Alex A

Thick Kasane for an old blade!

Sad news. Eric was helpful and informative. Some members stick in your mind as very knowledgeable, he was one of them, he will be greatly missed My condolences to his family and friends.

Nice koshirae too, but if buying i would be asking myself if it was made for this tanto.

E-sword always have nice items, but I struggle with the photography, lacks detail in the hamon compared to other dealers. Sometimes cant work out whether overly done hadori or the photography. This is when buying from overseas gets difficult.

Remember talking to a dealer when i first started collecting, i was on the phone to him and he had the sword in hand. I said "any flaws at all in the blade"?, he replied "no, not that i can see". A few days later the sword turns up with a fukure. Had a sword turn up from Japan with rust spots in the bo-hi, that was very disappointing. Once paid too much, learned a lesson. For new folk to the hobby. When your talking via email about a purchase to a seller, always be very wary when the seller does not answer ALL your questions in FULL or is VAGUE, chances are you might raise an eyebrow (to say the least), when your sword turns up.

I look for interesting.

I get what your saying Wah, but ilook at it this way. NBTHK have it in hand and think it worthy, im at risk of being labelled "Dunning Kruger", should I consider disagreeing with them.

Presented with a good sword by Enomoto Sadayoshi, I don't see how the NBTHK could deny it TH. (especially worthy of preservation) Aoi Art...……….."a very famous swordsmith designated Mukansa". If you see one of his good blades in hand, you will get it.

A dealer In Japan did mention of a rumour there are new judges at NBTHK, whether that has anything to do with it, i dont know

Good to see, I like his ko-itame.

True, and not to go off on a tangent, but the UK is becoming ridiculous https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/asda-knives-bans-sale-removes-supermarkets-knife-crime-stabbings-a8815126.html I have a sword with customs at the moment, such a worry these days.

A very old Katchushi tsuba, a tsuba with reverence. Excellent Provenance, the real deal. To be honest, I cant describe it any better than the gent I bought it off, and have had another excellent opinion from an acquaintance here, both consistent. I can go into detail with anyone interested. A link http://www.shibuiswords.com/KDdragons.html The nakago-ana obviously altered at some time. Possibly fitted to one of those heavy armour smashing type of weapons or perhaps yoroi-doshi, hard to be precise Remnant lacquer still clearly visible. A good size at 8.4 x 8.5 cm 0.2 cm thickness at the seppa dai An interesting tsuba with a story to tell. SOLD Ask for a price regarding shipping. Pics at low res again, also, should have re-sized, apologies. Reach me here or alex.aspinall@sky.com

Lets face it, no iron tsuba collection is complete without one. A very good, strong and surprisingly heavy Saotome tsuba. For me, the classic Samurai tsuba. Good ones like this dont come up for sale too often, and dont come cheap. Around the year 1600, Momoyama to Early Edo Well forged and balanced, and with a very nice patina. 96.77mm at largest diameter, 7.26 mm at the mimi (feels massive) SOLD Pics in low res, only noticed camera setting after uploading.

Il drink to that , to all the friendly folk that openly share what they know, often without thanks Cheers.

Kirill, I suppose we could could talk all day about Naokatsu and his works features, and I thank you for staying interested lol Going to leave this subject for now. Would be good to know how and why Fujisjiro came to a few conclusions, but Im looking for info that would need a time machine to answer, as is often the case in this darn hobby. StIll, not a total dead end, picked up some useful info, so thanks all

Some folk don't like Shinshinto, the steel is often described as bright and featureless. I like Koto blades, but often tired, the downside.

Will have be brief Kirill, but you demonstrate my point above clearly. You cant judge a smith by one blade, or even more. He worked in a variety of styles, O hada, Osaka type hada… Ive seen better. Cheers

Thanks Arnold, as informative as ever. Il take a look at the Ekiyo smiths, interesting that you say they were made in peaceful times. Reminds me of Eisho Sue-Bizen, often read that swords made then were a decent bunch, but that takes me onto a topic we see too much of As for Fujishiro,s. I don't know if anyone else feels a little stupid regurgitating other folks research, but not knowing much about how they went about it ?. I know they were polishers/appraisers, but 1500 smiths?. Maybe someone can enlighten me?. Did they polish a great number of swords from each smith?, the best swords of that particular smith?, from the smiths prime. That's lots of swords to look through. Take Naokatsu (sorry to keep bringing this up) as an example,i see he is JUYO rated. Now then, is it not possible that the Fujishiro family missed the best blades?. Is it not possible in this modern age we see more examples in polish than there was back then ?. From memory, pretty sure Toko Taikan has a different take on this line of smiths, Naotane, Naokatsu and Naokatsu2 pretty even, Naomitsu surprisingly ahead, but I would have to take another look. I see some sellers (dare I say it) ignore Jo-saku and add another Jo. Now Jacques, this is not DK, its just another informed personal opinion on the sword/smith. I don't use Fujishiros anymore. I find looking at Aoi museum et al much easier, the images are far better than Fujishiro,s, for me. Be interesting what ratings the NBTHK could one day come up with, in this modern age, but a mammoth task, god knows what it was like back then. As mentioned above, a lot in Fujishiro,s is validated, but there will always be questions. just an early morning ramble. cheers

Kirill, Like the Masahiro Naotane……. Sai Jo Naokatsu 1st and 2nd Jo-Saku & Naomitsu (Kajihei) also Jo-saku. Anyhow, I get why you don't like Shinshinto, I never used to either. I like versatile smiths that are capable of working in different styles, bit like some of the more modern day Gassan smiths. Appreciate the positive input. Thanks all.

Its not about "are we educated enough", its about discussion/debate...…………...that's how we learn and advance our thinking. With that philosophy Jacques, we would still be riding around on horse and cart. Ps, better ways to get your point across, comes across as childish with the DK remark.

Ive had a fukure in a sword by a Jo-saku rated smith, in his prime time. Happens to the best, unless his apprentice made it lol

Well, they sure do crop up a lot in conversation, beware the dreaded kazuuchi-mono

One more thing about Kazuuchi-mono, Connoisseurs states "rough masame hada". The impression I get is proper junk blades, cheap blades made mainly for the foot soldiers (Ashigaru). Might just be me, but don't see many ? You see Bizen waks on Aoi quite often, never with masame. Always with hozen (worthy of preservation) Obviously not every wak made was an "art" sword, Samurai would have had the better swords, but even then at that time, how many could be classed as "art" swords ? Just a thought.

Thanks again, some excellent replies. I suppose there is nothing wrong with the odd "nitpick" now and again. No disrespect to the highly Knowledgeable individuals that put the ratings together, just bumbling curiosity. Kirill, interesting what you were saying about generations. Another good example may be Naotane (Sai-Jo + Juyo) and then Naokatsu ( Jo-saku + Juyo). Naokatsu was an excellent smith, taught the famous forger Kajihei, but I suppose as you mention, goes back to the lineage thing. I was unaware of Japans tradition with ratings, good to know. Cheers.

Thanks for the replies Gents. Kirill, I used Yokoyama Sukekane as an example. The hada may look "undistinguished", but then again, you could say that about a number of modern day Mukansa smiths works. My point being, its still highly skilled work. Im obviously having trouble getting my head around this "contextual" idea with Fujishiro,s , I guess I just see blades/smiths, not era. This Nihonto game can be a rather jumbled historic journey. Ps, Muramasa is a name that often arises with my thoughts on this topic.