Grey Doffin

Justin, It's possible to tell this is cast without seeing close ups of the parting line. Everything is too soft and lumpen, the walls of the sukashi aren't vertical cuts, and the edges of the nakago hitsu ana, where the soft metal pieces would sit to protect the blade from abrasion and fit the tsuba correctly, show no definition. This isn't an Edo era piece. Looks to have been made quite recently in Hurry. Grey

Check with a piano tuner; you might be able to get some old keys. You won't need much; 1 key's worth of ivory will last a long time. Grey

Hi David, Let me encourage you to attend the show in Minneapolis. You will be able to learn just what you have, see many other swords and fittings, and meet some of us who have been posting about your sword. Chris and Larry (the show's Big Kahunas) always put on a great time, with quite a few exhibits and demonstrations all related to Nihonto and/or Japanese culture. I'd be very surprised if you aren't very glad you went. Cheers, Grey

Hi, name please, There are no Ujifusa in John Slough's book; odds are you won't be able to learn much of anything about the smith. The odds that you can learn anything of this particular sword's history before it left Japan are pretty near zero. The red paint will be numbers (inventory and/or assembly) and won't tell you anything useful. Grey

Hi Frank, You have a fake. Grey

Matus, Do read Facts and Fundamentals, and then read it again. And then read everything you can get your hands on. Make a list of all the English language books (and any other language you can read) and see how many your local library can get for you. Grey

Hi James, So the Zen Buddhist monk walks into a burger joint and says, "Make me one with everything". It isn't that easy. You're asking us to condense decades of reading and experience into a few paragraphs and it just isn't possible. You want to buy a good sword? Study. Grey

Hi Lokke, As long as the blades are antique you shouldn't have to pay anything to get them through US customs; no import duty on antiques, I believe. They will have to be cleared for export on the Japanese end and that can take time. A gun case will work well for flying with the swords; I would guess you can get one or something similar in Japan. If you're going to have the blades shipped to you from Japan, someone else can advise you on the best carrier to use. If you have the blades mounted expect a wait and a big expense to do it right. Normally a tanto and katana wouldn't be in matching mounts; that was done for wakizashi and katana. If you have a new saya made you can store the blade in either the new mounts or the shira-saya, and if you plan to keep both you would have a tsunagi (wooden blade) made to hold together the empty rig. Grey

Hi Matus, The difference between a practical sword and an artistic one, if there is a difference, might be what you'll learn with years of study. There are no cheat sheets with Nihonto, no hints to help the novice instantly gain knowledge. As with every other complex subject, diligent study is necessary. And it does make sense to buy 10 books at once; in fact it makes much more sense than buying a sword before you've bought, read, and understood at least 10 good books. I believe there is a recommended book list in the FAQs of the Message Board. Grey

Hi Peter, Echigo no Kami Kanesada. Grey

Hi David, The pictures on the website are something different from what you're describing on your blade. The shinae you describe sounds like the last shinae discussed on the site, which are wrinkles usually associated with bending and straightening a blade, not cracks in the surface. Or, as Mariusz states, they might be scratches only. Any case, only with pictures will anyone be able to say much for certain. Grey

Hi, name please, The blade is signed "Nobukuni Yoshihiro Saku" (made by Nobukuni Yoshihiro). I have no reference that tells me who or when Yoshihiro was. I like the mounts; could be a very nice sword. Here is a link to a sword care and etiquette site: http://www.nbthk-ab.org/Etiquette.htm You should read it so you know what to do and not to do. Cheers, Grey

Another way of approaching the original question is to look at just what an o-suriage tanto is, which isn't difficult to do because there are hardly any of them out there. The vast majority of long blades (tachi or katana) that have been shortened are now wakizashi, not tanto. The only tanto I see that used to be something significantly longer are the remainders of broken shinogi zukuri katana or wakizashi, and they aren't pretty. Were shinogi zukuri tanto ever made by good smiths? What I'm getting at: I don't think there can be more than a few o-suriage tanto worth owning. Grey

Hi Larry, I don't think you have to worry about this unless you plan to take it for a walk. What are the odds that any legal authority will ever see it, and if for some strange reason one might get a look, he or she wouldn't know it is mounted as a cane; just tell them that it is a traditional mount on an antique Japanese sword. Grey

Hi Marcello, Bob posted a link to tsuba cleaning 2 or 3 posts up. Ko tsuba isn't a term I'm familiar with. I understand ko to mean small or old, neither of which fits this tsuba. I would guess the value to fall somewhere between $250 and $350, but someone else might have a better idea. Grey

1995 Grey

Hi Roy, The only reference I found with my Index is the one you've quoted from: an article in the JSS/US "Newsletter", Volume 27, #2, page 6. Otherwise, none of the sources in the Index mention him. Grey

Hi David, Of course, you aren't off base. There were smiths signing this way much later than Heian. But there was talk about Sanjo Yoshiiye, who worked in Heian, and it seemed people were going this way and I didn't understand and asked. Grey

I think I'm missing something here. All this speculation about Sanjo smiths, a very early (Heian) school of smithing, but this sword is signed katana-mei. Grey

Hi, never did get a name for you, I think we can proceed figuring that this is gimei; no one spoke in favor of the signature and it seems very wrong for Kanesada. 28" tip to tip makes this wakizashi length, maybe 22" on the cutting edge. We know very little about the condition and possible flaws, so a guess at value is just that, a guess. I would think this would sell for at least $450 and probably not more than $800, unless you can find 2 knuckleheads on ebay who both think the signature is genuine and decide to duke it out. Anyone have a better idea? Grey

Carlo, How do you get 893? I was thinking 533 (五三三). Not that this is important; it's just bone mounts on dock work, but I'm curious. And on a related note: I'm seeing quite a few of these bone mounted blades on ebay, way more common than they used to be looking locally. Suppose the Chinese are faking these too? Grey

Hi Marcello, I'm a bit concerned by the sugata. The sori is too strong for the length unless this is the last 27" of a 30" Heian or Kamakura tachi, and I don't believe this is possible with that kissaki. Exaggerated sori is a common artifact of retempering. I've seen more than a few blades that had their kissaki reground small during the retemper process, the retemperer hoping to sell to the unsuspecting as an early tachi. Buying swords out of polish and without papers, with only pictures and the seller's description to guide you, is not easy, even for experienced collectors. Until you have a lot of experience with Nihonto, you would be smart to stick with polish and paper, or swords you can handle and get a good look at. Grey

Now I can see 2 ha machi and 2 mune machi, none of which line up with another. Strange. Grey

But look at the machi. The mune machi is an inch higher up the nakago than the ha machi. I think fake. Grey

Also, Japanese cities have always been tightly packed, the buildings are built of wood and paper, and cooking and lighting were done with fire. Toss in the occasional earthquake, and out of control fires are common. You can remove a hamon with a cigarette lighter; a sword doesn't stand a chance in a house fire. After fires many of the burned blades were gathered and retempered, a few to preserve whatever importance was left in a previously important sword, some to fool the unsuspecting into buying a less than perfect swords, and most just to make them into usable weapons again. Retempered swords are very common. Grey