Alex A

Cheers Bazza, picked one up from Amazon, 694 ages, £15............only browsed through it for now, but a good buy.

Cheers Uwe, these are always good fun and educational. This is the example I saw. https://www.aoijapan.com/katanaawataguchi-oumi-kami-tadatsuna2nd-generation The choji/suguha, nakago condition had me looking at late Bizen, but unfortunately, not Tadatsuna (learning curve), id noticed the Suguha start on Yokoyama before now. Thanks.

^

Turned out well Chris, I now see why folk go for these blades, might have the next one I see That's if I ever get my hands on one of those ******* Slough books!!!

Easy?, aye, if you have one Don't look here if your doing quiz.

Hi Luis, Machi-Okuri is a type of suriage (shortening of the blade) http://www.ksky.ne.jp./~sumie99/suriage.html Its difficult looking at blades and judging them from photos, but this is just a thought I got whilst taking a look at the nakago. First I thought it could be Machi-okuri, by imagining the habaki in the correct place with regards the bo-hi, two mekugi ana backs this idea up, you see it a lot on Sue Bizen katate-uchigatana. With machi-okuri though, I was thinking the nakago would also be longer than it appears to be. Looking further, when you do this though, it appears the 2nd mekugi-ana is too near the tsuba, so, I was thinking "MAYBE" it was a proper suriage job OR after a bit more thought, had maybe Aikuchi fittings in the past. As I said though, a pain doing it from photos, but I get the impression the nakago has been messed with.

Tadatsuna2 Ps, not a copycat

That's what I thought Peter, Mino. Shortened.

Hi Martin, it was on a Japanese site back around last August, didn't last long before it sold. He had a lot to live up to by way of his father, a good sword though, in ko chogi-midare. Ive had a quick look, not there, but there are a few other examples.

Sometimes they can make sense, an example. I recently came across a papered ubu mumei Shinshinto Naokatsu 2nd katana, the work was just like Naokatsu 1st. Signed papered Naokatsu 1st katana = £6500 ++ If I remember correctly, the unsigned Naokatsu 2nd, I could have got for £2800, if id have had spare cash at that time I would have bought it. All about the money, sometimes need to make exceptions. Good signed Koto are out of my league financially, I am now looking at Shinshinto and even Shinsakuto, so much more info. Something about a date on a sword, adds something special, always been partial to decent signed and dated Sue Bizen in the past. As for Ubu mumei, lots of theories, my latest of which is that some are not signed, simply because they didn't need to be, simples. Two man job, busy forge, can see it being a proper chore.

I stumbled across some pics I saved from the NMB a good while ago, I cant see the OP,s tsuba being sat on any of them, too nice, but who knows. I cant seem to find the thread where these pics came from, but here they are anyway. If I remember correctly they came by way of Eric T, not sure which book it is though.

Looks an interesting book, so ordered myself one, cheers for that Peter. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kendo-Culture-Sword-Alexander-Bennett/dp/0520284372

I like Peters idea on a change in the way a tsuba is mounted, must explain a few with this odd shape. Interesting thread.

Always the odd exception to a rule, maybe. I have a tsuba here from the Muromachi period, still to this day I'm not sure what it had been sat on before it went back to use on a regular sword, measures 8.7cm. Possibly used on a thick naginata or a type of armour smasher, a bit like a regular sword, but shorter, straighter, with a thick nakago.I forget the name. Rare. We can but speculate.

Hard to judge from that photo Sergei, whats the inside of the nakago-ana like ? From that pic, still looks crisp, as though it was adjusted more recently then I first thought. Some patina loss too, around that area.

I can only speculate Sergei, but perhaps your tsuba was fitted to an armour smashing type of weapon at some time. Someone else may have a better idea than me.

Especially Ebayers

Thanks for pointing that out, it explains a recent cock up whilst returning a sword to Japan.

Hi James, will never know for sure but can speculate, perhaps sword owner ?, will never know. Its a good sword by a Ryo Wazamono smith.

This sword has testers name, as mentioned above, he worked around Genroku I get what what your saying about inscriptions from nobodies.

This the sword https://www.aoijapan.com/katana-yamato-daijyo-fujiwara-masanori-cutting-test Page 275 of Tameshigiri, by Markus. Sword tester by the name of Hattori Kan, emon. Its my understanding that NBTHK wont give a sword Hozen if they think a cutting test is fake, but what do I know. I looked at this sword a while ago, got the impression the gold was gone and someone had splashed in some gold colour, but that's something you would need to confirm with the Aoi. Not the end of the world in my humble opinion, if you want a Katana with a cutting test with all the bells and whistles, they don't come cheap. Main thing is the sword though, obviously.

I think this is the reason I jumped to the conclusion, I was looking into late shinshinto Gassan the other day and noticed your name in one of the threads, so ASSUMED you was buying along those later lines. ASSUMPTION being the mother of all. Nice blade.

Have you got any more pictures Robert?, full blade, nakago?

I kinda jumped in there with both feet with the Gassan, when I saw the Hada that was my first thought, although first thoughts are often wrong. Looks good, I bet you cant wait to see it in hand.

Very nice, which Gassan ?