Guido

And South America. I wonder how long it took for the tsuba to drift apart ...

Yeah, looks like a nice, modern building they are moving into, but ... until now it's a 20 minutes drive for me (and they have free parking), after they moved it'll be a 40 minutes train ride (with two transfers) plus a 15 minute hike.

Just to clarify: my comments weren't directed towards you.

Exactly. There are facts, and there are alternative facts. I'm looking forward to hearing more about the Bowling Green Massacre.

Only on a case-by-case basis.

Your wish is my command:

No wonder - I used shiro mahō to trap my evil twin in it ...

Koshirae only, blades and tsuba collection are stored in the katanadansu.

Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses. http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/2894-mcalken-tom/?do=findComment&comment=24432

Another interesting example - I wonder what the artist intended here ...

I think it's 天文 (Tembun / Tenmon).

Florian, of course they mean something - IMO just not more than an elaborate means of supporting the mounting of the kamon proper. But NMB would be a pretty boring place if everybody agreed with me.

Here's another unusual namban tsuba in suaka:

My guess: the Japanese proverb taka no mae no suzume 鷹の前の雀 (sparrow/s in front of a hawk). It has basically the same meaning as neko no mae no nezumi 猫の前の鼠 (mouse/mice in front of a cat) and hebi ni mikomareta kaeru 蛇に見込まれた蛙 (a frog being picked out by a snake). I explained the latter in a for sale post recently.

Well, to me it looks very much like a cast tsuba and therefore not exactly very old.

Here are some examples of the row type:

What Henry said. Kamon-menuki are usually made with three or two kamon in a row which makes mounting them quite easy. However, when only one mon is used, some extention is added to hold them securely in place under the ito (except when mounted on a tantō where they are glued in place and no addition is needed). Those extentions come in a variety of shapes, and I wouldn't read too much into it.

How did you make the samegawa look antique if you don't mind my asking?

Can't make a single character out either. Looks somehow like grass script. The kind you'll find in a lawn mower bagger .

Yes, it's assembled correctly. Those types are a little flimsy compared to the traditional ones, but should work. It can be somewhat tricky to balance the dō out by moving the shoulder straps that go on top of the wooden crossbar.

What Uwe said, we need to see the stand. If it's one like in the attached pic, it shouldn't be a problem.

That Sadamune blade Jean mentions is one of the extremely rare exceptions of a saiha getting papered at all - mostly because of the historical context. He is also right about the most famous smiths often not having more than hozon papers: it's all that is needed to confirm the authenticity (of the mei), and that it doesn't have a fatal flaw. If the signature of that sword is let's say Kanemitsu, why would one waste time and money on getting higher papers?The sale price will not change, at least not in Japan. With low to middle ranked smiths, it's an entirely different ballgame. Also, dealers - especially those with a high turnaround - don't have the luxury of waiting for higher papers, they want to recover their investment as soon as possible, and leave it to the customers to go through all the years of papering processes.

Yes, that's the correct answer: namu myōhō [renge] kyō 南無妙法 [蓮華] 経, the characters for lotus [renge] substituted by a carving thereof.