katana tang translation

[guittarmaster]

I was giving a katana as a gift for work I did for this guy (he knew I am really into swords.) There is a whole back story about how the sword was gifted to me, after being traded for radio advertising, and before that traded in at a gun store. Before that it was supposedly in a family for a long time (and is where my belief in the story stops).
I'm happy with the sword regardless of it's history/authenticity. I did aikido for four years and appreciate it's aesthetics... (plus as back up for the Zombie Apocalypse ) Really, I just want to know what the inscription says. I don't know if anybody on the site is familiar with japanese writing but I figured hell, why not try... I mean, everybody is so helpful with everything else in life!!!

inscription on the tang

[LWTCS]

Are those markings not usually installed to identify the maker and his pedigree?
Too bad you do not have the (if any) corresponding companion sword also.

Awesome btw.

[LWTCS]

It usually signifies maker and how well it performed in a test, like made by so ans so and can chop 5 arms or sliced 10 torsos, the test were generally done on cadavers.

Really? Thats ephed up..

That practice surely must have had some limitations,,,,,unless I am the only one made of steel

[AKAAB]

I might be wrong, but I think it says "Made in Sheboygan."

[Texas Jim]

My boss is Japanese - let me ask him, but it will be tomorrow before he can get back to me.

[Texas Jim]

Sorry- my boss says this is Chinese, not Japanese writing. Can't help you.

[LWTCS]

Oh dear,,,,,its a fake.....

[Dnderhead]

I did not want to say anything,,but you see the tool marks? not authentic hand made..

[Bushman]

I did not want to say anything,,but you see the tool marks? not authentic hand made..

Good spot Dnderhead I was thinking the same thing, it looks as though it was done on a machine but without actually seeing it!

[Dnderhead]

id say possibly 50s?...a authentic Katina is made from damascus steel..it will have random patterns
in the steel.ore was mined ,cast into ingots ,sliced, then forged into shape.the iron ore had "impurities"
of carborundum and other minerals...thus the pattern.today some make what they call "damascus"
its two or more carbon steels sandwitchd together.( like file and saw steel)this will have lines
more or less running linth wise.real damascus the pattern is random .

[wildrover]

A person who can read Chinese would be able to get the jist of this since it's written in Chinese characters. My knowledge of the characters are very limited. I just know the top one that looks like a box dissected by a line down the middle is "Chuu" in japanese and means middle. If the next character is country, which it may be it's hard to tell, then the first to characters mean "Central Country" or China.

That's all I gots for yah.

[frozenthunderbolt]

id say possibly 50s?...a authentic Katina is made from damascus steel..it will have random patterns
in the steel.ore was mined ,cast into ingots ,sliced, then forged into shape.the iron ore had "impurities"
of carborundum and other minerals...thus the pattern.today some make what they call "damascus"
its two or more carbon steels sandwitchd together.( like file and saw steel)this will have lines
more or less running linth wise.real damascus the pattern is random .

Sorry, but i'm anal about this.

Damascus Steel - steel produced in crusader times in Damascus (smelting technique unknown)- probably a variation on Wootz blister steel.

Patern Welded steel (commonly called by the above name) - steel mande by sandwidging layers of high and low carbon steel (or, in some cases, their alloys) and hammer welding them together, folding them in diffenent ways. These steels may have a regular angular patern like "jacobs ladder" or something more random and globular depending on the number and type of folds performed and whether and stock was removed along the way.

While both have a visualy and structuraly similar end result, DS is a result of the smelting process and PWS is a carefully contrived, beautiful and effective forging technique.

Grab some of the Jim Hrisoulas books if you want to learn more. e.g.
Pattern-Welded Blade: Artistry In Iron by Jim Hrisoulas

True Katana's are somewhat unique in their pattern development:

Depending on the style, and the school of the smith they will have a solid core of softer iron jacketed on 2,3, or all 4 side of differnt pattern welded steels with slightly differnt properties.

Once joined and formed, the steel is heat treated with a jacket of clay covering the sword, the rate at which it is applied and the controll of the temprature affects the shape and deffinition of the Hammon - the wavy/stippled pattern along the cutting edge of the blade.

True Japanese katana are so highly pollished that the pattern in the steel is invisible except for the cutting edge. If you treated it with acid, as you do with a pattern welded (damascas ) blade, you would expose the same 'watered steel' patern in various forms all over it.

For more Authoratitive info on the construction of Katana look for a book called "The craft of the Japanese sword" By:
Leon Kapp (Author) , Hiroko Kapp (Author), Yoshindo Yoshihara (Author)

*breaths again and gets off his soap box*

[Ayay]

Visit this site http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/ It will take a few days to explore and read, and there's no BS.
They will know what your sword is.

[guittarmaster]

Thank you very much for all your imput. I wish I could of had a more interesting katana for us to look at but after all this i finally discovered it's origins. I was about to upload up a pic of the tsuba...

tsuba

when i looked up how to spell it. I then stated to investigate different types of them. Thats when i stumbled upon this site...
http://www.freewebs.com/kamakiriken/mantisrepros.htm

looking at the 8th row in the table i noticed something that looked familiar... the same tsuba!!!

Identity is confirmed. Paul Chen's golden oriole, (older version). Made in china. Eh, atleast it's nice to look at and something to practice forms with aside from my bokken.

Since this mystery has been solved. If you have any swords you would like to post pics of please do! I can't be the only one!

[guittarmaster]

Visit this site http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/ It will take a few days to explore and read, and there's no BS.
They will know what your sword is.

holy crap, this is one hell of a sword site!!! thanks for this!

[Ian Jay]

The very top symbol looks like the character referred to as the 'red man' in Mah jong.

See:
http://coolcalmandcreative.blogspot.com ... s-day.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[J3ff]

I have never been into swords myself, but I am a fan of all weapons, and respect the craftsmanship that goes into sword making over the years. Be it Japanese or Chinese, some guy still stood over a hot fire and hammered that thing out from a block of steel. It's a task I could not do, and I doubt many on this forum could do. Might not be the best of the best, but it's still pretty badass.