Geraint

Dear Kevin. Others much more skilled than I will chime in but I suspect that this is a reproduction. Not the lack of signature but other features suggest this to my eye. It might well be a shootable version but you need to let others assure you of that. All the best.

Not so sure we are going to see a signature on this one..... Hope to be wrong. All the best.

Already featured in the translation section, http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/28426-katana-mei/ All the best.

Dear Trevor. Roger is a great person to be in contact with and will steer you well on this one. Whatever the outcome of his examination this is a very nice piece and I would suggest you do as little as possible to it with regard to restoration. As David says it is signed Hizen kuni Tadayoshi but it is also signed tachi mei which all helps toward the school. If Robert comes back with a positive then you might need to start thinking about polish and papers but for now just a little light oil on that blade and enjoy it. All the best.

Dear Dwain. Not sure what you mean by recovery, do you mean restoration? If so then ask yourself why a seller should have two very similar swords with strange shaped nakago both covered in nice fresh rust which seems to be uniform across the blade and nakago, both now in USA but from Japan. When you have answered that one then your question probably becomes irrelevant. All the best.

Dear Michael. Welcome to the board. Your suspicions are quite correct, this is not a Japanese sword. It is most likely a Chinese fake. If you want detail then please ask and we can give you a long list. Hope your next one is a great find. Enjoy. All the best.

Dear Logan. Just to be clear you are absolutely right, this is a Chinese fake, Brian is referencing the seller in his reply. All the best.

Dear Robert, The brass curved inlay looks like a type of fence found in Japanese gardens so perhaps this is a tea house? All the best.

So, "Made by Sukekuni who is the third generation Sukenao." Sounds good. All the best.

Dear Erwin. Have a look at Mishina Yoshiaki. All the best.

Hi Christian and welcome. Are there any stamped marks on the nakago/tang? If so they would help us confirm what Mark suggests. All the best. P.S. You can auto add your signature in your profile.

Dear Luis. Compare here, https://yuhindo.com/otsuki-mitsuoki-tsuba All the best.

Dear Peter. (Sorry, post crossed) Can we assume that you bought this through a business contact whom you have known fro 15 years and not from a teenage sword dealer? I think Michael's reply was a very good one and do please accept that we would all love it if you had found a masterpiece for your collection. It is understood that these NBTHK papers should not be relied on, especially for significant smiths. It should also be clear that no one can give an accurate assessment of your sword from a limited number of relatively poor pictures. If after examining the sword in hand you are confident that it is genuine then the thing to do would be to submit it to a shinsa. However before you do that take several long hard looks at the blade and the work. Is the hada typical? Is the hamon typical? Can you find another ubu tachi from this period of this length? Is the nakago jiri right? Tom suggest that you send an oshigata or a photograph to the NBTHK for their opinion, I do not think they will confirm the validity of the papers without seeing the blade in hand at a shinsa. As Michael has pointed out the odds are against this being by the man you hope but until you get a proper Japanese opinion then we are all guessing. All the best.

Dear Dan. I fear the answer to your questions is contained in the tittle of your post, it's a fake. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. What made you assign this to the Namban group? All the best.

Dear Jerry. It would seem a perfectly reasonable approach to have the hilt/tsuka rebound. From your images it is missing menuki/ornaments under the wrap and the kashira/pommel cap. One way aroumd this would be to have someone who knows what they are doing to source a pair of WWII menuki and have a horn kashira fitted. That would look just fine and allow you to display the sword. Have a look here, Tsukamaki.net (Sorry the link doesn't work, highlight and right click). I am sure that others will recommend craftsmen who could do the job as well. If you have not yet removed the habaki/collar around the blade then do have a go at that, there are threads here about how to shift stubborn habaki if you need. As Jean-Pierre says just keep the blade lightly oiled and don't let anyone touch it with their bare hands, common cause of rusting. Enjoy! All the best.

Dear Neil. Bearing in mind two things; first that we are doing this with very little to go on and from photographs of an out of polish sword, and second, that, "I know nothing!" Given the length and that we could reasonably assume to gain about another 10cms if we imagine the sword before suriage then that would put it at about the right length for an early Muromachi blade. . If this is so then we are in the late Nambokucho/Muromachi period as suggested by the previous owner. Of course it is possible that more has been removed and that the grooves are a later addition in which case, as Chris suggests it might be earlier. It certainly warrants showing to somebody knowledgeable in hand and probably a polish. Looking forward to see where this goes. All the best.

Dear Emilio. If you are thinking of buying this sword then don't let the fact that this particular Kanesada changed his name stop you. Another example is here, http://www.nihontoantiques.com/archive/g76.htm The sword on Aoi Art has NBTHK Hozon papers and is with a good looking koshirae, enjoy! All the best.

Dear Neil. If the need to know is important then shinsa is the way to go. If a consensus will do then can we have the dimensions please? Whatever the outcome it's a nice find! All the best.

Dear Bryce. Always good to see a Kanesaki, yours has a great deal to see, much more than one I own which has a very tight nioiguchi and little activity. I agree with what has been said above but wanted to add a couple of things. Examining a sword in different lights is always a good idea, I know that most of us keep them safely inside and only get to see them under artificial light, (Well, I'm in the UK, might be different for you guys.) The second thing is to suggest that you have a go at an oshigata. I do mine with very limited materials, thin art paper and a range of ordinary pencils. In order to get anywhere close to what is actually happening you need to really look at the sword and I find that helpful. All the best.

Dear Geoff. I am not entirely without hope that this may be Japanese but in its current condition and, with respect, rather gloomy photos asking for any attribution to a school is a non starter. The sword has had a hard time and taking good images is an art in itself. If you want a better guess then pictures of the tang might help but you don't mention a signature so I assume it is unsigned and even if this does turn out to be Japanese then it falls into the category where it is most unlikely to warrant restoration. Best option would be to show it to an experienced collector in hand, perhaps we have members in the Melbourne area who would be willing to have a look for you. All the best.

Yep! Fake. Number on the habaki, rough tsuba and menuki etc, etc. All the best.

Dear Mauro. I have always understood sahari to refer to the metal, a view supported here, http://www.nihontocraft.com/Hazama_Tsuba.html As Ford points out it is not inlayed in the usual manner, rather the powdered metal is fused into previously prepared recesses in the plate. The tsuba on Grey's site are unusual and not at all what is us normally encountered with sahari. All the best.

Dear both. The sahari tsuba I have seen are all distinguished by the sahari being inlayd into the plate and a silvery grey in colour. While looking at the photograph that you posted Kyle I was reminded of something I had recently seen and have at last found it again, not sure if it relates but here it is, http://www.shibuiswords.com/ELharusada.html The smoothness of the plate in your example is at odds with the ones illustrated but....? All the best.

Another possibility is that this was made for a shikomizue mounting, one here using an original Kikuchi yari, .http://new.uniquejapan.com/a-meiji-period-shikomizue-elite-samurai-cane-sword/ All the best.

Dear Tyler. (If you go to your profile you can get your name auto added to your posts.) If you have a look at the Bonhams link I posted there are a couple of examples that do have the flat and if you browse through the rest of the sale there are many, many more yanone to look at. The fact that the pin does not go through the nakago adds weight to the thought. You might not arrive at a definitive conclusion as there are always exceptions. Still like it though. All the best.