markturner

Thank you, interesting information.....I have been away for around 4 years. it is tempting to invest in another blade, as i have some new liquidity, which is nice. But I think I need to perhaps invest some time and effort first in re aquainting myself with the hobby.....

Good afternoon everyone, it has been a while since I was active and meantime my collection has been enjoyed at a distance, but a bit more free time means I hope to rekindle my interest. As you do, I was doing some "window shopping" in Aoi art's website and noticed some very beautiful swords for sale there at surprisingly low prices... there was a lovely Juyo blade in koshirae, for around 3 million yen, which, while not cheap, at around £20K english pounds, seemed almost attainable.......when I consider what I have paid for my blades in the past ( in the range of £4 - 6,000 the step up does not seem so large to own a Juyo blade..... In the intervening years of my inactivity, what has the market done and what does this mean perhaps for the value of my existing collection? Finally, I noticed some ebay sellers say they cannot ship to the UK, is this the case now? It is not mentioned on Aoi art site at all....if so, what does that mean for collectors here and how would you get around this? Kind regards, mark

Wow, its been a while since i checked out Darcy's site....some simply beautiful swords and amazing photography. Thank you Darcy for putting up such a great study resource, as well as the chance to drool over the sort of swords we can only dream of.. although..several were actually within my price bracket...very tempting, but it would mean disposing of some of my existing, which may be complicated ......hmmmmm. Thanks Mark

Hi Jean, the koshirae only contain tsunagi, all the blades are in shirasaya. I have them out pretty often, so am able to keep an eye on them, and I know some people frowned on the idea, but I also use Renaissance wax on the blades for protection, instead of choji oil, which I found a bit messy. Once applied it is completely invisible and is easily removed with simple alcohol if required. Once again thanks for the compliments and if anyone does want something similar made, let me know. The turnaround time wont be quick though, as this is a hobby rather than a career! I can make smaller stuff like display stands pretty quickly though. best regards, Mark

Thank you so much for all your kind words! I run my own construction company, and am a carpenter joiner by trade, but since I now spend all my time behind a desk, instead of site, I decided a few years ago, to teach myself furniture making, as I absolutely love making stuff and using my tools, and really missed doing it. The output is a bit slow, but I really love it, its very therapeutic and satisfying making stuff yourself and I just love working with wood. As you say, the grain and character of the wood in the piece is gorgeous. My favourite wood is Rosewood however, and my next project is this desk, which I am going to copy, but without the compartments on top; http://www.darestudio.co.uk/products/ed ... ting-desk/ Thanks again for the compliments! Regards, Mark

Hi guys, been somewhat busy with work stuff of late, but have managed to finally finish the display cabinet I have been making for the last 6 months....It fits into the wall storage shelves I made at the same time. Its made of American black walnut, with a maple back panel and cherry racks. The Koshirae go in the display section, the blades and shirasaya underneath in the smaller flap down cupboard. Hope you enjoy looking at the fruits of my labour! regards, Mark

Hi Grev, I recently brought a small Wakizashi ( This one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/251045946560? ... AQ:US:1123 ) from Hitendo and was very pleased, especially when I saw the sword in the flesh. It has lots to study, in good condition, papered, silver Habaki and all for £600..... I think he has a good selection of low priced swords and while many are very ordinary, some are great value. The main thing is, he is not charging silly money, which many of the e-bay dealers do. Certainly a good place to start if you don't want to spend $5,000 upwards on a sword if you are starting out in this hobby. The guys here will always tell you to buy the best you can afford, and this is advice I have tried to follow. Indeed this sword was a departure for me, I only brought it to go in a nice Koshirae I had, so when it turned out to be a nice blade as well, I was very pleased. So, no I don't think you made a mistake, and if you hang out here a while, you will pick up all sorts of really useful help and tips.. Regards Mark

Hi plenty of food for thought there, thanks. I am not overly worried about the money aspect, for me the enjoyment of finding and assembling the mounts and then time spent enjoying looking at it is much more value than possible resale at some stage in the future. The civilian gunto mounts are certainly nicer than the war ones, but I think I am coming to the conclusion that I will assemble a traditional koshirae for the blade. After all, it will always be able to be displayed separately and even sold separately if that need ever arose. Quality components should also hold their value as individual pieces after all. I guess I would only "lose" the cost of specialist trades like wrapping the Tsuka and getting the saya made.. Thanks for the input everyone, regards, Mark

Thanks, that's a good site. But..........I am not sure I am very keen on the mounts looking at them in detail. All a bit too orange and brown and somehow a bit cheap looking.....I will have to give this some thought meanwhile. What are your opinions? Do you think a traditional koshirae would be better? Would be interested in peoples opinions and reasoning. Regards, Mark

Hi, I recently acquired a very nice Hokke Saburo Nobufusa, almost identical to this sword here: http://www.samuraisword.com/nihonto_c/S ... /index.htm It's come in Shirasaya, but I am considering maybe getting it mounted in the future. As it's a Gendaito, made approx 1940, perhaps more traditional mounts would not be appropriate, so was thinking maybe to use Gunto style mounts. Where is the best place to look for these? I cant recall seeing any specialists anywhere on the net and while I have seen plenty of swords in mounts for sale, never Koshirae or individual components. Can you point me in the right direction for any specialist webstes etc or on line resources? Thank you, Mark

I can only see the first 10 or so swords in the register.........Do you think they have simply not transferred everything over yet? Cheers, Mark

Hi Dimitri, just seen this...Nice piece ! Love the shape, ( whatever it is..!!) Did you buy from Don? Sorry I cant be of help as the the question raised..! Best, Mark

Thanks for all your input everyone, I will be writing up my little appraisal for tomorrow and taking along to the meeting of the To-ken society tomorrow, to see what they all think of it. Like I said, I am very pleased with it, as I think for the money, it's a lovely little sword, what also adds to the attraction for me, is there are several clear kiri-komi on the blade, which points to an interesting past and perhaps also confirms Paul's suggestion of being damaged in a fight as a reason for it being suriage. Thanks again, Mark

OK, all useful stuff, thanks. I saw the mei on the examples and they looked original and not as if they had been folded and/or moved to be retained, hence my assumption. Could someone hazard a guess as to perhaps the original length of the sword and why , if the lower, off centre nakago-ana is the original, why so little was removed from the sword? if was made as a wakizashi originally, seems strange to alter it just a small amount. And the overall proportions of the sword are smaller than a cut down katana would be, so I don't think it was that much bigger originally. Any other insights gratefully received, thanks, Mark

hi Jean, I thought they were all ubu as they all had the Mei, is my reasoning correct? regards, Mark

Hi guys, thanks for the input. from what I could find, the squared off nakago did seem quite typical of jumyo swords, I found a little article by John Stuart by searching here in which all 3 of the ubu swords he referenced from various eras had a squared of nakago, see here: http://www.johnstuart.biz/new_page_15.htm Although, as you all agree, the 2 nakago-ana make it almost a cert for suriage. What I was wondering was why such a small amount removed ( i am presuming that one of the nakago-ana is the original here) Jean, I had not noticed the hamon, that kind of seals it. Cheers, Mark

Hi, I am appraising a nice little wakizashi I recently purchased, and cant decide whether the nakago is ubu or not. What do you guys think? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251045946560? ... 718wt_1392 I am erring on the side of ubu, although it has 2 mekugi-ana, which would suggest otherwise ( is that correct?) You cant see very well from the photos, but the blade has a really nice amount of activity, with many sunagashi in the gunome midare hamon and a very nice mokume hada. It also fits perfectly a koshirae I brought from Henry Wilson on the boards here recently. It has old Kicho papers, but apart from that I know little about it, or the Jumyo school, which appears to span a wide period. I have read their swords are rated wazamono, this one is certainly nicely sharp. How can i pin the exact age down a bit more? I think it is a cracking little sword for the money, what about you? Regards, Mark

Hi, thought I would post pictures of the first attempt, it was on a new shirasaya, that was starting to split. They actually look better in real life than in the photos ! Sadly, both bits of horn had imperfections in them that did not become visible until after I had shaped them and reduced them in size, after they were stuck on to the shirasaya. But as i say, it looks better in the hand and I must say I am very pleased with the result. I put a new Koiguchi on the top and fitted a matching end tip to the saya: It was very fiddly work and the horn is quite awkward to work accurately, _ I appreciate the craftsmanship of the people who do this for a living even more now..However, the next ones will be quicker and better I am sure. Rgds, Mark

Hi Paul & all, all very true and I appreciate the advice. I was more interested in not so much knowing whether there was a specific value in something but more as a comment on the huge variation in what you can pay , for what looked like, at least to my beginners eyes, essentially very similar swords... For example, you say, buy what you like you see - taking those swords and the other 2 that made up the group of 4 I was comparing, they were all pretty much similar swords, yet up to 4 times difference in cost. It makes you wonder how dealers like those guys on E-bay arrive at the prices they decide to charge. Such huge variation of course raises the question in a potential buyers head "Am I paying the right price?" Then it makes you think, why is the cheap one of the 4 so cheap? I think it all gets somewhat esoteric after you establish that a sword is genuine, healthy, in good polish, nice shirasaya or koshirae, nice hamon and activity, good nio-guchi- perhaps papered. This would apply to many thousands or perhaps hundreds of thousands of swords and I think if a sword you buy fulfills those criteria, then you are doing OK. However - say you buy a sword as above, Now - I am studying my books and looking at as many write ups of quality swords as I can see, yet, I find it impossible to so far to see the difference in some of the good swords and many of the excellent or priceless ones in basic physical characteristics. In fact, most of the swords I own, look every bit as nice as many of these Juyo and above swords I see in the books, so it gets very difficult to make judgements of value over and above that the sword fulfills the basic criteria for being a quality sword. From there it all comes down to the smith - who, when and where to determine the value I guess. It must make being a dealer in swords a very tricky way to make a living! After all, that depends somewhat on there being 2 price bands..trade price and retail price doesn't it? Regards, Mark

Hi everyone, I just wanted to start a discussion on the value of Nihonto and how that might be decided. before we start, I would like to make the comment that something is, quite obviously only worth what you can sell it for. However, even this confuses - say you have a piece for sale and want $10,000. lets assume that it would be correctly priced at that sum. If you could find no buyers and had to sell, and settled for half that amount, what does that make the value? I was prompted to actually post about this ( it has been going around in my head for while, as I amass a few pieces as a novice collector and aficionado) by several pieces on E-bay at the moment from various sellers I have favourited ( as you do, idle window shopping...) . I wont link to each ( although I can, if anyone thinks it would help) but to me, they seem pretty similar. all are wakizashi, some have pretty nice if nothing special koshirae, some are papered to Hozon or kitcho,some not. Some are mumei, some not.They all look like nice swords to me, and have interesting hamon, hada etc. Yet they range in price from £600 up to nearly £3000. For example - this sword: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/400279418233? ... _500wt_922, which is way more expensive than this sword : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251045395144? ... 750wt_1392 You see similar things often, with online shops and other e bay sellers. As the variety and number of smiths is so huge and there seems to be no real way of estimating the value of low to middle range swords - they are not like cars where you pretty much establish a book price for any car secondhand. I realise more important smiths and schools do not really enter this discussion for obvious reasons, but why the large variation in cost in the examples I gave? regards, Mark

Hi Guys, thanks for that, that's a shame, I now have the same information 3 times, once on the label, once on the sayagaki and once on the tang - and still no nearer knowing which Munetsugu it was that made the sword. Morita, I can certainly post a picture of the whole blade if you like, does this help? let me know if you need better: Any thoughts on the style of "handwriting"? Thanks again, Mark

Hi, as part of my continuing investigations ( not very fruitful so far) of my Munetsugu sword, I wondered if anyone could help with translating the Japanese text on these two small labels on the shirasaya. It was part of the Bigelow collection at one time and I wonder if they relate to that? They are certainly old... Finally, I have a translation of the Mei shown below, but I would be interested in peoples opinions of the style of the "handwriting". I certainly have never seen such an open and "florid" style, using narrow lines, as this on a mei before. Is this unusual? Does it point to anything particular? I am also curious as to the reason for the 2nd mekugi ana near the tip of the nakago.... the sword is shin-shinto and not suriage, so why have a hole in that position? many thanks for any help and opinions, Regards, Mark

Hi Guys, OK< I have the horn. :lol: Thanks for the help with that. One small problem with one of the shirasaya... the throat of one is quite worn away , making quite a loose fit on the Habaki. This means that there will be no meat left of the wood to slide the horn ring around. Does anyone have any ideas how to get around this? I have been rackinmg my brains but not come up with anything yet!! Rgds, Mark

Thanks guys, found some decent sized black buffalo horn slabs from the USA, Mark, I could not find an e-bay seller named "Robsbits" ? Do you have a link for future reference? I will post up some pictures of the work when done. I imagine it will involve some head scratching to find the best way to machine and shape this stuff. Is there anyone here on the forums who has done this kind of thing before? Regards, Mark

Hi, the title says it really, I have 2 shirasaya, that could do with a makeover, they are quite battered particularly around the open ends, and the mekugi ana holes and I thought that a nice horn ring could be carefully machined and the shirasaya altered to accept this. I am a pretty good cabinet maker as one of my other hobbies, so I have the skills and tools to do this, but I cant seem to find a supplier for the horn. Can anyone help? I was considering using Corian, but I thought it would be better to use the traditional material. Thanks, Mark