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500 Year Old Japanese Sword
By W T L Taylor
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Readers of Arms Cavalcade may recall my recent articles on antique Japanese tsubas and other sword fittings. I now off er a description and analysis of a complete antique sword.
This article is intended to be introductory, but I am aware that a knowledgeable Japanese sword collector could still object that I have left out important variations, or have made generalisations that are too broad. However, Japanese sword lore is so detailed and its classifications so numerous that it is easy to become lost in layers of explanation and interpretation. My purpose here is just to open the door a little for general arms collectors, by examining a typical example of a 500 year old sword whose blade is in good condition, combined with a quality set of matched antique mounts.
A common question is: “How can you tell how it is that old?”. The short answer in this case is that the sword blade has been formally appraised in Japan as having been made in the Muromachi period, 1333 - 1573. It is part of a larger group of swords known as kotoken, which means swords made before 1600.
The sword’s appraisal was conducted by the NBTHK, which is one of the two pre-eminent Japanese sword appreciation and authentication associations (the other is the NTHK). Both organisations accept swords and fittings at regular authentication and grading meetings called shinsa, where expert panels usually of four or five members examine, judge and grade swords against agreed standards. They issue formal certificates only if a sword or fitting is good enough. False signatures, significant damage or flaws will not pass. Certificates add authenticity and value to the sword and fittings and should always remain with them.
This sword has two NBTHK appraisal certificates: one for the blade and the other for its matched set of antique fittings.
Experienced collectors assess the age and quality of a sword by looking for the same characteristics sought by the NBTHK and NTHK panels. There are no short cuts for new collectors. You need to acquire some good reference books, look closely at the detailed descriptions given by the main international sword dealers in Japan, USA and Europe, listen to established collectors, and above all, handle as many swords as you can.
It may seem odd that so many very old Japanese swords still exist today. The main reason is that for centuries swords were produced in Japan in huge numbers during constant battles for power that only subsided when the Tokugawa clan took the Shogunate after 1600. Sword making continued after that, but the oldwww swords, ‘kotoken’, were so valued and carefully maintained that many thousands survived in remarkably good condition.
The blade
The sword is a wakizashi (a medium size sword, shorter than a katana, and longer than a tanto). It is sturdy and well balanced with a cutting edge of 51cms, which is quite long enough to make it a formidable close-range weapon. It is signed Nobukane on its tang and was made around 1500.
Cloudy undulating tempering runs up the cutting edge of the blade. Within the tempered area there are bright hard crystalline structures, which in several places extend in strings and small archipelagos beyond the temper line. The tempering pattern and the crystals have been deliberately brought out by the polishing process, because they form a key part of the appreciation of the sword: the more there is to see, the better.
In the fan-like section at the top of the blade (the kissaki) the cloudy temper line can be seen curling round and turning back, with thin strings of crystalline form.
Obtaining clear photographic images of these features is notoriously diff icult, so the Japanese also use line drawings to capture detail, like this:
Outside the tempered area the grain formed by the maker’s many layers of forged laminations can be seen. In this sword the grain resembles burled wood grain and is called mokume, but I cannot show it because the high polish on this part of the blade makes photographic imagery almost impossible.
These tempering variations and grain patterns are no accidental by-product of the making of the sword. They were specifically created by the sword maker in accordance with his school training and his creativity. Learning to appreciate the many variations is one of the features of Japanese sword collecting that draws so many collectors from around the world.
This blade has a wide fuller running up each side. Many Japanese swords do not have them, but the presence or absence of a fuller has no bearing on the quality of a sword: as in European swords, the fuller is merely a method used to lighten and strengthen it.
The tang
Despite its age the tang is in its original form and condition. Swords of this age often have heavily rusted, shortened or reshaped tangs but this is original, showing a nice patina with a clear, strongly cut signature. Although there were several smiths signing as Nobukane over several hundred years, the NBTHK appraisers could not determine which of them made this particular sword.
Signatures with only two characters are common on koto swords. Although there are koto swords with long inscriptions (maker’s name, their province, clan and date), you are more likely to see only a two character signature like this one, or often no signature at all.
The blade is much thicker across the widest point of the tang than along the polished section. This is due to the eff ect of many polishes (ie professional sharpening) over centuries of use. The thickness of the cutting part of the blade has thus been progressively reduced, leaving the tang 15% thicker than the polished surface. This is a typical indicator of an old blade.
The next best thing for a collector is to find an old sword with antique mounts that may be later than the blade, but match from top to bottom, with a clear theme determined by the owner’s personal taste. The appearance of a samurai’s sword was an important part of how he wanted to be perceived by the world.
The handachi mounts of this sword were chosen with care by its then owner about two hundred years ago. They are modelled on the traditional furniture of long swords, which suggests that this was the companion sword to an identically mounted katana. A pair of swords with matching mounts is called a daisho. As only the samurai were allowed to wear two swords, this is an indicator that the sword has a samurai heritage.
The mounts at the top and bottom of the hilt have the same decoration as those fitted to the top and bottom of the scabbard. The craftsman who made them used an alloy of silver and copper called shibuichi, which was patinated to give a dark green colour, then finely inlaid with silver to depict plum blossoms and straight lines which represent stylised branches of the plum tree. Tree blossoms were regarded as symbols of the ephemeral nature of life.
The sword furniture
Old blades were generally remounted many times over the centuries as fashions and owners changed. Koto blades with their original mounts are rare, even in museum collections.
The hilt of the sword (tsuka) was made with a twopiece wood core. Each side was shaped internally to fit the tang of the sword like a glove, then glued together. Over that was wrapped a select piece of ray skin, which is hardy and water resistant and whose nodules give excellent grip. In this case the quality of the ray skin is shown in the graduated lumps towards the top on the outer side: these are from the top of the spine of the ray.
Over that is a twisted silk string wrapping whose open pattern further assists the swordsman’s grip.
Under the wrapping are two menuki - one each side, off set to further enhance the grip. The blossom theme is repeated in their design.
The tsuba
The tsuba (sword guard) is iron with a classic design depicting a gnarled old plum tree in blossom. The sophisticated design uses blank space to highlight the tree in silhouette. This is a long-established stylistic tradition, made in this case by a Kawaji school craftsman from Hagi, in Choshu province, in the latter half of the eighteenth century. This restrained style of pierced iron tsuba was favoured by samurai over the more decorative designs found on swords worn by merchants.
A small knife slots into the scabbard on its inner side. This is not a weapon, but is used for basic tasks requiring a small sharp blade. They were given a simple temper line like their larger brothers and often inscribed with the names of deities, or a maker’s name and where it was made. In this case the inscription is too worn to be deciphered.
Its flat, rectangular handle (kozuka) is early 19th century Ishiguro School, depicting a flowering plum tree and two nightingales. It was made from shakudo (patinated alloy of gold and copper) with gold highlights, and signed on the back Ishiguro Tonan kao. There was strong demand for Ishiguro work throughout the 19th century, and this kozuka is typical of the school’s style.
It is worth noting that the raised parts of the design sit on a surface of very small hand punched domes, called nanako. There are 900 of them in every square centimetre.
Like the hilt (tsuka), the saya (scabbard) is made of two pieces of wood internally shaped around each side of the blade and then glued to fit firmly and precisely. It was then given a hard dark green lacquer finish, decorated with two samurai mon (family crests).
One is the Sakai mon (an idealised oxalis shape used by Daimyo Tsurugaoka in Dewa). This probably denotes that he was the lord which the sword’s owner served.
The second is the Igeta mon (an idealised image of a well-frame), which is most likely the owner’s own family mon.
At the throat of the scabbard, at its bottom end, and on the curved raised piece to which the silk waist cord is attached, the matching shibuichi fittings repeat the blossom and silver line imagery.
Summary
The habaki
The final feature is the gold covered habaki (collar) that holds the blade firmly against the tsuba and the hilt. This is made from copper to fit the shape of the sword, carefully overlaid with a sheet of solid gold, and then inscribed with a special pattern to roughen the parts which hold the sword inside the top of the scabbard. The Japanese name of this diagonal pattern is ‘cat-scratching’ (if you have ever lived with a cat, you will know why), and is hand done.
A high quality habaki like this on a sword is a good indicator of a fine quality blade.
Japanese sword collectors tend to split into two main groups - blade collectors and fittings collectors. In the middle are those that seek out swords that combine good blades with original matched furniture, particularly examples of the type of sword a samurai may have worn hundreds of years ago. This sword fits nicely into that category. of year
References
1. There are literally hundreds of reference books on Japanese swords.
Readers interested in learning more would do well to join the online forum Nihonto Message Board at https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/ index.php. 2. Samurai Swords, a Collector’s Guide, by Clive Sinclaire, Chartwell
Books 2009 3. The Japanese Sword, by Kanzan Sato, Kodansha 1983 4. The Arts and Crafts of the Japanese Sword,B W Robinson, Faber 1961 5. The Connoisseur’s Book of Japanese Swords, by Kokan Nagayama,
Kodansha 1997
