Brian

Milt, Obviously I know next to nothing about tsuba and am trying to change that, but in my novice opinion at first glance it does look Akasaka to me. Hopefully the "old iron" guys will chip in and give more info. Brian

Great work Steve, thanks. I'll add it to the useful articles list for download. Brian

If you wait, the right sword will come along. Just give it a week or 2. Btw..you might want to look at that horimono sword again. In a chat with Ford, it was pointed out that while the horimono might be later than the sword, it isn't too terribly done, (judging by how the kani are carved) and might be not as bad as it looked. It does take some skill to carve kanji into a blade. Not saying it is a brilliant sword, but if it goes around $600 or so, and it does have NTHK papers..might be a good deal. In a reasonable polish, can see everything. Kissaki maybe slightly reshaped at some point to get rid of a chip? but you could do a lot worse if you get it for $600 or so. That is the price of the shirasaya and papering. Brian

Joakim, Genuine sword. However I think I see quite a bit of leftover pitting on the blade in places? That combined with the amateur polish and chips that aren't fatal but not great..hmm. You aren't going to ever get an answer here saying for sure "buy it' or "don't buy it" as that isn't what we are about. You need to look at it, decide if it does it for you, and make a decision. It needs work, and you aren't going to spend the money on restoration ever. So I guess you need to decide if you want to wait, or get that bug out of your system now. It's a project blade, and you aren't going to make much money passing it on later. Not a bad price for a katana, but not a bargain if that is pitting I see. Btw..can you see the boshi? (temper line going into and around the tip) You already have a good idea it is gimei, and that it is likely from the Kanbun period, late 1600's. You aren't going to find out more info than that. Tough choice and one you need to make. My advice is still a good wakizashi over a mediocre katana. Brian

Wow..for the gun fans like me, that must have been an awesome day. I know that getting an original is high on my list. I assume that they are registered and deregistered on the same torokusho as the swords are, with the same procedures? Or is it a different procedure? Funny...I have seen lots of swords in old shops and markets, but never a teppo/tanegashima except at the dedicated sword shows or shops. Brian

Never heard of it. maybe just a brand name. Just use regular light (sewing) machine oil, or search the forum for oiling blade. There are lots of threads about oiling blades. Brian

Charles, I think having the papers is certainly better than no papers at all, and although not as highly regarded as some of the other organisations, the people who issued them are likely still light years ahead of us in giving an attribution. You should use their attribution to study up on the Bungo Takada school and see if it matches their work. Search the forum and the net for that school and you will pull up lots of info. Sounds like a good deal getting any papers if they weren't mentioned before. Bungo swords were utilitarian, and made for battle. Some good ones out there, but most were true working swords that served well on the field. See this link: http://www.nihonto.com/abtartbungo.html Regards, Brian

Hi Rich, Yep..I do agree with you, but have been specifically requested to do one for the novices to cover some of the subjects that are asked about so often. (More of a beginners section) I don't plan on putting up a comprehensive guide to Nihonto, as that is well covered by sites such as yours. I think just a few basics, maybe even linking to posts here that have discussed various subjects, might be helpful. It will also be a good place to put some of the great articles we have. That way, we don't have to keep posting the same replies and links..it should mostly be in the faq. There are still some good articles out there on whether to polish or not. They can never say yes or no...but they can guide you if the sword is not worth it, or has serious flaws, or mention that you seldom get your money back. Anyways, it will hopefully just be a few good pointers that will allow people to understand some of the things spoken about here without having to ask every time. I appreciate the offer to link to your page, which I always do. As you say...can't re-invent the wheel Regards, Brian

All, I am currently working on making the NMB FAQ page, to cover many of the basic questions we get asked frequently. I don't want to make it a huge section..there are plenty of pages dealing with the basics. However there are many topics that we could include for novices so that they don't have to search the whole forum for the answers already covered. What I would like from you all, is some idea of questions you would like briefly covered. I know the ones such as: How to oil and care for a blade, how to spot a fake, how to disassemble a sword. Then there are more serious ones such as: Is it worth polishing? Please give some of your thoughts as to topics that should be covered. Since I don't have all the answers either, I will be asking if there are folks who are willing to write up a short article on some of these. I don't want to copy ones already published on other websites word for word. We have some great articles from Guido already. Is there anyone who is prepared to write a basic article or 2 on some of the questions that will be featured? Maybe things like "sword ettiquette" (Grey? ) and a brief glossary on the basic words. How about a Nihonto pronunciation section (words like hakkikake spring to mind ) Anyways..for now, let's see what questions you would like covered. And please remember this is supposed to be a basic FAQ, so we won't need to go into too much academic debate on subjects that take a book to cover. Thanks, Brian

Nothing about that tsuba says repro to me. It is a genuine Soten tsuba, just maybe with a gimei signature. You see this very often on Soten work that don't match the mastery of the top masters of the Soten school. This one doesn't look like a bad tsuba either. Not as good as many, but there are thousands of medium class Soten tsuba out there, many signed (real or not) by the masters of the Soten school. I haven't checked the mei yet..so it could be shoshin or gimei. Just commenting that the tsuba itself looks ok to me. Brian

Franco, Yep..that's why I said "Original, well done, and tasteful horimono..." Horimono that are obviously not original to the blade when manufactured should be examined to see why they were done and if they are hiding something. Let's not come down on the seller on this one...he doesn't seem to have done it, and is notifying potential customers that it was done recently. No hostage situation here :D Brian

If you are refering to the kanji characters engraved on the blade, since it is mentioned that they are modern, I would have to agree with you. Not done well, for no real reason, and just detract from the blade. Also ruin the value. Original, well done, and tasteful horimono are one thing, but not this type of modern embellishment. Sad. Brian

I don't envy the shinsa panels who get presented with swords regardless of whether they are typical examples or not..shows that it takes a lifetime of study to get to that level. I was thinking more of less formal kantei, such as when seeing a sword at a show or presented with something for sale or opinion that might be mumei. Looks like the way to study swords is to first know how to differentiate a good sword from a bad one. Then you can narrow down to a school or smith. It might seem like a simple thing, but with swords not always in good polish, the difference between a good sword and a mediocre one is critical, and what I would love to see more articles and debate on. Something to bear in mind for all the novices such as myself For the overseas collectors at the Taikai who are NBTH members, I beleive there will be an excellent talk on this after the show for those who will be there. Brian

That was a good one Ford Haynes H03393.0 shows Kiyoyasu, approx 1800 with that kao. No other info given. Brian Edit to add: Shosankenshu confirms it with that version of Kiyo shown.

Thanks Remy, Looks like a great article and worth bookmarking. Very relevant indeed. A study of Nihonto can't do without a working knowledge of the history of Japan. Brian

Not having done much in the way of real "in hand" kantei..but I would imagine that these same factors shown here, and the overthinking aspect (as well as items that are slight deviations from the norm of a smith) would just as likely present themselves in regular kantei. Although in many excercises they will present "ideal examples" of a smith's work...when you are presented with a blade for sale or examination (such as at a shinsa) you would come across these same factors frequently, and not always an ideal example. So to me this shows the difficulty of kantei in general, and makes me enjoy these exercises in spite of any shortcomings. So great post again, and an enjoyable one. Learned quite a bit too. Thanks all. Brian

I'm not sure the hamon matches though, and I am still looking for that defining characteristic that Ted and Darcy mentioned, plus the other hints that he gave. Brian

Andreas, No, you can't be 100% sure, but that is the opinion of the members here from pics online and not having the item in hand. But the nakago is shot anyways, and the blade is rough and overbuffed. I am not sure if they were making fakes before the war either, but likely it is a post war fake from India or Pakistan. Brian

I think that many, if not most, collectors are dealers to a small extent. This is only because as we upgrade our collections, sometimes we are forced to part with something we like, to purchase something we love. Unless you are rolling in cash (and to be honest, if we were, would we be on an internet forum or just travelling to Japan each month?) you sometimes have to bite the bullet and part with something to get something better. Sometimes we don't purchase a sword with the intention of selling it, but it becomes necessary. However fulltime dealers are in a different league and I wonder how easy it is to part with so many swords without too much emotion, and continually "flip" them over and put the money into the next batch. It isn't easy to make money off swords. How many (Western) dealers are there that do that full time and are able to survive off the business? Most of the internet dealers have other jobs or have folded. This is especially true of dealers and collectors in countries like the USA, UK, Australia etc. In these countries, there are thousands of swords for a buyer to chose from due to the number of servicemen that were in Japan during WW2 and swords continue to come out of the woodwork. In countries where there are fewer swords (SA, some of Europe etc) swords fetch higher prices due to the fact that there is a demand and yet fewer swords available. As an example, in SA if 2 swords come up for sale locally a year, that is a lot. Prices are higher than in the USA and I have made some money off selling lower end swords when I am upgrading. But it only takes one bad purchase to wipe out all the accumulated profit, so it is a huge risk. All the main collectors here agree that it is a bad idea to try and collect purely for profit. There are indeed safer options. Most are happy if they put their money into something and a few years later are able to recover their money. Yes, the very top end swords fetch high prices, but there really isn't a huge shortage of top end swords. If you had $500K to spend, no doubt you would have a choice of quite a few swords in Japan. That is a lot of money to put into something that is handled though...something which can rust, scratch, break or experience a downturn in the market. And to vaue it, you would have to be a seriously advanced collector that can appreciate it yourself...and not just take the view of the seller. In other words, when you play at the top end to make money, you need the knowledge and experience to back that up. As mentioned, in the common markets such a eBay, you are more likely to make money off low end swords. Mid class swords barely sell, and top end only sell if they are a bargain. So unless you have the ability to travel to Japan or sell on high end auctions, you aren't going to make money. Luckily, most of us have given up the idea of making money off our collections, and just collect for the enjoyment of Nihonto. Yes, we all want to know that when we sell we can at least recover our money. That is natural and nothing wrong with that. You don't put half your life savings into something that is a financial loss. But profit? Hmm... Carlo quoted an excellent point. What it comes down to is that you can always expect and hope to recover your money/break even, but if you are looking to make serious money, Nihonto isn't the right avenue unless you already have the money and knowledge to play in the top league and even that is a huge risk. Rather buy gold or platinum for the long haul (many years) Jacques wrote: "investment in art is not speculation, on a long time the value increase (how much was a Kunihiro worth in the fifties?) " That is very true, but what is the buying power and actual value of that money nowdays? If you paid $5K back them, and it is $30K now...what is the value of that money nowdays? Anyone in finance will probably tell you that it is worth a similar value now as it was then relatively speaking. The only exception is the days when tsuba were sold by the barrel full and swords were worthless. But that is past now, and isn't going to happen again. At any rate, I expect the original question wasn't about investing in the very top end of the sword market. Low end to mid level swords (we are talking about these, right?) are unpredictable and risky. To realise full value, they need to be in perfect polish and papered. That costs money and could expose flaws etc. It's a real rollercoaster. As for your question about dealers. The ones in Japan get their swords from the public and lower end dealers. The ones in the West either put their full effort into advertising to the public, or have dealers in Japan they sell excess stock for. That relationship takes years to build. Every year more swords come out of estate sales and disappear into collections. Those are the "good deals" but once in a collection and researched, they usually don't go back to being "sleepers" and as the veterans pass away, there are fewer and fewer of these. The number certainly isn't going to increase over the upcoming years. A long and rambling post. basically what I am saying is that be a collector who sells to upgrade. Being a pure dealer is almost impossible unless you have huge money and contacts, and preferably a side business. Brian

Bobby, Gimei (if it is indeed gimei) isn't a train smash. Many of us have very nice blades that are gimei, and there are thousands out there. Frankly, unless it is a top quality blade that you were going to send to shinsa, I wouldn't worry about it. Enjoy the blade, not the signature. Sometimes gimei blades are even better than the name on them. It is just something that was done often, and too many people put too much importance to the signature. If you aren't going to get it polished and papered, just enjoy it as is. Brian

Scott, At first quick glance, I would say it is "modan" school (To use Milt's phrase ) (modern or amateur) It just has too many careless lines that aren't convincing, the seppa dai is wrong, and the nagako ana is badly shaped. Sorry..just calling what I see. Will be happy to be wrong, and sorry if I am the bearer of bad news. Brian

Not sure who Peter had in mind, but contact Ford at this thread: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=766&hilit=shirasaya for the details of the guy he mentioned. Brian

Sounds like a bad situation for everyone involved. I hope you come right soon, and glad to see that Fred is in contact with you. Thanks for updating us. I changed the topic to "confused" Topic locked, but pm me if there is any further news later. Brian

The best site was John Tirado at http://www.sayashi.com/ but it seems to be down Anyone in contact with him to find out if it is temporary? There was a good tutorial there. I am trying to see if it was cached anywhere. brian

Well..I've been flip/flopping all over the place with this one, with some ridiculous assumptions. So I am going to wait until I can hit the books this weekend and try and make an informed decision about it. I would like some comments about whether this would be classed as furisode or funagata nakago though. I know it seems like an elementary decision, but looking at http://www.ncjsc.org/nakago-1.html and http://token.cz/external/meiboku/guide/ ... /index.htm the lines blur a bit. I thought furisode didn't have this much taper, but the websites seem to differ. Any thoughts. Brian