoroshi, assuming you have access to smith lists to further narrow down which particular Muneaki this might be?

[Onigoroshi]

6 hours ago, Bugyotsuji said:

Onigoroshi, assuming you have access to smith lists to further narrow down which particular Muneaki this might be?

Unless there's something I can find searching online, I have no lists of smiths. Does there appear to be a date in the engraving to narrow down which Muneaki it may be? The only date I have to go by is the age of the maker of the kogatana blade, Masayuki, which I calculate was made around 1814, but I'm not sure the kozuka is original to it. 

[Bugyotsuji]

Always best to assume the kozuka is not original.

 

It does however give you one more trail to follow while you enjoy the sleuthing and the scenery. No need to hurry in this hobby. 

Some of us got so excited by the chase we even went out and bought shelfloads of expensive reference books! 

[Onigoroshi]

22 minutes ago, Bugyotsuji said:

Always best to assume the kozuka is not original.

 

It does however give you one more trail to follow while you enjoy the sleuthing and the scenery. No need to hurry in this hobby. 

Some of us got so excited by the chase we even went out and bought shelfloads of expensive reference books! 

Haha! I know how that goes. I've accumulated a lot of books on antique guns over the years. There's always information in books that you won't find online. And even more information has been lost by people passing away and not recording it for future generations. This has been a long road. I've owned this piece for a little over 30 years, researching it on and off the entire time. Out of the dozen or so people I've shown it to before showing it on this forum, only one person gave me an idea of what it may be. He was an elderly Japanese man I met at the Ohio Gun Collectors Association show in Cleveland, Ohio in the early 1990s who collected and appraised Japanese swords and armor. He told me this was possibly a wedding present between families and gave me a ballpark appraisal. He did tell me that it was special and to take very good care of it. I wish I would have taken more time to ask him questions about it, but I was young then and had no intention of ever getting rid of it. I've contacted OGCA to see if they had a record of his name, hoping maybe he had children who followed in his footsteps and could help with information. I appreciate the help I've received on here. I hope I can gain some more information and get a definitive answer to what this is. 

[Kanenaga]

Apologies for the late post, just saw this thread.

Here's a silver wakizashi, this one with horimono, basically a tsunagi for the mounts by Goto Ichijo.

I haven't tested it myself , but I'm inclined to believe the label.

From the Mitsumura collection.

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Looks nice but the Japanese caption is too fuzzy to check.