Unless gimei, most tameshigiri gold inlays show real tests took place - but were 'all' tested blades inscribed afterwards?

[KungFooey]

Real newbie question here!

 

This forum is like a huge storehouse of knowledge - I'm learning so much!

But sometimes things get a bit confusing; I've been reading lots of old posts and online articles about testing swords on bodies (gross!) and I've seen pictures of the gold inlays recording the results.

i guess getting your sword tested cost a lot of cash back in the day and so, most of the owners could probably pay for the inlay as well.

My question is were swords tested and 'cut through X bodies' but not inlayed? 
So you guys could have 'tested' swords but never know.

 

Thanks!

Dee

[Alex A]

Yes, there are swords with no gold inlay, just inscriptions. 

 

Also, gold inlay picked out of inscriptions.

 

Fake inscriptions 

 

You need this book Tameshigiri - The History and Development of Japanese Sword Testing: Amazon.co.uk: Sesko, Markus: 9781312327030: Book

 

 

[Shugyosha]

I think it's always wise to view tameshi mei with a degree of scepticism due to their elevating effect on the price of blades. Things that arouse suspicion for me:

• The mei is in not carved into the tang but just painted on so if done in kinpun rather than kinzogan or just carved;
• The test is not signed or is not signed by a member of one of the families authorised to do test cuts;
• Discrepancies between the date of the blade and the dates of the recorded working period of the person signing as having tested the blade;
• Swords that have supposedly cut an unfeasible quantity of bodies or the test cut was through parts of the body hardest to cut and doubly so if wakizashi rather than long swords.

I suspect that owners of koto blades were less likely to bother with having their swords tested and inscribed as they were more likely to be battle-proven, also, the guys that hung around cross roads cutting down passers by probably didn't bother recording how they did so . So yes, there may well be "tested" blades out there without that ever having been recorded on the tang.

[Bruce Pennington]

I only file them if they had a kakihan (kao), so cannot speak to the others, but out of over 50 on file, 11 had no inlay.

[Brian]

No, I don't think many if any swords were officially tested but with no inscription made at all on the nakago. It wasn't just a personal thing to know if your sword could cut, it was to elevate the particular sword. I am sure other testing was done just for testing sake, but this sword of testing was expensive and I suspect swords would have some sort of marking to that effect.
I assume you mean any inscription, not just the gold inlay.