Gakusee

Heartbreaking.....

Ken, was that Osafune Kagemitsu?such a find is exceptional and congrats

As mentioned in the separate thread, it should be 9706.1000.00 / VAT footnote 03001. https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/commodities/9706100000?country= And, Jean the tariff for over 250 years old (9706.10xxxx) is a sub tariff of the one for over 100 years old (9706.xxxxxx).

Tony, Actually the code (and my suggested text) for antiques over 250 years is: “Tariff harmonic code 9706.1000.00/ VAT 03001 rate 5%”. You seem to have an unnecessary 06 inserted in there…. I have added the VAT free text after that tariff code, as that code (9706.1000.00) comes with two VAT sub-codes (one for standard 20% and for the reduced 5%). As we want to be as clear and to be spoon feeding people just to be on the safe side, I suggest using the text above. I am in the process of importing a sword now and if I encounter issues, I shall document them. In my text I am specifying the smith, the period (Nanbokucho), mentioning what Nanbokucho means (1336-1392), mentioning how many years ago this sword was made (c.650 years ago) using traditional methods and specify after words the sentence above (Tariff harmonic code 9706.1000.00/ VAT 03001 rate 5%). So, no loose ends and spoon feeding the authorities every single piece of information that is relevant. I have used this method in the past and never had issues with authorities by virtue of my over-providing information.

Yes, the photos are horrible. The descriptions need a lot of improvement. Interestingly, a lot of older swords in Kyugunto and gunto koshirae (which might explain the high values some people above are referring to).

Worthwhile for people to look carefully. Various potentially interesting blades signed Bizen…, Bitchu…., Hizen,… Sukehiro….The general’s Sukehiro mei should be compared to the books carefully as it is the most famous / most expensive mei type

Nanbokucho tachi but with nagasa of “only” 71cm as a bit suriage, vs your desired 72cm: https://www.aoijapan.com/katana-mumei-kashu-kagemitsu/ Rather than focus only on period and length, would be worthwhile to figure out school too.

350k is too much for Juyo blade and Juyo koshirae (on average) for a Nanbokucho blade. Well, Fred had a nice TJ Kagemitsu tachi with Muromachi tachi koshirae. I think it was priced around $200k. Is there nothing here that appeals?? https://www.nihonto.com/category/for-sale/swords/juyo-token/

Budget needs to be 50+k for something like that.

Tony, that is very curious. Could you care to elaborate as to the reason they confiscated them and you need to court? Was it to do with paperwork, or were they “modern” swords not considered antiques? Even so, that is a very radical development….

No need to panic. Administrative error somewhere. Call the numbers I have privately given you. Walk them through what is going on. Make sure you send them an email with the calculation (that many yen paid at the FX rate of the day of X meant that many pounds times the 5% VAT). Did you rush and not put the number you paid in pounds sterling? Did you only give them the yen invoice? It might be they charged you 5% on the yen amount or something. Errors do happen, even though not to me. Despite what people say, I often dealt with Parcelforce and they were reasonable when I did so. But talk to them. Do not make the rookie mistake of only sending emails or thinking that matters will sort out themselves.

I think this one was in the same haul of great tanto or similarly unpolished state, from memory....https://yuhindo.com/hosho-sadaoki-tanto/

George, my Google translator gives me for the first: second deputy director Masakazu Tsukamoto. The second one does not make much sense to me…. Existing [something] office. Was he a member of an organisation called Riki or something? Well, after some searching I came up with Rikigun as this guy is described as a Rikigun Jumei tosho So, my guess for the second caption: Existing Rikigun office, or something along the lines. I am sure people with proper knowledge of the language will correct me.

A couple of points. I did go through the Juyo Kotetsu and could not see any suriage swords. Secondly, slightly machiokuri is nowhere near the same “flaw” or “detractor” when positioning in the hierarchy for Juyo as is suriage. Sometimes machiokuri is not even detectable and people sometimes even say “possibly slightly machiokuri”. For old swords, where signed examples survive, empirically I have noticed that broadly speaking the following hierarchy applies: ubu zaimei > ubu kinzogan or suriage zaimei > suriage orikaeshi > gakumei > suriage kiwame (I suppose with exception of Kochu, Kojo who are highly valued) > mumei. Of course the above is a crude generalisation and in fact there are Koto swords where you cannot realistically find zaimei swords (Soshu; few Kokuho exceptions) so you have to go with mumei or kiwame. Sometimes the kinzogan comes with such strong provenance (kinzogan were expensive to give so Daimyo blades by definition) or such strong quality that the blade is elevated through Juyo and TJ. For new swords, as is the case with Kotetsu, you really need zaimei ubu or at the very best undetectable little machiokuri but otherwise pristine nakago (and of course -sword). The Juyo criteria precisely state: “Blades made in the Muromachi period must be zaimei and blades from the Edo period and later, as a rule, must be ubu and zaimei to receive Juyo Token paper.” So, the answer to your question is No.

Thanks, David, well aware of this. Notwithstanding, the blade above would not be determined and described to have koshizori. And, George,you a right that you measure from hamachi to kissaki. Of course suriage affects it but with or without the suriage this blade is not a koshizori blade.

George, this might be ever so slightly koshizori but traditionally this blade would be classified as torii zori. When people speak of koshizori, the sori is deeper and much more pronounced than in your case and usually with straightening in the monouchi area. Something like this: https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21404/lot/1125/

Well, the one which is the best I know of belongs to a friend and NMB member - out-of-polish Awataguchi Yoshimitsu which subsequently polished beautifully and papered to Juyo.

Well, please read Darcy Brockbank's blog entry on daisho. You will realise that the so called 'true' daisho are extremely rare.

Thank you George and Austin, for the great reminders. While I was aware of the other swords, I had not read about the Yoshifusa one. Is that one published or documented similarly to the other swords? Thank you!

John, the hada seems a newer / Shinto type hada to me and also the boshi straightish and shinogiji hada......Good patination on the nakago but that can be achieved. I had a blade with repatinated nakago and it had been done extremely well - one could not tell it was not Shinto patina but patina done 20 years ago.

Well, I have heard that customers have seen him in his previous smaller shop, the one that used to be next to the former NBTBK place, polishing swords…. I have not seen this myself as I have been there only once and that did not happen at the time. But I think he was doing one of his oshigata

I do not see chikei in this later blade. Chikei are thicker and black in colour. These structures in the photos above could indeed be scratches or also surface nie accumulation but not in the sense of chikei.

Peter, one has to start somewhere. We all learnt to walk by stumbling and falling first. yes, you will need someone who handles the sword but if you were in Japan, you would not need to deal with paperwork - so they are going sort of paperless. Also, you can view the results online rather than wait for the post office to send the letter to your agent, who then calls or emails you to let you know the result. Yes, it would be convenient if they did travel to us and the US is spoilt with the NTHK regularly doing the rounds there but the NBTHK has enough “domestic” business to frankly worry about travelling internationally. They can barely handle their own volumes as it is.

Brian, I have done this three times (admittedly not in the last 2 years with Covid). I have done it both at Narita and Haneda. Zero language skills but be prepared to sit there for hours - my wait time has ranged between 1-4 hours depending on how (in)experienced the young customs staff are and how they interpret the big tome of instructions what to do they have to consult…. The procedure is always as explained above. Narita is better and faster than Haneda…..

Thanks, Georg. This is a tour de force of sunagashi! We appreciate your great updates of this exciting journey.