Shugyosha

Hi Jedediah, I may have this wrong but my reading of the paper is to "den" Bushu Kunimasa and then in the notes it says Horikawa mon. The seller, however, is talking this up as being an attribution to the smith himself which I don't think it is.

You can own a sword that is pretty much the size and shape the smith intended rather than what is left after age and use. Obviously age and the patina of use have their charm too, but I think there are fewer trade-offs with younger blades.

Hi Peter, The swordsmith is Ittosai Yasutsuna and the date refers to 2600 years since the founding of the Japanese Empire. Some information in this thread:

But what Brian said get both and offload the one you like least…if there’s one you like least.

He resells them too - you can pick up some interesting ones if you’re patient.

Jacques, You can't say this unless you have reviewed the totality of the evidence base and it is impossible for you to have done so.

As Jussi says, it's not the the big name Nobukuni, so there's no reason to suspect that this paper isn't the genuine opinion of the shinsa panel on the day it viewed the blade - if anything, the paper talks the blade down by ascribing it to the smith working in Tensho. If you read Darcy's article, it emphasises that the bigger then name, the greater the danger with these papers and that they aren't all bad - this is a small name smith and so this one is probably OK. @Bosco - the seller isn't going to tell you that the blade is a piece of junk that you definitely shouldn't buy and using the Sengoku Jidai as sales puff is something that occurs frequently as there's a degree of romance attached to the period that sells swords - but I've just reread your post and it looks like you've already gone for it, so I hope you like it once it arrives.

You could ask a polisher to do a window polish: to polish a small section of the blade to determine whether or not there is a hamon there. As Jean says though, you still run up against the issue of whether or not it is economically viable to have the blade polished or even to open the window and it almost certainly isn't. Unless you have some particular emotional connection to this blade, I'd leave it as it is and either keep it as an artifact or move it on and put the money towards something better.

Echizen ju Shimosaka.

I don't know if it's any help, but a search on a Chinese character website turned up 戓 - but I couldn't make it into anything plausible with the other kanji...apparently it reads "ka" according to Jisho...

Hi Forrest, The one in the last photograph is a rendai: a representation of the lotus-shaped platform or seat on which images of Buddha are shown. The others are, as Lewis says, bonji and there is a list here and it's a case of matching the ones on your sword up with those in the chart:

I don't often agree with you Jacques, but I think you're right. There's no smith with this title listed in Sesko's Compendium which is generally pretty accurate and I feel that it's unlikely that smiths who are awarded honorary titles would be outside the meikan. All of the Ujishige that Sesko lists with titles worked in Harima and were either Yamato no kami or Yamato daijo. @Bart - I think you have to ask yourself, if this was an unlisted smith, how was it awarded papers by the NBTHK because they would have had to compare the mei and workmanship to an authenticated example from somewhere before it could be confirmed as shoshin.

But did you buy one or more of the tanegashima...?? You're such a tease sometimes.

To add a little to Jean's post: Dewa Akita ju Shoami Shigehiro https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2005/Japanese-and-korean-works-of-art-l05860/lot.788.html I don't know whether the one you're looking at is genuine but if you do some googling on that signature you should find authenticated examples to compare it to if yours isn't papered.

Yep, looks like that to me.

Even so, you have to ask why the sword doesn't have modern papers as a sword from the relevant era by one of these smiths could have significant value, even if it wouldn't quite be the unicorn that this sword purports to be. Did you end up bidding on the "Nagamitsu"?

Hi Laurent, There were some examples of this smith's signature given on the other thread. I don't like to give bad news but it looks like someone has added a false signature to the tang of what looks like a genuine Japanese sword. So IMHO you are essentially looking at evaluating the price of an unsigned but mounted wakizashi. It looks like it might be from the shinto period as Jacques said, but if you can post a full length picture of the blade with everything taken off it, a view of the overall shape might give a clue to confirming its age.

Hi George, I thought these might be swords you'd purchased rather than were looking at. In case you don't get a better reply on the bonus question, I wouldn't be paying a premium for a Showato with a katana mei or let that be the defining criterion if you're choosing between them. They're pretty common, if not the norm.

Hi George, I think that your translations are correct, but if you want to post some better photos that won't hurt - being honest I'm a bit iffy on the "Yoshi" as that's the least clear. I'll leave the bonus question to the military sword guys...

Perhaps one for @Matsunoki as I know he used Ford Hallam a number of times for restorations.

Could it be fire-scale? If it was heated in fire, that might cause the weld on the plate to fail?

My honest feeling is that $400 from a dealer is in the ball park. I've had a quick look around the site linked previously and the prices there are perhaps a little under what you are looking at but the date of the sale isn't listed and, as Lewis says, they may be a number of years old. Hopefully this will link the search, but you'll have to sift through for the tsuba if you want to take a look - https://www.aoijapan.net/?s=bushu&x=0&y=0 There's a live one here at around $330 but it's unsigned, the design is overly busy and the carving is poorer quality than yours (my opinion obviously): https://www.aoijapan.com/tsuba-mumeibushu/ I hope that helps a bit.

Hi Nyancide, Welcome to the forum - if that isn't your actual name would you mind posting a first name rather than using a handle please? Sorry to be picky first up but we're a friendly bunch on here and that's the forum rule. There's a similar one here priced at JPY 75,000 (around $500 at today's exchange rate though I'm not sure of the date of the sale) but it has authentication papers and the carving and condition looks slightly better to my eye: https://www.aoijapan...-jyu-masachika-saku/ Anyway, you have an authenticated example to compare the signature with. IMHO I would say that the signature on the authenticated one looks like a good match for yours and that the work style is similar. It looks like the artist is aiming for a slightly worn look so what looks like a loss of gold on the flower petals might be what the artist intended rather than damage though, as Jean says, there are some small areas of corrosion and general crud and it would be worth using this as a negotiating point if you go ahead.

Something that just occurred: Aoi Art has their listings in Japanese and English so you can try a translation and mark your own homework afterwards.

Trying to apply a bit of logic to this, as substantial amounts of sword making took place in Bizen and Mino provinces and the likelihood of encountering a signature by a smith from one of those two provinces is fairly high, starting with place names and smiths from those provinces should get a reader ahead of the game.