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Anonymous
Need photos of a road to use in uni work. (texturing an environment model for a game. In return I present you with this weird non-linear sword I photoed in a museum.
>> Anonymous
Could your "non-linear" swords be a katana with an accompanying wakizashi?
>> Anonymous
Could you post any road pictures and find some sense of humour on the way?
>> Anonymous
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There's no roads near you? Go outside with your camera and take one; you don't even need to be in the middle of the street to take a straight-down one, too.
>> Anonymous
>>142142

British Museum?
>> Anonymous
>>142167
Well, university students generally are too poor to afford one of their own, I'd wager.
>> Anonymous
>>142142
Is that a pirated version of hiro's sword
>> Doppelganger !.97.to9elc
>>142145
If you're talking about the thing on top of the blade, that is the saya, not another weapon. Additionally, the style of mounting indicates its a tachi, not a katana.
>> Anonymous
meh, you guys talk too much about things you don't know much about xD

as the OP stated this sword is slightly weird, the curvature is quite big for jap sword [or nihonto as some might prefer]. Tsuka is longer then standard, indicating it was probably custom made.

It is katana, for tachi, or a blade, that ranges between 2 and ~3.5 shaku does fall into katana range. katana is often referred to as a long sword, daito. longer swords are called odach [big+blade -> ooki+tachi -> odachi].

I own 2 swords... well that's not true I own one iaito and one katana. katana is custom made with longer tsuka since i prefer wider grip for greater cutting power ^^

and lol>>142145- as it was already stated is isn't wakizashi, it is a scabbard for this katana
>> Doppelganger !.97.to9elc
>>142347
>It is katana, for tachi, or a blade, that ranges between 2 and ~3.5 shaku does fall into katana range.
What are you trying to say?
>> Anonymous
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well since you guys are all over this sword thing...i thought i would throw this out there...
i got this sword, its an antique, i know this cause the previous owner was in his 90's when he died.
you guys think this thing might be worth some money?
i know...the condition it's in aint good. but the handle started coming undone the moment i picked it up.
>> Anonymous
>>142367
you can re-rap them :P
>> Anonymous
>>142357
What, getting lost in a bit more complex sentence structure then what you usually see?
Tachi means a balde or a sword. Japanese-style tachi of length 2-3.5 shaku is called katana. Is this simple enough for you?

>>142367
well tsuka is of least importance when asking for sword value. the blade is what really counts - check who made the sword [there are insignia on the nakago when you take tsuka off] from there you can see if it was done by any well known sword maker. If it is you can send it for authenticity check, get a certificate for it and sell it to a sword collector xD
>> Anonymous
>>142367
no, theres 100's like those on ebay. from chinese gay wars
>> Anonymous
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i tryed to have the sword itself translated by a professor who teaches Japanese. she told me she couldnt read the inscription on the sword cause the letters looked too old, she did translate part of it as reading "one mind" but the rest was beyond her, from letters that were no longer used. there was a number on the back of the sword. (yes on the wide edge under the handle) it was a number. 514.
anyone want to take a go at the inscription?
>> Doppelganger !.97.to9elc
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>>142402
Except katana is just a general term for blade. Strictly speaking, tachi has at least three separate main ways ways to write it, depending on era and length. The existing contemporary term is ?? (Excessive blade), with ?? (Big blade) reserved for jokoto-era (Predating the mid-Heian) chokuto. Additionally, tachi that exceed 2 shaku are written with extra kanji. See chart.

>>142439
Ask in /k/. They've been able to positively assist with the ID of another katana recently.
>> Anonymous
>>142508

I'm not going to argue with you since I don't really care what you think about swords. I read few books about hem, actually talked with a smith who forges them, had one made for me, I train kenjutsu and generally take interest in japanese swords. I know my share about them, and I stand by what I wrote in earlier posts.
>> Doppelganger !.97.to9elc
>>142575
May we debate instead?
>> Anonymous
>>142439
it might sound as a stupid question, but you did try http://www.bladeshark.com/ already, right? i know it's an obvious first choice, but some ppl don't know... so just checking.

>>142583
what would like to debate about? sword classification? there are various classifications, for example according to time of forgery you can split Japanese swords into jokoto, koto, shinto, shinshinto, gendaito and shinsakuto [hope I got spelling right, I'm to lazy to look it up in the books xD].
If you are asking for my opinion on word tachi - it means blade. Early straight bladed swords that were very strongly influenced by Chinese ones of longer sizes were referred to tachi as well. Kanata is a bit more 'specific' kind of tachi and the term was created later. Early tachi imitated tsurugi only had one cutting edge - but you can't call those katana at all. So in other words tachi is a more general term then katana.
>> Doppelganger !.97.to9elc
>>142600
>word tachi - it means blade
Specifically, it seems to have been derived from tachikiru, "to cut in two".

>were referred to tachi as well
Yes, that would be the ?? I wrote in the earlier post. However, this is compounded by the fact that several different character pairings exist, at least according to the Todaiji Kemmotsucho.

>Early tachi imitated tsurugi only had one cutting edge
Do you mean tsurugi no tachi? Because if so, they typically had a secondary edge near the point area (Kogarasu-zukuri).
>> Anonymous
>>142607
according to Mitsuo Kure, before Heian period Japanese swords were divided into 2 groups: tachi and tsurugi, where the first ones only had one cutting edge.

Tachi might have been derived from tachikiru [which means cut, chop, give up o break away nowadays] but the character don't really match
>> Anonymous
>>142367
>>142439
GOOD GOD THAT'S A HANZO SWORD!
>> Doppelganger !.97.to9elc
>>142610
True for the most part, however there was a style of construction called Kissaki-moroha-zukuri or Kogarasu-zukuri. It dated from around the Nara to early Heian periods, and presented a tachi that had a secondary edge on the mune.
>> Anonymous
>>142439
Post both Inscription and Number, I'll take a stab at it.
>> Anonymous
>>142658
Of course there had to be smiths that tried to do weird things in early days of tachi-like swords, mainly because of strong influences from neighboring countries.
But we are talking about swords that were started by Amakuni that later became what we know as jap swords - curved and single bladed.
>> Anonymous
I'm more impressed by the fact the blade is displayed properly with omote showing.

It's disgusting going to a museum and seeing a blade upside down and backwards.
>> Doppelganger !.97.to9elc
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>>142963
The Kogarasu Maru, a tachi made in the style I described above, is commonly attributed as made by him. However, the attribution is not for certain.

What makes it interesting was that for its era and type (Early Heian), it had a noticeable curve and the secondary edge was unusually long, running halfway down the blade.
>> Anonymous
>>142142
the met much?