Shugyosha

Louis, Sorry if I wasn't offering something suitable, but not even a "thanks but no thanks"? Kind regards,

PM sent. Best,

It's pretty much as Stephen described. I have a couple of swords in Japan at the moment and need to content myself with the odd small purchase until l'm sure that I've covered off the outlay there. Ed has a couple of lovely items on his website: a Yokohama Sukenaga Wakazashi and an o-wakizashi by Echizen Tomotsugu that I would be more than happy to have in my collection but it's just going to have to wait a while unfortunately. What's particularly painful is watching some of the great items that Marius offers so frequently slip past. I think I'm going to send him my CV in case he needs a curator for his collecton... Best regards,

Hi Edward, TER107 (15 pts) is a reference number and grading given in Hawley's Japanese Swordsmiths - sorry just saw you got this. However, I don't think that this is your guy. The kanji for "Yoshi" is different on your sword to the one listed in Hawley's. Smiths do occasionally change the characters that make up their name but that's exceptional. I've checked Hawley's and Nihon Toko Jiten by Fujishiro and can't find another reference to a Teruyoshi. Unfortunately, that's about as much help as I can be as my library doesn't stretch any further. Perhaps someone who has a copy of the Meikan can help or It may be that he is one of those smiths that escaped being listed in the Meikan - they do show up once in a while. Good luck with your search,

Maybe Toshu: 土州??

Try Echizen Shimosaka. Esshu is an alternative name for Echizen province. Your Granddad made a lot better choice than many other guys who took a sword home. Best regards,

Thanks to all those who contributed above. As usual, some insightful comments and well worth a careful read. Best regards,

Hi James, I'm torn between the desire to help and thereby improve my own knowledge and the desire to not make a fool of myself and annoy other board members. The first one won out, but the best I can come up with is: Omote: 白田山家前世侍?工不侍 Ura: 新納久仰乞萬?之 Omote: I think that the first four characters are a person's name: Shiro ta Yan be (or Yamaga). The next two: Previous age/ earlier times Then: Samurai...something (sorry, can't tie this one down) After that: work/ craft/ industry, non-(not), samurai. Ura: First three: new/ recent, deliver/ dedicate/ accept, long time Next: respect, beg/ entreat, (again, not sure of this one) Last: this Based on the above, and it is a bit of a long shot, but it is perhaps a sword that was given as a dedication by someone (Shirota Yanbe) seeking good luck (or in thanks for it) on a change of profession: samurai to non-samurai. But then again it could be a shopping list, a Chinese poem or a quadratic equation. Hopefully one of the native Japanese speakers will be able to help you out or you could try sending the pictures to Markus Sessko to see if he will be kind enough to translate for you. Whatever the outcome, I hope my feeble efforts weren't entirely wasted and thanks to you for posting the picture on the forum. Kind regards,

I don't think there's anything to understand. I think that the OP is simply a troll trying to elicit some kind of response.

Further to Jean's comments above, I was interested to see this Juyo Yamato Shikkake blade on the Aoi website which, to me, doesn't look nearly as good as the Tegai blade that just sold: http://www.aoijapan.com/katana-mumei-shikkake-school37th-nbthk-juyo-paper It may be my inexperienced eye or the photography, but the comparison seems to be an interesting one in terms of "kantei for quality" and I would welcome anyone else's views on the merits of one blade versus the other. Best regards,

What they all said. Best,

It looks a lot better when you know the price and it's hard to get any kind of Japanese sword for less money than that, So not so bad after all. Best regards,

Hi Jonas, Out of interest, what was the price of the blade? Kind regards,

Hi Jonas, I've just re-read my original post which I knocked out in a hurry. Apologies if that came across as a little brusque. Best,

I personally would pass on this one. The "honour mark" may or may not have occurred in an actual fight and might have been put there to make an otherwise poor blade more attractive. The kissaki looks to have been reshaped. There are some very significant ware, lots of shin gane on display, and there's almost no ha machi these factors indicate that it's a very tired blade and it's also out of polish. These issues alone would deter me before I got as far as looking at whether or not the signature might be legitimate. There are undoubtedly better blades out there and I'd look down the sale or trade section of NMB as a starting point. Kind regards,

This isn't a lot of help but it kept me amused for half an hour trying to match the kanji - I hope you don't mind me having a play as I love a puzzle and I'm trying to educate myself. The closest I got was: 是 right (as in correct) 風 wind??? - The mekugi ana runs through this but I think this matches.. 栖 dwell / a den 袖 A sleeve/ Wings 奥 - Inner part/ heart/ bottom/ depths. This is the closest match I can find to the kanji in the mei. I can't find anything else that has the same upper part as this. Neither can I find another Kanji with the same lower part as the one in the mei so I'm guessing that it is a variant no longer in use, or I just plain old got it wrong. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what meaning you would give to all of this - what you really need is someone who can read Japanese as opposed to someone with a kanji dictionary and time on his hands . Good hunting,

If you are interested, I have a couple of papered Wakizashi that Ian Chapman has kindly put on the consignment page for me at Nihonto UK: http://nihonto.org.uk/Consignment.html I might be open to offers if either of these look like something that you might be interested in. Best regards,

I think: Ishi Yama Mototada saku (Haynes H05940.0). From Haynes: born 1669 died October 13 1734. A student of the Kyoto Goto school and other Kyoto artists. Kind regards,

Sorry, I'm no help with the menuki but I did see pictures of the blade on Ted Tenold's website and I have to say that it's truly lovely. Kind regards,

If your in the UK and sending swords to Japan you are best using Paul Martin's service. He will take them to Japan and return them using checked luggage. He comes to the UK regularly and this bypasses all problems with shipping. Thanks for that idea. I can maybe get the sword shipped to him for him to bring back when the time comes. Best,

I sent a sword out to Japan from the UK in September via Parcelforce and had no problems getting it there. I'm starting to become concerned that getting it back might be an issue though. Kind regards,

I like the tsuba very much. How's the kissaki? Best,

Hi Gwyn, Made me think of the hamon on this sword, though yours isn't so elaborate: http://www.tetsugendo.com/swords/MS_152 ... ataka.html Best,

The problem you have is that a portion of the signature was lost when the sword was shortened and that this was the bit with the smith's name. Japanese art signatures can be formulaic. The "Yamato" portion of the mei would often be followed by a title such as "kami" or "daijo" and then perhaps by one of the ancient family names such as Taira, Fujiwara or Minamoto and after this the characters for the actual name of the smith would be written. I think it probable that, if this guy was signing with a title as stated above, then he would be documented. However, I feel that the best you (or some kind person who has plenty of time on his hands) can hope for is to trawl through the Hawley's or the meikan and compile a list of all those smiths working in the province of Settsu who signed using a title of "Yamato Kami" etc but I think that it is improbable that this will result in an attribution to a single swordsmith and the best that you can hope for is that it will be one of a number of candidates. Best regards and good hunting,

Dear Ken, I'll make a start on this by way of practice, but take what I say with a pound of salt as I usually make some mistakes. I think that the date is August in the 3rd year of Manji (万治) which started in 1658 so, if I am correct, it is dated the eighth month of 1651. The signature begins Bizen kuni ju (備前国住). It wouldn't be unusual for the next part to read Osafune (長船) but I'm struggling to match the second kanji and after that it all goes a bit wobbly and hopefully someone with greater knowledge will come along shortly. Best,