Marius

Guido's evil twin has struck again Harsh, but fair.

Awful polish, habuchi is not visible, hadori finish is very sloppy. From what I can see hamon seems nioi-based, not exactly typical for earlier blades. Not chikei, but layers, probably exposed by acid. This came from daimyou54eb on eBay - he is known to carry rather low-end items, but occasionally also good stuff (I recall a story about a good Hizen sword bought from him). But that is not a kantei point Interesting puzzle indeed, but in the current state of polish I would not jump to any conclusions. Do I see the remnant of a signature below the lower mekugi ana?

eBay, eBay...

Hi Jeremy, OK, that lecturing on the signature was not necessary, sorry As to the "trust your judgment" statement - you are right. In this case it is hard (or maybe easy) to make a judgment - we have low resolution pics of a sword which seems out pf polish and a seller who pretends he does not know what a signature is (or what it means), yet is fluent in nihonto terminoloy. Also " final sale with no returns"... hmm... and "this blade was made to destroy anything that came in its way" - I like that one. Razor sharp! You have made the impression of being very bullish on the sword, and most folks here, while having fun watching some eBay autions, have a healthy does of scepticism.

U trying to talk it up? I don't want to keep anybody from buying this or any other sword. I agree that a 30" nagasa is quite rare per se, and that o-kissaki is sexy. I just don't think it is so rare that you could not see two similar swords in a few months. No need to rant or accuse people of nefarious schemes, especially when you haven't even introduced yourself by name.

James, naginata shaped katana are not so unusual.

Yes, kantei is a good way. But it requires a decent polish...

I have always thought that koshi-zori is typical for Heian and early to mid-Kamakura. Turns out I was wrong: http://www.aoijapan.com/katanataira-nagamori-saku

Gentlemen, Thank you for your time and your input. I appreciate it

Apart from Darcy's naginata naoshi, what makes you think late Muromachi Jean? Hada? Hamon? Not that I disagree, of course

Chris, thank you, that sounds pretty logical :-) I was thinking (ko)Uda, a prolific Yamato offshoot...

Chris, Paul, thanks for the ideas. Of course I know how difficult it is to try to attribute a blade with (low quality) pictures only... As to shape - do you think Nambokucho/early Muromachi is a good call?

Chris, anything is possible, with such strong Yamato traits. Why do you think Kanabo may be a good guess?

and some smaller pics...

Dear All, again, my friend's sword and (bad) pictures. This time the sword is an unsigned naginata naoshi with the following measurements: Nagasa: 49.2cm Sori: 1.2cm Motohaba: 2.8cm Kasane: 0.5cm This time I have my own opinon regarding this sword (not worth much, but still). If you wish, I can post a spoiler here, but I am asking for your unbiased opinion. Many thanks for looking

David, thank you for asking about this kozuka Pete, Thanks for your socratic questioning. I wish we could discuss every object like that.

dragon > clouds, dragon > ball, dragon > sword, dragon > Hidesato... etc... dragon > dragon? Not necessarily... Not always

Jean has made an excellent point. I am curious why.

Signature is fake, so this is no wonder Peter :-) SHinto or shinshinto, anyone wants to make a speculation about the school? Pretty flamboyant hamon, with kinsuji, sunagashi and ara-nie, not too harmonious...

Antti, I recall that you have some good tsuba

Interesting and nice item In woodblock prints the Japanese axe (used as weapon) looks more like this: http://www.michitrading.com/images/396_ ... an_axe.jpg or this: http://cdn2.brooklynmuseum.org/images/o ... LS_PS3.jpg which corresponds to this instrument: http://www.hidatool.com/image/cache/dat ... 50x650.jpg

Terry, imagine you are trying to learn about painting from this... Well, you can't. You need good tsuba. Well, you do need books to stop spending (any) money on pieces of corroded iron.

Old rusted objects are interesting, no doubt. You can't learn anything from this tsuba (whether cast or not), sorry. Buy some books, educate yourself and you will see the wonderful world of real tsuba.

Paul :-) Lurk on this Forum, buy books first, suprees the desire to buy a sword, buy only when you know a thing or two (this will take reading a few books) and then stay off eBay. You'll be fine, we are here to help :D

Terry, any pictures?