Geraint

Dear Mark. I'm sure you have already done this but it is possible to track some of the ships that this man served on so definitely adds to the interest I would say. All the best.

Dear Mitch. Just one observation to add to what John has said. It's very tempting to think in terms of a single description for a hamon. Many swords require more than just one name to describe what is going on. For example you might see something like, " suguha becoming notare towards the monuchi", Or, "gunome midare with some togari". One rule for sure, nothing about this hobby is ever simple! All the best.

Dear Niall. Welcome to NMB! I'm afraid it's too late for you, once you have two swords to look at the bug will already have bitten and you are infected. The prognosis is that symptoms will manifest quickly, bleary eyes from staring at just one more sword on your screen, depleted bank balance as another book drops through your door, the need for extra shelf space and then the urge to start constructing some sort of display. Your speech will become incomprehensible to most as you begin to converse about swords in a strange mixture of English and obscure Japanese. Next will come an addiction to that smell of clove oil as you draw a sword from it's saya, you'll know this stage has arrived when you find yourself inhaling deeply as you start to withdraw the blade. I'm sorry but it's all over for you, you have Tokenitis. As to your sword, the length, nagasa, is measured from the tip, kissaki to the mune machi, notch at the habaki. (See what I mean?) Can you remove the habaki? At first glance this appears to be an ubu, unshortened, wakizashi from the Mino Seki school. Is the boshi intact? I can't easily tell from your pictures. Look forward to seeing more and your other sword. Enjoy! All the best.

Dear Sean. You know about the backstrap, yes? All the best.

Dear All. As usual some useful information here, http://www.ksky.ne.jp./~sumie99/habaki.html All the best

Dear Jesper. I can't help you with the first few kanji but the smith is Choshu ju Kiyoshige. Might help in your search. Are the first few perhaps, "One wakizashi mei"? All the best.

Well, let's face it Joe, after that run you're owed a few weeks of nothing. Part of the fun is the looking and looking followed, at least in your case, by triumphs. Keep it up, there's more out there! All the best.

Dear Joe. I'm not sure it matters. You have a wakizashi with almost all the koshirae present, unusual sugata, all it need is a pair of menuki, some ito and a polish. Good find, provided you didn't pay an arm and a leg for it. Mei starts, "Bushu ju something Hiro," Still working on the rest, someone will jump in before i get to it. Provided there are no major flaws you are ahea dof the game. Well done, that man! All the best.

Gentlemen. The second and fourth of the images show the blade. It has seen better days. All the best.

Dear David. Certainly not common, there are numerous tsuba which are made in imitation of kabuto plates but this is the first I have ever seen of this form. A nice thing to own. All the best.

Great to see you back, site looks good. All the best.

Dear Chris. Sweet package! Thanks for sharing. All the best.

For similar see here, https://www.aoijapan.com/set-of-daisho-tsukamumei/ Gomask, please sign with a name so we know who we are addressing. What does the rest of the koshirae look like? All the best.

Dear Joe. Welcome to NMB. You can auto add your name to your post in your profile. I'm sure I won't be the only one wanting to see more of this sword. It is a shame that someone has knocked up some sort of hilt and drilled the extra hole in the tang but it could be worse. What sort of condition is the rest in? All the best.

Dear Ken. That's not a lot to go on, I'm assuming it's all one lot in which case I think it might well be worth a gamble. Worst that could happen is you get five fake tsuba. For what it's worth I don't think they are fake. Your call but let us know how it turns out. All the best.

Dear Randall. A hot stamp or kokuin is a mark that is stamped into the nakago when it's red hot, example here. http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/4239-kokuin/ You have a nice sword, if you can get some better pictures of the whole blade with the habaki removed and some detailed shots of the nakago that will help everyone make informed comments for you. All the best.

Dear All. Information about the group issuing the paper here on Ed's page, http://yakiba.com/papers.htm You will need to scroll towards the end of the page but there is a lot of useful information there. All the best.

Dear Neil. As you might imagine anything with a label on the bottom in English is not going to be good. The tea pot is export ware of the 20th Century. The tea cups have what are called lithophanes, interesting but in the UK pretty common. I think I heard it said that this is the commonest thing to be brought to an Antiques Roadshow, and needless to say, they never feature on the programme. Don't go booking that cruise on the strength of these now, will you. Keep looking! All the best. p.s. Bazza's hat is safe

Dear Stef. I always find it much harder to say anything about tanto tsuba, some of the clues that might help don't seem to relate to the small size. This one was nice, moon behind clouds with a nightingale on one side and the silver reflection of the moon in the water on the reverse. The style of inlay, theme and the fact that it's an iron plate might lead to Mito? There have been as couple of threads recently discussing tsuba which are copies and somewhere I have seen a reference to the fact that wherever a tsuba maker was working a Shoami guy and an Umetada guy were looking over his shoulder. The suggestion is that many of the works we are trying to assign to a specific school are generic products by a multiplicity of workers who were just following the zeitgeist. What's the rest of the sword like? All the best.

Dear Jean. I very much fear that there may be. You can take a horse to water........ All the best.

Dear Robinson. Yes, we certainly need to see pictures if we are to offer any information about your sword. Some measurements would also be helpful. Are your researches solely on line at the moment? If so then there are a couple of books that would be well worth your money, on line information can be very useful but until you know enough to tell whether the person posting has some real knowledge or just a fog of opinion then it can be a minefield. Plenty of people here with years of study under their belts and very willing to share it with you. Looking forward to the pictures! All the best.

Dear Geoff. (You can auto add your signature in your profile to make life easier.) I'm with Ken in that I can't see much but if your view of the boshi is choji midare then it's either Shinshinto or Koto. Given the nakago then I'd be inclined to go for Koto. Is it just the pictures or is the kissaki quite short? With some tlc this will be a nice find. All the best.

Dear Rich, Nice sword, (nice array of chisels too!). Just to help things along some overall dimensions would be useful, especially length from tip to notch. All the best.

Dear Chris. It's always difficult to do any sort of informed kantei based on an out of polish sword but here are some thoughts. First, 26.52 mms seems very slender for a sword of this length but what that gives us is an ubu sword of 27" length with an extended kissaki. You suggest the sword is Koto based on the nakago colour, caution here, the colour and condition of the nakago depends on how the sword has been treated and this seems to have had a hard life. I would hope for a smoother and deeper patina for a koto sword. Although it technically qualifies as an o kissaki it does not look like the classic version of that feature. If I am seeing things correctly the sword has a raise shinogi. So what we have is an ubu sword, 27" nagasa, maybe a raised shinogi. If we are looking for the classic o kissaki then Nambokucho, Momoyama or Shinshinto spring to mind. However if we are seeing a slightly elongated kissaki then perhaps late koto also. Ubu at this length is not Nambokucho, nothing suggests Shinshinto so we might be looking at late Koto early Shinto. All of this is speculative as we cannot see anything really of the hada or hamon and you don't give the kasane. I realise that I'm not helping with this word but some things to think about. Also to remove the habaki a couple of soaks in really hot water should do the trick, obviouslu you are going to dry the sword carefully in between. Let us know how it turns out. All the best. Crossed post with Jean so all that he said as well!

Dear John. I can certainly see why you like that one! However as a pupil of Masahide and a shinshinto smith I think his connection with the Enju school is more of an honorific than anything else. All the best.