Identifiy Japanese Katana

[ghp95134]

Hi Stu,

Thanks for the greeting [and invite]. Warning order: I'm not qualified to judge if anything is real or fake ... my lack-of-command of Japanese places me in peril most of the time (as you know) ... and I oft times upset the grammar and come up with the totally opposite meaning; what translators (I'm not one) call "meaning error."

Thanks!
--Guy

[Stu W]

Hi Stu,

Thanks for the greeting [and invite]. Warning order: I'm not qualified to judge if anything is real or fake ... my lack-of-command of Japanese places me in peril most of the time (as you know) ... and I oft times upset the grammar and come up with the totally opposite meaning; what translators (I'm not one) call "meaning error."

Thanks!
--Guy

Now you are just being modest, but that's a good thing and given that your worst translation is better than my best I'm sure your assistance is going to be greatly appreciated here.

Cheers,
Stu

[ghp95134]

After looking at the handle, I think it has been rewrapped. The foldings and crossings are not uniform as I would expect from an experienced handle wrapper; the "diamonds" are uneven; there appears to be no hishigami [paper wedges] underneath; as well, you can see the borders of the samegawa and handle core, especially on the reverse side of where the wrapping began.

Regards,
--Guy

[Alan M]

It's great to have you on board Guy and your assistance is much appreciated , we all try to help each other on here and i have already learnt new things from this thread , and what a nice wakizashi it is .

[ghp95134]

Alan, thanks.

Okay ... I just changed my "Airborne/Ranger" avatar to my late Golden, "TJ" ... in keeping with the apparent trend of avatar images. (^__^)

--Guy

[Alan M]

Alan, thanks.

Okay ... I just changed my "Airborne/Ranger" avatar to my late Golden, "TJ" ... in keeping with the apparent trend of avatar images. (^__^)

--Guy

Ahhh , a beautiful animal , it takes some getting over losing a dog !

[Alan M]

Yes, these years are in 60-year cycles. It could also be sometime mid-February 1879.

The chart I found begins in 1924. According to the chart, the 己卯 year begins 2/19/39 (Sunday) and 60 years later in 2/16/1999 (Tuesday). A 60-year regression would place the 己卯 year in Februray (mid month), 1879.

I wonder about the "Dai Rentai" inscription, though....

Yes , i thought about that also and found that one of the oldest Divisions of the IJA was the Fifth which was formed in Hiroshima in 1871 as the Hiroshima Garrison which was responsible for the Western Region of Honshu , Chugoku district and with the inscription stating " mid country " i thought this could tie in quite well time wise , what do you think ?

[Alan M]

It looks to me like the obverse and reverse of a straw hat atop an oar. I can't see the rest.

Though this man is wearing a conical hat.


I used to have one like this:


--Guy

Good call Guy that makes a lot of sense ! I saw what i thought was some kind of wicker basket or receptical