Brian

The pin is "disposable" and is the only thing keeping everything together. It's irrelevant to the history or completeness. You can carve one from a bamboo chopstick in 1 minute and press it in. It's tapered, so identify which side is slightly smaller. Needs to have one.

Grey, please extend out thanks to Mr Kirker

Hi all, This was sent to me via email, and thought it pertinent to post it here. Sounds like an extremely worthwhile project. Memorial Monument for Suishinshi Masahide — Groundbreaking and Unveiling at His Birthplace in Yamagata, Japan (2026) Hello everyone, I'd like to share some news that may be of interest to those who follow the history of the Shinshintō period. In Nanyo City, Yamagata Prefecture — the birthplace of Suishinshi Masahide (水心子正秀, 1750–1825), founder of the Shinshintō revival — a local memorial committee, working together with the city government, has built the first monument ever erected specifically at his birthplace, in the former village of Nakayama. - Groundbreaking ceremony (kōjō-shiki): August 3, 2026 - Unveiling ceremony (jomaku-shiki): September 27, 2026 — which also marks 201 years since Masahide's death (Bunsei 8, 9th month, 27th day / 1825) - A memorial service, "Shōshūki 201," will be held the same day at his family temple, Eiun-ji, in the Nakagawa district of Nanyo City The project is organized by the Suishinshi Masahide 200th Anniversary Memorial Project Committee, together with the Suishinshi Masahide Birthplace Monument Unveiling Committee.

Nope..look legit and pretty decent quality to me.

Great, except the US just decided to punish SA with an extra 15% duties on most goods...we are not in the good books (right or wrong) and so imports from here get punished.

He's just plain wrong. It's that simple.

I could be completely wrong, but I usually consider ones like these to be practice arrows. Have seen many that have the writing on them. Not sure if they were made for general practice or military training, but maybe hunting or target arrows? Had to say what the value is. They don;t have "battle" points, so my guess would be a few hundred for the set. But maybe someone who knows more can elaborate. Maybe @Bugyotsuji can advise if he has seen these around Japan.

Ray gave you a good link to his swords. They are considered decent WW2 traditionally made swords. Value imho would be between about $1500 and $2000.

Free image resizers are everywhere on the internet. It's likely dpi that needs to come down, image sixes allowed here are more than enough to show everything.

I think you need to do some research into the concept of gimei, and the fact that there are more gimei swords (false signatures) out there then genuine ones most likely. It was extremely common, going back hundreds of years, to add false signatures on real swords. Check out the FAQ above, there is a section on gimei. I'd say you have 90% chance of it being gimei. Doesn't mean it is a fake sword it worthless. Just one of the hundreds of thousands of swords signed with a name that isn't the maker. But if you want it checked out, send it to Andrew as mentioned. Any shop you send it to is going to know less than many of the guys here, and it's pointless flying anyone out to look at it, that is an unnecessary expense. If it turns out to have possibilities, then an expensive polish and papers are the next step but you could spend $3000 on restoration and have it come back gimei. That damage is also a serious factor, and affects it quite a bit. Can't see that being from a horimono.

We have a number of Japanese members, not least of which are Moriyama san, Morita san, and others. Plus a significant number of Westerners who live and work in Japan.

The nice thing is I don't have to prove a negative. You have to prove that they do. That's how things work.

Remember that age doesn't mean anything when it comes to desirability. An old sword isn't automatically better than a sword made 100 years ago. Judge the sword by it's own merits, not by the age. Flaws are never an asset to a sword. And sharpness isn't a thing either. Also remember that old swords were bought cheaply for re-issue during the war, doesn't mean it is a family sword. Dealers sold plenty of antique sword to people going to war to be mounted for use then. Quality dictated price. Don't think that name can be associated with any 1 officer. But....it is genuine and old, so not a fake.

No-one is saying constellations NEVER appear on tsuba. Of course they do. As does just about any subject you can think of. But you are seeing them everywhere and not accepting that sometimes random patterns are just that...random patterns. There is no point showing that constellations have been seen before on tsuba, we know that. And to Colin...thanks, those are some lovely examples and are clear in their depictions.

Why on earth would you think that dealers in Japan would be experts on motifs? They deal in tsuba, they likely know age and schools and metals and techniques very well. What makes you think they have studied the motifs and themes to any degree at all? In fact I bet that many forum collectors could quite easily educate them on many of the legends and scenes depicted on their fittings. Guys like Dale and others. Don't assume antique dealers are experts in astronomy or legends. They know about as much as the average collector who has been studying for years, although they likely know more about schools, quality and value.

Habaki alone is enough to show this one as a fake.

I think the patination is playing tricks. I think this is going to turn out to be a Showato

That info on commanders isn't really true. High ranking officials carried a wide range of blades, from traditional swords to special order once to average wartime made ones. Since they purchased them themselves, they could purchase or bring any blade and have it mounted in regulation mounts. This doesn't appear to be an older family blade, and not all wartime average blades were stamped. Each blade needs to be judged on its own merits. I'd suggest posting those provenance photos in our translation section and getting a real and accurate translation.

Something very appealing about these.

Nakago ana looks impractical. Doesn't convince me

Thanks Mark. Appreciate everyone's support. It really has helped a lot. As I mentioned, if anyone would rather pay with credit card not through Paypal, just message or email and will send you a very secure payment link to process the card directly. It's a once off so is renewed manually. Also, if you paid manually via Paypal and your subscription expires before the extension time, just drop me a message. I was unable to manually extend the time for those who had Paypal subscriptions as it won't let me edit those, but will make sure everyone gets the period they paid for. Thanks again all. We're prepping for the end of the year major software update, and that is going to be around $800, but we'll get it done.

Thank you. I know that Barry @b.hennick has an interest in iron fittings.

Yeah, I think both are fake.

Nice piece, but not nearly Turuhide's quality. Here's some info:

No, I have irl details, all good here. Let's give him a chance as a newcomer, let him get used to the system here. But M....please remember to sign all posts with at least a real name.