macan420

Thanks for your remarks on this blade. I will post scans of the papers next week when I recieve them. We will see what the Japanese experts say. What is your overall opinion on this wak..........smith,quality,condition polish ect. It would be interesting to hear. Also what date was test performed can you tell? Hope you are having a nice weekend. best Mike

Thanks Jim for posting those. I just sent you Tadakuni mei as requested. Paper pics soon. Best Mike

Thanks Jim, I sent you all the pics. Also for you that are Facebook members I have some Tadakuni wak pictures posted there.....search for Mike Canaday in Ohio, look under swords in my albums. Hopefully Jim will be able to post some here for us. Best M

Hi Timeewave. I have good pics of blade. Please send me your adress and I will foward them for you to post. I also learned papers will be here early next week too. Best Mike email binheadkiller@aol.com

Heres pics of mounts and Nagahisa inscription. I am trying to take cell phone pics and attach. Best

Hi This wak was sent to Japan for polish and papers. The sword papered shodai Tadakuni Tokubetsu and the fittings Edo era Hozon. The hamon looks perfectly normal on both sides in polish.The sword beat the papers back to the USA, I will try to post the papers when they arrive. I tried to post pics but the images to big, to many pixels. My camera was set at lowest detail. The forging looks awesome........looks like Masahiro or a Tadahiro. text book Hizen hada and hamon. If anyone wants pics I would be glad to foward any requests. Just email me at binheadkiller@aol.com .......Mike. Thanks have a great holiday.

Thanks for interest but Shigetsugu and Sadkatsu sold. Hizen Munetsugu still for sale at Fred Weissbergs. Thanks agai.

Hi Joe, I love Okimasa too. I use to own a Okimasa (it is listed on Fred Weissberg's site, My Ebay add has link to it or google it) I bought it from Ricecracker too. When i had both swords (Shigetsugu and Okimasa) next to each other.....the Shigetsugu overpowered the Okimasa.....no comparision about which one was nicer. I kept the Shigetsugu the longest. The Okimasa in your link is sold already, to short for my taste. It is signed nice though. Great war sword. I am a sucker for nice horimono I guess. My sword could very well be a Okimasa with Shigetsugu horimono, much longer and made at famous forge. That has to count for something. Afterall Shigetsugu was his teacher. I know money is tight.....or I would not be selling. I cannot say anything bad about Okimasa. I will chalk up your point for Nobufusa. Thanks Joe..........you make good points. We all have are opinions.........it is still America. Best Mike Canaday

Hi THis just in from AOI ART Japan for comparision, below is their description and I will try to list the pictures they sent. This sword is for sale by them. Signature: Hokke Saburo Nobufusa The blade was polished. Habaki : Silver foiled single habaki. Blade length : 63.5 cm or 25 inches. Sori : 1.1 cm or 0.43 inches. Mekugi: 1 Width at the hamachi : 2.87 cm or 1.12 inches. Width at the Kissaki : 2.09 cm or 0.82 inches. Kasane : 0.77 cm or 0.30 inches. Era : During war time. Shape : The blade is regular sized healthy nice sword. Jitetsu :Itame hada well grained with jinie attach and visible to see the texture. Hamon : Niedeki gunome midare and kogunome midare mixed. In Hamon, there are many sunagashi and active many kinsuji scatter. Boshi is round shape midairkomi. Special feature :Hokke Saburo Nobufusa is quite well known sword maker as Mukansa. This Nobufusa is first generation and made swords during war time. Generally he made soshu style hamon but this sword is gentle yamato school. Interesting, nice polish. 280,000 yen. Any comments. Best Mike Canaday

Hi Mark, We (the forum at large) have hashed out this daisaku issue (please put Shigetsugu in this sites search window and hit my older topic" Exibited Shigetsugu........"). I do not mean to speak for Chris as well but I know he is implying and fairly certain both swords are most probably forged by students.......daisaku. In my swords case.....I have been told that Shigetsugu did the Fudo most certainly (his students were not capable of this carving).....but it is unknown who did the blade. Althought it is signed that he made the blade and horimono. It is common that although signed by teacher.........it is often a combined effort. Especially in this era. Probably as you know. I pobably did not write my response well, I assumed that you had been aware of previous forum topic. I went back and relized you did not weigh in. Thanks for your input and time. Best Mike C

Thanks Mark and Chris, It is a battle. I know it is hard to judge without blade in hand. My pictures are of the highest quality provided by the people at Sabaku Samurai. The owner of Nobufusa states that the link pictures on the site do not do his sword justice. Shigetsugu had some of the best students. Okimasa as you know is rated higher than his teacher. I do not know who was running around Nobufusa's shop at the time? They are both nice swords......his signature on his sword is right out of the book. Do you really think it is daisaku? It does not look like WW2 quality......it is much better. I thought my topic wold be a fair question.......of course I am more fond of my sword, but as you stated they have many similarities. Aoi of Japan just listed a Nobufusa for auction.........280,000 yen....if anyones interested. Chris you are a nihontoforum warrior............as always...... thanks again for your input. Best Mike

Hi Folks I am currently selling my Shigetsugu listed on ebay http://www.ebay.com/itm/330818541718?ss ... 1555.l2649 . I have written about it on this site in another topic listing (put in Shigetsugu and it will come up). Recently the owner of this Nobufusa shown here on Matt Pepin's great site samuriasword.com. at this link http://www.samuraisword.com/nihonto_c/S ... /index.htm emailed me simply asking..........is your sword (Shigetsugu) better than my Nobufusa or about the same? Now I emailed him my reply but asked him if I could post the question here on this forum for debate. He said fine. So for anyone out there.......what is your opinion. Which sword is better, worst equal ect.? Since both smiths worked in the same time period and are rated equal at 2.5 million, it is probably a good debate. One thing is for sure both smiths and swords are great. But what about the details? Any comment? How would you answer the email? Best Mike Canaday

Thanks Chris, Do you still have that Masamitsu for sale.....with the cutting test. It is very nice. I also like your Yasuaki wak. With the Japanese two sword monthly forging limit, everyone is making katana. It is nice to see an ocassional wak by a gendai smith, sticking with tradition. Rare. As far as Sadakatsu I can only remember one wak he made and I think it was his first signed blade in his name and prensented to someone important. Have your ever seen one? Best Mike

Thanks Chris, I really appreciate you taking the time to explain both issues of the polish and the daisaku issues. I am very pleased with the Shigetsugu reguardless of student involvement. It is interesting that a sensi will paper an older sword daisaku in a second, were in this case Shigetsugu never papers that way,when the judges clearly must know these facts. Why? Am I missing something. I know that Sadakatsu made many of his fathers swords in later times but they all paper to Sadakazu.I know they signed the same way and their work is hard to defferentiate. I own a late special order, mounted, papered Sadakatsu made in 41. Is it known if his son forged and signed for him too? Or did Sadakatsu forge to the end? I would like to know. The shirasaya is signed and made by his son. In school I learned always to site my sources..........I would hope people would afford you credit for YOUR words. Teachers would fail you in a second and they had high tech software to identify non original work.....and the program works really good. A sword dealer especially should get your perrmission.....they are making money Again thank you for your help and I have the deepest respect for you as well. Best Mike C

Hi Bruno, I am sure it is in original polish. There is no telling who polished his swords. Who ever the Japanese person that polished it did a great job. I say person because during WW2 era......women did the polishing too. Like at the Yasukuni shrine. The sword looks like it was made yesterday showing all its forging detals. Best Mike