Marius

Welcome Rusty :D

Matt, one kantei point of doubtful value and you make an attribution of an out-of-polish sword? I envy your self-confidence... @ronin223 Please sign your posts with a name (first or last) - that is a Forum rule.

Veli, thanks for the plug :-) It is still for sale. A massive, healthy tanto from the late Muromachi period. And no reserve price, LOL

I believe it is actually Mike Yamasaki

Grev, not even a tourist piece. Looks more like made in China. But no reason to worry about, with the others being real :-)

Grev, can you post a pic of at least on of your daisho tsuba? The small picture you have posted tells me only that this seems to be a low quality item.

Contrary to the NBTHK paper - I am not quite sure this is actually a ko-tosho. Seems pretty thick (3.5mm at rim) and looks more like Edo tosho to me. But who am I to judge...

Ford, Steve, I am impatiently waiting for this discussion to be continued! Thanks, gentlemen @Ford Your workshop theory is highly interesting and it does sound very convincing. Do you know that some time ago Steve has come up with exactly the same theory to explain the existence of some very good tsuba which could not be attributed to any of the "officially recognized" Yamakichibei? I can't wait to hear more!

George, I still think you were right pointing out, that these two opinions of mine were not exactly consistent

George, I can't always bash other people's purchases. So I bash every second one Seriously - the former sword's price means it was bought for less than the value of the tsuba and f/k. The latter sword's price is unknown, perhaps it was bought for $150, too? The latter's nakago is badly reshaped, the former seems to be in better condition (although we don't have the picture of the bare blade or of the whole nakago). I might be dead-wrong. Both might be very good or very bad.

And a great site by Richard Turner, with many very fine tsuba: http://kodogunosekai.com/

Brian, I feel flattered. You set the bar very high. I promise to do my best to deserve to have a try. And yes, I will be generous with those smileys :D A benevolent misanthropist. Quite a feat :D

Arnold, care to show us the results of using Never Dull? Not on chrome and brass, but on nihonto. I'd surely like to see them. Also, do you exactly know what this stuff contains?

Brian, I am just developing my own, sarcastic style. In the initial phase it might have bordered on rudeness, for which I apologise. I'll try to be just sarcastic, never rude. My paltry attempts are a far cry from the style of board luminaries like Reinhardt, but I feel there is a need for some evil character here (evil like ). I know, I'm not in the same league as those legendary guys, but I am trying OK, I should perhaps add a bit of dry humour, this should make my rants more acceptable. As said, I am still in search of a style

I would sell it and not invest a cent in it. Unless it were part of my family history. Then, cost does not matter as much. As for your blade - it is not what I could call good. A crappy Meiji/later blade or a broken/hagire blade, shortened and mounted. The nakago is very very bad, a sloppy job, like so many in the Meiji period. Put it on eBay, buy something decent, learn. Actually, read and learn first, then buy something decent. BTW - could you be more specific - what do you mean with "nice hamon"? Nice like what? It is undulating, yes. What else is nice about it? Do you understand what a good hamon is, and what it looks like? I can assure you, it is not the pattern which makes a good hamon. Also - the tsuka seems to disturb you. I don't think it is a great piece, but you should be careful in general, when you see such pieces - one day you'll have a valuable koshirae destroyed, because it must be clean and new.

I am with Chris here. The quote shows this romantic attitude, which would have us, against Japanese tradition, admire a rusted and pitted sword. Japanese have enjoyed polished swords for centuries. However, the decision to have a sword polished brings a responsibility - that of preservation. At the end of the day, it all boils down to the skills and determination of the polisher to preserve the sword. Rust must go, niku (or meat) must be preserved as far as possible. No responsible polisher will remove kizu (incl. battle scars) if it is not absolutely necessary for the preservation of the sword. Please note - I am referring to competent and honest polishers.

If real, that is a wonderful proof that soft metal tsuba can take some serious abuse There still are some people here and there who deem soft metal as unsuitable to make a useful tsuba. Lovely pic. But...Is it real? People do stuff to sell stuff....

That comes with age, Brian Anyway, the sword is so good, it does not need that touchy-feely story, I think. A purchase based on romanticism and not on quality will turn out bad, unless it is a sword with provenance (for which you pay a premium).

Great, let's keep in touch :D

You got to have hawk eyes to see the piece of the attacker's sword still in the defender's blade. Now, this is part of the sales pitch, an unnecessary part for this kind of sword, anyway....

Jan, not much going on in Warsaw in terms of Japanese art. Three museums do have some collections (ceramics, ukiyo-e and even swords) but they are not shown to the public other than in temporary exhibitions. Pity you have posted this so late - we (the To-Ken Society members) could have organised at least a meeting with some nihonto form our collections. This is too short a notice, as most Warsaw members are on holidays (I am off, too) Do you have a plan what to see in Warsaw? Any questions - PM me, please.

That explains everything. The bullet wound is interesting, nevertheless. I am just a bit wary of the romantic notion of battle scars. That is why I think that this thread has a rather low educational value.

So you want to see more pictures because the article on Usagiya's site has intrigued you? Any particular reason you want to see battle scars? Will you or other members learn something from it? Do you want to be able to tell a battle-scar from a flaw? This is easy to do. Too many idiots ruining swords by hacking bushes, cardboard, PET bottles etc. OK, these are not exactly battle scars, but hard to distinguish from such. You get: hagire bent blade (shinae when straightened) broken blade hakobore kirikomi (I wonder how easy one can produce fake scars) But watch out - a blade can break even if the samurai was trying to hit a dog with the mune of his sword (http://www.nihontocraft.com/Suishinshi_Masahide.html) So don't go into raptures if you find a flawed sword. It might not be a battle scar, after all... What else do you want to know? BTW - I am overawed by the "bullet" pics shown by Thomas. How romantic. This must have been a very considerate bullet - it has left the patina intact. Sorry to be sarcastic, Thomas, but the patina on your nakago looks strange.

Rick, can you post the dimensions please? Nagasa and motohaba being the most important.

Nondescript, late Edo, run of the mill tsuba. "Factory" iron. Mass product.