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Ok let us ignore the Hanwei stuff/ China replica as they have no bearing here. Instead we will look at O-Kissaki to start. Most collectors new and old have some love for O-Kissaki but on that mountain there are Kings (none in your budget) and there are outliers that can be surprising. When looking at O-Kissaki you will have 3 eras to observe. We know O-Kissaki started in the Nanbokucho era and some can be found in the early Muromachi period then going into the ShinShinto eras and finally you get them in Modern times. Some of the Kings of O-Kissaki are: Nanbokucho (Koto) Chogi, Shizu, Naoe Shizu, Nobukuni, Kencho, Hasabe, Motoshige, Kanemitsu, Norishige (period specific, he later changed to Heian Sugata), Kunimitsu, etc, etc but to help you see them you can see these links (not for buying but observing, I am using online links as most people do not buy books anymore, why? no idea.) * Note that in the downloads section in the NMB you will find a lot of material also. https://markussesko.com/articles/ https://www.sho-shin.com/ https://www.nihonto-museum.com/collection/masamune-no-jittetsu https://www.nihonto-museum.com/collection/sadamune-no-santetsu From the Muromachi you will see things like this: https://www.nipponto.co.jp/swords2/KT219471.htm (not exactly O-Kissaki but still a powerful Sugata. I have seen this one in hand in Osaka and I think the day will come when it walks into TJ, but that is another thread). Going into the ShinShinto you will see the kings of O-Kissaki are Satsuma, Kiyomaro and his school https://www.nihonto-museum.com/collection/satsuma-province-swordsmiths https://taiseido.biz/products/detail/pg93.html Those are just a few examples. But you have a budget so scouring through what little liks I have in your budget we can find a few items like so (Japan only as you want to buy there) I have taken liberty to go from 400K to 800K JPY. https://www.tsuruginoya.com/items/a00646.html https://www.tsuruginoya.com/items/a00659.html (Naginata Naoshi, not O-Kissaki but might still get the heart pumping. Note that Naginata Naoshi do not retain value very well and is a have a specific type of collector that appreciates them) https://world-seiyudo.com/product/ska-120124/ (will paper for sure) https://www.sanmei.com/contents/media/S72306_S1304_PUP_E.html (will not paper because the smith is still living, I think?) https://www.samurai-nippon.net/smp/item/P-988.html 9not magnificent O-Kissaki but a nice Kissaki in terms of shape, condition is another story) https://www.samurai-nippon.net/smp/item/P-811.html 9more of an Iaido sword, smith is still alive) https://www.samurai-nippon.net/smp/item/P-911.html (Nobukuni has archetypical sword styles and this isn't really one of them but for the sugata it is ok. Condition is polished down so you might be buying a sugata and shape you like but very little to learn from) https://www.samurai-nippon.net/smp/item/P-846.html (strange one but papered. Condition issues as polished down and Muromachi) https://www.samurai-nippon.net/smp/item/P-878.html (not O-Kissaki but nice Sugata and could be papered in the future with Koshirae it would be a nice starter) https://www.samurai-nippon.net/smp/item/P-467.html (Issues on the Nakago, Massive sword, unkown school but has papers, needs a polish to bring out the disco) https://www.nipponto.co.jp/swords5/NT329440.htm (will paper in the future, I think the smith is still alive) https://www.nipponto.co.jp/swords11/NT334358.htm (will paper, to get masame right on a sword this long is a feat on its own, but needs a polish maybe) https://www.touken-matsumoto.jp/en/product/ichiran/tachi_and_katana These are a few suggestions based on your O-Kissaki comment but if you want to narrow it further then Era, Hamon, Jigane, etc needs to come into play. There is no shame in buying a ShinShinto to Modern sword if forged well and has elements of learning just for the Hamon, Jigane, hataraki and such. If you want something more in the future you will have no issues selling them (especially if papered) and then going forward. No you do not need to lose money but be smart about it. Now in Unicorn teritory you will find swords at high prices but keep in mind that Unicorns have specific buyers and you have to hold it for a long time as oposed to fater moving lower priced items. Remember that when you really know what you want, gravitating to a Unicorn and having just the one sword collection is an achievement on its own. You dont have to have Osaka castles collection to have a great sword collection, you just need that one. And no, do not just buy what you like, you will like a lot of stuff at this stage, the point is to progress. We all had lots of lovers but in general we are working through a process of elimination to find the one. Before you go gallivanting into dealers in Japan please learn the proper etiquette before hand of handelling the swords as mistakes here will get you thrown out and the community is so small that word spreds. You won't find anything after that. Also make appointments and send them the links to the swords you want to see. Buy from the right dealers and you will build a great relationship. Buy from the sharks and you will be used and abused all week. Caution: Aoi Art swords: This dealer is very approachable and it is hit and miss with them so you really need to know what you are looking at and for. https://www.aoijapan.com/img/sword/2025/25235-2.jpg https://www.aoijapan.com/wakizashi-sakuyo-bakkashi-hosokawa-masamori-kao/ (One of my favorite ShinShinto smiths) Others you might like: https://www.toukenkomachi.com/index_en_tachi&katana_A060224.html https://www.toukenkomachi.com/index_en_tachi&katana_A101024.html https://www.e-sword.jp/katana/2510-1069.htm (The interesting thing with swords like this is they will paper if the Mei is intact and the smith is no longer alive. Then you really have a full parcel) https://www.samurai-nippon.net/smp/item/P-852.html (condition issues) When you narrow stuff down we can go into pro and con of each, at this price range there are always cons and it is an accepted known.

This is a truly wonderful sword. Having seen it in hand I can attest to its qualities. Before seeing this sword, I associated Ko-Hoki strongly with the dark, and rather coarse, standing out hada, and while it has its own archaic and wabi beauty, at the top of Ko-Hoki, we find a more refined hada, both finer and richer in dark ji-nie. We can see how these high-quality Hoki blades inspired the much later Soshu revolution, where artists such as Norishige strove to reinterpret these works in his own unique way. Yasutsuna blades are unicorns, with only 22 Juyo designated Yasutsuna, 6 Jubi, and 5 Jubun, and one Kokuho. Seeing one on this board that has been so expertly photographed, filmed, and documented is a great blessing. Thank you Brano. Best, Hoshi

Hi Gary, and welcome to this great forum. I don't think your tsuba is cast iron. That is because the fan shapes on your tsuba are stamped onto and into the tsuba. You can't do that on cast iron because the cast iron will fracture and break. Just my opinion.

Thanks everyone, you've been very helpful! Late Muromachi would make it even older than I expected, if so. To be honest, that blade (even to my untrained eyes) looked a bit older than the middle Edo period I thought it was made...

https://sanmei.com/contents/en-us/p1133.html (Some reading about three generations here. You can put the name into a search field and run searches.)

USA collectors now you pay 15% extra. Almost like in EU.

@Scoggposted pic with numbers. Still stupid amount even if such a "artistic" piece is only one you miss.

Maybe late Muromach period.

Thank you, Moriyama Koichi! Do you, by chance, know/learned anything about the smith or the period he was active? Any bit of information will be indeed very helpful.

Looks like Fans design, cast iron to me. Definitely later cast imo.

Obviously, certification can't be understood from the nakago or the signature alone, so in this case I was just making a deduction. Process: Of the three signatures, identify the one that is definitely genuine... the third is a textbook example and is also the only one dated (Perhaps a coincidence, I didn't open the Aoi links to see if the others are dated). The other two are both well-executed overall, so need to delve into the details. What doesn't convince me about signature no. 2 is the character 近, which doesn't seem precise, and it seems like more pressure was applied to the strokes than the rest. Then there's the character 忠, where the bottom stroke appears a bit rounded, whereas it should be very square, as can be seen in examples 1 and 3. Overall, his signature is very square with very clean strokes. The last is a gem from @Jacques (Honor to merit), who in another post had indicated that one Tadahiro's signature feature is the decreasing size of the characters from top to bottom. For me, this feature is very evident in #3, less so in #1, and completely absent in #2. An interesting thing to explore in this specific case is that Aoi has decided to list #2 as non-guaranteed. This, to me, means they're ruling out the possibility that it could be a daimei which is common for Tadahiro since he collaborated with both the 3rd and 4th generation, so as I interpret it for Aoi it is gimei. Giordy

So let's get to it First of all, my compliments to everyone who publicly presented their estimate and opinion I can only hope that no one was influenced by the file name for sugata (fixed in the meantime) Mea culpa It's easy to define what to focus on if one knows the answer Nevertheless, I'll try First of all, it's sugata Here is a composition of this blade with blades of the schools that appeared in the posts From the left, the blade in kantei/ Gotoba/ Ko-Ichimonji/ Yoshifusa/ Hatakeda Moriie ( Shodai ) All blades have approximately the same sugata and are ubu The monouchi area at the blade in kantei is losing sori (we can see the same at the Gotoba blade) That should point us to the Heian/very early Kamakura period Just like the Jifu utsuri in the photo of sugata The preserved funbari from the photo of sugata and from photo 2 should be evidence that the blade is ubu Nakago-jiri: very unusual for the school to which the blade is attributed Most likely the shape of the nakago-jiri changed shortly after the blade was made, as the patina shows no differences compared to the surrounding surface Also according to the hi in the nakago it is clear that the nakago originally had larger sori (widening of the groove where the nakago was straightened) The Jigane is not quite what we would expect from a Ko-Hoki It does not seem rustic at first glance and is rather a tight itame with mokume with a lot of ji-nie and chikei (I hope it is clearly visible in photo 5 and 6) Nioiguchi is hardened in nie (photo 1, 5, 10) with tobiyaki, which form a kind of nijuba (photo 4, 10 on the right) And finally the Boshi, which clearly tending with much hakikake to kaen ( does not occur in the Bizen school - I do not exclude that there is an exception ) Cleary see from the photo and also from the oshigata The blade is attributed to the Ko-Hoki school with a direct attribution to Yasutsuna You can find a gallery for this blade here https://eu.zonerama.com/Nihonto/Album/13418224 Congratulations to everyone who got Atari

Challenge accepted. https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15953967?fbclid=IwY2xjawMBQs5leHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFtRWMyUnI4aUtydkx3bThTAR6_1HOeBSs_1GYItQgwobxwYDyJHcLvs_zP9zpNKQ592IUXpMo9DkbyCLTIvQ_aem_3NhTCRC0hdK_5BvUwFo71Q No exception for blades. In year we'll have American utsuri, full of ji nie.

Crazy. Then again if someone is missing one from their collection, there's not too many out there and it's a low number, maybe the lowest? Bruce or someone who is tracking the serials could probably say.

No, boshi is fine but everything needs a photograph with the light from the side. What we see know is hadori.

Really excited that I purchased my first nihonto and would like to share it with everyone and see what others think of this wakizashi. I think I got it for a pretty decent price and would like to know if it was a good starting sword to get into collecting. Also in the process of getting it a traditional Japanese silk sword bag to store it in and also what type of oil is good to keep the blade protected.

I get a downvote for attempting to give some entirely well-intentioned advice? I can only presume that I must have frustrated someone who had hoped to relieve the OP of his find before he found out what it actually was.

Thanks for your help. For sure I will relax and after some time I may reach out to you again. I appreciate your assistance

This is hard to pick sugata. The only blades I have and have seen in person are what are normal for modern day Chinese replica. Approx 28 inches Sori I forget but I think approx 1.5cm to 1.8cm and Chu kissaki. Truthfully I think I would like a lot of them. Ok so we can take the latest six and I would take any if other features that we will get into after this are something I like. I think I like o-kissaki of course if straighter blade and chu kissaki for more curve sori in blade. This is hard because I haven’t held a katana that is straighter. I wonder if I narrowed anything down? And technically I think the first of the last six, middle one that is shorter and nakago is short. Probably like a wazakashi? If a wazakashi that has longer blade would have better features and be nicer for less price I can go that way also. Sorry it’s hard to explain this one. It’s easier for me to maybe pick other things like hamon etc. But maybe o-kissaki with a hamon that works with it. I will know when I see a Hamon and can visualize it on the kissaki

Edit, tired of sounding like a broken record with these type of threads.

Thanks for all of the info fellas. Much appreciated!

Makes me a bit nervous🙂

I don‘t see any Problem with the Boshi….

濃州関住兼付作 - Noshu Seki ju Kanetomo saku The paper was issued in May 23, 2019.

Thank you guys for the input. I forgot to mention this, but does it also look like the kissaki might have been reshaped? The hamon tapers off drastically at the kissaki.