Shugyosha

Hi David, There's what looks like a large gouge (doesn't look like a normal forging delamination) near the tip in the fourth picture down which would make me think twice.

Out of interest, Aoi Art has four papered Yagu tsuba priced between 250,000 JPY and 500,000 JPY (one papered to kodai Yagyu is 150,000 JPY) so you could argue that the auctioned tsuba was overpriced in that context particularly as there are a couple on Aoi that I would prefer over that one but auctions throw up seemingly irrational results from time to time.

In the kingdom of the blind the one-eyed man is king and for us mortals the NBTHK is the one with the eye and a seller is not going to second guess their attribution and certainly not to move the tsuba in a downwards direction in terms of potential selling price. In the hierarchy of potential attributions there's no argument that a tsuba papered to Yagyu (not ko dai Yagyu either) will command more prestige and therefore fetch a better price than an unpapered Owari tsuba. I suspect that the owner of the "Owari" tsuba was re-thinking his appraisal of it and wondering whether it was worth submitting for shinsa in the hope of getting it promoted to "Yagyu". Or more likely he'll re-list it in the future with a link to the Yagyu tsuba and suggest that it could be papered to Yagyu if someone were enterprising enough to buy it and submit to shinsa (at a price over that which could be got for an Owari tsuba of course). Good spot by the way.

Sagami no Kami Kunimasa (相模守国維). Worked in the province of Iyo around Kanbun (1661 - 1667).

I’m assuming you’re talking about a professional polish? it probably isn’t worth investing in an unsigned Shinto (that’s my guess) blade as they aren’t particularly desirable. you need to factor in the cost of a shirasaya and new habaki too. There are some kitae ware (one of which is perhaps a fukure) and these will only get bigger with the polish and there’s always the risk that the polish will reveal or create other problems. For me there’s too much risk and too little potential reward. I’m guessing that for the cost of this blade, the polish and the extras you are looking at something around $3k for which you can get a nice papered blade, in polish. Check out the sales section on here for comparison.

Hi Michael, Go on - give it a whack with a hammer😄...but seriously, I agree with you, nothing there to indicate it's cast. More importantly, I think Ford would have mentioned it if there had been anything untoward to his expert eye.

Wait a minute and they'll come looking for advice on here...

It doesn’t always give a clear picture but the patina on the tang looks more Muromachi than shinshinto to me. With the koshirae it’s a nice package and I’d be happy to own it; nothing not to like there.

I fear you may be right Hamish but it's in the USA so getting it to Ted Tenold should be relatively easy to see if anything can be done with it and for a pointer towards a possible attribution which would help form a decision as to whether the work would be worth the cost.

I think I can see a hint of koshi sori which, with the o kissaki might point to a koto Nambokucho era blade...or a later blade done in that style. 🙂 Definitely worth some further research.

Hi Vittorio, I'm very much an amateur too. I agree with Bruce that you can see the remains of the date under the rust and that it must have been the flat lighting in the other pictures that made the tang look odd to me. It's just natural rust. Can't see anything that suggests it had a stamp and I think Steve's find on the signature is probably a good one.

Hi Vittorio, One reason for the darker patina on the tang may be the removal of the date which, as Steve has suggested, may be have been done to pass it off as an older blade. To me there's something about the colour that looks false to me (but again it might just be the photos or my eye). My feeling is that it may not be a natural patina but one put on there, perhaps chemically, to give it an older look and to cover up the new look of the bare metal where the date was taken off. Is there as stamp on the side with the signature (it would normally be above the mekugi ana) or anything to indicate one has been removed?

Hi Brano, Maybe drop Darcy Brockbank a line as many of his swords have Tanobe Sensei’s Sayagaki?

Hi Dave, it’s signed “Kanesaki”. Maybe one of the Inaba ones? Anyhow, doesn’t use the abbreviated form of this “Kane” character so that should help to pin it down.

It requires the use of one of those odd stances where the knees are braced inwards rather than outwards. If I remember correctly it gets its name from the crescent movement of the front foot required when moving in stance.

As Christian says, probably early Edo, it’s probably had a suriage which is out of keeping with a gendaito - no reason to shorten a modern sword. If you imagine some added to the blade you might end up with a Kanbun sugata and the tang patina is definitely in that ballpark colour-wise.Nothing like the clean steel on a modern blade. I’d suggest measuring the space between the mekugi ana will give an indication of the original nagasa. .

You’re seeing more than me. To me the shape looks completely normal (shobu zukuri) except maybe in one photo where the Kissaki looks off but I thought camera angle. The Nakago jiri.seems a little odd but nothing off the scale. It looks like it has a hamon and It has a kitae ware suggesting a folded blade. I’m hoping Ray will expand on his post as this is a bit scary.

Yep - I thought it was genuine too. Didn’t look at the fittings.

Had one of these on the front of my soccer shirt when I was a kid:

Sorry Bruce I only know a couple of stamps. Looks the “Nishi” kanji, meaning “west”, enclosed in a circle. Does that make any sense?

There’s certainly some quality there. Hope the shinsa pans out.

Hi Paul, Sounds like it might be an interesting blade. Do you have any more photos please?

Hi Paul, You are indeed correct. I think my eye was grabbed by the hada which corresponded to the image in my mind of my own blade. I'll own up to having had my beer goggles on having had a pre-lockdown drink with some friends so that didn't help. 🙂 The zanguri/ hadatachi feature of the hada also points back to Mino, so there's probably enough elements pointing in that direction to make the call. Thanks for your insight Paul and to Dan for posting the blade.

Hi Ken, I think it has just had a rough suriage without heating the blade to remove the hamon through the tang. I'm not as convinced as I was last night of the Mihara attribution though there are some similarities between my blade in terms of the boshi with the pointed look and long turn back. I think the jigane is different in terms of colour and Dan's blade has more of a "zanguri", standing up look to it. Here are the pictures:

Hi Paul, I can't get all of it: 三 ???住義国 It begins with Mi, Mitsu or San for the first kanji of a place name (I think) then there are three kanji that I can't get, though the last one may be "kawa" 川. The last two are the smith's name, Yoshikuni.