Any ideas on this blade?

[kfkonrad]

Greetings gentlemen!

 

I purchased this blade a couple years back from Alf Tan. He deemed it Shinshinto. It's unsigned as you can see. It has many many flaws as a collector/art piece, but has good balance for iai which I practice.

 

Supposedly the sword was found in someone's attic or something. It came with an old saya that looks Edo era, but mounted for WW2, and a habaki. The saya itself was wrapped with leather, stitched tight, and then painted red with a couple of black stripes. It has a copper koiguchi, and horn kojiri. Alf told me, perhaps the sword was used in the Satsuma rebellion.

 

Have any of you have seen a similar blade or have any ideas on who made it?

 

I'll be happy to add any pictures necessary.

 

As always... Thank you all very much for your time!

 

Kris

 

P.S. This is me: http://www.youtube.com/user/kfkonrad1?feature=mhum

[cabowen]

What is the nagasa? Where the two mekugi ana there when you bought it or did you add the lower one?

[kfkonrad]

  cabowen said:

What is the nagasa? Where the two mekugi ana there when you bought it or did you add the lower one?

 

Nagasa is 30.25". Both mekugi ana were present upon purchase.

[cabowen]

I would agree that it is most likely a later Shinshinto work. I would also tend to think of Seki due to the yasuri-me, though that is a shot in the dark without the benefit of seeing clearly the jigane and hamon.....It would appear, due to the length, yasuri-me, and mekugi-ana to be a practical blade made for actual usage first and foremost. That too would fit with the late Shinshinto era.....

[kfkonrad]

  cabowen said:

I would agree that it is most likely a later Shinshinto work. I would also tend to think of Seki due to the yasuri-me, though that is a shot in the dark without the benefit of seeing clearly the jigane and hamon.....It would appear, due to the length, yasuri-me, and mekugi-ana to be a practical blade made for actual usage first and foremost. That too would fit with the late Shinshinto era.....

 

Thanks Chris! This blade was definitely a user blade. Besides being fitted out for WW2, it has one very deep kirikomi on the mune (see pic), and a major amount of material has been taken off the monouchi area. The original taper was not so drastic.

 

There's loads of activity, and loads of flaws on this sword. The blade, especially the kissaki looks to be nearly through hardened, and the hamon is notare with some wonderful peaks. Although, it's not very valuable, it has been a wonderful study piece. I'm just hoping to find out a little more about it's origins.

[Stephen]

Kristian

 

Nice cutter, out of curiosity, did you have a new polish for the ha to be sharper or is it used as found?

[kfkonrad]

  Stephen said:

Kristian

 

Nice cutter, out of curiosity, did you have a new polish for the ha to be sharper or is it used as found?

 

Thanks Stephen! The original clean up polish was done by someone that Alf uses. I guess the sword was a stick of rust when he got it, and Alf had someone clean up much of it (perhaps too much in some areas). There's a decent amount of niku on the blade, and the edge was satisfactory for testing. The monouchi area is worn down, and it'll never be a great mat cutter due to geometry and wear, but after thoroughly testing this blade on a variety of target, I am very impressed how well it holds up compared to modern steel swords.

 

Here's some testing video after first polish: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjyPmU4w7vw

Targets are 3 and 4 roll of Mugen Dachi Tatami Omote.

[jeremy]

Hi Kristian,

 

Looks like a nice blade for iai. What are the other specs of the blade such as mihaba(width), kasane (thickness) etc?

 

Kind regards,

 

Jeremy Hagop

[kfkonrad]

  jeremy said:

Hi Kristian,

 

Looks like a nice blade for iai. What are the other specs of the blade such as mihaba(width), kasane (thickness) etc?

 

Kind regards,

 

Jeremy Hagop

 

Motohaba: 35mm

Motokasane: 8mm

Sekihaba: 20mm

Sekikasane: 5+mm

Sori: 5/8"+