Tameshigiri got rained out, but we found a real sword

[rawnshah]

Our cutting on Sunday got rained out before we really got started unfortunately. We've moved it to this Saturday at 2:30 at the Kodenkan just before the regular class. I got sick with a cough and a fever so I didn't really cut the pieces myself and make new ones. So, they are just being dried out until I soak them again this Friday.

While we were hanging out, we took a look at the sword I got over the winter holidays from my wife. She found it at an antique shop here in town. The owner claimed it was a parade sword and it has a tachi mounting--there's a big stud with a loophole to hang the sword down from the belt--and is certainly quite heavy. There seem to be pewter fittings all along the saya and for the tsuba, and it still has the small knives that fit into the saya. It's well decorated with bird and wave patterns all over.

The blade itself is the interesting part. It's definitely folded, and has the damascene or watered steel pattern throughout. This is when it looks like there's ripples and waves all over the metal itself. It's fairly narrow but its in good condition with no rust marks or chips. We took off the tsuka to look at the nakago (the tang or part of the sword inside the handle) and were pleasantly surprised to find an actual signature on there. It looks like the tang has been reshaped a little to fit this newer tsuka but it's mostly there. I'm not sure how to look up the name of the smith indicated in the signature but it's still a nice find. For $75, this is an awesome deal that my wife found.

I'll take it apart again and take photos next time.

[rawnshah]

Well I went through the Yumoto book and the other ("A Connosieur's Guide to Japanse Swords") and no match on smith names. I may have misread it but I'll take a photo of the signature and post it here. Maybe I'll get lucky and someone can identify it.

[rawnshah]

Thanks. Yes, I have Yumoto's book and should look it up. I also have a more detailed one specifically about smith's and swords, if I can still find it. It's a matter of digging through the kanji I guess.

[Rich Klaas]

Hi Rawnshah,sorry to hear you were unable to cut this weekend it's one of my favorite parts of sworsmanship.On another note there is a book written by John M Yumoto called "THE SAMURAI SWORD...A Handbook" that is very useful as far as translating the signatures of japanese swords.Hope this helps and congrats on the new sword.