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Maybe someone tried to do Hadori on their own to cover scratches?

Its wakizashi and in bad condition. Search shintetsu.

It was perhaps a YARI in its former life.

Yes, may be iron, but it has a greenish hue on my screen, so I was not sure. Can be tested with a magnet. If you don't have a magnet, you can make a melting test. Iron melts at 1.538°C. If the TSUBA melts considerably below that, it is possibly SHIBUICHI.

Hi everyone, I just started recently collecting and picked up a piece that caught my eye. Unfortunately I do not yet have much experience in the study and it is a mumei. But I was hoping for some advise on how I can study this, or if there is any sort of information that can be discerned such as the school, possible age, etc. It does look like it has been shortened before. Thank you in advance.

Dear Alex, from the pictures I can only say that it is a wakizashi, not a katana, signed Sagami (no) Kami Fujiwara Hiroshige (Edo period, first half). Giordy

Thank you! best regards, john

And another page. Gimei as hell.

Watch out for this site. It have all from bottom. Posting pics of their Kanehide [1944] and Slough's pages.

My idea: Koto (end of Muromachi) Katana/Uchigatana (around 60+ cm) Mino sword. Shorten to Wakizashi in early Edo (based on patina from Nakago). https://japaneseswordindex.com/mino.htm

How about getting random wound picture, adding it to offer with a nicely made up story, counting that there people that will consider this as a plus for the sword. BTW, you will never believe what people can do. I saw an accident at my Dojo, where a young boy 'earned' 4 stiches while using Iaito ... How? Well, he took a big swing and stabbed himself behind back, with Kissaki (still pointy, even on dull Iaito) in calf (seems they are a nice target).

Tokyo-nihonto often deals in that price range. Nice website and photography and is a forum member.

雲林院 - Unrinin Ref. Unrin-in Temple (雲林院) - Hidden Gems in Kyoto

Dear all, i have trouble with this mei especially the 3rd kanji. First two maybe Unshū? thanks for any help, best regards John

Thank you for the is very detailed info it really helped me out a lot. After researching more it seems the signature says bushu ju masakata and it seems like he was active around the late edo period. It also seemed like this style of tsuba is a pretty common bushu theme.

Thank you Nicholas, I appreciate it

@deadreconing11 looks like it. The 3rd character is hard to see due to the mekugi ana. But there are also probably more forged than real signatures of Minamoto Kiyomaro. I’d wait for someone more experienced to chime in.

Holy crap really?

I have sent you a PM with some advice. I would personally not opt for a dealer polish when buying your first blade. You want a well polished blade, not a blade that still needs polishing (which can expose flaws, or be done crudely) Greetings, Lex

Any time period for my first Nihonto. I’m thinking active Hamon. Really I am so overly excited/anxious I just want to get something so I can settle down and take my time before trying to find something more expensive and knowing what I want more. what do you think about this Nihonto? They will polish it for 50,000yen more. https://shop.nihontou.jp/products/detail/29510

When someone looks for a Hozon papered katana at around 2K then the supply is simply on the low end. You will certainly encounter dealers in Japan selling swords for this price, often with some defects. Many of these blades will be sold between dealers or without ever going on any website. I think dealers in Europe and the US will be less tempted to deal in lower end blades because they won’t have a high profit margin. I think this particular market is extremely underrepresented by dealers, there is a lot of demand for blades in the 2-3K region sold within the EU or US. There is just a lot more to gain when you sell higher end blades, even if you wouldn’t sell them as quickly as a lower end blade. The lower end market is currently mostly populated by EBay sellers or sellers like @PNSSHOGUN listed. They offer blades for a low price, but often without papers or with defects.

I believe it’s minamoto kiyomaro

Davo you don't want that did you expand the blade and see all the lamination folds exposed, even it's description if you look at it in English says heavily polished, sure has a lot of The Bling you want but you would tire of that quickly once you've seen better blades in your learning. You're going to have to ask other members about Japanese shops I've not bought sword in many years.

https://shop.nihontou.jp/products/detail/29510 It is not very expensive and not sure why? But I really like the way it looks. Thanks for any help it will be greatly appreciated