fritaly

Please don't be so harsh with me, Jacques. I thank everyone for their comments because this gives possible hints. I'm absolutely not educated enough to state that my sword is from this or that smith or school, I'll never have that pretension. Moreover I cautiously used the word "may" on purpose. Sorry if my post gave you the impression I had a rock solid belief in an attribution to smith or school. For what it's worth ...

Thanks for your post, I only saw it today. This confirms that one can never really know for sure what he has in hands, there'll always be a doubt. That's maybe the most frustrating part of nihonto for me, I'm a computer scientist, I like determistic things Anyways, thanks for sharing. I may have one of the exceptions that confirm the general rule.

I bought this wakizashi from Mike M. (1 or 2 years ago) at a very honest price and I was really happy dealing with him. I would buy from him again if I had a chance.

You're welcome (for the link) but I must admit this is just a guess since I'm a newbie. I'd also like to see the opinion of others members of this forum.

This could be the name of the tsuka-makishi (Note: I don't read Japanese). See http://www.bushidojapaneseswords.com/did_you_know.htm

I'm not an expert but to me it does look cast (the nakago-ana's edges are "rounded" and not sharp)

Thank you all for your comments. Sorry for taking so long to provide measures, it took me some time to find back my caliper. Here are the features of the sword: Nagasa: 42,8 cm Nakago length: 13,8 cm Motohaba: 2,5 cm Sakihaba: 1,9 cm Motokasane: 0,61 cm Sakikasane: 0,5 cm Sori: 0,7 cm Hope this can help in narrowing down to fewer schools

OK, I'm completely off the mark then (I feel really stupid :lol:) Anyway yesterday, I had a look to nagayama's book and Sukesada seemed to match pretty well. I'll check your suggestion.

I think I understand your (or rather Bungo's) comment (albeit cryptic). I'd translate it (in this context) into "Noone's supposed to buy a sword without knowing exactly what he / she buys". If I'm correct, let me then (kindly) ask the following: If you know how to distinguish between a (chinese) fake & a genuine sword, what do you do when you stumble upon a REAL bargain ? Is it a possible catch to the rule "study then buy" ? How can someone learn nihonto only from books without ever applying what he learns "on the field" or being thaught by someone who can learn him to "see" ? That's something hardly conceivable for me. Maybe I'm alone in this case but the few books I've read on the subject, I almost forgot everything. I neither have the opportunity to attend sword shows nor subscribe to a sword club (I don't know any one in France). When I look at a sword, I look but don't necessarily see because I don't know how to kickstart the learning process. Please forget my comment if irrelevant Thanks

Thanks for your comment. Unfortunately, I can't tell you what kind of hada the shinogi-ji is made of because the grain is very tight (I don't really see a blatant pattern) and (to be honest) I've never fully understood how to distinguish between the different types of hada. In books, a drawing of hada can pretty "easily" be identified but when it comes to apply the theory to a real sword, I'm very often puzzled. I may be wrong but I think that for a same sword, the hada description can differ from one person to another.

Thank you Just one more question: Are these crab claws also featured in other sword schools or is it a very distinctive feature of this school ?

Also the auction pics ... They might be better than mine.

More pics...

I bought this unsigned wakizashi 2 years ago but the seller gave no information about the sword. I'd like to know a little more about it (possible age, school...). May I ask you some comments about it ? Many thanks