bigjohnshea

Thank you Chris. So does low quality mean it is a badly made blade or that the quality can't be determined due to the condition of the blade? Cheers,

Closer image

Second paper

Closer photo

Hello all, Hope you are well. I submitted two waks for the NTHK shinsa in Florida. They both failed shinsa, one due to gimei no doubt, the other most likely due to not being polished. I was submitting primarily for an attribution. Could someone help me translating the papers? I don't even know where to start. I am most interested in whether or not attributions where made, and what they were. Thank you for your help. Cheers,

My humble thanks Marius.

Marius, Yes, I entirely agree. Building on your point, I have also read that muneyaki often can be a sign of retempering of a blade, which I believe devalues it. That being said, I don't see in this blade any other signs of retempering, such as mizukage, or the hamon falling short of the ha-machi. Thanks again for your insights. Cheers,

I can't say how rare muneyaki really is, but I personally feel that the muneyaki makes the blade stand out, at least in terms of what is available out there. I was shopping for blades in this price range for a long time. I won't pretend I know what the best work is when I see it, but I probably looked at every katana offered by nearly every merchant that NMB offers a link to and I don't recall ever seeing another for sale that had this feature. Anyhow, I thought it was a unique feature, and amoung the other things I mentioned above it made for a strong component of a whole package. Cheers,

Thank you for your thoughts Ian. I doubt any pictures I take would be of equal quality to the pics that are found on the link above, in the original post. I'll try to take some once it arrives though. Cheers,

Thanks again Brian. Apologies again for the double post. Cheers,

Marius, I originally just wanted to know what the term was for the temper line on the mune of the blade. Then I decided to post a link to the blade just to get an opinion if people thought it was a smart purchase. Then I decided that people might not see the link in this thread because the thread was about terminology, not about the sword itself. So I started a second thread. If the moderators want to delete either of these threads I have no problems with that. That aside, thank you for your advice. This is not my first sword but I do only have five swords of varying quality and style in my collection. I have been collecting for a few years, but I am also a medical student so my time is used primarily in studying medicine. I learn what I can about swords when I have some free time. Uechi, Thank you for your advice as well. I posted a lengthy description of the reason I purchased this blade in the other thread. I'm not planning on selling any of my swords, but someday if I need to or want to I'm sure I would. Apologies to everyone for the confusion.

Thank you both for your thoughts. The purchase of this sword is a combination trade and purchase. After it's all said and done, my cash expenditure is actually a few thousand dollars less than the requested price of the Naofusa. The reason is I was able to get a greater trade value for the sword I traded then what I originally paid for it. Then I put out 1000$ above that to meet the sellers requested price. So I saved some money in the long run. Chris, Thanks for the two links. The first sword I'm not that impressed with. As the description says it looks like it is a bit tired and the flaws that the last polish revealed would keep me from wanting to buy it. Also the lack of koshirae would have kept me from buying it. Just my amateur opinion. The second link was really a nice blade, again, in my opinion. I'm not sure if I would have bought it over the Naofusa though, for the reasons I talk about below. I agree that I would have preferred the Naofusa to have gone through shinsa already for this price, but I will submit it to shinsa myself sometime and see what the outcome is. Mariusk, There are a few reasons I decided this was the sword for me. The first is that I do love the hitatsura hamon and the muneyaki on it. I've only seen a few examples of muneyaki on other swords, and I think this really just felt like a nice execution of it. I could be wrong but it struck a chord with me. I also thought that having a sword with a muneyaki would be a nice addition to my collection. The second reason was the overall shape of the blade. I prefer a more shallow sori, and I believe that shinto era blades are known for more shallow sori because this was around the time that the katana was transitioning from a weapon used on horseback to a weapon used on foot. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Koto era blades always get my attention because of their age, but I tend to like the shinto era blades because of their style. The third reason was the koshirae. I don't have any swords with complete antique koshirae, and I tend to prefer the no-nonsense approach to koshirae. As my taste in sori might tell you, I prefer things to be less extravagant and more direct. I am restoring another blade right now that is a shin-shinto era sword, and while I am choosing components that are a little brighter (in terms of material) they are still very subtle in their own way. Last but not least was the smith. I spent some time reading what I could about the Naofusa before buying this. There was a previous post here on NMB that got my attention. I can find the link if you really want it. The post discussed how Naofusa worked for the Hosokawa family, and actually moved from the Mino area at their request. I liked the idea that this smith worked for one of the longest running and influential families in Japanese history. As an aside, I also liked the idea that he worked for the Hosokawa family during the same era that Miyamoto Mushashi was a retainer of the Hosokawa family. Something I have always enjoyed about collecting antiquities is the mystery of what life the item has lived. There is a small piece of me that likes the idea (mind you, it is just an idea ) that this sword could have been held Musashi himself. It is not the real reason I bought it, but it is a charming thought. Hope you are both having a great day. Cheers,

Thank you. I'm aways concerned when I buy something like this that I'm paying too much and not getting the right quality. Mike Yamasaka is well known in this business though so I'm not overly concerned about the lack of papers on this sword. I'll submit it to shinsa sometime and see how it turns out. Right now I'm just looking forward to enjoying and learning from this sword. Cheers,

Apologies, repaired broken link.

Hope you are all well. http://www.ricecracker.com/inventory/64 ... _daido.htm Any opinions on this blade? I'm about to complete a trade/purchase for it. I think it's phenomenal. Really love the whole package. Still very new at this though. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Cheers,

Thank you gentlemen. http://www.ricecracker.com/inventory/64 ... _daido.htm Any opinions on this blade? I'm about to complete a trade/purchase for it. I think it's phenomenal. Really love the whole package. Still very new at this though.

Hope you are all well. I have seen some nihonto that have hamon both on the cutting edge and the running all the way down the mune from the kissaki. Is there a specific term for this? Cheers,

Thank you gentlemen for your comments and resources. Happy Holidays!

Hope everyone is having a happy holiday season. Could anyone direct me to a resource where I can read up on ancestral blades in gunto mounts? I'm interested in learning about the conditions under which an ancestral blade would be modified for gunto mounts. Was this done only with family heirlooms for a member of the family who was an officer? Was this done often due to changes in prevailing style? Etc. etc. I'd appreciate any info or resources on the topic. Cheers,

I will for sure, Geriant. Cheers!

Thankyou, Hoanh.

Thank you Jussi. Seems reasonable enough to me. Cheers!

Hoanh, Andy and I have already talked about submitting to Shinsa in February over in Florida. That should be a reasonably affordable attempt at identification. Thank you for your efforts to assist me though. Cheers,

Geriant, The only thing I have to go off of is the Mei, and the smith I found on Nihonto Club atleast matches the two characters I have available. This is why I'm searching for more information. I never doubted Andy's expertise, I just don't have any info to go off of. Also the "Iye" translation he mentioned in the item's description appears to not match the Nihonto Club translation of "Ie" which is the same symbol on the Mei of my blade. Just trying to get info on the smith. Not challenging anyone's expertise. Cheers,

Yes that is it. I'm not sure if I have the correct smith though so I'm searching for more information and examples.