My first Shin-Gunto

[DaveR]

Hiya everyone, I have lurked on this site for a few weeks now and have been impressed by the knowledge and helpfulness of people here.
I now have a Shin-Gunto blade along with my Nihonto, a new area for me. The blade has a nagasa of 64cm which is a little short for Gunto, but is the original length. No stamps, so it is probably made before these became obligatory, and only "signed" on one side of the nakago. Can anyone tell me what is written and perhaps give me some idea of type of blade. Most of the polish remains with a few nail catchers on the ha and mune, it has a wide and well defined hamon but how this was produced I don't know. Best guess an oil quench. The current photo's are quick and dirty because the signature may make further research or photo's irrelevant.
Many thanks in advance,
DaveR

[Martin C]

Welcome to the Forum!

[ghp95134]

岡田兼義作
Okada Kaneyoshi-saku
Made by Okada Kaneyoshi

I did some light googling and found other swords with the same named smith ... but those signatures are all well-carved compared to yours. One well-carved Kaneyoshi sword was selling for about US$3,500.

But I'm just a "reader", not a collector or expert. Let's hear what our experts have to say.



--Guy

[DaveR]

Well this just got more interesting. I bought the blade as a project, needing a Koshirae and expected to spend a fair amount of time putting together something that would "pass" as ok. Hunting the internet this turned up, photo's below and being a blade-less set of mounts on a tsunagi it went to me at a decent price, and considerably less than I expected or bid. When it arrived I idly checked it for fit not really expecting it to. They could have been made for each other... no loose bits at all and the mekugi ana lined up perfectly. Either I struck incredibly lucky or the Seki smiths worked to very tight parameters. I am both very happy, and a little bit creeped out. How often does this happen?

[DaveR]

A few more pics, the koshirae arrived with a Showa period tsuba for an Iaito or similar, probably not what it originaly had. I pulled a Gunto Tsuba and a couple of kazari seppa out of the bits box and put them on.