Shugyosha

So very much like the Rai hada you find so appealing? 🤣 Jacques, it really wouldn’t hurt you to offer something constructive. Many other board members take their study seriously but manage to do so without your attitude. If you can’t say anything good, say nothing.

Unfortunately, I think you're right Nicolas.

Hi Malcolm, I was referring to the tang of the blade, but was viewing on my phone. It is there, so apologies to the OP for the error.

One problem with photographing swords is the way that the light hits the edge of tiny scratches or delaminiations and makes them look far worse than they are in reality and viewing under a magnifier can make them look like the Grand Canyon. For me that's only a scratch as it is far less visible near the back edge of the kissaki whereas it would be more visible in that area if it were a crack running from the edge inwards so, at the very worst, it's a tiny ware but I don't think that it is. Saya that have been around for any time do accumulate crud and even the most careful handlers of swords have accidents so swords can pick up tiny scratches or scuffs so whilst we all want our blades to be pristine, unfortunatlely things like that occur. Enjoy your new sword!

Might be my eyes but it’s missing a mekugi ana, but it does have a mekugi…

Mmm…swords and casinos, what could possibly go wrong? 🤔

So it's probably just a scratch then. If you're genuinely concerned, you could see if you can return it? I suspect that you're going through what most of us went through with our first blade where there is a tendancy to worry that what you have is flawed in some way and perhaps significantly. The green papers are not necessarily a problem of themselves, but if they give the name to a big name smith then you might get a different result if you submitted the blade to shinsa today. The trick is not to have paid big name money for a minor smith, but I'm sure you've done fine.

Hi Dee, If it's only on one side, I'd tentatively suggest that it's just a scratch and nothing to worry about. Does it cross the back (mune side) of the kissaki? If you post some pictures of that and the other side you'll get some better opinions. Out of interest, does the blade have papers?

That’s the wrong flavour: tsuba with Juicyfruit are worth more and those with Hubbabubba are guaranteed TH. 😁

It’s the same with the patina on sword tangs, after a while you get a rough feel, but that doesn’t take account of all the factors outside of age alone that go in to creating the patina. However, I suspect Mr Haynes gets it right more often than we do. The overriding rebuttal to any argument regarding judging age and origin of swords and fittings is that, to be certain, one would have to be there at the birth. Beyond that there is study and experience (mine are negligible by the way) so the views of those with more of these, Mr Haynes, NBTHK shinsa panels, etc have to be the benchmark. We are in the kingdom of the blind and these guys are the partially sighted. You may disagree with what they say and they’re human and/ or very busy and pressured so there may be slip ups but hopefully only in someone else’s item(s).

Above my pay grade but looks like a very interesting gunto.

Good luck in your new house Piers!

Hi Georg, See this thread.

Sorry Grev, I was just talking about the mei rather than the period (to save me looking out the kanji). Sorry for any confusion.

Hi Michael, Time, experience and research are your friends. Many of us jumped into this with both feet and regretted it (a bit) later so taking your time and expanding your knowledge and budget will not do you any harm. Other big US shows are in Orlando and San Francisco if that helps: https://orlandoswordshow.com/ http://www.ncjsc.org/SF_token_kai.htm

Hi Jim, According to the description on the inside of the box lid, I believe the signature is 尼子弘光 Amago Hiromitsu (the signature on the tsuba might use a different form of the "hiro" kanji but it's to small to make out from the photo and blurs when I enlarge it so I've gone from the description which is clearer). The Amago were a Japanese clan and the stamp of four squares appearing on the tsuba and drawn in the description is their mon (coat of arms). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amago_clan He doesn't appear to be a very well known artist as, whilst there are other similar ones on the internet, there's not a huge amount of information about him that I've turned out so that might arouse suspicions, but I've no idea whether the tsuba is genuine or not and you'll have to rely on others for their take on it as I don't have access to research materials beyond Google Sensei. Anyway, I hope that's of some use to you.

Hi Grev, The top one is as per this Aoi Art entry: https://www.aoijapan.com/173933-2/ I can’t make out the second one.

Just buy good quality tsuba (fittings etc) from trusted sources, ideally papered so you know as well as you can that you’re getting what you pay for. If you want to go treasure hunting, go ahead, but expect the dross to far outweigh the quality. This can has been kicked down the road ad nauseam. There’s a simple answer to this conundrum and that’s to not be drawn into speculating on stuff on dodgy websites where the sellers hold the big cards.

Hi Brian, Hope you’re better soon.

Michael, I’d get to as many sword shows stateside as you can before you make the trip to Japan. It really helps to see blades of the kind of quality you’re looking for in-hand. Also, I’d be tempted to reach out to dealers over there as they may have or be able to get what you want and you’ll be able to do a deal in your first language. Check out the dealer pages in the for sale section on the forum: Grey Doffin, Ray Singer and Nick Rickupero are all true gentlemen to deal with.

I suspect because some people rocked up and thought that they knew better than a guy who'd studied his craft in Japan and had been an artist and fittings maker for a long time. They didn't appreciate it when Ford gave them an opinion that they disagreed with and weren't able to refute - it probably goes back to the thread on whether or not tsuba were made using cast iron in the Edo period.

I think it's always wise to view tameshi mei with a degree of scepticism due to their elevating effect on the price of blades. Things that arouse suspicion for me: The mei is in not carved into the tang but just painted on so if done in kinpun rather than kinzogan or just carved; The test is not signed or is not signed by a member of one of the families authorised to do test cuts; Discrepancies between the date of the blade and the dates of the recorded working period of the person signing as having tested the blade; Swords that have supposedly cut an unfeasible quantity of bodies or the test cut was through parts of the body hardest to cut and doubly so if wakizashi rather than long swords. I suspect that owners of koto blades were less likely to bother with having their swords tested and inscribed as they were more likely to be battle-proven, also, the guys that hung around cross roads cutting down passers by probably didn't bother recording how they did so . So yes, there may well be "tested" blades out there without that ever having been recorded on the tang.

Hi Adam, I don't think that the tachi had to be worn as a katana, I think that a tachi worn edge down slung from a belt and tanto still makes a daisho. If you're in the market for a daisho, I think that you have to be careful to avoid "put together" sets of koshirae that look similar but don't match as the price will always be elevated to take account of the "matching" koshirae. Other than that, as has been said above, any samurai lucky or wealthy enough to own two blades had a daisho. Some even had a dai dai - there is a list of some of the swords carried by the 47 ronin and a number of the short swords are over what we think of as katana length.

Hi Evan, I happened across this one: https://www.touken-m...uct/shousai/TSU-2896

You're bang on Mark. Is there the top two strokes of the last kanji showing or am I imagining something that isn't there?