tokashikibob

Awesome! Are you gonna let me see it next week? Best Regards, Bob

Fellas, Thanks for the input on this blade, Muromachi from a basement junkroom isn't so bad. I was reading some reference books a bit after I cleaned this one up as I was intrigued by the oddities of it from the standard fare which lead me to hopefully think Kamakura. The hacho measures 20 inches to the yokote. midare utsuri is there, kind of a ghostlike haze floating over the hamon correct? Made a few washers and cleaned the menuki which may be tomatoes on vine? Plums? Looks decent now. It deserves a finger stone cleanup someday at least. Thanks for looking, Bob

Gentlemen, Just enjoyed with great interest the Kamakura tanto thread. I too have been prospecting for worked Kamakura era tamahagane. This out of the woodwork wakazashi may be older than most of the blades I have pulled out of the paydirt the last few years. Very light and thin, very thin suguha with thin nioi line. If you have the blade in hand in the sun there is midare utsuri present. The bo-hi terminate in the kissaki but are off a few millimeters of each other. It must have been a real rapier in original form. Possible Kamakura Touchdown or Sacked for a Showto loss? Best Regards, Bob P.S. Anybody have a extra kogiri?

No, she's not into any swords, just spending money.

Great finds, I do love the kashirae of the Otanto, what excellent fittings and craftsmanship. Willing to trade a decent wife for it! Best Regards, Bob

Gents, Weather is finally breaking here, I was doing some chores outdoors and took a break to try and grab a few better pictures if you care to look. While doing some research on this nihonto starting with Chris tip to Mino school; what how about the possibility of a early generation Kaneyoshi? I say this due to the tight mokume jihada matches with a few online images and one in a referance book. Best Regards, Bob Jason, Good to go, I should be stopping by with it on the 28th.

WOW! Now that's how to sign a blade!

Gents, I was cleaning out some picture files and came across these. This was a sword auctioned off on the internet a while back that I was intrigued by but did not bid, also I never got to ask the forum about the lack of ana. I seem to have read a post maybe by Chris B a while ago about this aspect but could not find it. Any info for my brain housing group floppy drive would be much appreciated. Best Regards, Bob

Chris, I sell a ton of antique items on Ebay, which is how I gather funds to add additions to my collection. I usually have a disclaimer on the bottom stating "Overseas buyers welcome with xx positive feedbacks". That way I can cancel bids or cancel the transaction if I'm not comfortable about the low feedback rating. Often I'll cancel bids during the auction if they are a 0 feedback person as that is a 99% future non-payer. Overall during the course of a avg year with approx 250+ transactions the problems are relatively low since I've adopted those facets. If the overseas buyer has quality positive feedback then I usually ship without using the Global program to save them some $ and keep a robust customer base. I sell quite a bit of items overseas to the same clientle. Best Regards, Bob

Jason, That was the big boy, I liked that one too, but after grabbing the winning bid on this cut down I was done for the night. Did you post anything yet on yours? The edge on this piece is flawless, what you saw is a spot were there must have been a drop of water left, not anything serious. I called beforehand and had phonecon, they sure did not do the owners a favor with the postings. I should be passing thru Hickory late next month dropping off a load of antiques if you want to get together for a cup of sake. Best Regards, Bob

Jason, Did you get either of the other two? This one had the weakest picture and description of the three. I liked the other two but was surprized when nobody on the floor grabbed this up after the fact.

Chris, Thank you for the input, do you think there may be enough charactertics in the hada/hamon to submit it to shinsa? I did pop in the Soten tsuba and saw there is a wide range of quality, maybe I'll bring it to a show and pass it around. Best Regards, Bob

Gentlemen, Received this auction purchase the other day, don't know if anybody may have seen it offered, but there was only one picture of it to peruse on the net. I took a chance after talking to the auctioneer as I liked the same saya, and was pleasantly surprised at the quality of this whole piece when I unboxed it. Other than the multitudes of fingerprints on the blade it cleaned up nice and reveled it's beauty. I apologize in advance for the poor photographs as my modern camera is missing and I used my Sony camera with a floppy drive! If anyone is interested in better pictures I will keep a eye on this thread. Hamon is gunome with suguha as it nears the kissaki, sunagashi can be seen at the transition, turnback is kaeri tsuyoshi. I'm guessing this is a early nihonto due to the thin hamon and complex hada? Fittings are tight and in great condition, and the tsuba looks to be a work or art with gold, silver and copper highlights. Best Regards, Bob

Great reference books, picked up 4, what a great price for a massive knowledge avalanche! Best Regards, Bob

North Carolina Nihonto-jin Maybe you guys want to get together at the Old North State Military Show at the Raleigh Fairgrounds? Show is 4 and 5 Jan. I don't set up but will come up if you want to talk about starting a club. If Marqukis is moving to Wilmington we can have a expert on the rolls. Best Regards, Bob

Great buy Joe, that is a really great looking blade! Where you in attendance? That auction really had some great items up for bid, I wish I lived closer that would have been a great auction to attend. The 23% online bid fee plus shipping cost tempered my enthusiasm but they were fun to look at and you got a nice one. How did you decide which one to go for? Some great items went very cheap, a couple of those tsubas in the catalog were great too. Enjoy the blade! Best Regards, Bob

More Pics

Gents, Steven wanted to take a peek at the Yukinaga I picked up the other day. Gunshow walk in it was. As always correct me if I am wrong on anything here, but I translated it as a Takada school Yukinaga (which gen I don't know). It is in solid shape for a easy restoration. No openings, nicks or dings. Hamon looks good. Mune looks meaty, a few patches in the hada patina show interesting itame. The menuki look outstanding, highly detailed shakudo with gold inlay/highlights of water dragons. I may have to part with this in the future so watch the For Sale section if a few things don't brake my way. Best regards, Bob

Not to derail this threat. But i'm gonna go with you and/or a very groovy barber with a very aesthetically pleasing way of representing himself. On topic though, its really a shame someone thought it was a good idea to carve roman numerals on the blade.. Thanks to everybody for the information on this tanto - Kraken, I agree with Stephen it's a dead ringer according to wiki. Pretty cool theme I guess the artist was a Godzilla or Gamera buff. Shinshinto Muji - Yep, that it! Thanks for pointing me in the right direction! I'm guessing the serial number must be something a soldier thought was a good idea due to the U.S. Army / MacArthur order.

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Gents, I picked up this wonderful Otanto over the weekend. I really like the feel of this one in hand, much better than a Ka-Bar. The octopus (s) are really first rate work. Super dense hada, is there a name for this? Two hole mumei nakago, How do you like the inventory system? No more gummy sticky residue with tags! Any informational comments are most appreciated as always! Best Regards, Bob

Darcy, As always, thank you so much for all the tips and hints! I'll start looking at those men. What do you think of the possibility of it ending up a work of Kaneuji? The ladies have a pic of the narrow flat top utsuri on their site which matches in multiple places on this blade. Also the characteristics match in regards to Jigane makeup of his work from other sources. I wish the kissaki had it's clues visable. I'll start looking at the mei, but that seems like a never ending source of debate depending on what hand tool he used that day, and so on. I am in the process in trying to track down who the lady was who brought the sword back with her when she married the Marine right after the war. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have some pictures of her, in what was said to be royal garb. I'll do my best to build a legit story for prosperity. Best Regards, Bob

a few more pics

Gents, After 3 weeks of work, I finally have the "Right down the street" Nihonto in hand. http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=20004 It is very nice looking at the quality of workmanship here in the morning sun. I've taken the liberty of taking a few additional photos. I wish I could get the only kissaki cleaned up as that is the only restoration work needed. Blade is very nice and must be quite old as it has been polished quite a bit throughout history, I say this as the hamon is quite thin as it heads to the yokote. Other than that it is quite the blade. Best Regards, Bob

Thanks Veli!