Brian

You mean those tsuba that don't exist?

Ridiculous. I would be sending extremely angry emails as high up as I can go...as per that last case. There is ZERO reason to reject this. Tsuba are collected in their own right, and not as essential part of a sword at all. The sword functions fine without it. It is no more a part of a weapon as a silk sword bag is. You should really kick up a stink. And of course next time, antique decorative Japanese metalwork disc....

It's a fairly standard arsenal oil quenched Gunto, with an incorrect scabbard.

They were likely regarded as honorific...maybe it was good luck or spiritually beneficial to have the name of an important smith on the kogatana. In other words, ritualistic rather than considering them an actual weapon, which they weren't.

I am not aware of any oil quenched kogatana. I think that all were traditionally water quenched. But some (better quality ones) were clay hardened with a hamon, and many more mass produced ones were through-hardened without a hamon. But I am not aware of oil quenching being a common thing in any antique ones.

Like to know what brought this on. But yes...can confirm everything you said.

Sorted

Found this one posted on FB, and not sure if we have ever posted about this story here before, but it's a nice story of a successful return, featuring many of the people we know on the forum and in the community. A nice read. https://www.outsideo...r-ii-japanese-sword/ Well done @Mark and @Keichodo

Am I wrong that the start stamp is usually top left, not right? Also, the seller likely doesn't know as much as he thinks he does. Not a lie...just not aware of the difference maybe.

I think it looks great. Since the wood doesn't touch the tsuba anywhere, there shouldn't be an issue with any reaction. Maybe not traditional but certainly striking and attractive. Well done.

That is excellent news! Congrats. I am sorry you had to go through this, but shows that sometime you have to stop being polite and do what you have to do. So glad it worked. Lesson...never give up. Lost is not always lost. You made it inconvenient for them until they had to put some effort in. No doubt without that, it would have been eventually considered abandoned and would have disappeared. Enjoy!

WW2 soldier's knife. Usually the blades are utilitarian, but that horimono (carving) isn't terrible like many are. I'd say it's an above average example of a utilitarian Japanese tanto taken to war. Likely not 100% traditionally made, but it's a decent example and the militaria guys would like it a lot. Some will question whether it's the front end of a longer wakizashi that broke, but given the placement of the horimono and bonji on the other side, I suspect it was made this way. Get some oil on the blade, don't use anything abrasive. It's a nice enough wartime militaria piece.

You know that to find a Gendaito in those mounts is extremely rare? So much so, you can just about assume it's a Showato. That is, until proven otherwise, but I'd be surprised.

Nothing indicating cast here, and the nunome is done as it always was. Agree with those above that say nothing wrong here.

Geraint, That seller has written a script to just relist thousands of items available elsewhere in Japan it seems. They don't even do it manually anymore.

Of course it's not nanako. It's obviously raised from the back. Don't think this can be mistaken for punched-in dots. The raised motifs would be added afterwards most likely.

Ah, I see. The members who don't want to see posts headed "Ejaculating adolescent watching two copulating turtles" are self righteous hypocritical old fart assholes. I see. Who knew? Personally, I got over online porn and cheap thrills 25 years ago, but hey....we can suggest some free online porn sites if that's your thing? I can see we are too old, hypocritical and self righteous for you here. Perhaps it's time to check out some of the forums with lesser morals.

Can only tell once he receives at and we see closer pics of the blade and nakago. But many of these were non-traditionally made for Bunraku etc. You get many that are real swords and many that are display items. Does appear to be the latter.

Considering it. I'm far from a prude....very far. But really...does this encourage new members/lady collectors and youth to stay here or are we reduced to looking for a cheap thrill? Not sure exactly what discussion this is supposed to encourage. We already had one high end lady quit the forum over the typical "macho" guy stuff here. I'm asking that we consider this before we post stuff that really isn't all that constructive. Unlike the off topic pictures of huge plushy phallus's that I deleted earlier (and which no doubt led to this post), This one IS kinda antique Japanese art related and I'll leave it up as an example of Shunga for now...but really wonder about your browsing habits and motivation that keep you searching for this stuff online. If you disagree with me, happy to do an anonymous poll and see what the other members think of that?

No, this is not some test that needs to be passed. Everything that needed to be said was said. People can make up their own minds now. 3 Pages of this is enough.

Jean, I'm talking about the original post...the Chinese sword. Those are almost never damascus...they are etched to look like damascus. Clearly shown by the way the characters are etched in with the pattern. Yes...well aware of the others, having been a knife and sword collector for over 30 years.

That is likely one of the smiths that experimented with adding Western steel in his mix, maybe with more nickel in it, leading to a high contrast hada. There are a few smiths that played with that. The seller is a member here, you could always ask him. @Seiko

Genuine swords, likely false signatures. Appear to be Western restorations/polish done by the usual type of self taught restorers. You always get that dry hard look to the polish and artificially enhanced hamon. But not that unusual, and you'll have the edit your post and reupload C pics

Except these are usually not damascus anyways, but an etched pattern.