“Old Japanese Knife”

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  • KH195

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 10, 2013
    1,550
    Virginia
    I picked this up from a coworker several weeks back, he had inherited it along with some other WWII items when his grandfather passed, but his family wasn’t really interested in keeping any of it. He knew I collected WWII militaria and asked if I had any interest in an “old Japanese knife” and some other “WWII daggers and hats”. Ended up with some nice items, but my favorite is this piece. While it is indeed old and Japanese it is more correctly defined as a tanto based on the blade length (right around 11”).

    When I first saw it I knew it was old, but didn’t know exactly how old. In removing the blade from the shirasaya (the wooden storage handle and scabbard), I saw that the tang was signed and looked quite old. Long story short, it is signed by a sword smith who signed as Bishu-ju Yasumitsu and the blade likely dates to 1400-1450 based on info I received from a very well known expert and traditional sword polisher. Even the shirasaya appears to be in the area of 200 years old. I ended up sending it to the polisher for proper restoration and it just arrived back looking great. Cell phone pics certainly don’t do it justice. I love the visible grain patterns and hamon. This is my first nihonto piece and hopefully not my last, it’s pretty amazing to hold something that is 600 years old.
     

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    KH195

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 10, 2013
    1,550
    Virginia
    Very cool.

    So what about the other items that he had. Do you have pics of those?

    Sure, ended up taking home the tanto, a WWII German Kriegsmarine dagger with etched blade, Kriegsmarine enlisted man’s/NCO Coastal Artillery field cap, and a late war Japanese bayonet with bamboo scabbard. Coworker’s grandfather was a Korean War vet but apparently had an interest in WWII bring backs as well. They also had a Jinsen Arsenal Type 99 Arisaka which they had decided to keep.
     

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    KH195

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 10, 2013
    1,550
    Virginia
    Very nice!
    It's amazing things like this survived.

    It really is amazing, and what’s interesting is that so many survived (and a lot are much older than mine). Since these “heirloom” blades were so important to the Japanese and their culture, they took great care of them and ensured they were passed down through the generations.

    At the end of WWII many of them came back as souvenirs and our troops often had no clue as to how old and important the blades were. I’m sure there are many ancient blades still out there in closets and attics collecting dust. When I told my coworker how old this tanto was he was shocked, and said he thought it was made during WWII or even post war for tourists.

    In the course of my research I came across this recent thread on the Nihonto Message Boards, it’s a long read but a really neat example of someone having an “old sword” WWII bringback they inherited which turned out to be extremely old, very rare, and valuable (tens of thousands of dollars).

    http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/27429-captured-wwii-sword/page-1#
     
    Last edited:

    gtodave

    Member
    MDS Supporter
    Aug 14, 2007
    14,176
    Mt Airy
    I picked this up from a coworker several weeks back

    When I told my coworker how old this tanto was he was shocked

    ....someone having an “old sword” WWII bringback they inherited which turned out to be extremely old, very rare, and valuable (tens of thousands of dollars).
    When I read your last post about telling the co-worker, I cringed, because he probably immediately thought about the bolded part. I don't know what you paid for the knife, but I'm sure he correlated "600 years old" and "high value" right away. I hope he doesn't ask for it back.

    Either way, cool stuff!

    Did the Japanese blade get repairs done on the tip? One of the pictures looks like the tip had a different hue, indicating it had been repaired/replaced
     

    KH195

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 10, 2013
    1,550
    Virginia
    When I read your last post about telling the co-worker, I cringed, because he probably immediately thought about the bolded part. I don't know what you paid for the knife, but I'm sure he correlated "600 years old" and "high value" right away. I hope he doesn't ask for it back.

    Either way, cool stuff!

    Did the Japanese blade get repairs done on the tip? One of the pictures looks like the tip had a different hue, indicating it had been repaired/replaced

    Thankfully he didn’t seem all that interested in the value, and from what I know about him I don’t think he’d be one to ask for it back....I think he realizes he did zero research on it and had no interest...plus the polish came in at $1,200 (top tier US polishers charge in the area of $100 per inch for a traditional polish) so I don’t think there’s any chance he’d ever want to “buy it back” given he didn’t have much interest in it in the first place.

    No repairs to the tip, what you’re seeing in the pic is the result of the polish where the burnishing style changes on the top edge (mune) of the blade near the tip. Others may know more but I believe some polishers end the mirror-like burnishing short of the tip to prevent damage as it is more fragile.
     

    llkoolkeg

    Hairy Flaccid Member
    No repairs to the tip, what you’re seeing in the pic is the result of the polish where the burnishing style changes on the top edge (mune) of the blade near the tip. Others may know more but I believe some polishers end the mirror-like burnishing short of the tip to prevent damage as it is more fragile.

    It is traditionally done that way to define the kissaki or tip portion of nihonto even on hira zukuri blades like that one that lack a truly geometric yokote. Besides the aesthetic, it is also said to alert by well-practiced feel the one drawing it blindly(w/o looking...not Zatoichi-style) that the tip is about to come out of the saya so beware and don't accidentally cut your damned self. Such blades are intended to be drawn, sheathed and displayed mune-down/ha-up to protect the precious edge from repetitive dulling damage, internal saya slicing and with particularly foul draw, palm bisection or digit loss.
     

    KH195

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 10, 2013
    1,550
    Virginia
    It is traditionally done that way to define the kissaki or tip portion of nihonto even on hira zukuri blades like that one that lack a truly geometric yokote. Besides the aesthetic, it is also said to alert by well-practiced feel the one drawing it blindly(w/o looking...not Zatoichi-style) that the tip is about to come out of the saya so beware and don't accidentally cut your damned self. Such blades are intended to be drawn, sheathed and displayed mune-down/ha-up to protect the precious edge from repetitive dulling damage, internal saya slicing and with particularly foul draw, palm bisection or digit loss.

    Thank you! That explains it quite a bit better than I could!
     

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