Brian

I actually don't think it would be too hard to make a half-decent tsunagi without the blade. Since it is all hidden, it doesn't have to be full length. It is just to hold everything together. I would start out by finding out the shape of the tang. Use something soft like balsa-wood and keep adjusting where you see the pressure marks slowly until you have the basic shape. Then using that as a template, you make the actual tsunagi. Must be something else that you can use to find the inside dimensions of the tsuka. All in all, since wood isn't that expensive, I think it could be done fairly cheaply. Once you have a working one, you can always make one out of decent wood. I don't think a tsunagi has to be of honoki wood? Worth doing imho. (in my honest opinion) Brian

Well..I am glad to have another esteemed author on board here (occasionally) Didn't know about the book Serge. Consider having it translated oneday? Very nice indeed. We are in good company here, wish I could meet you all oneday. (Where was my Nihonto interests 7 years ago when I visited Paris? :? ) Regards, Brian

Wilfrid, If you are looking to spend around $20K or more, then you do need to slow down a bit and wait for the right sword to come along. I think in that budget, you can pick up something very nice. You obviously are leaning towards an early Koto, and for that price it must have papers. I understand what you mean when you say that you aren't doing it for the money, but would still like to know you have a sound investment for the future. For $30K (negotiate a bit with them?) how about this Juyo: http://www.aoi-art.com/sword/sale/07616.html There will be many good swords in the $20K bracket. Most of them will sell offline at shows and among collectors. Let's see what suggestions the members here can come up with. So the question to everyone I guess, is a treasure hunt. If you have approx $20K to spend on a sword..what would you snap up? :D Brian Edit to add: Myself...although not early (shinshinto) and not with koshirae, I think I could easily be persuaded to go for this one: http://www.ricecracker.com/japanese_swo ... na/sk5.htm TH papers, with Tanobe Michihiro Sayagaki and i think it is gorgeous for the price ($25K)

Hi all, Here is the pic that George emailed me to post. I think it was just the length that was a bit oversize, by a little bit. I hope someone is able to identify the maker, or he will just have to remain one of the many currently undocumented smiths. Where is Dr T. when we need him? He is an expert on these lesser known smiths I think. Brian

Just to confuse matters (which have been very nicely explained by everyone so far) I see on Rich's page he also has a description which is listed as such: Just wondering if this is a common term, and if it would only be used in the case that the sukashi is in the form of a mon? Brian

I do not want to lock this topic Please keep it civil. I think we all respect the right of others to have an opinion, and I think we are all mature enough to give ours without becomming aggressive or argumentative. Everyone is entitled to a bad temper day, the point is can we get over it and get back to being civil and polite please. I expect better from you guys whom I hold in high regard. Brian

No idea..there were many, and I don't think you will match up the right one purely with the mei alone. But... There was a possible that signed nijimei: Kanenaga Koto, Mino no kuni (Tenbun) KAN1685 (15pts) TTp106 large two character signature Has the nakago been badly cleaned and/or filed? Brian

Something seems to have opened up the hada a lot on that one. :? That's not just stones imho. Hmmmm. Brian

Yep. Very easy to do in Photoshop or one of the others, but I know not everyone is familiar with them. Just reduce the resolution down to maybe 100 or 120 (that will already make a huge difference, as sometimes they are on 300 dpi) Then resize the whole image (not just crop) and it should be fine. But email the pic to one of the guys here, and I am sure they will be glad to post them for you. Can send to me too, but please not if they are over 1 meg each, as I am still on dial-up Brian

Convert the pics to .jpg. The tif is likely way too big to upload, and can't be viewed by everyone. What are the indicators that it is a Gendai-to and not an earlier blade in gunto mounts? Always possible someone did a good job without needing to drill another ana? There are however quite a few undocumented smiths still. Brian

Sebastian, There is very little chance that the inside of the tsuka is going to fit perfectly and just need the ana repositioned. It will either be too tight, too loose, or just sloppy. Good for you, for asking opinions first. But all the opinions agree, so I guess there isn't any doubt. You have a sword with papers. And a koshirae with papers and tsunagi. Putting them together like you want to do is going to do serious damage to the blade. Extra mekugi-ana are something we live with in old swords due to the fact that we cannot do anythign about it. But it is never something we desire, and would be a very bad idea. Yes..I think your papers showing only 2 ana are going to devalue your sword when they can prove that the new ana was done recently. Everything says don't do it. A professional tsuka-shi can fill the old hole perfectly and drill a new one in the tsuka to match the existing ana. This only if the tsuka fits the new nakago perfectly (which I doubt) Not sure how this would affect the papers on the koshirae though. Brian

I think people are pretty brave to make some of these calls based on the little we can see. My advice would be to get it looked at in hand at one of the sword shows. I don't see a boring uninspired gunome there, I see quite a wild hamon with maybe even some tobiyaki, and a polish that is not showing off anything that is there. I also see indications of plenty of hataraki and hada. To me, shinshin-to and would be very nice in polish. But as I said, there are not enough pics and the polish isn't good enough to make out any of this for sure. With a 30" nagasa and that kissaki, I would be surprised if it turned out to be simply a gendai-to made for the war effort. Not impossible of course, but wouldn't be typical. Nakago patina is never certain..as removal of a tight tsuka can wear the high points..and climate can advance surface rust. So can artificial methods. If it was bought at a gunshow and not a sword show, I would expect it to have been with the guy for many years as a WW2 bring-back, with less chance of faking. But you never know nowdays. Take it to a show or sword study group, and prove one half of us here wrong Brian

Hi, I would trust these guy's call, and it is well spotted. A very good exercise. Remember that these tagane are like our own handwriting. If you tend to write your letters of the alphabet a certain way, there isn't much chance you are suddenly going to write the strokes backwards. Of course, when you chisel a stroke, you are always going to show the direction of the stroke from thicker to thinner. (Same as a pen stroke) Brian

Sebastian, I would never drill another ana in the nakago to fit the blade to another tsuka. Certainly, this cannot have any advantage at all to the preservation of the sword or its value. Especially if it has hozon papers! Rather get an expert to modify the tsuka, or take it apart and use the fittings to make a new tsuka to match the nakago. My opinion...don't do it! Brian

The most glaring difference that is immediately apparent is that the chrysanthemum petals are cut clockwise on this one, whereas the shoshin mei has them anti-clockwise. Ref: http://www.ricecracker.com/japanese_swo ... a/sk14.htm (which btw seems quite a good deal to me at 8K, with origami) Brian

Give us an idea of what your budget is. If you are looking at spending $15K or so, then that opens up a whole different ballgame. There are lots of good deals at that level I think. http://www.nihontomessageboard.com/links.html Go to the commercial sections, and see how many dealers there are in English. Browse around a bit. Are you in Germany? If so..we have some excellent members here from there, that will guide you on where to go and how to buy. Don't be hasty, and you will end up with nice items. Brian

Hi Wilfrid, Post the pics and descriptions of the swords you are interested in here. Look in the How-To section for instructions on how to upload pics, or upload at photobucket and share the links here. I can tell you that few people are going to tell you how much to pay. That is an impossible task, and is always controversial and subjective. But you might get opinions on if it is a good sword or not, and if it might be a good deal. I think you might be the guy that i heard about considering that "tachi" on eBay for over $15,000? If so..stay away from it! I don't even think it is Japanese, and is certainly not older than 5 years. It would be a major mistake. There are much better deals out there for $20K from decent sellers. That one is junk in my opinion. Regards, Brian (Ps - Don't forget to sign the bottom of your posts with your first name)

Ah. I was right Mike is also Historian(333?) and uses Komonjo for his consignment items. He knows what he is selling, and will tell you if it is genuine. Decent seller, and a very gimei sword. Brian

James, Very nice looking blade indeed. These osoraku tanto tend to fetch top money, something about the unusual shape maybe? I would have to agree with Jacques. If genuine, it would probably have been sent for papers and would be very big $'s. I like this project: http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/ns2.html From the style of the pics, I would take a big guess that this is one of Mike's (Historian) auctions on eBay? Tend to start to recognise the style sometimes. Brian

Peter, I think you are going to find that as far as professional, reputable and recommended polishers go...there are none in Australia. This is the impression I am given by the advanced collectors there. Brian

Congrats James! That is an excellent result, and certainly shows that if the right steps are followed, there can be a good result at the end. Make sure you send some pics when it eventually arrives back. Congratulations too go out to Ludolf for a very good call and analysis. Well done. Brian

Yep..there have been some online complaints about imageshack and random popups lately. One I have been told to try is http://www.imagevenue.com/ Apparently no popups? Worth a try for those that want to use external hosting. Brian

James, Search the forum for "Hikone Soten" Quite a few posts about it. Hikone is the town, school is Soten. Lots of info on google too. Brian

Mr Manguno, What is happening here on the blade, or is it just a trick of the light, marks on the blade or other...? Brian

Better get started then, no time to waste. :lol: Andrew, the short answer is that those that have studied the schools extensively start to pick up the points like style of hada, hamon, sugata etc etc and you start to get a feel for where and when a blade was made. This is what the end result of years of study is. As for Seki...like some other schools and traditions, Seki in Mino province was an area of mass production and many of the swords were utilitarian but not high class. There are of course exceptions, but in these schools good weapons were produced, but not great art pieces. You can find very good examples, but if a school/tradition was mainly known for mediocre swords, then they are obviously not as sought after as other more desirable school works. Brian Ps - Refer to John's page here: http://www.johnstuart.biz/new_page_14.htm where he says