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Grev, Thank you for this (unsolicited) post. Just for the record, as a Gold member, you should be able to edit your post for 2 days after. Please check by clicking on the 3 dots top right of the post? I don't really want to get involved in this thread, but I will say that limiting sales to Gold members is tempting (most of the other collector forums I know do that) I don't want to go that route. I want to leave it open for a person stumbling upon a sword in an estate or at a sale, to be able to sell it here and offer it to the members without having to pay anything. So I won't charge a fee or a subscription to sell or buy here. That is one of the perks on the NMB. BUT...that said, there are people with over 30-50 sales who have never subscribed or contributed a cent. So be it...it's their choice. But I MAY consider a limit to have many items a non subscriber can list at a time. It's something I have been thinking about. The average person can still list a few items a month. But regular and frequent sales should come with some sort of give-back to be fair. Nothing set in stone yet. I'm still debating it in my head. Especially since it has come to my attention how many HUNDREDS of sales come from pm discussions and don't even make it onto the forum. How many..I have no idea. But feedback I'm getting is that some people make a tidy living from pm sales. Thanks again to all those who do support us with contributions, memberships, percentages of sales or even just helping with info.

Hi again guys, I'm not there as much as I would want to, but Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for the kind words and such warm comments. To be honest, i think i even shed a few tears reading your posts. It really feels good to know and be friends with guys like you. We are a community and more, a family! I can't express how much reading you was comforting, so again, thank you deeply. I still haven't replied all the messages of support I have received and i apologize again for that, but rest assured I will. Last two weeks have been busy at work with the Covid situation and we keep having meetings on how to best manage the situation. Thank you again, I love you guys! JP

Make no mistake, there can not be, and will never be..any "outing" of anyone. It is completely voluntary to donate, and there is no public stigma attached if you don't. Some contribute in other ways...assistance to members, or articles, or help given to the community, or shows or in other ways. One of my regrets is that I can't always send a personal thanks to donators, although I try. Sometimes PP makes it difficult to get emails. And in some cases, I don't have a member name so don't know who the person is. And lately PP has stopped sending notifications in many cases, I often don't even know someone donated until I log in. Are there a very small minority that take advantage? For sure. Multiple sales monthly without a word. So be it. I do think some form of limit is inevitable. It won't be one sale a month..I think we need to be fair and allow some freedom. Maybe 5 items a month without Gold membership. or maybe something based on sales and not listings. Not sure. No rush and all good for now. At some point I want to restart a fund raiser for a trip to Japan when the world opens up. But that's for another day.

Gold members bantering = preaching to the converts indeed. There should not be naming and shaming of specific people who do not contribute, as that could be counterproductive and viewed as finger-pointing and victimisation. Mechanical, objective, software-imposed limits to how many items can be sold a month by non-Gold members is probably the most equitable. It feels like 2-5 sales per month is probably right but perhaps Brian and the other administrators can decide. I feel that beyond 5 sales a month is actually generating a recurring income and people who sell more than 5 items are month are running a business out of it. How one controls for private sales is different..... Unless there is 'big-brother' policing of private messages (which, I am sure, we all want to avoid), I cannot see that being feasible. I do not sell on NMB but feel that subscribing to the forum is a small thank-you gesture for the knowledge and relationships NMB has brought.

Those could be 'rising mist' I guess as they suggest, or even falling rain 'legs' as in 雨脚, 雨足　Ama-ashi. Re Hyoshi, hyoshigi. The best ones are beautifully shaped, fashioned from just the right kind and section of hardwood to produce a clear ring, (depending on where you ping them together). The sound certainly draws the attention, like someone striking a wineglass at dinner. The number of clacks and the frequency with which they are hit, signal different things. I was looking at a ‘music’ notation chart earlier indicating signals for battle movements, for Taiko and Hyoshigi. Personally I find them fascinating and tend to buy up any that come along as they are not highly valued any more here in Japan. Their shapes and sizes seem to vary greatly as to purpose, from rough sets for Hi no Yojin 火の用心 for example to fine smooth black sets for inserting into a priest's kimono sleeve.

Hi guys, I, along with Mark Jones, Matt Jarrell, and Eric Molinier, purchased the Plimpton collection and have been selling it. This sword was in the collection but it wasn't sold on ebay by any of the 4 of us; it was sold some time back to a different sword dealer and he has placed it on ebay. We want all of you to know that when we are the sellers we will be honest in our descriptions and we will stand behind them. I think the sword's buyer should contact the seller and ask to return it. Although I am not responsible for this sale, I would like to mention that the seller may have been relying on John Plimpton's description of the sword in his soon to be published book: "ARMY NAVY LATE WAR. These swords were made near the very end of the war by the Tokugawa naval arsenal in Aichi Prefecture. Many of them have mixed army and navy fiittings. All of them have navy arsenal stamps, stainless steel blades, and black lacquer scabbards. In rare cases the tang is signed." Mr Plimpton has not been in good health and his description likely was written before modern research into the souvenir swords. That said, if the buyer is unhappy he should contact the seller; no honest seller wants dissatisfied buyers. Thanks, Grey

Here's some more pictures of the mounts and fittings. I can't get any more photos of the nakago at the moment but when it arrives (a month ish) I can take some better photos than these I bought it for the early Kaigunto mounts and sword hanger primarily

The goal was a nice, shiny souvenir sword for sale by the PX. Back then, the United States Army used the term "war trophy" or "war trophies" for military items acquired from the enemy. Hence the wording used to describe these swords after the war. Whatever parts that could be sourced were used so long as they could be made to look good. Once all the wartime parts were used up, then newly made parts were used. The contract would not have specified a certain pattern of sword to be made, just that it had eye appeal and was saleable. These swords are as stated by another collector the book end to an era. The last swords made in Imperial Japan, not as weapons, but as souvenirs for the occupationaires. After reading hundreds of pages of archive documents, only one company was making swords after the war, Tenshōzan. The Japan Sword Company did not make these swords and could not get involved in any form of production until the peace treaty was signed in 1952.

I think we can safely say that he intended it to be the Toyokawa Arsenal. That said, do we know for a fact that the swords weren't made towards the end of the war and thereafter? The blades are naval and obviously wartime made. So I think calling these late and post-war isn't far off.

Hi Bruce, Unfortunately, Mr. Plimpton is not available for correspondence. I'm sure that when he acquired this sword he went with the information of the time and called it what he called it. Nothing more to add. Grey

Piers, Similar implements to those used by my fire-guy?

Dan C you made me smile - who doesn't want a shiny badge! I see we only have two non gold tiers members replies and they have had or getting a gold Tier membership so it’s like preaching to the converted Can any non gold tier member say the reasons that whilst selling on the NMB they will not go to a gold tier membership or make a sales contribution. Although early days I’m liking the option for someone to sell say one item a month but I’m sure it’s not an easy thing to set up I have gold tier and contribute to the 5% of my sales but that is my choice. Many of my items are below $200 and as I donate 5% of my sales it would only be a $10 donation, so I wait until I have sold enough to send $50. A few times I’ve had so much help from the NMB I have made a donation. These were for papers translation, mei queries etc. I’m no goody goody I just think it’s worth it to me If a sales donation is made how much should it be? In my opinion it is up to the seller as 5% of $100 is vastly different to 5% of $5,000 Gold Tier membership is vital to the NMB and it’s far better as a regular contribution as this allows the planning to ensure the NMB’s continued development

I think too many people smoking dubious stuff here. When did we go from legit late or post war sword assembled by Japan Sword Co, to terrible quality abomination? Seriously? These are recognized as Japanese swords and are over 75 years old, made in Japan, from mostly wartime made parts. The blade is a genuine SS blade, the fittings likely made late war and some just after. It's not some Chinese repro. They are not junk and many sit in good collections. Telling the OP that it's junk is just not accurate. Especially since research on these is not concluded yet. It is not just a cheap junk souvenir. I expect there is a lot of truth still to be uncovered about these, like how and why they had permission to make and sell these and to whom. I'm with Grey here, and the guys selling the collection. Whoever purchased it, added a decent markup to get to where it sold. And even at the end price it is around where a machine made NCO sword is priced at. Let's not put these at the level of modern Chinese fakes...they are not.

You think you have it bad? Brian's NMB boss makes him work 7 days a week, 24/7 and makes HIM pay to keep the place going.

Dear Roger, the Edo castings are usually sand castings and have surfaces like cast iron (unless significantly worked after casting). The kinko modern castings are often made using vulcanized rubber molds and wax injection to make the models and then spin or vacuum casted. Those techniques leave traces like spurs, mold lines, positive bubbles (like tiny dew drops on the surface - especially in crevices), porosity, etc. that are different from the old ways of casting. However, they can copy details down to the level of fingerprints, so they are often difficult to spot. Those modern molding techniques have only been around for 30-40 years, so the tsuba showing those telltale signs are modern fakes. Other signs are the painted on gold/silver highlights that show up on many of them, cast in place sekigane or plugs, and the identical "damage" on multiple copies.

A carton of cigarettes!!! I guess they were pretty valuable back then, and each precious cigarette was probably sold on at a profit. Heaviness is a drag, but they were indeed very heavy, and thus massively sturdy. I cannot see the internal diameter clearly from your measure, but it looks like just under 2 cm, which would make it a 'Shizutsu' 10-Monme Samurai gun 士筒 of superior quality. Nice design to the muzzle and front sight too. These guns were more powerful than the regular 5- or 6-Monme battlefield weapon and were capable of destroying light infrastructure. More expensive to make, they were soon a sort of status symbol. Anything above 10-Monme was described as an 'O-zutsu' 大筒. 15,20,30,50,100 Monme etc. were like hand cannons. If you feel energetic, remove the barrel from the stock and see if there is a Mei signature underneath. If there is, take a vertical shot with the breech screw facing towards you. If you feel even more adventurous, see if you can turn and remove the big breech screw itself. PS I will offer you a carton of any brand you care to name!!!

Tony, looks like earlier war better quality kaigunto koshirae. Your blade has Seki stamp and kiri yasurime. For comparison attached oshigata from F & G (1983): Ikami Sadahiro is not in Hawley, but father Takai Sadatsugu is (SAD 780)

Thomas, needs more pics to better understand it. Yes the simple form of date. Looks to be kaigunto saya. Blade has Seki stamp. Nakago and mei rather rough. I used Sesko's e-version of swordsmith list (which is worth buying).

I just wanted a Gold Sticker under my avatar. To me, the price of Gold Membership is not even a fraction of the value of the knowledge gained on this site. Just my .02 cents.

Nice links and between the two I've combined them into a Tosogu listing I've left the sword info at the end for those interested Kicho Ninteisho Started on 12/09/1948 until May 1982 (Showa 57. Kicho means "precious" and the literal meaning of nintei-sho is recognition in the form of calligraphy. This type of NBTHK paper is commonly called a "white paper". This was the only rank issued until 1950. After that, it was issued as the rank below Tokubetsu Kicho. Tokubetsu Kicho Nintei-sho Started in March 1950 until May of 1982. Tokubetsu Kicho means "especially precious". It was the top rank until the Juyo paper was introduced in May of 1958. This type of NBTHK paper is commonly called a "green paper". The green paper and the round seal bearing the kanji of "Toku" was first used on Tokubetsu Kicho papers starting in July 1950 until 1982. On September 1st, 1973, the Koshu Tokubetsu Kicho paper (blue paper) was introduced and was issued as a rank above Tokubetsu Kicho but below Juyo. Koshu Tokubetsu Kicho Ninteisho Started in Sept 1973 up May of 1982. Koshu Tokubetsu Kicho can be translated to mean "superior of the especially precious". This type of NBTHK origami is commonly called a "blue paper". It was the highest rank below Juyo throughout its use. The Current Shinsa System The current shinsa system began in September 1982 and is in use to this day. The ranking is shown below. Hozon Kanteisho: Lowest level 1) Fittings up to the Edo period with correct mei, or mumei fittings on which the time period and school can be identified, and which are of a certain artistic quality may receive Hozon. 2) Fittings that meet the criteria given above can receive Hozon paper even if they show some wear or are slightly damaged, as long as those may be permissible in their appreciation. 3) Repair is permissible unless it significantly impairs the beauty of the fitting. 4) Fittings made in Meiji times and later which are of good quality and condition. 5) Cast fittings that are of high class and worthy being appreciated can receive Hozon if they do not date later than Edo. 6) Contemporary cast fittings will be rejected. 7) Works of iron that show a minor fire damage or a slightly damaged patina can receive Hozon if these damages do not significantly impair the aesthetic quality of the piece. 8} Fittings are put to "reservation" (horyu) if a decision could not easily be made on the authenticity of the mei. This also applies to mumei fittings in which an attribution is difficult to make. 9) Cast fittings made in Meiji times and later will be rejected. 10) Foreign made fittings cannot be submitted to Shinsa. Tokubetsu Hozon Kanteisho: One level above Hozon Kanteisho Fittings with Hozon papers can receive Tokubetsu Hozon if one of the following points is true: 1) Fittings with good workmanship and state of preservation. 2) Fittings with excellent workmanship and which are in terms of signature and/or workmanship valuable references. 3) Fittings of all periods by not famous artists can receive Tokubetsu Hozon if they can be regarded as among the very best works of the maker and if they are of a certain overall aesthetic quality. 4) Fittings which reflect a preservation of the craft, are extremely well made, and are of a certain overall aesthetic quality. Fittings with Hozon papers cannot receive Tokubetsu Hozon if one of the following points is true: 1) Either zaimei or mumei fittings which show significant repair or remodelling. 2) If they are top grade kinko works but whose surface, motif areas or coloration is so much polished down that the characteristics of age can no longer be judged. 3) If they are of a good quality but the mei is no longer decipherable. Juyo Token Shiteisho: One level above Tokubetsu Hozon Kanteisho and introduced in May 1958. Juyo means "important". Fittings with Tokubetsu Hozon papersmay receive Juyo if one of the following points is true: 1. If of extremely high quality workmanship, of a very high artistic value, and judged as close to Juyo Bijutsuhin. 2. Fittings from all periods with fittings by not famous artists may receive Juyo if these fittings can be regarded as among the very best works of the maker and if they are of an extremely high artistic value. Tokubetsu Juyo Token Shiteisho: The highest level and tarted in December 1971 Tokubetsu Juyo means "especially important". Fittings with Juyo Tosogu papers may receive Tokubetsu Juyo if one of the following points is true: 1. Fittings of excellent quality and superior condition may receive Tokubetsu Juyo if their value is extremely high as art and reference work for our country. 2. Fittings may receive Tokubetsu Juyo if they are judged as the same as the top level Juyo Bijutsuhin or conceivable as equivalent value as Juyo Bunkazai. Common matters for all categories of papers 1) If a kizu or other fault or weakness is discovered during Shinsa which is detrimental to the appreciation, an item may not pass. 2) Works of living artists cannot be submitted for Shinsa. 3) In the case items are submitted with older or lower papers and do not pass an initial or higher Shinsa respectively, they are returned with the remark "genjo" ("returned as submitted") NBTHK Shinsa Standards – Published March of 2006 in the Token Bijutsu, he official publication of the NBTHK. The original document consists of three parts. Token, toso and tosogu. The translation below is of the Sword section only. Hozon Token 1) Edo and earlier blades with correct mei, or mumei blades on which the time period, kuni and group can be identified, may receive Hozon paper. 2) Blades that meet the criteria given above can receive Hozon paper even if they are slightly tired or have kizu, as long as those may be permissible in their appreciation. 3) For Nambokucho and earlier zaimei blades by famous smiths, re-temper can be permissible if the blade is valuable as a reference, and if the jiha and nakago are sufficiently well preserved. However, this has to be documented in the paper. 4) Repair on jiha is permissible, unless it significantly impairs the beauty of the blade. 5) Blades made in Meiji and Taisho periods, and those by recently deceased smiths, can receive Hozon paper only when the blade is well made, zaimei and has a ubu-nakago. 6) Blades are put to "reservation" if a decision could not easily be made on the authenticity of the mei. This also applies to mumei blades in which an attribution is difficult to make. 7) Blades with hagiri may not receive Hozon paper. Tokubetsu Hozon Token 1) Blades with Tokubetsu Kicho, Koshu Tokubetsu Kicho or Hozon papers with good workmanship and state of preservation can receive Tokubetsu Hozon paper, except for the following: a. Either zaimei or mumei blades may not receive Tokubetsu Hozon paper if they are significantly tired, have kizu or repair which impairs beauty of the blade. b. Re-tempered blades may not receive Tokubetsu Hozon paper unless they were made by famous smiths and their values are extremely high as a reference. c. Edo period works by less famous smiths with mid or lower grade workmanship may not receive Tokubetsu Hozon paper. d. Muromachi and Edo period mumei blades may not receive a Tokubetsu Hozon paper, as a rule. However, if a blade shows good workmanship, attributable to a famous smith, having ubu-nakago, and in good preservation, it may receive Tokubetsu Hozon paper. e. Suriage cut-mei Edo blades may not receive Tokubetsu Hozon paper. f. Blades with hagiri may not receive Tokubetsu Hozon paper. * Among blades that received a Hozon paper in item 5 above, that may be considered the maker's best quality, these may receive a Tokubetsu Hozon paper. Juyo Token 1) Blades made in a period from Heian to Edo, having Tokubetsu Kicho, Koshu Tokubetsu Kicho, Hozon or Tokubetsu Hozon papers, of extremely high quality workmanship and state of preservation, and judged as close to Juyo Bijutsuhin, may receive Juyo Token paper. 2) Blades that meet the criteria given above and made in or before Nambokucho may receive Juyo Token paper even if they are mumei. Blades made in Muromachi and Edo periods, as a rule, have to be ubu and zaimei to receive Juyo Token paper. Tokubetsu Juyo Token Among Juyo Token, the ones of excellent quality and superior condition, judged as the same as the top level Juyo Bijutsuhin, or conceivable as equivalent value as Juyo Bunkazai, may receive Tokubetsu Juyo Token paper.

Hi David, I could be wrong but it looks dodgy to me.

Piers, Your escapade with the gunto, coincidently matches a similar event that happened to me. Rambling around an arms fair my eye was caught by a sword with a leather saya cover and carrying ring that had black tsuka ito on the slightly curved tsuka. The fuchi and kabutogane were in shakudo with gold borders as was the matching tsuba. Rather than the more usual nanako, the shakudo areas were lightly punched with overlapping circles that form 6 pointed star / flower shapes. Clearly it was very far from being a normal gunto. A bit of feeling through the leather suggested that there was a lot more metalwork on the scabbard tan normal and clearly indicated it was a sword in an old koshirae that had been fitted with the leather cover before being dragged around South East Asia. Accompanying the sword was a plastic bag containing photos, documents and a flag. Although not cheap, waving a bundle of notes persuaded the dealer to drop his asking price a bit, and on impulse I bought it. I had noted the length of the blade (nagasa 71cm) and having removed the hilt found it had a two character signature that read Tomomitsu 友光. The high shinogi and general appearance suggest it was by a Yamato smith by that name working around 1400. The related documents contained a document which I had never seen before and which others might find interesting:- CAPTURED ENEMY WAR MATERIAL - RETENTION CERTIFICATE 185, issued from the General Staff, General Headquarters, India. dated 3 January 1946. Reference India Army Order 541/45, the retention of (in ink script) 'One Japanese officers sword' as a trophy is hereby authorised. This permit is issued subject to the owner complying with local civil laws in force and must be producednon demand. The retention of any item captured from the enemy without a certificate is published (crossed out in ink and replaced by the word 'prohibited). It is signed by a Captain Barber (?) and issued to a Major Findlay. There is also a photo of a Japanese officer handing over a sword to what looks like an Air commodore. As the saya turned out to be slightly damaged under the leather and is now being repaired, I will refrain from posting images of the sword until that is done. Ian Bottomley

My prayers are with you and family. I can relate to loss but still have a hard time understanding and acceptance of loss. My teenage son committed suicide 3 years ago. I have 5 children and on 2nd marriage. One thing I have learned is life is not fair nor rational. Find purpose, have faith, keep moving. Focus on something you love Nihonto ☺️

My husband’s family was in Japan right after 2WWII as part of occupation forces. His dad was an officer so was able to ship a lot of items home. This is the matchlock he bought. Pics online show it is likely 19th century but curious to know more. Not selling. Thanks.

This appears to be a gendaito by Taira Sadashige, an excellent smith. 伊豫大掾平貞重作 - Iyo Daijo Taira Sadashige

Here is a large high quality Tokyo School Japanese bronze. Dick

Hi my dear friends, First of all, I want to express my most sincere wishes and a Happy New Year to you all and your families. I know this should be in another section so Brian, please feel free to move it if you feel like it, but I posted it here because some members have contacted me and I want to reach most of them. Not sure they all go to the Izakaya. Then I guess I owe you guys an explanation and an apology for my silence those past few months. I’ve wanted to do that for quite some time but it isn’t always easy to expose your issues in front of everyone, and I know some of you may find those issues triffle or first world problems. Anyway, here’s what has happened to me since my absence. First of all, let me tell you that I’m an animal lover… maybe a little too much ! For years, I have been doing the job of a shelter for distressed cats without help or financing. At some point, I had more than 30 cats. Costly and tiring. That’s roughly three hours of work in addition to my full time job everyday. Those animals I recover are usually starving, some of them sick, all of them scared by very difficult beginnings. I’m used to have animals that don’t live long because of that. I loose some every year. Everytime, its a tragedy for me but I’ve developped some endurance to it. This year was special. I lost ten of them in a row over the space of two months. Causes of death were different but I think that the last straw was probably the last one who was litteraly and voluntarily crushed to pulp by a car and the driver purposefully drove over him with both wheels. I know it as I saw it happen. I guess it taxed me a lot and I entered some kind of a breakdown. I was starting to recover, in September, when the secong blow came. Now, here’s the second part of my life. Ten years ago, my elderly mother suffered a stroke that left her with paralysis on her left side. My father had a hard life working in construction and carrying loads so his back is ruined and he has to use a walker. Being an only child, I took them both in and care for them. Not a light job either, but one I feel I have a duty to accomplish. So, come September, my father has to be hospitalized because he had fallen in the middle of the night. His blood count was well below normal. Diagnosis : Mielodisplastic syndrome. To sum up, a bone marrow cancer that will turn into fatal leukemla in generally something like two years. That was the fatal and final blow to me. Now it’s been three months since that diagnosis and I am starting to digest it and recover. My father is responding to treatment and so far, he is neither better nor worse. There you have it ! All tis has made me depressed and apathetic, with no real interest for anything and some sort of self pitying. So I am sorry and apologize to all those who’ve contacted me and to whom I haven’t replied, I will reply to each and everyone of you. Please just give me some time as things have accumulated and I have some catching up to do. Know that I am feeling better and will do my best to stay around. Best wishes to you all, JP

Just seeking clarification, and I'm no expert on WWII arsenals, but I cannot find a Tokugawa Navy Arsenal. There was a Tokugawa shogunate in Aichi way back when, but all I find in WWII is the Toyokawa Navy Arsenal in Nagoya, Aichi, hence the circled anchor stamp on these blades. Forgive my ignorance, but is Mr. Plimpton alive, and is he available for email correspondence? To me, this is still sounding too much like the post-war souvenir put out by the Tenshozan factory under the Toyokawa arsenal. While the regulations loosened up for quality standards in the last year of the war, I cannot imagine the uniform regulations allowing for mixed Army/Navy fittings. Now, I'll remind myself of the adage "Never say never, nor always, with WWII gunto." When I first started studying this oddity, I was likewise wondering if they started using all available parts to assemble whatever gunto they could manage. But after finding the documentation proving that Tenshozan was making souvenirs, and had an example with take-home papers, it is more conceivable to see these as post-war made, rather than late-war made. So, I'd be interested to learn if Mr. Plimpton has other evidence verifying this particular style was made before war's end.

But this design is described as Sangi, as Mal/mecox suggests above.

I think it is a good idea to limit non Gold Members to one sale a Month. Personally I will probably never contribute much knowledge to this forum as I know damn all. However, I am a Gold Member and will contribute to the forum as a way of thanks to you members who have been so generous with their time and knowledge. I want you to all be still here on this fantastic resource for a long time. That is me being selfish as I know for a very small contribution I have 100's of experts who will advise me on my purchases or acquisitions in a field that I just have not the time to study. I have acquired some great pieces (well to me they are great) due to the kindness of forum members in advising me both on PM and on the forum I will probably not sell on the forum for a long time but if I ever do I would think 5-10% would be a fair hosting fee as it is a great captive audience where sales are exposed to 100's of genuine buyers. Kind regards to all and thanks again , Ken

I am already cringing.

You don't have to look at the mei to know this will be gimei.

I found Glen's gold highlighted Tengu - it sold back on January the first for ¥ 22,960 or close to $200 US. https://www.jauce.com/auction/s1028555726 It pays some times not to clean out your old watch lists.

Thanks for the airgun info, Barry. My rifle is the .25 Daystate Delta Wolf, https://hardairmagazine.com/reviews/daystate-delta-wolf-review-the-start-of-a-saga/ which is sitting in its case until my shoulder surgery heals. Yeah, bunnies at 40-60 meters is easy with his FX or my rifle. We're inundated with roosters behind my house, & a few feral pigs on my rental property. Haven't seen any axis deer lately, but there are 70,000 on Molokai, compared with 7.000 people. Not quite like hunting antelope, elk, & moose in Wyoming, though.

Thank you for so much information! The cross does look like like feathers but I very worn. The gun is also quite heavy. I looked up some history on the Asano clan. Nice to put a story to something that has survived so many years. My husband corrected me though. His dad didn’t buy It. Like many other items he acquired, he paid with a carton of cigarettes. Here are a few more photos and again, thank you!

and I suppose we should add Tengu here, with his Pinocchio nose... I have seen the identical one twice, and one time with "gold" overlay. I hope no one here bought one ...

Hi Jake, that seller deals in large volumes of low end swords from Japan. Swords that won't sell on the Japanese market so they offload them onto us poor oblivious westerners. You will usually get a real Japanese sword, but there won't be any hidden treasures as you are suggesting.

I can't answer your question but general consensus of this forum is to stay away from that seller.

Supposedly it was an expensive upgrade, yet I do not know where that information originated. Poor quality Tsuka on Gunto were a big problem, with many combat reports from China stating Tsuka were broken after just a single sword stroke. The advice was to use thin metal sheets to reinforce the Tsuka, lacquered Ito and full Samegawa wraps instead of panels.

If I understand the question: Tokubetsu Kicho are not on the same level as Juyo. I came to Nihonto about the time that the NBTHK made the change from Kicho and above to Hozon and above. At that time I was told that they were also upping their expectations to qualify for a paper: Hozon would roughly equal the old Tokubetsu Kicho and Tokubetsu Hozon would roughly equal the old Koshu Tokubetsu Kicho. Not all of the old papers are suspect. An old green paper to Muramasa or Masamune on a sword or Nobuiye or Kaneiye on a tsuba, say, are to be eyed suspiciously but, for less important artists, not so much. Grey

Most likely Japanese maple leaf

Went back for a look, and Edo period was not stated. The mei was mentioned in parentheses. No worries, it's not the only clunker I have bought among swords and fittings. I'm hoping that when it comes it will have the appearance of a hand made piece.

I thank you for sharing. Those who take on some of the pains and ills of the world carry a heavy burden. When one opens thier heart and purposefully acknowledge what is within those ills walk the precipices of it being too much to bear. The most courageous walk that line, see the edge and, because it's truly there, take some of it onto themselves spurring action. I also thank you for having such a heart that spurred into action. That feeling of fighting a cruel tide and the ills pushing back in an unjust world can be physically/existentially defeating and lonely: but you are not alone. A loving empathetic heart is one of the most beautiful and truly noble things in the world; but they hurt the most. Again, just thank you.

All the best Jp for a better year!

Trying to send you some energy mate.. what a topic 😔 you don't have apologize for one bit though.

It is difficult to add more to what had been written in thoughtful replies. I wish you well, I missed your contributions. Your journey is a tough one. There is no need to appologise for travelling along that difficult road. Our thoughts and wishes are with you.

JP!!! Glad to hear from you again! Can't say more than the guys have already said. Love your caring heart and feel for you as you mourn and heal. After losing my best friend, then parents, then a brother, I realized that loving greatly comes at a great cost when we lose those we love. But what are we to do, right? Loving greatly is worth the price. I am surprised at how great a blow a person can take and still recover. I can tell you (I'm sure you already know) many of us here are blessed by your company and are very glad to see you back. Thanks for sharing your story. I agree that telling it helps in healing. And honestly, a daily visit to NMB can be a refreshing break from one's burdens (it is for me!).

Dear JP I cannot add much to what has already been so eloquently expressed. You have been greatly missed and I think this is a very positive first step in recovering from what has been a very difficult period for you. All your friends here are ,I am sure, wishing you well and would be keen to help in any way they can even if that is just offering an ear to listen

I picked up this little Ken at the Chicago show a few years ago. I pulled it out the other day to work on the signature and found it’s Unshu from the early Kamakura. Jim

Bashin described in post #18 above by Yanagimura Senju.