Update**added hamon pics and closeups

[jason_mazzy]

This was a gamble from an online listing. Basically said he bought an abandoned house full of junk and this sword was in it. He didnt think it was real. I am very excited to say it is indeed real. But I do not know if it is gendaito, or shinshinto. The sword had been sitting in a basement in a scabbard for at least 35 years. The saya split, and the kissaki unfortunately has deep rust, but I do not believe it is through the skin stell. the rest of the blades is amazing, but there is little patina or rust on the nakago. Here is the mei, I cannot scan this blade because it is huge. Will try to borrow a camera to show you the amazing hamon.

 

Thank you all so much.

 

[Stephen]

Jason

 

if you have a program to crop some of the scan you may have closer pix, yoshi someone looks like the late war chippy mei id expect a stamp of somekind.

[jason_mazzy]

The hamon on this is quite spectacular. has to be prewar

[Stephen]

not a date on the other side?, dont have to be pre war es with the chippy mei

[jason_mazzy]

I cannot figure it out. i crop it and it doesnt get bigger

[Stephen]

my scaner has a preview that i can crop to just what is being scaned.

sending a PM about your jumping in with both feet and arms and wallet

[jason_mazzy]

[jason_mazzy]

my scaner has a preview that i can crop to just what is being scaned.

sending a PM about your jumping in with both feet and arms and wallet

 

 

lol I am done buying for now. just made all these purchases in a short timeframe. gotta hold it now. but you can not pass on a full size katana for less than dinner and a movie.

[Grey Doffin]

Masa something Yoshisada. I would be surprised if this isn't WWII.

Grey

[Stephen]

wasnt sure if it was Sada or tada...hard to tell on them showato made meis

[Brian]

Jason,

Don't jump to conclusions just yet. As Stephen said, once you get to know WW2 swords pretty well, these "chippy" mei stand out like crazy. Although we could be wrong of course, I am betting that we aren't, and this is a standard wartime blade.

 

Brian

 

Edit: Ah..I see Grey agrees.

[jason_mazzy]

Sorry about my confusing post, what I meant was it was not an arsenal blade. no stamps, definately tamahagane, and the most beautiful hamon. I do believe it to be gendaito.

[jason_mazzy]

Here is the tsuba. the fittings match perfectly, not sure about the menuki looks like bamboo leaves with gold inlay. but only 1 unfortunately.

[SwordGuyJoe]

This is a WWII blade and looks like showa era 'civilian' tsuba. This if Koichi San or Morita San may disagree, but I think this is a seki tosho smith Ishihara Yoshisada (石原義定). He is listed on Dr. Stein's site (http://home.earthlink.net/~ttstein/seki.htm) about a third of the way down the page.

[SwordGuyJoe]

Jason,

I more thoroughly read you post and find this interesting:

no stamps, definately tamahagane, and the most beautiful hamon

 

How can you tell that this is tamahagane by the hamon? You must have unparalleled insight as from my understanding it is nearly impossible to tell the difference between tamahagane and other steel without tests destructive to the blade. I am joking with you, but a hamon isn't going to tell you if the blade is tamahagane. :D

[jason_mazzy]

I guess I was saying more of a pattern to the steel used in the blade. not that roadway steel look. oil quenched type. Maybe not tamahagane, but i believe that is what the swordsmiths were using that were not finishing machine made blades.

 

 

I also must be blind because I am not seeing the smith u mentioned on the list. I believe u he is there just not seeing that name.

[drbvac]

Jason: Any pics of the hamon?

[jason_mazzy]

will try when i get home. It is kinda like gunome, with sharks teeth every 3 or 4 waves. then there are lil globes inside the gunome and hamon. really quite neat.

[Stephen]

http://home.earthlink.net/~ttstein/yoshsad2.jpg

 

does not quite look the same, many factory blades had some names chipped into them, dont get your hopes up.

[mdiddy]

"Lil globes" at the peaks of the gunome are a tell-tell sign of Showato.

[Stephen]

peaks evey three or four is sanbonsugi ....most likly a seki blade for the war.

[jason_mazzy]

the globes are below the gunome in the hamon

[jason_mazzy]

Best I can get without a camera. But it doesnt do the hamon justice. Found the term for whats in the hamon Nioi kuzure. apparently seen in mt fuji hamons. and this looks alot like mt fuji type hamon that is in the connoisseur's, with the kuzure in it. page 100 for referance.

 

nakago yasurime is takanoha

 

[mdiddy]

I'd call it Sanbon-sugi. Two short peaks followed by a third larger peak in repetition. Pg. 93 and 95 in Connoisseur's. Here's a link too: http://www.nihontoantiques.com/g106.htm. And a sample below from a Seki katana.

[jason_mazzy]

Sanbon-sugi hamon Nioi kuzure would be the right way to say it then?

[SwordGuyJoe]

I may be wrong on the name, since lining these up with kanji on computer is tough for me, but that's relatively irrelevant. If the yasurime didn't tell you it was seki tosho, the combination of that plus hamon sure did - it's definitely sanbon-sugi. If you really like this type of sword (Seki showa period blades), you are going to have a field day, since these are relatively easy to find. Just go to any militaria show and you should be able to find at least a dozen.

 

Do you think this is gendai? Can you say why? Too tough to see any nie or nioi in the scan, so it looks at first blush to be showato.

[jason_mazzy]

mark will be coming by hopefully this week. he will be able to point out a few things and the right things to say about it.

 

Got this for $30.00 so I can't be mad lol.

[moss]

Jason ,

 

At $30 it would be hard to go wrong.

Even an oil tempered showato at this price would not not be walked past by too many.

 

Nice find for the price.

 

Cheers Moss

[outlier48]

Jason, great find for $30. I can't get lunch at a decent restaurant in Los Angeles for $30 with tax and tip! I would gladly forgo a meal if I could make such a purchase!

 

Charlie Brashear

[jason_mazzy]

I scour the internet looking for blades. Literally hours of looking everywhere i think one may be listed. and antique sales. then I look at alot of pics, then i gamble with em. So far i have picked 3 winners, let's pray my good fortune continues!