Classification of Showa-to

Good Morning all,

A point of clarification between Gendai-to and Showa-to please.

Tsuruta san currently has a Navy Gunto in the Aoi Art Auction, the blade of which he describes as Showa-to.

https://www.aoi-art.com/auction/en/auct ... 1213703271

Cheers

Malcolm

Well..as you know, Showa-to just means a sword made in Showa era.

It is us collectors who have bent the meaning of it to indicate non-traditionally made swords vs traditionally made ones.

That is not to say everyone uses that terminology, but it makes life easier and is widely accepted.

These things are done in collector circles.

Btw..might also mean they are hinting that it is slightly less than fully traditionally made but slipped through the registration cracks and has a licence.

Brian

Thank you Brian,

I suspected that might be the case, but I wasn't sure.

Best regards

Malcolm

PS It's interesting to watch Gunto emerging, one supposes from ancestral "Kura" in Japan......

Hi,

And here is that (same file above) file stored locally so that when imageshack removes it in a few weeks, this thread is still relevant

Brian

May I ask which book this is and also if anyone have some information

on Munetada, a Seki smith.

Thanks

Hi,

Oops! Sorry, i'd forgotten to quote the title.

Modern Japanese swords and swordsmiths (from 1868 to the present) by Leon and Hiroko Kapp and Yoshindo Yoshihara.

Thank you Jacques

Regards