Could somebody shed some light on the quality requirements of Fujishiro papers; I understand they are highly esteemed, and 100% reliable in terms of signature authentication. But how do they compare with NBTHK and NTHK papers in terms of quality and healthiness requirements: are they more or less strict than e.g. NBTHK Hozon papers?

BR, Veli

News to me that any antique appraisal (or indeed most anything in life) is ever 100% reliable. Not to say that Fujishiro papers aren't entirely trustworthy from a practical perspective, but let's be serious.

They are with this sword. Looks nice for the price.

http://www.tokka.biz/sword/fuyuhiro.html

I actually meant to say 99.99% reliable but rounded the figure to 100% for convenience as well as in order to avoid being disrespectful

Let us put the question in another way: Has anybody ever encountered a sword papered by Fujishiro that, due to quality or flaw issues, probably would not receive NBTHK Hozon-token if submitted?

BR, Veli

Dear Veli,
As you say Fujishiro papers have a strong reputation for their accurracy. I dont doubt that as new research continues to increase understanding some of the older ones may be questioned. Regarding quality I have seen very few papers but the majority of comments you see about them seem to focus on authenticity of the mei rather than the quality of the blade. I assume that as with most top polishers if the sword was in too poor condition or had a fault that would prevent it passing shinsa then Fujishiro-san would neither polish it nor paper it.
This is based on feeling rather than fact but others I am sure will have greater experience.
Best Regards
Paul

Hello Paul, of the half dozen or so Fujishiro papered swords seen over the years, not many, I'd say that your "feelings" serve you well. If memory serves, of the ones I've seen all the swords had a "Fujishiro polish" in addition to the papers, but only 1 had been polished by Mr. Fujishiro, himself. In the end the bottom line remains the same, buy the sword, not the paper.

I bought a small wakazashi in shirasaya about 35 years ago in NYC. The nagasa was just under 17 inches and shinogi zukuri It had been brought to Sotheby's and had been rejected. When I first saw it I was very doubtful at the time because of the mei. It had been signed by Masahide and his son Sadhide. About a week later the owner came in with the sword again and produced a set of papers that he had received with the sword when he bought it in Japan.They were by Fujishiro. At the time he didn't think they had any importance. Needless to say I bought the sword.
I had it for awhile and traded it for something more to my liking at the time.

Tim S

Beati pauperes spiritu ....

Thank You for the excellent comments! Although we should concentrate on the blade and not the papers, we should also keep in mind the beginners (to which group I still count myself) who buy blades on-line; reliable papers (including Fujishiro) usually prevent them burning their fingers too painfully.

BR, Veli

Hi, cynicism and kantei remain two of a nihonto collector's best friends, remember, the 2nd step in kantei according to Sato sensei is determining quality. In fact when it comes to origami and nihonto it can very easily be the case that the paper only guarantees that the collector could be making a more expensive mistake.

Dear Franco,

I somehow got an impression that you might know of an interesting, real life example how a sword with seemingly reliable (recent?) papers has turned out to be a really bad disappointment. If so, could you please share the story with us? Nothing beats practical examples when we want to learn something... However, in order not to increase the workload of our excellent moderators, let us be limited to disappointments due to incomplete or wrong information in the papers, or quality grossly inconsistent with the requirements of the papers, and furthermore, let us leave the sellers unnamed.

BR, Veli

Hi, what is important here is that collectors learn kantei, which is much, much, more than simply figuring out who made it, so that they can avoid becoming their own real life example of how they mistakenly substituted buying papers instead of buying the sword, which leads to their own disappointment.

There is nothing wrong in collecting papers. Perhaps we need a forum for paper collectors rather than sword collectors.

Whatever their use ..