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Hello: Thank you very much. Descending from the shinogi seems extremely weird and I don't recall ever seeing that before. Arnold F.

Hello: Do you see it now Jason? To my eyes the removed mark to the left is the strongest of the two and there are some gouges at the nakago end that one might wonder about. To add it is clear that the machi have been moved for some reason, perhaps part of the possible deception. I believe I am with you on the issue of it quite possibly being water tempered. I can only stress again how important it is to study the nakago as an entire piece. The older a blade gets the more important it is to also study the kissaki/boshi with great care. There are only a few Ko Bizen and in that group a surprising number with missing or modified boshi and they can be accepted to a degree, so that shows that nothing is absolute and age is a balm for many things with old swords, but for 20th century swords our judgment ought to be much tougher. By all means contact Aoi and let us know what they say. Arnold F.

Hello: I am getting into this rather late and am usually very reluctant to criticize anything for sale, but there are limits. My Tsuruta or his staff describes it as "Gunto", so perhaps an indication of something there or a red flag, however his oshigata clearly shows a well defined hamon and that wouldn't fit with oil tempered if it is true to what is seen. I think there might be another stamp that had been on it to the left of Brian's indication and at the same level. The biggest caution must be taken from the different yasuremi on the ura if carried as an uchigata-katana as it seems, curiously, to have been intended for. It is so deep and so different from the other side. For those just starting collecting I cannot stress strongly enough the importance of the nakago, not just the mei, but all of the proportions and the yasuremi must fit the period of manufacture, and correct yasuremi tends to vary little in any characteristic side to side. What might have been there? A shocking proportion of the value of any blade, ubu or suriage, is found in the nakago! I would not condemn any blade entirely without seeing it in hand, but I am very suspicious. Arnold F.

Hello: From the seppa-dai and kebori it appears to be a late Kyo-sukashi. Arnold F.

Hello: You might try putting a block of wood against the tsuka at the habaki juncture and hammering it smartly, being careful to avoid hitting the blade or habaki. You stand a good chance of the blade moving out of the tsuka. Arnold F.

Hello: Gold adds little than its market value and its use does not necessarily spell aesthetic quality. The tsuba on the other hands looks like a nice tachikanaguchi example, a little abuse not withstanding. Arnold F.

Hello: Ray is certainly correct in pointing out that all late koto Bizen incorporating "Bishu" in the mei are not necessarily kazuuchimono, far from it, but by the same token Jacques' warning about the danger of internet kantei is equally weighty. People literally travel thousands of miles, for example to the last Tampa show for the primary purpose of on hands study with the possibility of purchasing anything a distinct second. Some of those who attended the excellent NBTHK, AB display of Hizen were in that boat and all blades shown had explanatory information provided. At first glance the blade in question seemed to have a rather atypical hamon and a great deal of large nie - neither are damning but they need to be put in the broader context of blade weight, sugata, steel color, etc., all next to impossible to be seen carefully out of hand. Arnold F.

Hello: I have a nice koshirae with the tsuka which was originally a light tan suffering from too much handling with other than dirt and oil free hands. Does anyone know of cleaning method other than soap and water which would not endanger the same? Arnold

Hi Ray: Now I am confused! We talked about the eighth and I didn't scrutinize the nakago itself. Arnold F.

Hi Curran: Well that tanto by Kanenori is quite special and I considered it too. The through and through ken sukashi is most unusual, but really the most noteworthy thing is that Kanenori is perhaps the only smith who worked continuously from shinshinto when the tanto was made and dated, to Taisho and at the highest level of execution. Arnold F.

Hello Curran: Yes the fellow with the 6 for 6 did have some nice stuff including a nice tanto by Miyamoto Kanenori who would later become a pre-war Living National Treasure (there were only two, Kanenori and Sadakazu), and he got a 8th Gen. Tadayoshi papered, that smith being much elevated in appreciation in recent years and considered on the same footing as some of the early shinto era Hizen. Arnold F.

Hello: No Raynor, there were two paper types, salmon color for failed and plain white for passed and those papers gave quite a lot of information. I have been to many shinsa and in the old days we were commandered into doing the oshigata of the nakago. The point averages in Tampa were low, closer to the old days of Yoshikawa Koen, but if you got a paper you can be pretty sure it is right if signed and in the ballpark if mu mei, Arnold F.

Hello: I should have specified that my friend got six for six passes, hence the talk about interest. Arnold F.

Hello: Having just gotten home from Tampa and having had a couple of hours to observe the shinsa process in action, particularly the returning stage I can say for sure that the pass rate reflected sincere opinions and careful study by the team. Failure papers are salmon in color and there were a fair number of them coming through. A friend of mine got six for six and that is probably the only multi blade perfect score. A lot of care was taken with everything and the points awarded were on average quite low reflecting little extra reach to make anyone happy. Arnold F.

Hello: Just as your post says Peter, they are not all in Japan and even in Japan old swords are being newly registered every day. Arnold F.