Ken-Hawaii

Any new words on this process? Is the Sanchomo finally at home?

You likely have wakizashi, Roger. Uchigatana were definitely weapons, rather than decorations, but as Kirill stated, they were made for a relatively short time period, unlike wakizashi.

Brian, perhaps a gentle reminder to post a price?

No weakening of the nakago, as the yield strength of steel is 53700 psi (370 MPa).

That is one spectacular blade, John. Hope it goes to someone who will appreciate it.

Ellie, photos will help us give you more guidance.

Glad you didn't freeze or flood, Ed.

Axel, it's important that this one is polished. I've tried to get mine polished for many years, but am told it's too difficult.

The chunk taken out of the ha bothers me. If it goes completely through the hamon, it's a hagire, & kills the blade. Late Muromachi, early Shinto.

If you want comments on a blade, you need to show the entire bare blade, Tony. That's how sugata determines jidai. It's a wakizashi, with nice koshirae, & the rule of thumb is that a wakizashi is valued at half that of an equivalent katana.

Other than tracking how the price has changed over the years, of what use are these historical data? Not exactly what I would call "provenance."

Welcome back, Gethin. If you want to try to recover your old account https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/announcement/1-are-you-experiencing-login-problems-click-here/

Gave up on them, even with Stephen helping me, on a couple of tsuba. Not worth the hassle.

I just got a notice from my credit card that the payment had auto-renewed, & that no action needed to be taken.

The study of Nihonto is very deep, & if you're seriopus about it, you have a lot of reading to do. The Yumoto book is a primer, that will get you familiar with the terminology, while the Connoisseurs book is sort of the bible. Once you've read Yumoto, try to find a sword club you can attend. Books are great, but hands-on is where you'll really apply what you've read. And, if you're into martial arts, you can train in iaido, which is how the katana is used. Lots of fun! My wife & I have been swinging swords for decades, which means she's on my side, when I want to buy another blade.

A quick search should give you a bunch of lists, but here's mine: https://smile.amazon.com/Samurai-Sword-Handbook-John-Yumoto/dp/4805311347/ https://smile.amazon.com/Facts-Fundamentals-Japanese-Swords-Collectors/dp/1568365837/ & the reference everyone should have: https://smile.amazon.com/Connoisseurs-Book-Japanese-Swords/dp/1568365810/

Welcome, Brian - we seem to be collecting Brians this week! May I suggest investing a few dollars in some basic reference books, before you buy your first blade? You'll get a lot more for your money.

Welcome, Brian. Now you can collect older war helmets. The Japanese were good at starting wars!

I set mine up to auto-renew, but will keep an eye out to make sure it happens.

We have 9 tansu in our home, including one similar to this one. If you can get it for $50, it's an okay deal, but not much more, Grev. It really isn't very high quality, as Jean said.

The correct term is "tosogu," by the way. And I believe there's a thread that defines tosogu as not including tsuba.

Great article, as expected from Darcy.

Tony, is the 33 cm the overall length, or the length of the cutting edge? From the sugata, your blade looks to be Kanbun Shinto, although it could be a bit older.

This could have been a practice blade for a tosho's deshi. They are often destroyed like this.

If these are now the "low end" of your collection, I'm curious about what's replacing them!