w.y.chan

I saw the Mitsuoki in Aoi. It was a prize winning sword at a wartime contest but surprisingly it was not josun length. Maybe length is not everything? Judging by the pictures the sword is the same quality as most other Mitsuoki blades that are similarly priced including those in gunto mounts. Having said that I think Mitsuoki blades are priced fairly low given his reputation and quality when compared to the likes of Nagamitsu and Emura blades. This Kuniie was sold recently at under 600k yen and I think superior to the Toshihide mentioned or even the majority of the war era blades by the top smiths but again not josun http://www.toukenkomachi.com/image/A021216-2.jpg Wah

Was the sword in the video sold at Touken Komachi a few years ago? Chikahide swords are relatively inexpensive despite his high reputation in sword contests. A Japanese dealer sold one recently for Y250,000 in gunto mount. Wah

Sorry to hear about this Klaus but I'm not surprise what happened. This is not the first time and won't be the last time somebody mention something nice on ebay and misses out. Never post about anything you want to buy but not bought yet. NMB can be a great source for information however. Wah

Look what just arrived through the post "Touken No Sekai" Wah

https://www.touken-matsumoto.jp/product_details.php?prod_no=TAN-0080 Wah

This Shigemasa tanto was sold recently Wah

Even if you can afford to buy this I'm not sure you are allowed to take it out of the country and might have to be held at a museum. Wah

Your sword has kesho yasurimei which Okimasa uses on all his special order swords. In later war and post war in all his special order swords he also changed his character for "Oki" with the lower horizontal stroke longer than the upper. Wah

Fancy that, a relation of Masamune living in the UK BTW are you a Japanese sword collector? Wah

Thanks Jeff for posting this. I own the same Blackmagic 4K camera that was use to film this documentary. I had some input in getting the camera manufacturer to include further enhancement features in the firmware. Had it for couple of years now and it was my B camera that saw relatively few action and plannning to sell it. So if anyone is interested (preferably UK or Europe) in this Blackmagic camera please contact me on PM From 4K Katana Project https://www.facebook.com/yoshihiko.usuki/posts/728239620611416 my camera Wah

But not traditional students of Shigetsugu. While still developing their skills these students would have even less leverage than Shigetsugu over Akihide. Showa 9 was still pre-war era, the sword made from that era like the one I posted is head and shoulders above many later wartime blades even most relatively good ones from that era. More likely this sword was a showcase example to advertise what the Denshujo can do given that it is also josun length. That is also why I don't conclude this and Bill's sword as "similar". Wah

I have good feelings about this, unless his suguha is not as highly rated as his Soden Bizen style it has a good chance of Juyo. Wah

I take Ken's theory about being there when the tosho make the sword to be absolutely certain otherwise every swords authenticity is a matter of opinion. This also reminds me of daisaku works. I have a sword that I know was made by a more reputable smith but his teacher not near as well respected craftsman signed it. It can only be accepted as the work of the teacher not the student because of whose mei was on it. Just to throw in a theory, let say if a sword is a fake and you saw someone make it, but in the opinion of the experts who are authorised to authenticate has given it a paper attributing it to a famous maker based on the workmanship. Does that blade becomes the work of the smith which it was attributed to and the market value it deserves? Wah

Here is the webcache http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:C4311IAhl4AJ:www.aoijapan.com/wakizashi-mumei-den-kiyomaro+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk Wah

Keeping in topic, regarding Mukansa smiths I've heard Yoshihara Kuniie 1st acquired such honorary status without ever officially being named as such when swordmaking resumed in 1953. So in a way Kuniie was mukansa before mukansa system came into being. Noticed even though he continue making swords after the war he never participated in the contest, he might even have been a judge but not sure. Wah

That was the previous title for Ningen Kokuho. They are both confered by the state. Mukansa was awarded by the swordsmith fraternity themselves. Wah

For swordsmith the first Mukansa was in 1958 and it was awarded to Takahashi Sadatsugu. He remains the only swordsmith to date who was first made Ningen Kokuho by the Japanese government in 1955 before being awarded Mukansa by the swordsmith association. I believe during the wartime contest there were a number of senior swordsmiths of various skills that was above contest level. Wah

Here is a special sword made by Kasama Shigetsugu for Isoroku Yamamoto in 1936. The auction closed at over 4.2 million yen http://y.aucfan.com/aucview/yahoo/h204535794 Wah

Weilding onto a Nagamitsu nakago? I be tempted to leave it mumei. The NBTHK papered it. Wah

Yes there is a flaw/damage but if there was not it could have become mumei already Wah

It was also made with a degree of confident so it cant simply dismiss it has "every smith has a good day" excuse. Seems almost suspicious "Nagamitsu" is not one smith by several making swords under this pseudonym. I bet some collectors has been fooled before and bought Nagamitsu and Emura on hunch thinking it was something else Wah

The sword above was from Showa 9 which is June 1934 if I'm correct was less than a year after the founding of Kurihara Akihide's Denshujo. At the time the head instructor would have been Kasama Shigetsugu. Bill's sword is from Showa 16 or 1941, the influence by the instructors at that time would have been somewhat different from the early days with Kasama with the exception of Kurihara insist on signing many of the best works. Wah

This appeared in Aoi this morning http://www.aoijapan.com/katana-nagamitsu-ichiryushi With the mei removed it could have been anything other than a Nagamitsu Wah

In what way? Wah

I saw it there but not register to use the auction. Want to know somewhere I can buy? Cheers Wah