Marius

I did :D Turned out to be something like: Kiyoteru. Not sure about this, though.... That is why I'm asking.

Help will be greatly appreciated, thank you

Eric, A picture is better than a Thousand words. These examples make one understand (by contrast) what nanako qulity really mens. Thank you Jason, I think the kogatana might turn out to be quite interesting, would you care to post a picture of it?

Thank you, Koichi-san What would we do without your help?

Thank you Martin So it was the 2nd generation Tadakuni, who held the title: Shinano Daijo, and worked in the Inaba province between 1681 and 1683, correct? Or am mixing everything up? Sorry to be so dumb..

Thanks Maurice, Shinano without the "Omi", I presume?

Dear All, I have these papers here. I would be grateful if you were so kind to help with the translation. Most obliged

This is a cast fake.

Malcolm, sea cucumbers are animals, not plants :D And, judging by how they look, I don't think Kappa would like them Chuck, Lorenzo, thanks for your replies. I have to agree - this is definitely a Kappa and not a frog. The hair is there, and the face is more ape-like than frog-like. A wonderful motif, thanks for sharing Chuck :-)

Very nice tsuba! Congratulations I wonder if the frog on the bridge (cute little fellow) is really a Kappa. I am not quite sure that a Kappa would have a lilly leaf as an umbrella. Please, have a look at the Chōjū Giga with its many frogs and other anthropomorphous animals: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C5%8Dj% ... butsu-giga It might turn out that what you really want is not menuki with a cucumber (or a child, for that matter), but rather with some anthropomorhised rabbit

This scam is obvious, even without googling.

Stephan, I don't think it makes much sense to post fakes here, unless you find something crafted so exceptionally well that it could pass for nihonto. Or was your post a question about the authenticity of the blade?

Chris, that is an absolutely lovely fake :-) Made in China, cast from some alloy. Could be included in this excellent JSSUS information about fake swords and tsuba (the NBM has the link promimently displayed): http://jssus.org/nkp/fake_japanese_swords.html. Buy a book instead.

Understood :-) Sorry about the confusion :-)

Oh dear, I can't find any classifieds on http://nihontoauction.com/. I would certainly like to see the two wakizashi , and you might consider using the "For Sale or Trade" section of this board to advertise them. You will get publicity, I guarentee it :D Nothing against China (I actually love Hong Kong), but you must admit that there are so many reproductions coming out of your country and genuine nihonto is sold so rarely that people have just got used to ignoring Chinese sellers?

Lee, Could you please show me where ? I can't see any... Just one tanto being sold out of Japan. Did you mean eBay? That would be an all time high

Yup. And the signature is sloppy, too.

I was referring to nihonto. It would be rather surprising to see nihonto being sold out of China As for reproductions, China is a good source. BTW, nice site, I'll keep my fingers crossed

Ford, Well, I knew it would end this way Whenever I say "genuine", Ford says "cast", whenever I say "cast", Ford says "genuine". Thanks for the lesson Ford :D Steve, thanks for sharing this stunning Owari tsuba with us I love the composition of the crab, the texture and colour. WOW! Grey, interesting depiction of a crab and a nice tsuba. Thank you :-)

I would recommend an interesting article on nihontocraft.com about extreme tameshigiri: http://www.nihontocraft.com/Aratameshi_Nihonto.html Hagire is mentioned several times.

Dear Jacques, is hagire a forging flaw? I don't think so. Even the best forged sword WILL develop hagire under extreme stress. You cannot use a sword with hagire, lest it breaks, but should this be a reason to disqualify it as an art sword?

I have once bought a sword which has turned out to have hagire. It was beautiful, a sue-Soshu sword, I believe (or a Bungo takada, ha ha ha :-) ) The seller has offered full refund or a 50% price reduction. I went for the second option, and I have subsequently resold the sword clearly marked as one with hagire. I have thus managed to retrieve the purchasing price with no further hassle. It was not a masterpiece, but a beautiful sword. I sometimes think that I should have kept it.... Pictures of the blade are attached. The hagire was hardly visible, it is very prominent, however, in the photographs.... Now, my problem is the following - many masterpieces have never been used in combat. It is possible that they would develop hagire if they were... We will never learn.

Thank you Moriyama-san :-) A lovely Higo tsuba. I love this cute little crab :-) Here is the picture of the kani tsuba in question. Not a great piece, it looks like cast iron to me However, it is most likely based on an original tsuba, and I would appreciate any information about the original design.

Sorry for this unusual request, but googling yielded only one result for a kani tsuba (http://www.to-ken.com/tsuba/Legendsands ... ntsuba.htm). I need a few pictures of sukashi tsuba with a crab and possibly leaves of some water plant. I would be grateful for examples of tsuba with attributions, if possible The reason for all this is that I need to pinpoint the school of a certain tsuba. I will post its picture later. Thank you for your help