I found a bare blade at the Long Beach outdoor antique show

Please share your thoughts on this bare blade. It's a long waki.

I think it is a rusty wakizashi.

Yes, I agree... It's a rusty wakizashi. I paid $325, and the habaki needed to be replaced. I have posted more pics. Thanks, Christian

I pray you turn it into a polished blade, then we can see what remarks come.

Hi Stephen,

In this game of searching for the better swords, many will turn up out of polish. This is where being able to recognize a special blade, can result in a fun discovery. I am not saying this is a great blade... just saying that most of what I find, is in as-discovered condition, rusty, missing parts, and covered with many years of dirt, grime, and exposure. I know others have seen more, studied more, and know more, but I use what knowledge I have, and keep looking for that needle in a haystack because it makes my life more interesting.

Please share your thoughts on this as-found blade!

Christian

Have you decided if it warrants restoration?

Does it appear ubu or suriage? Hard to tell from the photos...If ubu, maybe shinshinto. If suriage, older....

Hi Stephen,

Yes, I think it deserves a polish.

Hi Chris,

I think it's koto, with an early shinto period osuriage, so for the sake of answering this question, and moving forward with sharing your opinion, please assume it's koto.

Thanks Guys,

Christian

I'm not at the skill level to possibly identify a maker or era for this blade but a few things I notice is the curvature seems quite nice, looks like it would feel well balanced. Some other things I'm just not sure of as they may just be tricks of the lighting but it almost looks like the Mune-Machi is missing (it seems level with the Nakago), is this possibly an indication of a shortened katana? It looks like the Hamon is peeking through especially in photo #4 in your first post, if it is it looks nice and wide. In your shot of the Kissaki the Boshi looks like it's visible and looks to me at least like O-maru.

At a minimum it would be cool to see whats hiding underneath all the grime and rust by having a window opened on one side before committing to a full polish.

Just my $.02, and I wouldn't be offended if one of the knowledgeable collectors on here jumped on and said I'm completely off base. LOL

Either way good luck with it.

Considering the hamon, with that shape, if it is suriage, I would think Keicho Shinto may be more probable than Nanbokucho....

Dimensions?

Hi Nagamaki,

I sent it to be polished, and only have some images. Hopefully you can guess the proportions by the scale on the ruler.

It's hard to evaluate blades based on just images. In this case what you can't see in my images is an unknown. Still many buy swords off eBay, and many times you only see a few images.

This is a chance to take a stab at this, and make your best guess.... based only on what you can see in the images.

Christian

I'd guess early shinto suriage, possbly late muromachi but I doubt earlier.

With little to go on but impressions of hamon and the general sugata of the blade, my best guess would be early shinto, possibly even a Shimada blade. I have a few Shimada blades and this one gives one the same sort of overall impression.

At the end of the day its all just guess work of course, but it might be an interesting excercise to flex our intuitions with.

Hi Sanjuro,

It never hurts to share an opinion, and I invite others to do so too. To make it a bit more interesting, this blade has been polished, and is now in Japan for the Jan. shinsa. I know what I think it is, but then, I am no expert, and a bit of a dreamer. Shimada was influenced by the school which I think made this blade.

Christian

The polisher should be able to tell you what he thinks it is.

Brian

Has the kissaki had a grinder kiss?

Nice looking hamon. Shortened Katana or Tachi. The 2nd ana may be the original. I do not see a yokote, but after the polish it should have a nice o-kissaki.

I hope, the tip can be saved.

I cannot really tell from the pictures how old this blade is and exactly what school. But, as the shortening looks already old to me, a logical conclusion would be that it is a Koto blade.

Regards, Martin

a logical conclusion would be that it is a Koto blade.

 

Regards, Martin

Or, Keicho Shinto...

The polisher has shared his opinion, and he thinks it's a nambokucho Soshu blade. posting.php?mode=reply&f=9&t=20870# Yes the kissaki did have some light grinding marks. The sword has been polished, and the polisher has emailed me, and stated the blade came out flawless, and has a very strong and impressive temper line. I will have to wait for the results from the January shinsa before I know more.

Chris, you are right, off course timewise Keicho era would be a possibility too.

Best, Martin

wait, what? polished in one day?

The polisher has shared his opinion, and he thinks it's a nambokucho Soshu blade. posting.php?mode=reply&f=9&t=20870# Yes the kissaki did have some light grinding marks. The sword has been polished, and the polisher has emailed me, and stated the blade came out flawless, and has a very strong and impressive temper line. I will have to wait for the results from the January shinsa before I know more.

Who is the polisher?

Stephen,

"I found a bare blade..." Could have been yesterday or last year :D

The well known polisher in Hawaii.... Bob B

And to Stephen, I found this blade over a year ago, and figured it might be educational to let guys take a guess based on what I saw in the unpolished blade. It was only recently completed, and sent to Japan for the Jan. shinsa.

So Bob Benson. One of the best of the best. Pics of the finished blade? Please?

Bob knows his Soshu....Fingers crossed for you!

Please post pics of it after the polish.

Many times it's hard to tell these questions from blades in polish much less out of polish.

The kissaki obviously being possibly telling.

Please post pics of it after the polish.

Many times it's hard to tell these questions from blades in polish much less out of polish.

The kissaki obviously being possibly telling.

As above please

Did bob take pics for you to see it before he sent it off