Some new information about my gendaito

Original post:

https://93zj.blogspot.ca/2017/05/gendaito-and-otanto.html

So, my wife did a little investigation on my gendaito and while searching for the signature on the tang, she found this:

http://www.touken-sato.com/event/katana/2015/01/K-sou_tsutomu-01.html

What she found was a  sword which appears to be made by the same smith as mine.  

 

A comparison between the inscriptions (mine on the right):

  

筑州住宗勉作 -  Chikuzen Sumuneun studies.  My sensei tells me the smith's name is Sou Tsutomu, and his father was Sou Kunimitsu.

  

Now, this is where I have a bit of trouble understanding.  The website indicates the following as the inscription on the tang:

昭和四十八年八月吉日 which says Showa 48th, August.

The tang appears to read Showa 28th , August?  Mine appears to read Showa 29th, August?  I will have to get this checked out because though I understand the Chinese/Japanese numerical system, I am not at all familar with the Japanese calendar system.  48th year of Showa seems to be 1973, but if it's the 29th year of Showa, that would make it 1953.  If that's the case, mine is 29th year of showa, making it 1954.

***EDIT 29Aug17***  I have since spoken to my sensei about the date and he advised that the character I thought was a "2" is actually two characters side by side, indicating a 4.  Apparently that's how it was written back then.  So what I thought was this character:

二

is actually:

二二

thus indicating 4 instead of 2.  So in effect, the website is correct in stating it was the 48th of Showa.  This carries over from the Touken Sato sword over to mine and they are both still one year apart.  The Touken Sato sword is the 48th year of Showa (1973) as stated on their website and mine is still 49th year of Showa (1974).  My friend Ron told me he's had the sword for about 30 years, making my sword only about 13 years old at the time he acquired it.  The story he was told is plausible, date wise.  

As the smith did not receive his award until 1990, I see little reason for someone to make a fake with his name on it 30+ years ago, but that's just my opinion.

Other information that appears on the website:

種別 刀

国 福岡県

時代 昭和～平成

法量 ２尺４寸５分

Shubetsu-gatana kuni Fukuoka ken jidai Shōwa ~ Heisei-hō-ryō 2-shaku 4-sun 5-bu

Which suggest it was forged in Fukuoka prefecture during Showa Heisei, sword length, 2.45 shaku

More info:

新作名刀展無鑑査刀匠

金着せ二重はばき

白鞘

福岡県登録：昭和４８年１２月２０日交付

Shinsaku meitō-ten mu kansa tōshō kinkise nijū habaki shirazaya Fukuoka ken tōroku: Shōwa 48-nen 12 tsuki 20-nichi kōfu

宗勉刀匠は、昭和二十一年に父である宗正光刀匠に師事し、昭和三十年に美術刀剣類制作承認を受け、同年新作名刀展に初出品、その後、文化庁長官賞・薫山賞など幾多の特賞を連続受賞し、平成二年には刀匠会の最高位である無鑑査に認定されました。その作風は、金筋・砂流しなど刃中の働きと変化に富んだ相州伝を最も得意としています。

　この刀は、小板目肌よく詰んだ精美な鍛えに、地沸微塵に厚くつく。刃文は変化に富んだ互の目乱れ、足太く長く頻りに入り、匂深く小沸よくつき、匂口明るく冴えるなど、宗刀匠の高度な技量を存分に示した作品です。

Sō Tsutomu tōshō wa, Shōwa nijūichinen ni chichidearu Sō Seikō tōshō ni shiji shi, Shōwa san jū-nen ni bijutsu tōken-rui seisaku shōnin o uke, dōnen shinsaku meitō-ten ni hatsu shuppin, sonogo, Bunkachō chōkan-shō Kaoru-san-shō nado ikuta no tokushō o renzoku jushō shi, heiseininen ni wa tōshō-kai no saikō-idearu mu kansa ni nintei sa remashita. Sono sakufū wa, kinsuji sunagashi nado hachūnohataraki to henka ni tonda Aishū-den o mottomo tokui to shite imasu. Kono katana wa, koitamehada yoku tsunda seibina kitae ni,-chi nie mijin ni atsuku tsuku. Jinmon wa henka ni tonda Tagai no me midare, ashi futoku nagaku shikirini hairi, nioi fukaku ko nie yoku tsuki, nioikuchi akaruku saeru nado, Sō tōshō no kōdona giryō o zonbun ni shimeshita sakuhindesu.

Another sword with the same name found on Giheiya:

http://www.giheiya.com/shouhin_list/japanese_sword/katana/02-1207.html

種別Category 刀 刃長Blade length 76.8cm

反りCurvature 2.4cm 目釘穴a rivet of a sword hilt 1個

元幅Width at the bottom part of blade 33.5mm 先幅Width at the top 21.0mm

元重Thickness at the bottom part of blade 7.0mm 先重Thickness at the top 5.0mm

重量Weight 刀身855g 時代Period 昭和

銘文Signature and Date （表）筑州住宗勉作

（裏）昭和乙年二月吉日

登録Registration Code 昭和60年7月18日 福岡県教育委員会

品番 02-1207

<体配>

鎬造り庵棟、身幅やや太く重尋常、腰反りの太刀姿で小鋒。茎は生で筋違い鑢がかかり、茎尻は栗尻。

<地鉄>

小板目肌が良く詰み、棒写りが立つ。

<刃紋>

刃紋は、互の目、足良く入り、匂い深く小沸よくつき、匂口明るく冴え、刃中は稲妻、金筋がかかる。帽子は乱れ込み小丸に返る。

<特徴>

宗勉、本名は宗勝、昭和2年生まれ、福岡市博多区山王住。銘を筑州山王住宗勉作、筑州住宗勉作などと切り相州伝を得意とします。昭和二十一年に父である宗正光刀匠に師事し、昭和三十年に 美術刀剣類制作承認を受け、同年新作名刀展に初出品、その後、文化庁長官賞・薫山賞など幾多の特賞を連続受賞し、平成二年には刀匠会の最高位である無鑑査に認定されました。

本作、宗勉刀匠58歳の一番油が乗っていた頃の作品で、平地には薄らと棒写りが立つ逸品です。

<拵え>

ハバキ：素銅地金着一重。 白鞘が付属

<刀剣の状態>

研ぎ:　研ぎ上げたばかりです。

傷:　傷は有りません。

A signature comparison from left to right between the Touken sword, Giheya sword and mine:

    

A date comparison from left to right between the Touken sword, Giheiya sword and mine:

    

Anyway, this info was a nice find thanks to my wife.  At least there's a bit more history about the sword than I can pass on to my son one day.  My buddy Vincent also found this little nugget of information:

http://www.jp-sword.com/files/seki/Shinsakuto.htm

If you scroll down to 1990, that's when Sou Tsutomu received his Mukansa recognition.  I'm not sure if I will get my sword certified by NBTHK, but that might be worth looking into.

Now I just have to find the history of my o-tanto

 

Mei:  Sadatsugu

Date: 3rd year of Ansei (1856?), 2nd month

Gendaito and Otanto

So it's been a while since I bought anything firearm related, but I recently had the opportunity to acquire something new and different.  My iaido classmate Ron had been toying with the idea of selling his nihonto recently and I may or may not have egged him on into selling them to me.

Although I love all my firearms and see myself using them for a very long time, I've amassed a very large collection, including many I seldom use.  I've imagined one day passing them down to my kid one day, but I've often wondered if he will even take on an interest in firearms, and also if some, if not all of my collection will be obsolete by the time he's old enough to get into the hobby,  

We've all heard people talk about "Grandpa's old hunting rifle", or "dad's old shotgun".  One day it could be "dad's old chassis rifle with that old S&B".  Although I'm not in a hurry to thin the heard with my firearms, I've been thinking about their current value, having all that money tied up in my beloved firearms, versus having something of long term value and inherit ability.

My parents came to Canada with little of their heritage other than their family history passed to me by word of mouth.  They kept very few photos, let alone family heirlooms to pass down to future generations.  I wanted something to pass down to my kid and if he had any interest, maybe he would pass it down to his kids.  Part of the reason I got the Colt Canada SA20 was because I wanted my boy to have a replica of my army rifle, and maybe he'll pass it down to his kid and tell him/her that this was the same rifle grandpa used when he was in the army.  I figured that because I had nothing of my cultural heritage to pass down, it may as well be this rifle.  

Recently though, I have been considering the other side of his heritage as he is half Japanese.  Like a typical stupid gaijin, I asked my wife early on in our relationship if her family were descendants of samurai.   To the best of my knowledge, her family has very few heirlooms or family keepsakes older than from Showa-era.  

I've been fascinated with Japanese swords for a long time, and though far from being an expert, I have a rudimentary understanding of the differences between a wall-hanger and Nihonto.  I once had a gunto, (see https://www.japaneseswordindex.com/showato.htm ) but I sold it 20 years ago and used the money as a downpayment for a car.  About 11 year ago, I began studying iaido, the way of drawing the Japanese sword and my interest in Japanese swords was rekindled.  I started with a bokuto, then got a few cheaper, made-in-China shinken, then my iaito, and then a few years ago, I picked up a Tozando shinken, which was claimed to be made by a Japanese smith, or at least under Japanese supervision outside of Japan.  Though it's likely my Tozando katana has a decent blade, I still wanted something made in Japan, in the traditional method, by a Japanese smith.

As you can tell, this isn't entirely about having something to pass down to my kid, I have a keen interest in it also.  That being said, someone from the Vancouver Japanese Sword Appreciate Club once told me that none of us actually own a Japanese sword.  We are the keepers for our lifetime, then we pass them on to the next generation.  

According to my sensei, Hiro Inoue, the gendaito pictured here was likely crafted around 50 years ago, it is, on a balance of probabilities authentic and made in Japan by a Japanese smith in the traditional way.  In effect, it is likely made with folded steel and water tempered, and it was made from tamehagane or oroshigane.

There are no tang stamps (Showa, Naval, Mukden, or Seki etc to indicate a gunto blade) and my sensei tells me that he does not recognize the name of the smith.  A lot of fakes will engrave the names of a famous smiths to boost their perceived value, but a possible indicator of authenticity would be a smith that may not necessarily be famous.  My sword is not certified by NBTHK or NTHK, but I am satisfied that it is a gendaito, and I hope that my kid will appreciate such finely crafted swords as I do.  I haven't decided if I will have it fitted with furniture, but it is something I may consider doing because it is the same dimensions as my practice sword (iaito) coming in at about 2.45 shaku.

A few interesting tidbits I got from Ron about the history of the gendaito is that he's had it (along with the otanto) for about 30 years (That puts the purchase date sometime in the mid to late 80s).  

He bought both blades from a Japanese man who worked for JAL at the time.  The man had other swords, some with certificates, but Ron decided on these two as they were less expensive because they had no certificates.  

I've known Ron for more that 10 years and I find him to be a good person with little reason to be telling me porky pies.  With that said, I am completely satisfied that the history of the sword you are about to read about is exactly as he heard it from the previous owner.

 The gendaito was previously owned by a yakuza.  Apparently the yakuza had at least on one occasion used the sword in a fight with a rival yakuza, and cut the other yakuza's arm off.  Now, it's not likely that this story could ever be corroborated, but it's an interesting story nonetheless.

The second blade that I acquired from Ron was this otanto.  Again, the blade came in shirasaya as my gendaito did.  Actually, I was hoping to buy only this otanto because he didn't mention that he was thinking about selling his long sword as well.  

According to my sensei, this blade is likely about 200 years old or so.  The smith's name is known to my sensei, but apparently not famous.  Again, there are no certificates from NBTHK or NTHK, but I trust Ron, as well as the opinion of my sensei

The tip has a slight chip in it, but it's not catastrophic and can be polished out.

The two toshin on their own.

My iaito, though made in Japan, does not have an edge and is composed of a aluminum-zinc alloy.  It simulates the look, dimensions and feel of a real sword, but made strictly for practing iaido.  Many sword vendors will advertise their Musashi koshirae swords, however after a little research, I have found little evidence of any complete swords with furniture that were owned by Miyamoto Musashi.

The namako designed tsuba accredited to Musashi.

The last sword I have for this post is my Nishijin branded shinken. I purchased this back in 2011 from another classmate.  According to Nishijin's website at the time:

"Nishijin Sword's Iaito swords have already received numerous praises from the users with its superior balance, workmanship and finish.  Now with the new hard carbon steel blade, you can experience the real Japanese sword feeling and test cutting.  Unlike other competitors in the market, each and every sword is specifically handmade under the supervision of Tozando/Nishijin Sword and the technical guidance of the Japanese master sword craftsman in Seki of Gifu.  Although the final product is assembled in China, the quality of the fitting materials is as same as the one available in Japan and as such ornaments as Tsuba and Tsuka are shipped from Japan"  In an e-mail to Nishijin, they indicated that they used T-10 steel for the toshin.

The previous owner had an Edo-period tsuba fitted to it, however it seems a bit smallish and may have been meant for a wakizashi rather than katana.

Hopefully my modest sword collection will stay this way, contrary to my firearms library.  I eventually want to get something older, with certification from NBTHK or NTHK, but I will have to study Japanese swords a lot more to make an educated purchase.  The reason I got the gendaito and the otanto was because they were from a friend at a fantastic price, and it was under the guidance of my sensei.