Soten_Fan

You are right to think that placing a wakizashi on an average size katanakake is problematic. To achieve perfect geometry you would have to obscure the tsuba by placing it on the inside part of the holder. I suggest you try a tanto stand because they are usually good for wakizashis too. Some antique ones tend to be quite elaborate too (although a bit expensive)

I too think that it is a bit earlier than shinto. The hamon looks like midare gunome. I think it could make a good candidate for a polish, but it should done by a good polisher as the person who cleaned the sword did quite a bit of damage (yokote, etc). BTW, am I the only one who thinks that the tsuba is astonishingly poor?

Hey Clive, I saw you on TV just now You are a movie star now As for the prog... The first part explaining the history of swords and Masamune wasn't satisfactory, but it got a bit more interesting towards the end.. However, the poor sword photography and the amusing mispronunciation of most Japanese names was a bit of a let down in my opinion.

Very nicely done Mark! When I buy a flat of my own, I will require your services. Maybe you should make a part-time job of it as most collectors would love a custom made display cabinet, especially when it is done by someone who knows exactly what the hobby is about. I remember that you mentioned that you are not afraid to use rennaisance wax, so how come you haven't decided to keep any naked blades in the cabinet? This is what I might end up doing when I get a display cabinet (with a dehumidifier inside probably)

Having a debate about elitism would be probably of topic. I didn't direct the comment to any individual or to the forum as a whole. But it is an issue that affects younger or new collectors of nihonto. And the problem is not when more experienced collectors raise the bar, but when younger or poorer collectors buy lesser blades, because either they can't afford to spend more or simply don't want to spent a vast amount for a sword. Sometimes they get unfairly ridiculed for their choices.

Gentlemen, Like it or not, the majority of the younger people that are familiar with nihonto, are so because of popular culture. Even some of the older collectors I bet started this hobby because of a Kurosawa film they saw. I was fascinated by Japanese culture from a young age, but you know what made decide to go and get a samurai sword? Watching Kill Bill... I started with a wall-hanger, then I moved to Paul Chen replicas, and finally when I could afford it, I started collecting the real thing. And of course my knowledge and respect for this art moved from popular culture curiosity to proper and serious study. If sword societies started taking these geeky anime/martial arts conventions a bit more seriously, then it would speed up the process of someone becoming properly interested in the art, and of course it would increase the number of people that may become properly involved in collecting in the future. Unfortunately our hobby is suffering from a certain amount of elitism and pompousness and it could certainly use some fresh blood by having more young people involved in it. For the sake of the future survival of the art, this was a very smart move from the smiths that were involved in the Evangelion project.

I don't think I can qualify as an otaku anymore, but I would be a liar if I said that my anime youth did not contribute to my love of nihonto.. This is really interesting.. Especially the Asuka horimono is What is next? An AKB48 themed tsuba?

Bob mentioned today at the Leeds meeting that Ford's version of the back-side is more elaborate than the original And I finally had the chance to hold it in my hands! It looks and feels stunning! I saw other tsubas by Ford today at the NBTHK meeting at the Royal Armouries in Leeds. As an Araki Tomei fan, I loved the one with the foxtail millet! Is it OK to post close-up pics of the pieces?

When displaying multiple swords together, what really annoys me is the different curvatures. I have a very symetrical point of view, and when two swords have different sori they look unattural together. Any ideas about how to hide that effect?

Guys, you seem to make a convincing case that this is a gimei. It is too good to be true for that price and that hammering around the mei is suspicious. Are you suggesting that this is a forgery made by a living smith? Is that even legal? However, a few months back I held in my hands the Ichimonji blade that sold for around £79,000 at Christie's in London, and it was very similar to that blade. Is there no chance that this blade a koto one? Gimei or not, it is a stunner. If I had the money I would go for it..

Sword porn on a Sunday morning? Really, my kind of blade.. I love the shape, the school, and the price is not bad.. Shouldn't be hard to drop the price to around 9k which would be 7k in sterling. If only I had 7k handy... Is it papered?

Hi Jean, I found the topic about that Spaniard who inherited the sword gifted by emperor Hirohito, and went through the long debate regarding my question. As the debate was inconclusive, my question remains unanswered.. :lol: The sword could be anything, and I guess that the most proper way to describe is nagamaki naoshi. Now if it is a real shortened nagamaki, that is another story. It is suriage, but even that can be faked. Was there any period that was in fashion to forge blades in that shape so they look like a shortened nagamaki? Bazza, as for the fuchi-kashira I don't really know if it is Nara school. What makes you think so?

I picked this waki a few months ago. At first glance it appears to be a shobu zukuri sugata, but Nakahara states in his book that this is a questionable classification. Reason being that the shinogi does not continue into the tip but upward to the back of the blade. So if it isn't a shobu zukuri, is it a nagamaki naoshi instead? I am not quite sure. Here a few photos of the blade and koshirae (Not that the koshirae will help answering that question, but I thing it is beautiful). No pics of the tang cause it is very hard to remove from tsuka and I want to avoid causing any damage. It is an unsigned suriage blade though. My photography skills failed once again to capture the details of the hada. The hamon is a very irregular, almost exploding midare, the sori is shallow, and the fukura is rather rounded. Thanks in advance for your insight!

It is not likely that it was brought to Japan directly from Europe, but in anycase the correct term to describe the item would be Byzantine, as the Greeks took over the eastern part of the former roman empire around that time, having Constantinople as the capital.

Guys, as you said it was all an illusion... There was absolutely nothing wrong with the blade. The hamon continued normally after the yokote as it should be expected. And on top of that, it did not even change shape. It stayed as a subtle elegant suguha. So it was a koto blade after all. A beautiful blade with tight hada, no kizu, and a magnificent o-kissaki (you know how hard they are to come across). It was all dressed in a fabulous koshirae, with an awesome saya of lacquered same. But... But, somebody beat me to it.. This sword was in the shop for less than 3 weeks and 3 people were really interested in it. The lucky buyer hasn't even seen the blade yet! He bought it because of the saya. Apparently it will allow him to create a daisho with a katana he already has. You see, it is not your average same-wrapped saya. It is made entirely of the largest nodules. I started counting the 'king' nudules in the saya, and me and the dealer concluded that more than 70-80 rayfish died to create that one saya :D :D Well, I believe that the lucky buyer will be happy when he finds out that there is a pretty decent blade under this koshirae. I didn't leave empty-handed though. I purchased an echizen school hira-zukuri waki with a wild, almost hitatsura-like hamon, in a pretty decent koshirae.