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From Hiroshima - the lights do flicker a bit in the room!

Personally, when I see a photo of a kanteisho with the left side obscured (online auctions), I tend to be very cautious. The second key point is whether the torokusho details (Prefecture, number, era, and date) match with what is written on the kanteisho, and whether that section shows any signs of alteration (corrections, strike-throughs, etc.). Third, the nagasa listed on the kanteisho should match both the blade and the torokusho. I have seen cases where the torokusho and blade matched, but the kanteisho differed by as much as 8 cm. Finally, if something feels off, it is best to walk away.

Nco 95, another angle direct shot.

Huh, how odd! I was just looking for info about masamune these few days and got about 70 swords' worth of data purely online, not including other Sengo swordsmiths or any sword in the books. although I do read Japanese, so a lot of them might not be helpful, but I did read this fruitful 20,000-word article yesterday on nihonto.com almost exclusively about Masazane (https://nihonto.com/tonbo-giri/), perhaps that would be a good read? It's really an in-depth analysis of nine whole swords of Masazane. The picture quality is not ideal, so I would like to repost Oshigatas of two of the best works in there, one with Sankoken and one with two kinds of Kurikara, both from one of my favorite books, Random Thoughts on Japanese Swords by Kataoka Ginsaku sensei. I'm also waiting for my copy of Ise No Toko, excited to see what's in there. Oh and do feel free to ask me to translate texts that interest you as long as they are not way too long, I would say a Tanobe sensei's sayagaki is the maximum, longer than that then I could only give out a rough gist of the text orz

Just for fun, I took some measurements of my collection using two different Geiger counters. I noticed that the old *tsuba* actually registered slightly elevated radiation levels. One Tsuba from the Muromachi period, featuring gold inlay, really started clicking away. Everything is still well within the safe range — but where does it come from?

Ishido Teruhide - Ishido Mitsunobu numbered "751"- non-traditional? Kai-gunto. @Bruce Penningtondo blade signed mitsunobu used to have "showa" stamp?; I don't see clearly in this photo and article states mitsunobu mei means showa-to. https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/231250379_ishido-teruhide-signed-type-97-officer-kai-gunto-tallahassee-fl Mei type "E" - Mitsunobu with Kao, blade is in bad shape. https://japaneseswordindex.com/teruhide.htm

Hi! This reads 江村作 (Emura Saku).

Dear Sebuh, I'm sympathetic to the request, but I'm convinced a feature like this would cause more harm than good to the community — let me explain why. The root problem is that quality isn't a legible characteristic through dealer photos. Paper levels are the best proxy we have, but they're a coarse one. Within a single designation, there are "barely Juyo" Norishige and "Tokuju-in-waiting" Norishige, and in Japan those are completely different items value-wise. The overseas market tends to get offered the "barely Juyo" tier with open price, because the "Tokuju-in-waiting" pieces get deemed "too expensive for Juyo" by Western buyers and stay in Japan or are marked as "ask". So the average Juyo Norishige price an aggregator like this would surface is already a biased signal. It doesn't reflect the artist's realized market price, it reflects items that make it online with a revealed asking price. The deeper concern is what happens once that metric exists. Collectors will (rationally) optimize against the legible signal: lowest possible price-to-name ratio. That, in turn, creates an incentive for dealers to source cheaper and cheaper items attributed to master smiths (rationally). We've already seen a flood of big names with recent TH papers at prices that feel too good to be true, and the uncomfortable answer is that they're too good to be true. The market is responding to exactly the pressure this kind of metric would amplify. I think the better direction is to help prospective buyers understand what constitutes truly great work within an artist's oeuvre, so quality becomes more legible, not just price-per-name. How to do this, however, is not so obvious, but I have some ideas down the line. Hope this helps, Hoshi

梵鐘・仏像・銅像・寺院仏具の　老子製作所 | 梵鐘(釣鐘)・寺院仏具・仏像・銅像の老子製作所は、伝統工芸高岡銅器と共に 鐘の専門メーカーとして、寺院仏具金物や洋鐘、カリヨン、モニュメント等の鋳物製品を製造しています Although Lao Tsu or Laozu is spelt like this, the Buddhist manufacturer of bronze bells is called "Oigo" (Old Child) 老子 with these characters, so presumably that is how they would like it to be read. Their blurb says that they made/make objects in the spirit of Laotsu. 老子青銅作品 - 検索

Fred W. has this one up on his site:

Hi @Sukaira, Thanks for the report, it helps. It will be fixed shortly. Let me know if you see any other anomalies in the data, feel free to shoot me PMs or reply to the thread, whatever is more convenient. Glad you're enjoying NW! Can you think of any feature you wish existed? Best, Hoshi

東神正国作 – Toshin Masakuni saku 昭和十九年三月日 – Showa 19th year (1944), 3rd month

I can give you both. I quoted the Bensons above, but here it is again, in addition to Moses. Bensons: Moses: So basically the same evaluation

Did you purchase it from a FUKUSHIMA or HIROSHIMA located collector?

Jeff, You have a Type 98 officer sword. You can read up on them here: Commissioned Officer Sword - 1938; Ohmura Care and cleaning tips: Japanese Sword Care - Japaneseswordindex.com

Here is an interesting Type 95 Guntō, with some "bling". I'm sharing here rather than the 95 threads, because these unique features are not factory original. Note the Habaki, leather hanger, and most interestingly those "monkey’s-fist knot" mekugi and grommet screws. https://www.ima-usa.com/products/original-wwii-Japanese-army-type-95-nco-aluminum-handle-katana-sword-with-rare-leather-hanger-matched-serial-79051?variant=41101181190213 Already sold, not sure when. -Sam

Just wanted to share this for anyone looking at Moses for polish - I recently received back a Taikei Naotane that was originally polished by a very elderly togisihi in Japan that had many problems. Finger stone marks left, hazy ji, a very scratchy surface etc. Now it looks incredible to say the least. The pictures do not do it justice, but I would highly recommend Moses. These pictures are very much a blue tone as his camera white balance must have been on the cooler side, but to the naked eye in real life, the hamon has a beautiful shade of light blue to it.

On the plus side of NTHK is that they provide much more information about the item being papered. In that sense, there is more to compare than just an oshigata. John C.

Thanks Marcin. I only had 3 other Teruhide on file, and none of them showed the mune, so I don't know if they were numbered. I have 13 Mitsunobu - 6 with mune numbers, 7 with star stamp. None of them are Showa or large Seki stamped. Interesting that the "751" of this Teruhide fall into the line-up of the Mitsunobu numbers of "707" and "776" on file. Japaneseswordindex cites the theory that his Teruhide mei represented traditionally made while Mitsunobo is found on non-traditional. It would take a thorough examination to try to pin that down. I doubt my file photos would suffice.

I hope that You save all pictures and documentation made during polishing. I would like to have same tosho works polished by many togishi.

Some context around the prevalence of radioactive elements : I had my well tested last year, and they found Uranium in the water. Had me a bit worried until I got some context : The level of Uranium was an order of magnitude less than that found in your average bottled water! After that, I relaxed. Given that older Japanese iron may have been made from iron sands, it would not be at all surprising to find some radioactive elements in the mix... not to mention small amounts of gold :-).

Yes, should have been included with the commercial invoice outside the package.

Looking over your post again. The description Aoi Art provided was "HS Code 9706.10 (Antique Japanese sword, made more than 250 years ago) This isn't adequate and also missing the subcategory. It should have at least contain: "Antique Japanese Sword (Katana), 1575, Bizen Province, for collector purposes only. Not a weapon" Correct HTS Code is: 9706.10.00.60 Documentation should include a copy of the NBTHK paper and anything else that indicates year made. US Customs have a reason now to be overly strict on their classification, so using the right info is necessary.

Got it! I thought the same, but thought to throw it out there. Use the site daily and love looking at new improvements Thanks for everything!

Another kaigunto with it's own take on how to fit around 2 haikan. Posted by @Matsunoki HERE.

Get the pdf edition for $40. If the printed copy is $800 on the secondary market (assuming you can find one) its sort of a no brainer. And I prefer a pdf copy of reference works for search capabilities.

Hi Sky, Had you thought about going to the man himself? https://www.hizento.com/book-tadayoshi-history.php

This point also applies to sayagaki. Just because a sayagaki might be legitimate, doesn't mean it was written for the blade currently inside the shirasaya.

Went entirely through saya and blade’s shinogi-ji. https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/wwii-era-Japanese-battle-shot-katana-samurai-swor-583-c-83b62359ed I remember seeing somewhere test of bullet cutting with katana. [this lector ;)]

I love Hizento and I love Goto school (I'm guessing that fittings and Tsuba are Goto). Perfect package!

Early prototypes of shingunto. (T94 clearly) Here we have navy dirk so kyu -gunto. I would guess fabric was added at the end to help mute pommel or speed up production. Later dirks happened to be less detailed. So could they drop glue and go with sticky fabric underneath samegawa to cut time? @Conserved123 which one it is? http://ohmura-study.net/908.html Oh and If You have books about conservation of antiques (wood and steel) please drop here. It will get handy.

John, sorry, no. We parted company a while ago. Best. C.

Assuming this is the same smith, I enjoyed the read: https://markussesko.com/2013/03/22/the-inokiri-and-the-travels-of-masazane/

Luke: I just happened across an article written in JSSUS Newsletter vol. 30, number 1 (1998) that is talking about early (1934-1935) gunto mounts being "constructed of wood, and wrapped in a linen canvas before lacquer" (pg. 2). So maybe the same with yours?? John C.

It's more about atomic explosions and air. Air is irradiated and used to produce steel. That's why metal from pre 1945 ship wreckage is called low-background steel and is used for example to build computed tomography. BTW steel made in atomic period is used to build Geiger's counter casing? I guess Yes, so it by itself can be doing interferences :D I guess that irradiation from Fukushima was more dangerous and that there are some counters at airports to prevent sending atomic waste overseas. I thought about this when I was watching documents from Fukushima, all were abandoned as was in moment of catastrophe. Tasty JDM cars were left, all manga in shops etc.

nice one John.

@Hoshi have been using your site every day since it launched. Really great stuff. I am a software engineer myself so I appreciate having a modern implementation to use on our ancient hobby I did notice some bugs with classification of some smith ranks, like Yasumitsu for example being rated as Saijo-saku plus some others. Sorry if that's been reported already.

Sukaira, It has been a while since I participated on the NMB so @Brian, please delete if things have changed. I agree with above where it was said that judging a polish via pictures is challenging. As you have it in hand, I will trust that you are satisfied with the results. That said, this was a risky endeavor. You entrusted the blade of a master artisan - assuming it was done by Taikei Naotane and has or would pass shinsa - to an amateur/unlicensed polisher. When thinking of the unlicensed polishers with the best reputation, Moses and a handful of others come to mind first, which is meant to be said with respect. They have had some level of training and as such, their work is better than untrained “polishers”. Since he is in the camp of one of the better amateur togishi, there is a chance that no damage has been done, but there was a chance that a great deal of damage COULD’VE been done. That is why I’m speaking up here. For every one example like yours that looks good and shiny, there are others where an untrained/unlicensed polisher destroys a blade. People will read this and think that they can avoid the time and cost of sending to Japan and still get top quality results, when on average, that will not be the case. The other reason I’m speaking up is because of the sword you sent. Taikei Naotane is in the list of the best Shinshinto smiths and if he doesn’t have Juyo work yet, it is simply a matter of time until he does. If you would’ve sent a showato or even a mid-range gendaito (read emura or nagamitsu level), I probably wouldn’t say anything, to avoid the almost certain backlash and conflict. But you didn’t. You sent a Taikei Naotane and in my opinion - even if this worked out well, which it’s impossible to tell via pictures - was a gamble not worth taking with what could prove to be in time a Juyo candidate. Apologies for providing a more constructive response, but even if your situation worked out well, it’s important for others to understand the risk associated with engaging non-licensed polishers.

Thanks for all the updates. Even today, many advanced collectors recommend these newsletters for beginning collectors.

Long time between examples - https://www.jauce.com/auction/q1228610297 Anyone seen a tsuba on a tsuba on a tsuba?

Resurrecting this necro-post as this is my first kai-gunto. Kanenami blade (water quenched, I think, due to the presence of ara-nie martensite), standard polished black lacquer wood saya, no chuso, gold washed fittings, and dark blue or black ito. The interesting thing about this one is that all of the pieces have matching numbers - just like it came from the factory, I imagine. No tassel, though. John C.

Probably: 濃州関住源天秀鍛之 = Nōshū Seki-jū Minamoto Amahide forged this Amahide signed his swords in quite a few different styles. There's a similar-looking one in this thread:

It's a cast copy, the sekigane is fake and you can see porosity holes where the metal was too hot practically all over

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT SHIPPING Dear buyers, Thank you for your purchase. I am travelling now and will be shipping the books on 11th and 12th May. I will be back with tracking numbers. Have a nice day

I had it tested and the inside was positive for biological material (blood). It does not have an exit hole, so it stayed in the poor chap wearing it. Average military Tanegashima had a caliber of 5/8 to 3/4", so that hot ball will smash a large hole.

I wanted to provide an update to this thread as it's the most recent one on the topic in the forum, and I just received a sword a couple of weeks ago. To be clear, this was a shipment to the USA. It was shipped by AOI Art via UPS. Here is the UPS tracking link so you can see all of the hoops it went through. It was categorized correctly as: "HS Code 9706.10 (Antique Japanese sword, made more than 250 years ago)" Then someone at UPS along the way added this "Made in Japan" notation to the paperwork: The UPS automated system emailed/texted me 3 times for my social security number, which I provided immediately via the link each time. But it just keeps doing it until their system finally applies it upon arrival and submission to customers. Annoying, but whatever. On March 4th when my government import charges were assessed, the exchange rate was 1 USD ≈ 157.11 JPY and based on the declared JPY value of my sword, I was assessed exactly a 10.83% fee. On top of this was a $40.33 UPS brokerage fee, which is a fixed tiered fee, not % based. An effective duty of 10.83% strongly suggests the shipment was processed under a standard collectible / weapon tariff category (possibly HTS 9307.00.00 — Swords and similar arms), not the duty-free antique category (HS 9706). As such, after paying online as usual to avoid further delays, I then sent the email to UPS (who knows if anything will come of it, but it never hurts to try): usspdutydiscrepancyreview@ups.com *formatting condensed to save space, and XXX used to protect the innocent :D At a minimum, I should get a response back confirming exactly what HTS classification it was actually brought in under that triggered that 10.83% charge. At best, who knows, maybe I can get the free reversed. You never win the lottery unless you buy a ticket right lol. -------------------------------------------- Dear UPS Post Entry Duty Discrepancy Review Team, I am writing to request a review of import duties assessed on the following shipment. Tracking Number: 1Z7V869VDH17427509 UPS Invoice Number: 209344XXXX Import Date: March 4, 2026 Importer: XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX Delivery Address: XXXX XXXXXX XX XXXXXX The shipment contained an antique Japanese sword purchased from AOI Art in Tokyo, Japan. The commercial invoice provided by the shipper declares the item as: “HS Code 9706.10 – Antique Japanese sword, made more than 250 years ago.” The declared value on the invoice is XXX,XXX JPY. Despite this classification, I was assessed XXXXXX in government import charges, resulting in a total payment of XXXXXXX including UPS brokerage and partner government agency fees. Because the item was declared as an antique exceeding 100 years of age under HS 9706, I would like to request a Post Entry Duty Discrepancy Review to determine whether the shipment was entered under an incorrect tariff classification or whether the HS code provided on the commercial invoice was not applied during customs processing. For clarity and verification, I would also appreciate it if UPS could provide the customs entry summary and the HTS classification used for the entry, including the duty rate and calculation used to determine the government charges. I have attached the following documents for your review: • Commercial invoice from AOI Art showing HS Code 9706.10 and describing the item as an antique Japanese sword more than 250 years old • UPS payment receipt showing the assessed government charges • Shipment documentation If the entry classification was incorrect, I respectfully request that UPS initiate the appropriate Post Entry Correction or refund process with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Please let me know if any additional documentation is required to complete the review. Thank you for your assistance. Sincerely, XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX --------------------------------------------

Alex: I give my two cents here since I have been doing some ordering from Japan. As Rohan noted, it can depend on the seller. There are options for them to ship the item having already paid the fees. On the stuff I have gotten, under shipping it usually says something like "includes all duties and fees" etc. Sure it costs more for shipping and I suspect they are charging a little more than necessary, though the transactions have been seemless so far and actually faster than USPS. I've had stuff shipped DHL, USPS Speedpak, and USPS priority mail international. John C.

The US Supreme Court decision invalidated the tariffs issued under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. These tariffs are separate from the 15% tariff the US and Japan negotiated in their trade agreement following the issuance of the IEEPA tariffs. For now, that trade agreement stands and should continue to dictate the tariff collected on nihonto imported from Japan. One open question is whether Japan will continue to honor this trade agreement since it was based in large part on avoiding the higher (and now invalidated) IEEPA tariff on Japanese imports. @eternal_newbie is right. The situation has been inconsistent ever since the IEEPA tariffs were first announced. Shipping companies have different processes to collect tariffs (or refused shipments altogether), some sellers under-declare the value of a shipment—leading to less tariff collected, and customs agents vary in enforcement—one reason why some have been importing swords via their airline luggage. I expect all of this to continue for the foreseeable future.

After checking on Norimitsu's work I wish that this sword to be his. But I don't think so. It is another MITSU (readable part of Mei). Anyway, I guess no one wants to have a healthy, in good polish, Ubu, with Bohi and perfect (Edo fittings and Tsuba) Koshirae, Koto Bizen Osafune blade. Sword stays with me.