Rivkin

True said! Oracle bone script imho. Thank you for a nice show. Kirill R.

I don't know what the article is about, but I very much doubt its a traditional Ainu weapon. Feels like late Edo, or more likely Meiji to Showa gimmick signature, maybe by a part Ainu Japanese swordsmith. Plenty of hirazukuri waki found in Hokkaido and further north and west, none are signed. Kirill R.

I don't mind basic questions. The bane of internet societies is the lack of deep questions. Or having 15 answers which can be replaced with a simple "Dude!". Kirill R.

I spoke with couple of people mass submitting to NTHK NPO as well as had a phone call with someone who is a part of the organization. Obviously there are people far better informed at this point, and the statement below is NOT TO BE TAKEN as official information, as its not in their materials that we all see, so it is just a rumor, but: As part of regular shinsa (don't know if it includes the US shinsa, but it might), NTHK NPO no longer assigns scores above 78 to blades. Also, the score of 78 is capped to no more than 5% of submissions. Kirill R.

Being extremely direct - I heard this being stated hundreds of times and yet to see a single blade decisively proving the point. All horimono are placed exactly where they should be for the given image or fuller, and the given period or tradition. Quite a few of such decorate blades do have fukure or ware which sticks out in some other place. Since the majority of really bad defects would be in the ha, one would expect some clever way to be devised to cover them up, but nothing short of very aggressive application of keisho does not come to mind. I know quite a few collectors of koto who despise elaborate horimono since it conceals much of hada or could have been added later etc. Still, placing horimono was quite expensive at the time. Kirill R.

Interesting! Sorry can't see - is it like Echizen Rai, Rai Kuniyasu? Kirill R.

Sorry, I meant other Muromachi generations being sai-jo-saku. That seemed quite unusual. Kirill R.

No problem whatsoever with receiving EMS in the US, default shipping method. Kirill R.

I extremely doubt this is going to happen. The situation in much of the US is unpleasant as is, Kirill R.

[?] I might be completely in the wrong here, but I doubt this rating was done by Fujishiro. Can be someone retyping his information, though I am saying this without actually looking. Kirill R.

[?] Gimei typically means later signature. The blade is Muromachi and most likely Bizen. Quality cannot be assessed by such pictures. I would begin with high resolution, low compression photos of nakago all kanji included. The good thing I like about it is the location of all kanji and spacing between them is right for the period. Need to check the details. Sorry did not check Jussi's post earlier - yes Morimitsu used different "ten". Kirill R.

A very personal opinion - its gimei. Morimitsu Oei is a big name. The writing of Muromachi Bizen smiths is very distinctive. The cuts are not deep, but the pressure is very confident and uniform. Here the writing is visibly shaky. Yet the characters are all excellently preserved. The patina is a tad light for the age. But either of these things sometimes can be a photo artifact. A full resolution macro of both sides as is, not with the nmb's extra compression would help. This being said, the work itself does not categorically disagrees with Morimitsu. Kirill R.

I heard today most shirasaya are even made from imported Chinese or Taiwanese wood. Its certainly true in lacquer world (and you can notice the difference), but not 100% sure with shirasaya. Kirill R.

Pretty much similar with wood used for makie. Until 1840s it was dried for a century and even today can take almost any climate and any abuse. Modern works instead prevent warping by being glued from a few separate parts. Modern shirasaya will respond to climate and in some cases can get stuck and even need some careful climate adjustment. The more they err in choice of wood, the more pronounced will be the effect. Kirill R.

Well, its not a huge name with even fewer blades to the name (not a lot of demand at the time), and the work shows nothing obviously disputing the signature, though without seeing the nakago and/or better photographs its hard to tell - but as far as purchases go the risk of gimei here is not that high. It appears to be in full polish and there are some good things about the sword. If its long enough, and you like it, generally speaking can be a decent purchase for the money. Below the polish-shirasaya price. Kirill R.

I don't know. Yasurime are deep, crisp and well spaced on a relatively long nakago, which might be shinshinto, and yellowish brown patina would just mean exposure to elements in the last half century. Nie foaming about the upper edge of hamon without much activity within hamon precludes koto. Broad masaie that sort of dives back and forth into hamon is something not at all common. Sendai Kunikane is kind of automatic response here, but they usually make more or less uniform masaie throughout the blade. If transition to dense itame up towards shinogi is a photography artefact then I would personally strongly vote for Sendai Kunikane. If there is a real transition like this, needs second thoughts. Kirill R.

[?] Yamato except for Senjuin 1300+ Yamashiro - very little in Munechika and Ayanokoji related production. A lot in 1280-1350 group. By comparison ko-Bizen has a lot of swords. Kirill R.

It almost feels like the numbers are Juyo-biased. I can imagine in this case the signature being such a major bump so that it alone propels pre-Muromachi Yamato to Juyo, but I do feel among among wider "all papered blades" segment the percentage of signed Yamato is well below 10. By the same token, very significant portion of Muromachi Mino is signed, but Juyo will be dominated by Shizu attributions, which are basically unsigned daito. Kirill R.

Looks very much as a legitimate signature. Kirill R.

There has been a lot said about Namban tsuba in nihonto world in the recent 2 decades with the purpose "reappraising it". All of it was done without any[!] attempt to consult continental tsuba collections or the body of archaeological finds on the continent. No, you can't find those in the British Museum. It was also done without any attempt to read even the basic [!] literature on continental swords. Well, indeed why do that if you have Torigye and Haynes. Short version - there is no reappraisal needed. There are continental tsuba of similar type, which are found on the continent, and very-very seldom today in Japanese shops - and they are different. These however are typical Japanese works of a type which for some reason was common in early-mid Edo period Japan. They do emulate Chinese style, but do not go beyond that. They are quite nice, but neither particularly rare nor old, and do not represent some unique Vietnamese ninja unit dispatched by the Chinese Emperor from Kanton. Kirill R.

Its hard to judge the blade like this one. The hamon style is Yamato, its no earlier than second part of Muromachi, there is masame in shinogi ji. Can be even Bungo. My bet though would be probably someone like nth generation of Owari Seki Kanenobu... Kirill R.

Not exceptionally uncommon, usually dating to the 19th century, often Persian or Indian, as Indian things were quite in big favor at the time. Kirill R.

Kissaki like this by default can be very late Nambokucho. For the rest the pictures are kind of bad. There is some masame, but that's about it. Kirill R.

It kind of feels like if late Muromachi Bizen style was the inspiration here. The lines are spaced apart, non-uniform in width, not particularly long. The way they interact with hamon is well done, but otherwise it does come out as rough for me. Kirill R.

Highly personal and arrogant-professorial: I feel the signatures become very important for a topical collection. Someone specializing in Kyushu-mono will have to consider having signed and nenki blades, whatever is the cost, or the collection is incomplete. As I am not even a nihonto person per se, justifying 200k price tag for a modestly rare signature is however quite difficult. A one of a kind sword with Gothic signature or signed spangenhelm today runs in 20-30s range, with incomparable historical value, while no particularly great revelation can arise from a non-dated non-provinced nijimei signature. For me 200k price tag that comes with high grade papers has to be contrasted to a very comparable artistry-wise non-ubu sword can be had for 15, and a very nice sword of similar expression, but less liked school (Houju for example) for 5-12. Conversely - I don't really collect pre-1300 blades as they tend to go Juyo in almost all reasonable cases (so you got a "deal" basically only if you pushed it to TJ, which is frankly a bother) and I honestly feel 1300-1350 was artistry-wise a better period. Still over the years it happened that I own a whole bunch of swords which are the only known works of a specific master, or have an extraordinary unusual date for the given name. The reasons however are purely with me being a dumpster diver, as one-of-a-kind signatures (compared to 10-of-a-kind) in the world of nihonto not always but sometimes come at a very steep discount since you don't find them in Fujishiro and Meikan. Similarly, unusual dates, which always raise generation-based questions are shunned. Nihonto community, not trying to be polite, is well known for cowardice. Maybe its the paper culture, so any little something is seen as just an extra risk that at some point the blade will be bumped down the second generation, or worse off, at some point will be send to the Great Gulag known as Muromachi period. Or in the very least receive a dreaded "Den" designation if its mumei to being with. Or maybe the community has too much of a mass-based outreach, so people are just really afraid of loosing on investment (honest warning - you will anyway! antiques are in general not a good investment) if something does not run according to Meikan. All of these monetary fears are understandable, but as a result the explorative spirit is not "in". The names that are so unusual no one would fake them to begin with now require a battalion of papers and are still questioned because, well, NBTHK failed to indicate the exact time period. Kirill R.