Alex A

First glance, it reminds me of Ishido, not sayng it is though. Plenty to go off there, Folk always talk about sending swords of to Shinsa, sometimes i wonder, why bother? What i mean is, sometimes there is enough to work it out for yourself and avoid all the hassles, worries. Nice sword!.

If im being honest, if i was extremely wealthy, there would not be an end. Even now, not in buying mode but still look around the same old sites. Occasionally, maybe once or twice a year i see something that i really like, something that you seldom see for sale. The last one was a late Edo Tanto, lovely blade by a good smith, but it was the inscription that was rare! Nearly, but had an holiday pay for so had to be sensible. For anyone keen, there is no getting away from the odd temptation now and again. Saying that though, something would have had to go Maybe thats the right way to go about it, if not a lottery winner.

When you realize that you dont actually need to acquire any more swords. A big awakening, sometimes caused by issues out of your control, job loss, house purchase, divorce etc etc etc. Some have owned all they feel they need to own and no point putting any more money into acquiring more swords. For a lot of folk, that interest never goes away though. Just a few points.

Led to some interesting pieces that kind of resemble the work. http://sanmei.com/contents/en-us/p1637.html Shows what a goose chase it was

Aye, 2 sides to this. It is interesting looking into smiths you may have not looked into before Irs not interesting when you cant find the answer Needs to be more info available Thanks though.

I cant say say Paz, they know who they are. Some good honest dealers in UK though, real sword dudes, will advise you to do the right thing when it comes to good blades.

We have been given the era and its one of the best swordsmiths Why are we struggling Someone get it and put us out of our mysery, please!!! Misjudged as Koto, top of head thinking of smiths like Masahide and assuming Shinshinto smiths are too late.

No machi-okuri ? Looks typical machi-okuri. Nakago moved up the blade with another ana added, one filled. But anyways.................. One of those cases where to know that boshi you would have had to have studied the blades of that particular school quite well. Anyways, always interesting.

Ok Kirill, needs to be said. That boshi on a SHINTO blade is as rare as rocking horse **** !! Cmon, for kantei to work it has to be typical work for a school.

Late reply, but just been thinking about this. In contradiction, it may actually make matters worse. Imagine customs officers making a big deal about dealing with the import of Japanese swords, the headaches involved and the hassles. Wouldn't want them to make life easy for themselves and just ban ALL Japanese sword imports

Not mentioning any names but there are well known sword dealers destroying good quality historic heirlooms with cheap crappy commercial polishes. I hope they read this and i hope it makes them STOP!!! Its all about profit, not a care about what they do.

I see, you mean the fact its not ubu The boshi was the reason i waa taking so long. Off the top of my head difficult to think of high ranking Edo smiths that did it that way Other swords came up, Osaka too but nakago-jiri was slightly more rounded (in examples i looked at), similar though. Inoue Shinkai After that, its back to the drawing board to find the boshi.

Ok, spent enough on this today With Jacques, not enough info. Can see why folk saying Masahiro but tachi mei?, i even thought Tadakuni to start with. On that note, im going with Edo Kanesada 2 Time crack a beer open, get me out of here!!!!!

Also, just to confirm. This is not just a mumei sword with an attribution ?, it is signed on the other side? (katana mei)

Is there Yasurime at all visible, im not seeing any

Another F*^%%% As•¥$$€ To the ignore list

What John just said. Also, someone mentioned the nakago has been altered likely to fit a tsuka, think they may be correct. If someone wanted to add mekugi-ana to add an age appearence they went about it assways. Would have made more sense to just put them at different points down the nakago.

"Sometimes appreciation is very complicated matter." Nail on head , Jussi Cheers

Well Jimmy, read some quotes on here over the years but that statement has come from someone on the tallest horse i ever did see, more like off a giraffe or even a Trojan horse I have a little time before work so will try and make things a little clear for you. Whilst not an expert and never claim to be i feel ive seen enough in my time to have an opinion. Its no concern whether you like it or not. Earlier, i was referring to the comparison between swords and paintings, so no point going over that again. First, the only thing that matters to me in this hobby is to look at a blade and be able to 1)know its level of quality and 2)be able to work out what it is (the fun part). As for horimono, i dont like intricate carvings on polished bright blades/steel. Show me a beautiful carved soft metal tsuba and thats a different story. I would not want to own a sword solely due to a carving, its the blade/quality alone that is the interest. Obviously, im not saying there is no skill in these carvings!, although i find many lifeless. There comes a time for any "collector" to be honest with themselves and really take a closer look., answer those niggles. Narrow the field, so to speak. Anyways, been an interesting thread, be good to find out more about about why folk pick out certain smiths above others, maybe you could enlighten us ? Best get off to water the bonsai haha

Il get my coat

There are swords and there are swords, Some you just pick up and you know straight away how much effort went into it and what the smith intended. You pick up other swords and the reality is "art" came in 2nd. This is the trouble. Sometimes you watch a video of a modern swordsmith making a sword, that sword turns out beautiful and you really appreciate it as "art". Thats about the only time i forget about function, the fact its a weapon. Hope my rambling makes sense.

Jussi, for someone thats main concern is the shape and size of swords, i have to say, you really do go far and beyond what you really need to know and add a lot of interesting info here for us all to pick up on, so thanks for that. Paul, the Yukimitsu, this is what is good to find out. A blade you come across that speaks volumes. For me opens other avenues of thought, same with the Tadakuni i mentioned earlier. So many swords and smiths............... Appreciate the extra words

Thanks Paul, your consistency stands out.

Jussi, i find it interesting, definitely Just slightly meaningless without people telling us why they picked their list and adding some enlightenment, at the moment it is just lists of names.

Exotic hamon ?, All hamon types listed in a few pages in a book along with hataraki, wouldnt get too carried away. Horimono, simple carvings on a blade, mostly, and yes there are some skilled and more intricate carvings but thats the minority . Only so much you can get into a piece of steel, as mentioned. Been looking at blades for 15 years day in and day out, i dont form my opinion likely, and as mentioned this thought as always been a lurking.