Alex A

An enquiry prompted me to ask about shipping overseas. Been a while since shipping a Katana out of the UK, so was kind of a bit hesitant, we all like a stressless life Anyways, since talking to OCS a short while, i can confirm that they agree to ship the sword overseas, so long as it has an appraisal or document of authenticity for customs and buyer is fully aware of customs charges/paperwork etc their end. Cheers.

More pics

To keep things simple for me and any potential buyer, i am offering this sword to UK collectors to start with and then perhaps overseas, but that will depend on destination. This is a nice package, a very good sword with an old simple koshirae that has a certain appeal. Signed Yamashiro no Kami Fujiwara Kunikiyo, also engraved with Kiku Mon (Imperial Chrysanthemum) & "Ichi" The blade is by 2nd or 3rd Kunikiyo (Echizen), made around Early Edo/Kanbun era. See Page 258 of Japanese sword index, also plenty online. A good line of smiths, the 1st having an apprenticeship with Horikawa Kunihiro. He was given the honour of engraving a Kiku mon on his swords, which continued with the following generations. From the 2nd generation onwards the character "Ichi" was also engraved, this sword has both engravings. It is said that it is difficult to differentiate the work between 2nd and 3rd. The 3rd is known to have made a lot of Daisaku works for 2nd. In hand, would describe the blade as wide and feeling very robust for its size, weighing 670 grams. Sori/curvature =1.2cm, see Aoi image. Blade length 62.6cm Width (Motohaba) 3.19cm Width at pointed end (sakihaba) 2.10cm Kasane (Thickness) 0.68cm Jigane, Fine Ko-itame with Jinie Hamon, Gunome Midare with controlled and bright Nioiguchi, with Sunagashi and Kinsuji No forging flaws and polish is very good. This is a well made sword, in hand you get why it attained Tokubetsu Hozen, the Kiku-mon is a nice addition. Nakago pic taken under bright light, feel the need to mention the patina is original and is how it should be, in hand. Koshirae, as mentioned. has a certain appeal, will add some images. A good iron tsuba with what appears to be brass fittings. it does appear that they were once possibly black lacquered, though now worn away. The fittings are a darker colour in hand than in the images. The ito was lacquered and that is still clearly visible. Saya covered with skin which is in good condition, an old repair though but done to a good standard, it just don't quite match. Kogatana is decent. Everything fits perfectly, something i get pedantic about. Also with shirasaya, silver foil double habaki and sword bag. Price is £4995. If you find an antique Katana as good, with TH and koshirae (in the UK) from a dealer at a lower price then Il see what i can do. Donation to NMB if sold. Though this one il be happy to keep. Promise the buyer they will be happy. Contact me here or alex.aspinall@sky.com No "pm sent" please.

Hi Kevin, What can one say................. Long live NMB, always a learning curve, it makes people think and learn.

Note to newbies, feel the need. Beware of folks that don't step beyond books from the 1960s (boxed in) Its part protecting the value of the books and also a genuine misunderstanding of how new information has come to light regarding various smiths. Call it ignorance Sadly. the recluses of Nihonto. Seen way to many instances of "this is how it is" then it gets blown out of the water Too many BS rules broken. Folks calling gimei when in in fact legit (you know who you are, please shut up) Its nowhere near as exact science as people assume it may be, In fact, mostly the reason i have struggled with the hobby and come to this conclusion Absolute Bollox, but love the swords, Its like two. three, seven hundred or more years ago but muppets here think they have it covered. Its embarrassing reading their "accurate" BS Just learn about what you buy and learn to enjoy what you buy, try avoid the misfortune of Shinsa here, its nonsense. People moan about images then troll like comment, oh dear. F*** everyone else, especially online "experts" that know "f all " GNGB There are no experts, none. A fact i have accepted.

Coming from someone in October placed an advertisement in the wanted section for crappy swords. Jeez, the hypocrisy here is off the scale.

I know nothing about them but im convinced, be interesting to see what others say. That hole looks punched. Dont feel like modern junk.

You would be surprised Dee, not all high end sword buyers are interested in learning much more than the name and date of the swordsmith. An expedition into knowledge was never on the horizon, just ownership. I guess that goes with a lot of sword buyers, not just high end.

Some good points Kirill.

Your obviously Rays friend, Brano. I can respect that. Maybe you sell him swords, dunno. Educated people can have educated discussions but they don't seem to have many at all. There is AMPLE OPPORTUNITY for higher quality sword discussion here but the space seems rarely taken up? Its like the folks that should be doing that kind of discussion prefer getting involved in discussions about lower tier swords, its strange. Maybe it makes for an easier life, dunno. By the way, i am not resorting to personal attacks. I am stating FACTS about why this thread has ended up the way it has ended up. If Rayan had more tact and wasn't his usual self, as he has been in the past. This would have been a peaceful thread. Id be more worried about losing new members to the forum and old ones that support it more than the usual suspect that has caused **** for years.

Some perspective for those that think the sun shines out of Rays ass, the penny dropped for me a while ago when i recognised a pattern. Pretty sure he used to be known here as "Kawa". I could be wrong but doubt it. Same old nonsense, had Kawa on ignore for years but couldn't help notice the same kind of disturbance Has anyone noticed the personal attacks he has been doing recently with Colin?, to which Colin has been the perfect gent and handled it more calmly than most would. Same years ago, seen it all before. If im correct then Kawa/Rayhan is the part of the reason some really knowledgeable people have been put off from returning here. Brian running the forum, i could understand why it makes sense to want to have folks with deep pockets hanging around, offering trinkets or whatever. That's great for the forum but not great for the others that have to put up with his overbearing personality. As said in this thread, people collect a wide range of varying quality swords. Jeez, ive been through everything on this journey. From Nanbokucho Nobukuni to Enomoto Sadayoshi and back round and a round through Yokoyama and Hizen and back down to Dotanuki and beyond. Some of the lesser regarded sword schools have been some of the best to own, for certain reasons. The Dotanuki, not known for their artistic merit, the sword i owned wasn't an arty farty sword but everyone loved it. It weighed a ton, a real clunker and i wish i still owned it, the NBTHK thought it worthy of Tokubetsu Hozen. That's the sword i sold to Guido, he was happy to own it. I own very good quality swords with TH and not so good quality without papers. One of my favourite swords is a Koto Mino tanto that is said to bring luck and i think it does, my son will get that. It has chips that i chose to leave as that's how i think it should stay. There is just something about it, i was meant to own it. The polish is perfect. I'm not really interested in Juyo swords for a few reasons. They are too expensive and i find great swords for a lot less, i dont need to chase those papers though at a push i could of done years ago. Though would that of made me happy?........... NO. We all know that buying stuff you cant afford leads to misery. Point being, no one needs to hear LOUD OVERBEARING ADVICE on what to buy, let folks ********enjoy their sword ownership in peace without the need to make them comply. People can be honest here, with some tact and sensitivity to how deep other folks pockets may be. PS FORGOT TO SAY. There is NOTHING at all to stop folks discussing high quality swords here. Various comments here like "there's not enough high quality sword conversation" or whatever. I don't get it, maybe start a topic, just an idea. Or is more fun to pester the bottom feeders with elitists ideology???????

I can see genuine antique swords becoming more expensive here, Mark. With hassles due to shipping and imports. You guys are very lucky.

Its just swords Rayhan, more to life than getting worked up over things you cant change. You have to accept that we are all different. To be honest, was more on your wavelength, from memory, but you are driving me the opposite way. You are having the opposite effect. There is a lesson to be learned. People need to find their own way, with a little bit of a nudge, not a kick up the ass.

I missed this post Colin, very much agree and that was my thoughts. Folks are attracted to Horimono, its clearly better than i thought.

I think some folks have lost touch with reality, hence head in the clouds. If id have been at an arms fair and seen the blade in hand and thought there was a chance of it taking a polish, id have been straight to the bank for what was paid. I cannot judge that blade from those images, whether it would polish. I dont know what school the blade is. I mentioned Dotanuki, partly because ive seen a lot of their swords with some rough hada, loose grain whatever. We dont know what it is. In the UK, you cannot buy a genuine UNPOLISHED Antique "Samurai Katana" for less than £2000, seriously. I think I'm being optimistic with that price. Do the maths. If the blade could polish, even with some issues it would still demand reasonable money here. I dont actually think the dragon horimono is that bad, seen a lot worse. With the bo-hi and in polish i think it would find a new home. Also Rahan, no, its not ripping off unsuspecting newbies, thats how much swords cost here, even low end swords, take a look. Check out the lanes armoury here and their prices, they definitely don't send their swords to Japan for top notch polish. Its ignorant comparing what goes into preparation for those blades compared your average humble sword here. I am always reluctant to use the term "junk". Any antique sword in the form it should be in is not junk. Junk for me is the broken sword, the stuff we see here over the years that have been reshaped far beyond its original form, you know what i mean. No good can come of forcing ones opinion on others, you just push folks away and piss them off at the same time. If Rayhan had been more tactful then perhaps i wouldn't be here wasting my time again I guess it would be easy to wind anyone up in this game over many swords, including some of their Juyo purchases. Colin had it right in his last post and put it better than i have. For me, this blade was in with a fighting chance of being something that someone would be happy to own and thats all there was to it. Cleaned up saya, a real antique Samurai sword with a chance of nailing the school. The wiser people here that specifically concentrate on high end swords tend to stay out of such topics and i kind of respect that. An analogy could be someone always flying business class then suddenly having to jump in a Congo airways Cessna and boring all the other passengers to death with complaining, like a spoilt brat. Also one more thing. Most of us here know what good swords are, its pretty condescending to keep having to listen to the same old burb. Its nothing new and we have heard it all before. Change the record.