Shugyosha

Sorry Marius, this is a long way beyond my expertise but I'd love to see some pictures of the blade if it's not too much trouble. :D Kind regards,

Hi Craig, Unfortunately I can't make out a great deal of detail from the photographs so the following comments should be taken in that context. For me, I don't think that the tang or file marks are well done. Also, though it might be a shadow on the photograph, I think I can see ubu-ha (the portion of blade near the nakago is sometimes left unsharpened on a sword's initial polish) and this would indicate that this is not an old blade. These points would indicate either a fake or at best a war-time blade to me. Furthermore, the kissaki looks to be in a poor state: whoever did the polish looks from the photographs to have messed up the geometry as the ko-shinogi does not run parallel to the edge of the blade at the tip. This too is reminiscent of the Chinese fakes that one sees and might be another point to put you on your guard. Hope that helps, I'm sure you'll get some other and probably better advice shortly. Best regards,

I too had a grand day out. Many thanks to Ian, Paul and everyone else who made a great event happen. Best regards,

I think it's Kane Uji (氏), but I'm sure you'll get some better advice shortly. Kind regards,

Hi Grev, Thank you very much for starting this interesting thread. I too am largely ignorant of Namban tsuba (sorry, what I meant to say was that I'm largely ignorant) but like the previous poster had thought that the first picture was of a cast tsuba. The indicators for me were the area around 6 o'clock where it appears that there is the remainder of some metal in the open-work left by casting and the carving in general and particularly on the seppa-dai seems imprecise (blurred?) when compared to the second picture. I probably have this wrong, but I'd be interested in your comments. With kind regards,

Here's one: http://www.nihonto.com/10.9.12.html Kind regards,

Hi Andres, You might already be familiar with these websites but they do have some real swords that are out of polish and may give you some pointers. http://www.japanesesword.com/ http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/catalogue.html Kind regards,

Hi Matt, What he said. Looks like a very sturdy blade...getting sword envy right now. Best,

Hi Lisa, My chance to bag an easy one: signature reads Kuni Hiro. Best wishes,

Thanks to you both for the replies.

Apologies if this is a silly question. When reading the date on this item I too thought "Ten Bun" and then went to check the year in the Kanji pages on the board and read "天文 Tenmon 1532". For the purposes of my education, could someone please explain whether or not this is a typo on the kanji pages or an alternative reading of the 文 kanji? Thanks for your trouble.

Was curious enough to google this one only to find that it was in fact a game of Connect Four.

Hi Trent, Sue Bizen means "late Bizen" so your sword is not attributed to any one smith but is reminiscent of work of the Bizen tradition during the period from 1470 to 1596 AD. Best,

Hi David, I was about to write what Jean said. For a definitive view, it would help if you could post some detailed photographs of the "naked" blade without the tsuba and habaki showing, in particular, any activity in the hamon (hardened area near the edge of the blade) and in the area just above it. There's a thread here about arsenal stamps: viewtopic.php?f=50&t=8010&start=0 Kind regards,

So a bit like ericowazamono then?? :D

Well, if it's a genuine Koyama Munetsugu katana, given what you have paid for it, the likely re-sale value would mean that it is worth having it straightened and polished.

Or it can be found on Googlebooks: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=zPys ... ds&f=false

Does anyone think that the tanto signed "Soshu Ju Hiromasa" (Page 85, Lot 187) looks a little earlier than 19th century? Kind regards, John Johnson

It is almost certainly an example... It's described as such in the on-line catalogue. Best, John Johnson

Hi David, Please accept my condolences. I am, by coincidence, based about 20 miles north of London in Welwyn, Herts. You won't get better advice from me than from anyone you might meet at the Token or Northern Token Societies, but I have a reasonable library and if I can help I'd be happy to do so. Kind regards, John Johnson P.S. There's a guy called Peter Yorke who deals in Japanese swords based in Bagshot, Surrey, who'll be at the London Arms Fair which is on 25th and 26th April 2014. http://www.antiquearmsfairsltd.co.uk/exhibitors/. He's been quite generous to me with his time in the past and might be worth contacting.

Some of the rows of nanako don't look particularly evenly spaced. Looking above the mantis's back leg there appear to be two lines that run into one another and a similar thing appears to happen above the water wheel by the mantis's head. That said, I'm new to sword fittings so please feel free to educate me. Kind regards, John J.

Dear Fabian, Sword clubs are also a good place to begin learning as you will have access to a greater number of swords to view at first hand than might otherwise be the case. If you are based in Liverpool UK, you are not too far away from where the Northern Token Society holds its meetings: Manchester. Here's a link to their website - http://www.northerntokensociety.org.uk/ Best regards, J. Johnson Sorry to be repetitive, I've just read to the end of Paul's post.

Hi Stu, Here's a link to the NBTHK Shinsa standards on the Nihontocraft website: http://www.nihontocraft.com/Nihonto_Shi ... dards.html If it helps, I have an unsigned Bungo wakizashi which has Hozon papers and assuming there is nothing about your sword that falls foul of these criteria then it should be awarded papers. The issue that you have alluded to is that Bungo swords are sometimes thought of as lacking in artistic merit, as they have the reputation of being made with functionality in mind, and this puts off some buyers. Hope that helps and that you enjoy your new sword. Kind regards, John Johnson P.S. Sorry - misread your question re Tokubetsu Hozon, so much of this is irrelevant.

Dear Sam, To my semi-educated eye, the late koto or early shinto candidates would seem more appropriate than shinshinto. The patina on the tang and the (almost) absence of ha machi and mune machi suggest an older blade. But I'm sure you'll get a more informed view in a while. Kind regards, John Johnson

Hi Alex, I agree with you. That column of the Kantei Sho begins with "middle thickness/ depth", something I can't read and ends "no ko gunome midari". I can't see enough of the dealer's work sheet to tell what that says. Is it perhaps a pro-forma and he forgot to delete an irrelevant part of the description? Kind regards, John Johnson