Marius

Adrian, I don't think you will get a polished blade for $300. And polish (even an old one) is necessary to obtain Hozon. Have a look at the criteria: http://www.touken-matsumoto.jp/rank_criteria.php http://www.nihontocraft.com/Nihonto_Shi ... dards.html

Even a $300 blade can make Hozon, which is a paper confirming the item is genuine and not a fake (and only that). You will just need to spend $,$$$ on it (polishing, shinsa costs, etc). I make the assumption that a $300 blade is out of polish.

Could it be because it is a Hizen blade? They had thin kawagane.

Again: Tsuba an Aesthetic Study by Torigoye/ Haynes, PLUS Nihonto Koza Vol VI trans;ated by Harry Afu Watson. Neither of these two has great illustrations, but they are good primers. After that you might want to read Sasano's Tosogu no Kigen (transl. by Markus Sesko) You have already read this, I presume? http://home.earthlink.net/~jggilbert/tsuba.htm

Yes, I have forgotten this KTK supplement.

What about using someone's pictures? And using them for commercial purposes?

Tsuba an Aesthetic Study by Torigoye/ Haynes, Tosogu no Kigen by Sasano. Most Kokusai Tosogu Kai catalogues are packed with knowledge, too. And the pics are excellent.

http://home.earthlink.net/~jggilbert/reading.htm

I guess that Paul has summed it up nicely. I bought form a serious seller, who gave me the choice of either taking it back or slashing the price by 50%. I went for the latter as a friend of mine wanted a good blade with hagire (because of his budget). I may add that there are a few (well, maybe 2-3) honest dealers on eBay as well, the trick is to know them. Some of these dealers may even have high quality items on eBay from time to time, although most of the time these are lower quality items

In a polished blade hagire will always be visible. Have a look at my pics. Sorry about the quality - these were shot "freehand", a quick job to show the seller he sold me a dud (He took it back, phew).

No, that was listed first more than a year ago. This guy is very persistent.

Start with Nobuo Nakahara's "Facts and Fundamentals of Japanese Swords: A Collector’s Guide”. But this applies only to swords that you can hold in hand.

Adrian, nice description of all those morons You won't find a blade with mounts that you are going to enjoy at this price, I am afraid. Adam is spot on here, again

With this budget you will buy a very decent wakizashi, but no mounts. Post this in Commercial Listings > Wanted to buy and NMB members will certainly have some decent stuff. But... First, decide what you is it that you want - a blade or mounts? You know that these are two separate areas of collecting? I sense that you long for a "real samurai sword", that is one in mountings. Wrong approach, you will end up buying junk, loosing money. Buy books, learn, then buy. People here will be happy to help. Very sound advice from Adam, BTW.

http://www.tozandoshop.com/v/vspfiles/kamon/plant9.html last row...

Paul, is that a Mihara?

Die spinnen, die...Römer! No, really, what an idea. To be honest, they look all like some kind of copies, or at best bog-standard late Edo products. So, don't worry that you have lost. No hidden gems there, I am relieved to say :-)

May I ask you why you think this is a Higo tsuba? Is it because of the pine trees sukashi?

I still fail to see bamboo or bamboo grass... sorry :?

http://kodogunosekai.com/?s=goto There is an article about Goto Shirobei family on this blog - three parts, very informative. Plus, a few examples of Goto and ko-Goto work.

This is not Goto. Not even remotely. The quality is very very low. This is just your average fuchi, more or less mass-produced. Real Goto: http://sanmei.com/contents/media/fuchi_ ... nt220S.htm

Here is another tsuba with exactly the same leaves (I believe these are leaves, not fruit).

I guess this is the voice of reason.

I would say it is a leave of a water-plant. A leave with parallel venation.

He is cleaning his sword with isopropyl alcohol (99.9%), but before that he applies some uchiko Honestly, I think that it all boils down to the level of care. I cannot believe that good uchiko will scratch the sword immediately, nor do I believe that 0.01% of water, wiped off with dry paper can do any harm to the sword, especially if the sword is oiled afterwards. Let me quote the late Jim Kurrasch, who has once said something I still remember. several years after his website has ceased to exist: "to clean the oil off I tend to use either white tissue paper or white toilet paper. If it does not leave splinters in my butt I doubt that it will do much damage to a steel sword"