Katana help please guys!

[helmuthunter]

pics

Pics

[nickn]

Is that a double habaki?
Never seen a double habaki on a showato
May we have some more photos?

[helmuthunter]

Is that a double habaki?
Never seen a double habaki on a showato
May we have some more photos?

Yes no problem will take them in natural light in the morning. Anything in particular I need to get good close ups of? Thank you for helping me with this. I really need to know what I have here.. Johnno.

[gunto]

Its sure looks like a double habaki with gold folio or polished brass.

[helmuthunter]

Its sure looks like a double habaki with gold folio or polished brass.

Can someone tell me what a double Habaki means? Can you tell me your opinion on the age of the blade? Thanks in advance for any help here identifying this blades age definitively.. Johnno.

[gunto]

Habaki is the collar that locks the blade into the scabbard.

[Luis22]

Gendaito unsigned.

[GHP]

Can someone tell me what a double Habaki means? Can you tell me your opinion on the age of the blade? Thanks in advance for any help here identifying this blades age definitively.. Johnno.

A double-habaki is a two-piece habaki [blade collar]. The common wisdom was that they appear on well-made blades. At nihonto.com they write about the double habaki:

...The Edo Period changed this custom to one in which single habaki were put on shinto swords and double habaki on koto swords....

I do not know if that statement is factually correct.

As a double habaki appears fitted upon the blade:


Field stripped:

image source

--Guy

[helmuthunter]

pics

Pics

[helmuthunter]

pics

Pics

[GHP]

Pics

Certainly yours is a double habaki.

--Guy

[helmuthunter]

Certainly yours is a double habaki.

--Guy

So it is rare to find a double Habaki? Does it signify anything about the blade?

[Bob Coleman]

Next to a standard habaki, the next most common found is the double habaki. If it was 18 ca. gold with a cut out family crest it would likely be a special blade. It was common for sword polishers to order a new habaki for a blade they worked on. They would usually use the same artisan and same form of habaki.

[nickn]

Bob
Still think its a machine made blade?
Nick

[Bob Coleman]

This is an excellent example of judgement of a Japanese sword from poor pictures very difficult. It would be unusual to find a double habaki on a Showato. The pictures of the nakago were incomplete and the yasurimei or file marks looked very crisp which would indicate a newer blade. Unfortunately, non sword collectors take pictures of the unimportant. A hands on by an experience collector should be able to make a conclusive opinion in seconds.