Marius

This tsuba is crude. Workmanship is poor and the composition is awkward, to say the least. New or old, it is a far cry from a halfway good tsuba.

http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/tools.html

Got reponses from all three NMB members. Great stuff, guys, many thanks A big nig "Thank you" to Peter for being such a perfect gentleman Richard, thanks for the suggestion. Owners offered this solutions, very generous and kind of them

Hahaha, Thomas, at least nobody can say I sell trash Thanks for reminding me

I need the pieces to study, I have several older tsuba but need more examples.

Gents, sold these once, if the buyers are tired of them, I'll buy back for the purchase price

I agree with Tim. 100%.

Thanks, Peter A great video.

I just wanted to share this experience with you. I have recently bought a sword from Fred (www.nohonto.com). Upon inspection by a togishi it turned out it had hagire, practically invisible, as it was covered with rust. Fred offered me either full refund or a discount (sword was rare and in nice koshirae). That is what I call great service.

Since I have sold this tanto to Hamish, let me repeat - I have sold it as what it is, a later utsushi (or just copy) with a fake signature of Rai Kuniyoshi. It was never advertised as anything that it is not. And no, it is not tired, pretty healthy and the nakago looks much much younger than it should if this were Rai. I wish I had my pics, but I have deleted them

Hamish, you didn't I have written the above rather jokingly, so do not worry

Hamish, gee, have I told you it is a Yamashiro blade? It was advertised as an utsushi by god knows whom. If it turns out to be a real Kyo-mono, I will take it back for a full refund

Nice work! You have even included that single uchinoke

Bling effect. Many people love shiny golden things, like magpies.

Sloppy as in: "I won't follow the outline of the sanbon sugi, I'll run the hazuya halfways into the hamon so that peaks are not covered" Yes, regular sanbonsugi is "boring" but Mino many swords were made for business and not as art. You got yourself an honest sword. Sending it to shinsa will be a waste of time and money. It will come back with "Kanemoto" and no further explanation. You won't even know the generation, so what's the point?

They have been made for the Dothraki.

Nice one, Klaus, thanks But it is just a weird wakizashi, nothing else. Brian has wrapped it up nicely in that thread. The smith has forged this because he could. Show-off.

I am not quite sure there was anything like a kubikiri tanto. When you look at sources like scrolls (Mongol Invasion Scroll or Heiji Scroll) you see samurai cutting off the head of their opponent with a tanto. It would be rather stupid to carry a specialised tool into combat, one that is so unwieldy and has a blunt point, meaning that you cannot stab with it. I think the source of this myth is some BS that Japanese dealers were telling their new gaijn clients in order to sell innocent gardening tools. Myths are persistent, however. Spinach is not more rich in iron than many other edible plants. "Christian" tsuba are most likely a myth. Etc...

Ah, you have discovered the wonders of hadori polish. This "suguha" has nothing to do with the hamon, it is just a sloppy hadori polish. http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/togistyles.html and http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/hamon.html

In Japan, Stephen...

Gents, A friend was buying his honoki wood at Namikawa, now they have none. Any other sources? Thanks

John, Terminology is not so important. It is a real nihonto, a Japanese sword, regardless of its length. But yes, it used to be a longer sword, either a wakizashi or katana, that has been cut down to the current length. The shortening work is crude - a proper job would result in a well shaped nakago. Yes, it was common practice to shorten swords to accommodate a new owner's requirement or to respond to the fashion of the day (many long tachi have been converted into katana or even wakizashi). Often a damaged sword (e.g a blade with hagire = crack in the hamon) was cut down to allow to extend its life span and to use it as a shorter weapon. And yes, shortening always affects value, in some cases to a great degree. In your case the value has been reduced very substantially, to put it mildly. To all intent and purpose this is just a remnant of a sword. You are left with 19-20cm of a blade but you can enjoy what you can see in the steel (ji-nie, hamon, etc). In this respect it has value. Sometimes, Japanese connoisseurs will salvage even a remnant of a good blade in order to study it. In such cases, even if the blade is in a pitiful state, the nakago will be correctly shaped. Here is a good example: http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/Sueyuki1.html BTW, since you are new to nihonto, how about reading some books to start with?

This is a very sloppy osuriage of a shinogi zukuri sword. I wouldn't call this a tanto proper, rather a sword stub, that can, however, be studied and enjoyed. The "nakgo" is a real eye sore, I am afraid Your pictures do not show enough to make an attempt at attribution.

A bit late, sorry, I seem to have missed the thread's "finale". Payment sent