Koa Isshin Mantetsu Remount
Aug 21, 2016 2:43:38 GMT
Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2016 2:43:38 GMT
It has been a while since I have done one of these!
This particular sword has been an undertaking, but finally after the efforts of several talented people it is finally in a good working state. It is actually the second gunto that had come into my care. After "paying forward" the gift that led the first one to me, I often considered hunting down another one. I came across the listing for this one on the Nihonto Message Board, and something about it stood out. I had a vague idea that "Mantetsu" was something a little different than the run of the mill gunto, but I didn't really dig into what that entailed until after I had pulled the trigger on this one. Anyone interested in gunto generally and Koa Isshin Mantetsu specifically really should explore ohmura-study.net/998.html and the related articles. The English translation is done well enough to get to the essence of what he is trying to convey in my opinion and it is a valuable resource and a unique perspective.
So, a few quick numbers. I don't typically bother with measurements and am more concerned with over all feel, but here's the big two to help get a sense of this one.
The blade is relatively short, with a cutting length of 26.25" / 66.675 cm. The sori is .78" or 2 cm, which is considerably more curved than the relatively straight katana I am more accustomed to, which was a take on the Kanbun Shinto form. It came with a slight bend, which I wasn't happy about but everything got worked out. The hamon is a very clean suguha, with a nice boshi at the kissaki.
The WW2 mounts are in fairly good cosmetic shape. The saya paint job is a bit long in the tooth but it is free of dents and the wooden liners are still decent. The ito wrap is nice, shows very little wear. The tsuka has a little bit of crack, wringing the handle produced some shifting, so I would not want to use that. I don't know if that means that the wrap was replaced at some point, or if that's just what happens over 75+ years. This was dated Spring of 1941, so it's been around for a while. I had hoped to be able to swap back to the original tsuka to play around with shorter handle since my experience on that front is very limited, but I think working it too much is likely to seriously damage it so it is relegated to display status.
Randy Black helped me out with a new koshirae. Glossy red saya, black silk ito over white rayskin. It has a few embellishments such as a mon decal that was given to me as a gift on my most recent trip to Japan, along with a dragonfly kogatana and metal kurikata and kojiri. As always, the koshirae came out great. Randy cleaned up the existing habaki and gave it a beautiful patina that perfectly matches the seppa. I wanted a handle that was a little shorter than my usual length, but still "within spec" for my purposes at 13.25" / 33.655 cm. In addition he made a great "half-tsunagi" to keep the war mounts together.
So the new clothes were everything I could have hoped for. The trouble I found once I got started trying to use the sword was that the slight bend was causing distraction. It could be drawn and sheathed without particular difficulty, but the feeling was enough to bother me. Nihonzashi helped quite a bit with this - they also cleaned up some trouble spots and dressed the edge. It was a good improvement, but not completely there. I remembered hearing about Mr. Wally Hostetter, so I asked him if he would be willing to take a look, and I couldn't have dreamed of a better end result. Everyone that has had a hand in working this sword since I first acquired it has helped get it to the point it is now - an excellent training weapon that should serve well. The only thing left at this point would be to do a real polish, which may happen in a few years. For now, I'm not worried about the scratches, scuffs, and other minor issues.
This is a fun sword. It's interesting to use something that doesn't require me to adjust for length. I love my other swords and always will, but it is a nice change. With more acclimation I'll have an easier time remembering that I don't have to compensate anymore, at least when using this one. I'm planning to revisit tameshigiri after a lengthy break, and will hopefully get to it within a few months if targets are still available. It isn't a big part of my practice, but I don't like setting things away for too long. In any event, this handles with authority - it kind of reminds me of old comic book Wolverine - short and mean.
Thanks for taking a look!
This particular sword has been an undertaking, but finally after the efforts of several talented people it is finally in a good working state. It is actually the second gunto that had come into my care. After "paying forward" the gift that led the first one to me, I often considered hunting down another one. I came across the listing for this one on the Nihonto Message Board, and something about it stood out. I had a vague idea that "Mantetsu" was something a little different than the run of the mill gunto, but I didn't really dig into what that entailed until after I had pulled the trigger on this one. Anyone interested in gunto generally and Koa Isshin Mantetsu specifically really should explore ohmura-study.net/998.html and the related articles. The English translation is done well enough to get to the essence of what he is trying to convey in my opinion and it is a valuable resource and a unique perspective.
So, a few quick numbers. I don't typically bother with measurements and am more concerned with over all feel, but here's the big two to help get a sense of this one.
The blade is relatively short, with a cutting length of 26.25" / 66.675 cm. The sori is .78" or 2 cm, which is considerably more curved than the relatively straight katana I am more accustomed to, which was a take on the Kanbun Shinto form. It came with a slight bend, which I wasn't happy about but everything got worked out. The hamon is a very clean suguha, with a nice boshi at the kissaki.
The WW2 mounts are in fairly good cosmetic shape. The saya paint job is a bit long in the tooth but it is free of dents and the wooden liners are still decent. The ito wrap is nice, shows very little wear. The tsuka has a little bit of crack, wringing the handle produced some shifting, so I would not want to use that. I don't know if that means that the wrap was replaced at some point, or if that's just what happens over 75+ years. This was dated Spring of 1941, so it's been around for a while. I had hoped to be able to swap back to the original tsuka to play around with shorter handle since my experience on that front is very limited, but I think working it too much is likely to seriously damage it so it is relegated to display status.
Randy Black helped me out with a new koshirae. Glossy red saya, black silk ito over white rayskin. It has a few embellishments such as a mon decal that was given to me as a gift on my most recent trip to Japan, along with a dragonfly kogatana and metal kurikata and kojiri. As always, the koshirae came out great. Randy cleaned up the existing habaki and gave it a beautiful patina that perfectly matches the seppa. I wanted a handle that was a little shorter than my usual length, but still "within spec" for my purposes at 13.25" / 33.655 cm. In addition he made a great "half-tsunagi" to keep the war mounts together.
So the new clothes were everything I could have hoped for. The trouble I found once I got started trying to use the sword was that the slight bend was causing distraction. It could be drawn and sheathed without particular difficulty, but the feeling was enough to bother me. Nihonzashi helped quite a bit with this - they also cleaned up some trouble spots and dressed the edge. It was a good improvement, but not completely there. I remembered hearing about Mr. Wally Hostetter, so I asked him if he would be willing to take a look, and I couldn't have dreamed of a better end result. Everyone that has had a hand in working this sword since I first acquired it has helped get it to the point it is now - an excellent training weapon that should serve well. The only thing left at this point would be to do a real polish, which may happen in a few years. For now, I'm not worried about the scratches, scuffs, and other minor issues.
This is a fun sword. It's interesting to use something that doesn't require me to adjust for length. I love my other swords and always will, but it is a nice change. With more acclimation I'll have an easier time remembering that I don't have to compensate anymore, at least when using this one. I'm planning to revisit tameshigiri after a lengthy break, and will hopefully get to it within a few months if targets are still available. It isn't a big part of my practice, but I don't like setting things away for too long. In any event, this handles with authority - it kind of reminds me of old comic book Wolverine - short and mean.
Thanks for taking a look!