Shugyosha

Cheers Steve! Enjoy the show.

Hi Lance, Not much to add from Geraint other than I've taken a stab at translating the mei on the signed fuchi - I'm not very confident in it as I can't find a similar name elsewhere on the internet so I may have misread a kanji or two, but it may get things moving and give the better linguists a prod to correct me. @SteveM I have: 古河住千氏冶作 - Koga ju Chishiya saku. Made at Koga by Chishiya. Koga city is in modern Ibaraki prefecture so that could be the place of manufacture, ju = residing at, followed by the artists name and then "saku" meaning "made". The part which I think is the artist's name, 千氏冶, I have down as Chishiya but again, it can be read in more than one way so wait and see.

Hi Davo, Have a look in the dealer showcase section - there are a number of USA based dealers there. Also, at the top of the forum there's a "Nihonto Info" tab, then look at "links," then "Commercial" and there's a quantity of links to dealers worldwide including the USA and Japan.

Hi Nicholas, On the tsuka: numbers on the right (I guess for assembling various parts) - [ ] 六五二 - 652 though there might be one above these, slightly obscured, perhaps a western zero? On the left, in katakana: カケス - Kaketsu which I think means "approved" - at least that's the only sensible thing that came up on a dictionary search, but others might know better.

My suggestion would be to forget learning all you can about Japanese swords, I'd focus on learning as much as you can about as narrow an area of the market as possible. Go through the process that Piers has suggested - work out your budget and from there age of blade, type of blade, school or province, signed/ unsigned etc. Do this as quickly as possible then learn all you can about the market for blades in that category by reviewing the Japanese dealer sites. I think having an appreciation of quality in relation to price will probably be of more use to you in the short time available. By way of homework, you can always post a selection of ghost purchases on the board for critique so you are better informed and, erm, we get to play at spending your money.

Hi Iryna, Welcome to the forum. To add to Jean’s post, the date on the other side of the tang refers to the 2600th year since the founding of the Japanese empire. It’s a fairly common way of dating Japanese swords made in WW2 and is 1940 in the Western calendar.

Hi Kevin, My first thought was that it might be a tiny spot of corrosion that had been polished over but had left a slight mark, now covered over by the new polish. For me nothing to worry about and certainly nothing fatal; it looks like an old blade and, if so, that would be in keeping with its age. That said, everyone has a different degree of tolerance and the charm of age for one person is no charm at all for others. If it helps, it’s hard to photograph swords in a way that reveals their activity without making the smallest flaw look like the Grand Canyon. I suspect you’ll never notice it but check it out once you have it in hand.

This thread is also worth a look:

Hi Mike, The mei is "Ando Kanemoto kitau kore". The "moto" is in a little unusual form and there's a Kanemoto whose name was Ando listed on the Japanese Sword Index is being a WW2 Seki tosho so maybe him. More than that, I know not however: https://www.japaneseswordindex.com/seki.htm

@pin yin just to back up what Alex, Jean and Brian have said - I would suggest that you will quickly grow tired of generic items in poor condition - I've got a bunch of rusty metal in the shed that I never give a thought to. Save for a while, do your research and you will be able to afford an item that continues to give you pleasure and educate you and this need not be super expensive. For me, the sweet spot in collectiing comes where you can identify items that punch above their weight in terms of quality for price paid which is where the fun comes if your budget is not unlimited, as is the case for most of us.

@Hoshi - yes if the attribution were simply "Shikkake" it would encompass the broader school rather than the Norinaga lineage. They are being specific about the lineage but not the generation, I used the word school in inverted commas for that reason.

Hi Dennis, I think the problem that you could have as a seller of this blade is that neither the juyo paper nor the Tanobe sayagaki (as posted on here) mention shodai Norinaga or a jidai for it's manufacture - so two of the world's foremost authorities couldn't be certain. As a potential buyer I would, therefore, assume the worst and that the blade could be by one of the later generations and that it was made in the Nambokucho jidai or even early Muromachi period if it's the fourth generation smith. It is no doubt a good quality blade as otherwise it wouldn't have received higher papers, but unless you have something authoritative (zufu or setsumei) to back up your assertion that it's the first generation smith then I think that you have to consider that what you have is a "school" attribution rather than to any individual artist and that will, unfortunately, affect the value.

Hi Jean, You're presuming that the torokusho pictured is genuine and not faked or, if it isn't a fake, that it goes with blade and isn't just a generic Showa 26 document for a mumei blade. After all, if they carry out the deregistration properly the buyer will never see that document in the flesh. Regarding nakago, a healthy looking blade with a well proportioned kissaki and rounded fukura, deep hamon and deep machi but a dark, very even patina on the tang should make you look twice. Also, if a blade has been "shortened" but any hi don't run into the nakago or if the hamon stops at or just after the hamachi (not conclusive as a good suriage can have the hamon removed from the tang but something to bear in mind). Clear yasurimei on an old blade are unlikely, if the patina inside the kanji for a mei is different to that on the rest of the tang that can be a tell, if it has a generic gold painted attribution to a big name smith not backed by modern papers, if it has more mekugi ana than seems right for the blade's health that points to it being messed with to look older. Look inside the mekugi ana too as sometimes the colour of the metal inside the hole can point to it being a recent addition. Be suspicious of blades with cutting tests as these sell blades and inflate the price. Be particularly if they refer to lots of bodies being cut and with the more difficult cuts and, as usual if they have no modern papers confirming the tameshimei. They are less likely to be faked if they are inlaid rather than painted on and carry the name of a recorded tester who is from one of the families authorised to carry out tests and has his seal and if it is possible to verify that he was alive/ working on the dates when the test was carried out and that these tie in with any date on the tang relating to the blade's manufacture. Essentially if you're looking on Japanese and other auction web sites you should be presuming that the blade isn't as described unless it has modern papers but even then be wary and do your homework as to exactly which smith the blade could be by, and check that the papers match the blade and that they don't show signs of being tampered with. If you have the slightest doubt or what you are looking at seems too good to be true for the price, look away - it's better to walk past a hundred fakes or misrepresented blades than get rolled once. Ultimately the bottom line is buy from a trusted source and don't go "treasure hunting".

Hi Volker, I'm not sure if this is the same blade (it's very similar) but the inscription is the same: https://www.aoijapan.com/katanakatana-in-shirasaya-with-koshiraenbthk-hozon-tokennbthk-hozon-token/

Sebuh, I can’t see anything that would convince me to buy that blade. Other than it being by a big name, what is there to like? It may be Aoi’s photography or rather scanning, but it looks completely lifeless and devoid of anything that would appeal to me. Furthermore, I don’t like the obvious shintetsu on a Shinto blade for a start and that’s the real killer for me (leaving aside that I know that it’s not a big deal in Japanese circles and that I’ll never be spending that kind of money on a sword). Whilst I know that good blades often go to shinsa to confirm the mei, why only TH papers? It’s a big name after all… but I’m a cynic. What are your thoughts?

Hi Raphael, Inaba kuni ju Fujiwara Kanesaki. Hope that gets your research going.

熊口 Kanenobu - Kuma? Kanenobu.

The original owner threw it away…but it came back…

If brevity is the soul of wit then it certainly knocks the cast tsuba thread into a cocked hat.

Alex, If you look at the top of the page, on the banner there's a section marked "nihonto info," under that heading there is a "links" section which includes links to legitimate dealers in Japanese swords. You can use that to begin to get a feel for the market and what you can get for your money, but there won't be any Masamune blades by "the" Masamune on any of them. You can also check out the sales section on this forum as members are often selling blades and there's some nice pictures to look at. Please avoid buying on Ebay or the Japanese auction sites (probably best to avoid buying at all right now as you're shark bait; sorry): there are a lot of blades tricked out to look like something way more attractive than they really are like the second one you've posted above. I don't know where you get Masamune from there, it looks like a shinto blade that has been doctored to appear to be by Sekishu Naotsuna, I think. So in effect, you've been deceived twice in one go and you've barely got started. The new looking kinpun (gold) attributions on them is a big giveaway as if you check between blades, the style of writing is identical so someone has bought a comic with a free Japanese swordsmith kanji stencil set in it and they're really making use of it. Essentially if it's a blade claimed to be by a big name smith and it doesn't have modern NBTHK or NTHK papers, in most cases it can be discounted as a fraudulent attempt to deceive. Even if they do, you need to be sure that the papers are to the smith the buyer is claiming it to be as the names can relate to mulitiple generations of smiths with the same name, not all of which are well regarded or smiths from a different province with the same name who again may be inferior. A long-winded way of saying you need to know more before parting with any money.

It doesn’t seem too unlikely: if NBTHK papers can be doctored, a relatively simple proforma that no one outside of Japan can verify, has to be a candidate.

Good luck with this Lewis, I hope you get a positive outcome.

When all you've got is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

Hi Nazar, I'm sorry but someone has switched the photo on the papers: the description relates to an Echizen Shimosaka blade and not the one you have or are looking to buy. If you haven’t bought it already, please don’t.

Hi Jesse, (Seki stamp) Noshu ju Mishina Yoshikane. Made in Noshu by Mishina Yoshikane. The Seki stamp means it isn’t a traditionally made blade and was made during or just prior to WW2. Another example of this signature here (which is where I took the reading from):