Shugyosha

Hi Mariusz, PM sent. Best, John

According to the Nihonto compendium in the research section above, this is the only smith with the title Yamato kami signing Kanenobu, so if everyone has guessed rightly (no disrespect intended) it has a pretty good chance of being correct. A 15 point rating from Hawley indicates, I believe, average skill but it isn't always cut and dried. Have a look at this article on sword smith ratings: http://nihonto.ca/ratings.html Kind regards,

According to the kanji pages, only Yamato and Ousumi provinces begin with the kanji 大. So that might give you a clue as to the province but I got rather less than Peter so unless and until you can get a better photo... Best, John

It's not so much the absence of the stamp - it might have been there originally before the blade was shortened, but that the kanji are written in a completely different style. Also, what I do find a little odd is the four kanji above the mei 秋方家臣 - I would expect the second kanji to be 元 giving Akimoto kashin (a retainer of the Akimoto) for whom he was working from 1774. As it is written, these kanji don't make any sense to me (Akikata kashin) and it would seem odd that a swordsmith working for a particular clan would misspell the clan name, but, I too am learning and usually get these things corrected by those that know better. Best regards, John

Unless I really am going senile, I'm pretty sure that this sword has discussed on the board recently...but I can't turn up the link right now... Some clearer pictures of the jigane might help, but I think I see sumigane near the boshi which might be a pointer towards a real hizen blade...but anyways, it certainly seems to be something more than a wartime blade. Best, John

Hi Chris, I've had a quick look at Hawley's which lists a couple of Yoshiharu's using the kanji on your sword: one in Hoki and the other in Yamashiro, so no obvious connection to Mino there also a quick look through Malcolm Cox's book on Mino To doesn't (obviously) reveal any smiths signing with this mei. As Steve says, the signature does look dodgy but if someone is going to execute a gimei my bet would be that they would pick a famous name rather than one few people have heard of and maybe choose someone who could use a chisel to cut it, so it may be a smith that has escaped the meikan. You could try posting some more pictures of the blade to see if that yields some further information... Best, John

I visited the Stibbert museum last year but was only able to look at what was on display publicly. It is possible to book a private viewing of the Japanese collection but I found this out too late to avail myself of it. Also the collection in general is well worth a look - they have a company of armoured men at arms marching through one hall led by a knight on horseback. Also, they let the public dress up in some of the less valuable pieces of armour: I have a photograph of myself wearing a barbuta and a smaller child than myself was running around in a mail shirt. Well worth a visit.

Hi Gwyn, I'm in Hertfordshire, UK. Best, John

That's the one. I think there's a small kirikomi on the mune, so it has seen some action. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did. Best regards,

Er...yes. Sorry for the assumption and for misspelling Gwyn's name.

Hi Gwen, I think I used to own this blade, so I'll try to help out within the limits of my knowledge. Unfortunately, there isn't much information beyond the standard form which is pretty much translated on Danny Massey's site. In the third photograph, reading right to left: Kantei sho Nagasa - I shaku 6 bu approximately Item - wakizashi mu mei attributed to monju The next two columns are translated on Nihontocraft except that it is designated "Hozon" as opposed to "Tokubetsu Hozon". Next is the date on which the appraisal was carried out: March 29th in the 18th year of Heisei (2007?). The final column is another standard wording translated on Nihontocraft. On the back of the paper is written the name of the person submitting the sword to the NBTHK and below it the date on which the paper was written up. If I'm right about having owned it previously - it's a lovely little blade with excellent proportions and very attractive hada. Clearly you are a man of excellent taste. Kind regards, John

Hi Grev, I appreciate what you are trying to do with this thread: tsuba aren't my main line of interest and so for me it is always educational when a discussion of the merits of a piece of work takes place, particularly where the more seasoned collectors are involved. Kudos to you for sticking your neck out (something I'm sufficiently cowardly to avoid) as I feel that it's this kind of effort that keeps the forum ticking over. Kind regards, John

Hi Grey, The only thing I can offer is a reference in Markus Sesko's book on Tameshigiri (pp. 278 and 296) to a Murai To'emon Nagaaki working in Keian (1658-1652). Best, John

Hi Grey, I think it reads Futatsu do dotan iri: cut through two bodies into the earth mound (sorry I'm struggling to find the relevant kanji for this). A certain Mr Guido Schiller has a list of popular sword testers on the JSSUS website which lists a Murai Fujiemon 村井藤右衛門 (慶安 Keian). This might be your guy though the kanji in the mei get a bit unclear after the "Murai". Hope that helps, but usually someone comes along to correct my errors... Kind regards, John

I think it's what the man was looking at when he coined the phrase "bad swords hurt your eyes". Best regards,

Hi Justin, For the first one: discovering famous Japanese sword smiths: Nihonto no chomei to sho no mitokoro (I'm unsure of "mitokoro" exactly, but I think that "discovering" is the jist of it). For the second one: Japanese sword dictionary: Nihonto Jiten. Best regards,

Hi Ivo, The bottom line is that you are asking me to choose a lesser of three evils for you. If the best option - keeping your money and waiting a while, is not going to cut it, and there is no chance of seeing these swords in hand, getting better photos or getting a money back inspection period, then in all honesty you know as much as I do as neither sword is sufficiently well photographed to draw a sensible conclusion. All other things being equal, fake katana might be more desirable than fake wakizashi if that's what they are, so that might be the way to go. But seriously, you don't need to spend your money this instant - there is lots of stuff out there and you are swimming with the sharks right now. I've been where you are and bought badly when I was. Take your time, look at as many swords as you can on line and in the flesh and get a feel for what you are looking at. There will be a better option come up in the sales section of NMB sometime soon. It's a good place to start as you are likely to get something of far better quality than is available in the open market and the environment is far more benign. Whatever you choose, I hope it works out for you. Best,

Hi James, Whatever the arguments around form versus function and where this should begin and end, in reality, none of my swords have a particularly sharp edge and they were all polished in Japan and some by well regarded polishers (or at least in their workshops). So whilst I guess there was an element of surmise to my earlier post (I should have made clear that it was my own view), it was based on my experience and seems like a plausible explanation to me..but I'm sure there are others with greater knowledge or different views or who can otherwise add to this. Out of interest, I recently read Markus Sesko's book on the history and development of tameshigiri, part of which said that the main line sword testers would take a smith's polished blade and use their own techniques on it in order to ensure that the edge was as sharp and well balanced as it could be for the test cutting. If I remember rightly, he likened this to sharpening a cut throat razor where the edge is maintained through a mild abrasive and a leather strop. Consequently, it might be the case that it wasn't unusual for individuals to have their own techniques for getting and maintaining an optimal cutting edge beyond those applied during the normal polishing process...but who knows really? Best regards,

Hi Maximilian, The reason for this is that Japanese swords have evolved into art as opposed to being purely a weapon. Your sword, with its beautiful polish, does not need to have a razor sharp edge in order to show off the characteristics that make it a piece of art because it will (for which read should) never be used to cut anything. I think also that a togishi would be reluctant to remove more metal than is necessary for an art polish on this basis. If you are interested in tameshigiri, it is better to buy a modern sword made especially for it. That's a lovely sword by the way. That it was made in response to a commission probably means that it is this smith's best work and will normally be a cut above those that he made for sale "off the peg". Enjoy it! Best regards,

Ivo, The problem with buying from photographs, and particularly these photographs, is that they don't show enough detail. That may be because the blade is genuine but isn't in a state of polish to reveal the detail or it may be because the seller doesn't want you to see what's there and neither option is good. My bet is that it's a genuine Japanese sword because the signature and tang look a little too well done for a fake and the name isn't sufficiently big to make it worth someone's while to fake it, but I would also advise you to listen to Jean rather than me. Whatever the real answer is, it's going to cost you money to find out...if it's pretty cheap it might be worth a punt or better yet, you can save your money and spend it where the outcome is more certain. There are three things one should never run after: buses, ladies (or men depending on your preference) and Japanese swords...there will normally be another one along shortly. Best regards,

I'm not from the Netherlands and I'm stretching my linguistic ability to the limit but I think the seller is saying that the signature says Bizen Osafune Aramitsu. There is only a niji mei signature, the second character of which is indeed "mitsu" (sorry I don't know the reading for the first character is in this context). The stated length is 82 cm. It's not clear if this is the nagasa or the whole length (tip of kissaki to nakago jiri) in any event it doesn't look this long, but it's hard to tell from the photographs...so without elaborating further there is enough there to make me run away.... Best regards,

Bless me father for I have sinned... From my point of view it's paying more than I should have done for low-end, albeit genuine pieces. A couple I've now moved on at a significant discount and I'll probably end up doing the same with some better quality pieces later on this year that I've now outgrown as I'd like to make a quality purchase sometime soon. Oh and I've acquired what is probably a a gimei goto tsuba... Hind sight is a wonderful thing, and in retrospect I wish that rather than buy these pieces I had simply banked the money as I would have enough for a pretty good sword by now that I would enjoy far more than these pieces - but a chunk of money that size usually gets spent on something a bit more sensible than big boys toys so maybe I wouldn't. So my sage advice to beginning collectors would be to avoid the temptation of spending on lower end pieces as there is a pretty good chance that you won't get your money back. I like Piers' comments about paying school fees...almost everyone has had to pay some at some time in this hobby. Best regards,

After availing myself of Kunitaro san's polishing service, I have just received two swords from Japan to the UK by EMS. One was delivered without being detained by HM Revenue and Customs which was a nice bonus and the other was released after production of the appropriate paperwork evidencing ownership and posting from the UK...so it looks like this route is working OK at the moment. Both packages had the dangerous goods sticker on them when they arrived but I wasn't asked any tricky questions about importing weapons - the description of the items as antique and with the appropriate Harmonised Tariff Code seemed to be sufficient. Kind regards,

Hi Peter, Thanks for that. Mmm... The tsuba in your thread looks identical so it's probably not good news. Would you mind I contacted you by PM? Best regards,

Thank you Chris, I think your "guess" looks a lot better than mine. Hello Ian, I hope that you are well - I hope someone hasn't been knocking these off... Anyone have any views on its authenticity? Best regards,