Gakusee

May be he could split the daisho or you just go for both of them: https://yuhindo.com/ono-yoshimitsu-daisho/

Start with “Hizen”

Paul has made numerous valid and compelling arguments, which I am not going to reiterate, but shall add my own thinking: - the question is very personal and somewhat inappropriate. Why is the original poster trying to legitimise and justify his own expenditure via the prism and interpretation of fellow members? - very few would admit their economic worth, spending power and and intrinsically linked, disposable income and therefore prices they have paid for swords - the board has members with a very large spending power and top swords but they are not vocal. Why should the be? The board is about education, preservation, social banter but we do not go and rub in other people’s faces what we have or how much we have spent - Paul mentioned scholars who have studied but not necessarily bought expensive swords. Some names I could add are people like Basil Robinson, our former ToKen chairman Victor Harris (both in the UK) and of course - Tanobe sensei. By most standards, the couple of swords Tanobe sensei has are modest but he has advanced our knowledge and thinking immensely in the last three decades. - the conversation is not about papers; let us not veer into that Having launched the above invective, let me answer the question originally posited. I know many collectors who have spent that amount and more. In fact, quite a few dealers are top collectors with amazing and very expensive items. But even beyond that, there are many non-Japanese people who can and acquire such swords. But of course the price paid needs to be proportional to the value, rarity, quality etc.

Yes, the mei has some crispness to it which might mean it is not the Osafune smith. However, there is good patination in the mei, which might also mean it was done in the Shinto/Shinshinto period. The kissaki looks to have been reshaped, possibly due to damage

Do not even go there. Caveat emptor, as always.

Too much focus on drilling vs punching. There are many old blades with drilled ana due to shortening. One has to examine the actual blade rather than focus on what could possibly be a reshaped and modified nakago.

Also depends on how it was mounted (eg as tanto) in some part of its life

Incredible! You achieved this with only a few months of training, not having done this before? I wish I were half as dexterous!

Thank you, Henry, this is splendid

Uwe, Thank you - that was a great experience and your photos are very good. I have repeatedly had technical difficulties viewing your gallery on the iPad and had to open it on a Windows machine in the office and the photos are very detailed but as you rightly say - a blade needs to be held in the hand to be experienced properly. Or at least if not held, viewed in person from a near distance. So, you have not failed in your experiment but demonstrated what has always been said - handle swords to learn them and that Internet surfing and studying by photos is not enough. But again- many people picked the Juyo swords as favorites, so clearly could identify quality. Bear in mind that often personal taste prevails and we ascribe higher “mental’ value to what we like while in fact another sword might be better or, if not better, might be ranked more highly due to its rarity, being signed, exceptional health etc. For instance, that Ko-Bizen Kageyasu. I am still scratching my head about it. Juyo.... OK , I get it, but TJ? Given that it is mumei and the smith is only a sort of middle-level, rather-late (Ko-)Bizen maker, I think TJ was awarded due to the exceptional health (eg look at the boshi, kasane, width of the hamon) and the vigorous hamon

1,3,5 But frankly many of the other are very good. I think that often we mix quality with personal preferences and tastes. Here that compounds an already difficult situation, where you have a 2D partial shot of one side of a sword without angular shots to observe nie utsuri, nioi utsuri or hataraki in detail. Kirrill is right that often actually the nakago also matters and especially whose mei it is on it.

How did this whole conversation even veer into acid and cleaning? The blade does not need it. In fact, I am positive I can see the boshi even in these photos. The hamon will probably be visible, the hada will be visible in hand....

If true Aoe, subject to verification of the workmanship, Aoe smiths signed the opposite way, like Hizen. As mentioned, I have some signature reservations as the mei is different to all my examples, is a bit too small and a bit too close to the mune (I would have expected a bit larger chiselling and more central but I also have some smaller examples). There is obviously no need for acid and I think / hope the OP knows enough about swords not to do that. The blade needs to be looked at by a professional as it appears promising but worn out and pitted in places.

Well, it does look like an old blade and I think I can see the boshi on both sides so that is indeed good, Death-Ace, but I am worried about the putting (photo 7) and it has been polished down a lot (look at hamachi). The hamon should be mostly suguha with a slight notare and with koashi. The rest - once you get it in hand and see if it needs cleaning with isopropyl and oil

Interesting.... On the plus side are the length, the good deep-sori tachi sugata, the ko-kissaki (all of which point to Kamakura and not Nanbokucho). So, theoretically could be ko-Aoe. On the negative side are the state of the nakago (the patination seems off for me and the rust looks like red, active one - but need to caveat that could be the lighting.... also the shape could indicate slight suriage), the poor state of preservation (particularly that it has been so polished down in light of the koshimoto situation and hamachi and the pits I think I see) and the mei. With regards to the mei, I attach below some examples I have. There are more of course but the attached ones are of the more famous Yoshitsugu smiths. There were several, working from early Kamakura to Nanbokucho. Below is also snapshot of most of the Aoe Bitchu ones from the excellent swordsmith encyclopaedia by Markus Sesko. I find way too many differences to your mei when looking at some of the published examples. In fairness, the samples I have also differ quite a bit in the execution of the Yoshitsugu mei across both characters and also I have seen quite a few signed on the omote and on the ura. This is probably because of the high number of smiths bearing that name and long span across which they worked in Bitchu. Then, if one gets comfortable with the nakago patination in hand (I.e. not an old blade with a recently inscribed mei and then aged but the rust looking off), as a next step you could settle onto one of the less famous Yoshitsugu. Examination of the blade itself will be paramount - looking for the (ko) saka ashi, the special layered dan utsuri , fineness of jihada but possible sumigane Depending on all of that you could try to narrow it to whether indeed Aoe and then koAoe vs Aoe depending on how evolved the dan utsuri and how fine jigane and so on. You should have it examined by a polisher in hand. It seems to have been worn out quite a bit.

Hmm, StevenK, not sure i see that discoloring as a sign it was mounted..... but what I find is odder is the dai asymmetric shape. The fact that it might have been altered to fit a sword nakago is probably another indicator....

Both are beautiful. The thing is, I agree with above post, these are not even meant to be mounted. These Kaga items are wall or shelf showpieces. More art objects demonstrating artisanal craftsmanship than hilt guards with utilitarian purpose and simple elegance.

Chen You always post such delightful Tosogu! Keep it going

Isn’t the exhibition only on until the end of Sept or something? I might be wrong but think I read that on the actual page of the exhibition.

Of course not sandpaper. We are talking about proper sayashi work, which is done with tokusa

For mundane sayas it is OK but I have always found old saya with sayagaki too precious not to store a sword in and just discard. I have on a few occasions actually had a professional sayashi properly scrape and clean the inside of a saya and reuse it. If properly done it is like new

Uwe, that Ko-Bizen boshi you have shot is almost ichimai. That is a rather difficult feat to achieve. Also, the hamon is quite developed - I presume this is a “late” Ko-Bizen straying into (ko-)Ichimonji? Would you tell us the smith please? Thanks

Looking at the first image in the original post, it looks like Dmitry Sirotkin (zoom in first image, bottom left, where both the author and photographer are mentioned clearly)

If you think that is beautiful, what about these? That lady photographer has worked them hard these armours hum hm

Ray, what were the more interesting blades there? Is that a Masamune kinpun mei I see there?