Geraint

Dear Dan. It would be wonderful to see some more photographs of your lovely tachi if possible. For what it's worth I do not think yours conforms to the attributes of a kazari tachi, though the saya fittings do have similarities. Specifically the tsuka is not comparable and one of the distinguishing features would be a shitogi tsuba whereas your koshirae carries the more traditional tachi style of tsuba. The other factor of note is that kazari tachi are remarkably slender and yours has more traditional proportions, not to mention a papered Muromach blade which would never fit into kazari tachi koshirae. Looking forward to others adding to this but I'm sure we would all like to see some more detailed images please. All the best.

Dear Alex. Just to start the ball rolling..... As we will have a hard time seeing very much in these photographs then take what I say with the proverbial pinch of salt. The nakago would certainly suggest that the sword is suriage however that of itself does not indicate age. The image that does seem to be clear is of the boshi which appears to be sugu ha. Given the rest of the hamon this would be a strong indicator of a Shinto sword. All the best.

Dear Piers. Thank you very much for the additional information, much appreciated. The barrel inlay was as black as the rest so almost invisible, now it's come back to life I will let it settle down a bit. I have not been able to find the number on any of the other parts yet but it is early days. I will have to try and get some photographs of the other matchlock which is quite similar in many ways. All the best.

Dear Jan and Piers. Very many thanks for the additional information. Jan I think this one would be classified as a Sakai gun, pictures below. Piers I have tried to photograph that last kanji but it is pretty rust obscured, I'll add a closeup with the other pictures. Still working on the bisen but the gun was sold as, 'action not working' and it does now! All the best.

Dear Steve. Thank you so much, I would never have got the smiths name. I'm guessing that in the context makibari? Still working on the bisen but I'm fairly sure the stock has never been off the gun; pins still partly in place and some degree of corrosion but externally pretty good so far. Once again a big thank you! All the best.

Dear All. Well the box arrived this morning and my new tanegashima is here. Delighted to find that it's signed but would love some help with this. Pictures are not great but the best I can do at the moment. Thank you in advance for any help. All the best.

Dear Carlos. Puzzled by your last statement. Honoki is Magnolia Hypoleuca or Magnolia Obovata and is deciduous. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnolia_obovata All the best.

Dear Sascha. Overall shot of the blade and one of the mune plus a shot of the koshirae please. All the best.

Dear Clive. (Post crossed with Maurice.) Sweet little fukuro yari! The mei will be Nobukuni, Chikuzen as you suggest. As to period , well I'm not sure how you could arrive at a specific period. All the best.

Dear All. Just to answer the question that Carlos posed, it is relatively simple to make a soft metal plug that is a good fit into a mekugi ana and just a little too long. Insert the plug into the hole, rest one end on an anvil or stake and then gently plannish the exposed end, turn the blade over and repeat from the other side until the soft metal has been expanded to fill the hole. Clean off the exposed surfaces as needed. Just to add that sometimes an existing hole is plugged with steel and as such is all but invisible. I had the opportunity of examining a blade that purported to be Hizen only to discover that the mei had been cut over one such plugged mekugi ana. Presumably the location didn't match that found on Hizen blades. All the best.

Dear Yves. Welcome to the world of Nagoya mono! https://www.espace4.com/collections/tsuba-nagamarugata-ko-kinko-insectes-et-fleurs/ All the best.

Dear Seth. You know that this sword carries a Seki stamp don't you ? Also what that means? All the best.

Dear Jarom. Welcome to NMB! You have clearly done quite a bit of research on your sword, that's refreshing to see. Clearly at some point you are going to face the restoration issues, do ask for advice when that time comes, it's an attractive sword and deserves to be restored properly. As to it's maker, you have already done some research but my immediate response is that the mei is a little too neat and if you look at the second kanji, bottom right stroke, on your example the stroke curves upward whereas on the papered examples I have looked at it curves the other way. I'm sure you will know that a great number of swords carry false signatures and this may be the case, however it is still a good sword so don't do anything hasty. All the best.

Dear Patricius. Nothing but gut feeling base on the, for want of a better term, chippy nature of the mei. The handwriting style as it were. Nothing else to go on as others have suggested but my immediate response was based on the rather similar style of mei found in the Yokoyama school. The overall sugata seems to me to be more late Muromachi but............? All the best.

Dear James. Well the auction photographs are not much use, are they? Pre 1860 simply means that it is a genuine Japanese blade made before the end of the Edo period, a safe but uninformative bet. The koshirae was not to bad but is now in need of some attention, the tsuka ito is gone and so, as far as I can see, are the menuki. The blade is so badly out of polish that you have no chance of spotting even quite serious flaws unless you view it in hand and even then it's a doubtful proposition. So let's say you buy it. You are going at the least to get a proper polish which is not cheap. While you are about it probably a shirasaya and maybe habaki. Some restoration on the koshirae, new menuki and ito...... You can see where this is going, can't you? Add to all that the fact that during polish you may well find, "something nasty in the woodshed", and you are in for quite a gamble. On the whole I think you would be wise to pass. All the best.

Colin. I'm sure you have tried this but click on the blue link on the page you show and see if that helps. Really nice thing to find, just been clearing the parents in law's house and the only thing I've found in a garden shed are some rusty shears! All the best.

Dear Grev. I can't see enough of the boshi and hamon to make any confident assertions but the style of the mei would suggest to me Shinto so far. I would do some digging around Yokoyama Sukesada and see what comes up. I'm quite sure that others will chime in on this one. Look forward to any conclusions. All the best.

Dear Matt. Speaking personally I would leave this one where it is. The plate does not seem to have any age and the irregularity of the whole design leaves me cold. The seppa dai is not seppa dai shaped and the overall crudeness of the sukashi looks pretty rough. What interests you about it? All the best

Dear Stuart. Welcome to NMB! Do post some photographs and I'm sure someone will be able to help you out with the notation on the shirasaya. Do you know what your Uncle got up to during the war? Sometimes people who were there didn't manage to talk about it very much. All the best.

Dear Koltira. Welcome! Just to add that this is a nice koshirae with very attractive fuchi kashira and, as you say, silver foiled habaki and gold foiled seppa. All in all a very attractive sword. Enjoy it! All the best.

Dear Dale. In your first reply the tsuba you show is one made by Kevin Adams after a Myochin design. And just so you know the Yahoo link takes me to a page that tells me that this service is not available in the UK or the Eu. Vitaly, I'm sure you know this site already but..... https://www.shibuiswords.com/tsuba.htm If you go to the Akasaka section you will see that tsuba by this group often give away their construction with visible lines on the edges of the plate and one or two other things to look out for. It's very tempting to assume that similar designs must come from the same group but that is not always a good assumption. Keep up the good work. All the best.

Welcome Dimitri! That's a nice looking wakizashi koshirae and a nice tanegashima. Can we see some more photographs? All the best.

Dear Adam. You have really answered your own question; it's either a gimei from the Shinshinto period or the seller is incorrect. (I suppose another option is gimei from the Shinto but Koyama smiths did Bizen den so....) There are quite a few papered blades on line to compare it with but things to note are the position of the mei on the nakago and the condition of the nakago. It is possible that the seller submitted the blade to shinsa who came up with this conclusion. Might be worth your while to link to the sale and others can then add to your perceptions. All the best.

Dear Vitaly. Yes, this is signed Echizen Kinai saku and is one of their standard designs. Given the size of the ryohitsu it seems to be rather small. All the best. (Beaten to the punch by Glen's much more detailed analysis.)

Dear Nick. Welcome to NMB. What sort of help are you looking for? A lot depends on some factors that you have not mentioned, is it coming out of Japan? I assume that it is because it has the registration papers with it, torokusho. Does it have authentication papers and if so who from? What is it being sold as? And of course, how much is being asked for it? Opinions will differ but from what I can see so far this is a mumei or unsigned sword that would now be classified as a wakizashi, a short sword. It seems from these images to be Koto, pre 1600. It has an unusual sugata, the overall shape of the blade, and might at one time have been a naginata or polearm. It seems to have a raised shinogi, the ridge running down the blade. It also has several flaws that from the images don't appear to be disastrous but should affect the value a little. So, it is a genuine Japanese sword. probably from the koto period, (but bear in mind that late koto swords are often not considered especially desirable - old does not always mean good in this hobby), and it is in shirasaya, the plain wooden mounts. Please feel free to ask more specific questions and throw out some more information, plenty of help here. All the best.