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

Before you get jumped on, you should maybe have said as a curiosity or novelty piece I know there are many here who will tell you that you don't learn from studying tired and/or low class pieces. But we know what you mean. Just the first step on the way to upgrading to much better items, right? Brian

Your answer lies right there in the question. They are not serious collectors. Merely dealers or amateurs who want to see a vivid hamon more than preserve a sword. And no..it is not restricted to the UK. I have seen many here in SA, and quite a few in the USA. I think where there are more proper polishers, there is less of this happening. People who feel like they don't have access to proper restoration resources go this route in order to show what they can't see. But in doing this, they seriously damage the sword. I think Ferric Chloride etching is maybe even more common than acid sometimes. It makes the hamon and nioi-guchi vivid white, but is terrible, and obscures everything you want to see. Then there is the terrible effect of opening the grain to the point that even a proper polish will battle to save it. There are probably ways in which it is used legitimately, and in ancient times maybe. But these modern day guys don't know how and ruin the blade. At best, you pay twice. Once for the bad polish, and then even more later to undo what was done. Brian

Simon, As they used to say in school.. "Did you bring enough for the whole class?" :D Next time you are there, pick up a few extra packets. I am sure you will find a willing market here for a few. Brian

Looks like at some stage it was converted into a pendant. I would consult with an expert metalworker or jeweller to see if it is possible to remove the rings without damaging the rest. Yes, there might be a mark, but I would think this would be preferable to having a ring attached to the side. Not a high class tsuba, so I would look at doing that if it were mine. Brian

Loren, I think you could fill a book with just the names of the books in Japanese. Check out http://www.japaneseswordbooks.com and http://www.satcho.com for just a few of them. The suggested reading link at the top of the forum is a good place to start though. Brian

The only way to check is to compare the workmanship on it. Plenty of these are done by students and prisoners with assistance from Emura, so each has to be judged on its own merits. The last 3 papered Emura blades I saw were all signed "Emura saku" but of course there were many signatures. Oneday someone will examine enough examples to say for sure which signatures were by him, and which were by his students. Best page on Emura is of course on Dr Stein's site, and Ohmura-san also has a good section on him. Just search the NMB for Emura to find more info. Brian

I'd like to see a pic of the nakago (tang) before I was to take any guesses. Does seem to have been based on a naginata though. Preferably upload some jpg's, as not everyone will or can open the .pdf. Brian

With all due respect, let's please keep posts to English (with Japanese when necessary) or provide translations for everyone..or take it to pm. This is for the benefit of all the members here. Thanks, Brian

Folks, Once again the pc I was using temporarily had given me so many hassles that I was forced to go out an purchase a brand new pc (Ouch) This is a continuation of the hassles I had with the old pc back in december. I now have a nice new pc that I now have to set up from the beginning. I am still in the process of setting email and everything up, so please forgive me if there are delays in getting to your emails, or replying to pm's here. I have read the pm's and will reply as soon as I am confident that this machine is running as it should. Right now it is sluggish and I have numerous issues to sort out. Still here...just very preoccupied Regards, Brian

Not being at home with my references, I was just going by the NKB swordsmith database for a quick example. Looked for those signing with Bishu Osafune, and only got the one (SUK748) but using a different Suke. Brian

I think Mr Pedersen summed it all up nicely. It is badly in need of a polish, but looks healthy enough to take one. Jacques is correct that all the lines need to be redone I think. This is what happens when amateurs have a go at leaning up a blade sometime in its past. I know giving an opinion as a togishi from online photos is difficult enough, so thanks for having a go at it. I hope you at least have some enquiries from the board for some polishing work, but if not yet, they will come Regards, Brian

Andrew, Ask your friend for a much better photo of the mei, from overhead. Spacing looks odd to me, not like a neat signature. The Osafune Sukemune documented is from the 1800's and used a different kanji for suke. So he is either undocumented (still many out there) or a gimei of a non-existent smith, or just a fantasy later addition to an o-suriage blade. Sword is still legit though, and he should be studying what it is, more than what it isn't Brian

Even down to the exact day of the month Wow. Thanks Guido, I will add that to the articles section too, for later reference. I would agree that it would be the definitive date guide for me. Brian

Andrew, Although I have seen some bo-hi that were originally cut extending deeply down into the nakago, usually when you see this, you start to think suriage. In this case, the nakago was obviously reshaped to fit into the military mounts. I get the overall impresssion that this sword was maybe quite a bit longer, and the original hi didn't extend this far into the nakago. If this is the case, then the mei is probably gimei, as it would be much too high on the original nakago. This is just my first impression, and should be taken as an opinion only. No doubt someone will show the error in my thinking here :D Still looks like a reasonable sword though, that he should look at having evaluated in hand by one of the sword groups in your area. The hi looks well cut, which sometimes indicates a well made sword, or one worth closer examination at least. Brian

I haven't had a chance to compare the mei or workmanship yet, but I found an excellent article on Naokatsu in an old online NCJSC newsletter here: http://www.ncjsc.org/ncjsc-oct-2001.pdf (There are also some excellent articles on other subjects there) I wonder how many of these old NCJSC newsletters are online? Brian