HAGIRE? Combat strike? on TOSHIHSRU

[root]

Here are pix of my cross breed ( civilian/military) Gunto.

So do you think the line here in the 1st two pix up front is a hagire crack/ or a combat strike?
I am also including other pix I have of it since I'm sure like me others like photos.
and it will give you a over view of the mixed furniture and condition it's been in for a few years.
It has the leather weather wrap on the saya and the saya is classic wood black paint/laqur underneath.
Now the rest of the pix just because..! That, and I know someone will ask LOL.








This is the newest addition to the sword collection.
The stuff on the blade (hamon pic) is sawdust from the saya I keep all my swords well oiled since we have a lot of fish tanks in the house and the upright safe is 3 feet from a 160 gallon tank.

Rich
PS: any thing you want to know about it ask away.

[Stu W]

Hi Rich,

If you don't mind I'll flip the photo of the nakago so the mei is more easily viewed.

Regards,
Stu
PS: from one fish guy to another ...what's in the 160?

[root]

The 160 has two Spotted Florida Gars. 12 inch and 14, Gold Clown knife 12 inches. and a 9 inch iradecent shark. planted sand bottom. Everything else in the tank is on the menu LOL. When the Gar get bigger we are going with a 320 G tank to replace it. ( long time member of monsterfishkeepers)

BTW. the Gar's names are GARfield and GARgamel.

Thanks for flipping the picture.

So what's everyone think of the "blemish/line" upfront on the end?

Rich

[GHP]

関住森俊治作
Seki-jū Mori Toshiharu-sakuMade by Toshiharu, Resident of Seki[Thanks Stu ... blood was rushing to my head ...]

By the way, that crack looks like hagire. It might have been damaged by using the blade as a lever ... but doubt it is combat damage; I'd expect nicks.

One further opinion: I could understand a combat-damage 刃切れ ha-gire [edge cut/break] from around the mid-portion of the blade through to the end of the monouchi [the "sweet spot"], but not at the very tip of the blade. I guess it COULD have happened -- the officer might have swung at a GI, the GI backed up enough that only the kissaki hit his helmet, rifle, or whatever, with enough force to break. Not impossible, but I do not think so.

--Guy

[root]

Thanks I figured it was hagire also.
I don't think it was used as a can opener though there is no bend there and no wave felt there if it were straightened back out.

only two small nicks that you have to catch just right with the light to see.

Was told by a person that I showed it to that it appeared to be a strike as it is a dead straight crack that dips in on one side and pushes out on the other.

that would be indicative of what blade edge on blade flat would do. That would be the proper way to block a strike from a sword with a sword. Or in the case of a single sided blade such as a katana either the back of the blade or down by the guard where most are dull just for the purpose of blocking a blade strike.

But like you, I 1st and still do think it is more then likely hagire. I think the guy that looked at it either doesn't know a lot about swords or was trying to romance the blemish. Probably a lot of both.

Rich

[GHP]

...that would be indicative of what blade edge on blade flat would do. That would be the proper way to block a strike from a sword with a sword....

Errr ... unless this officer had his blade deflected by a Marine's K-Bar, or it was a survivor of some of the initial Chinese sword attacks in 1933 [believe it or not, the Chinese had a sword unit before the Japanese!] -- I would not even think of "edge-to-edge" contact. It is possible the kissaki struck a hard object.


source

Edit: Cool! I just found an image of a cigarette card depicting the 大刀隊 Dàdāo Duì [Broadsword Corps]:



I've a WWII tanto (broken sword) has three small chips on the back ridge, where an opposing blade edge skipped along. I saved it from its $10 handle and had it properly fitted in Japan, now it looks like a venerable old Veteran ... shortened with age!

I've seen bent blades, combat-snapped blades [internet photo of Jpz officer holding his sword, broken in half], and blades that looked like hacksaws. Yours could have been damaged in combat ... or it might not've. I think a swordsmith might be in a better position to guess at a cause.

"Romancing the Blemish" I.Love.It !!

Best,
--Guy

Last one. Found this funny 2005 cartoon depicting a Japanese officer worried how to protect himself if the Large Sword Corps attacks:

"Hmmmm .... if I tape two iron tiles together ....."
[From a series of 8 panels.]

[Bob Coleman]

I would agree with Guy's assesment. Possibly a post war damage. I once bought a sword in gunto mounts that had 38 hagire. The edge of the blade could have been used as a saw! It was definitely post war damage done by some one strikeing a steel plate or something similar trying to cut it. The blade was an ubu Late Kamakura Bizen kodachi with date. There was also a Tokugawa mon on the handle! It was a signature study only and a very important sword destroyed by some idiot.

[BobI]

38 Hagiri, my God! I am not sure what to call it but I once had a nice massive shin-shinto katana that had a massive hagiri, I guess an O-Hagiri! It was so deep that the sword could have easily been broken if handled without care.
38 hagiri, WOW!
Bob