1tallsword

Hello folks, I recently purchased a koto tachi and i thought i would share the Tsuka, fuchi koshira set. the fuchi is signed and has been translated to yokotani hidesho hanamura naomasa motome ni-ojite can anyone confirm this? , ive double checked and seems kosher. also does anyone have any info on this smith? I have had no luck. here are some pics of the set, very fine detail, they are way more impressive in hand, my camera is not the best, I am not the best at taking pics either :lol: comments welcome and i hope i can get some answers on this, cheers and thank you in advance for all your time folks.

could you post some clearer upclose pictures of the last couple kanji by the nakago jiri. maybe someone with better eyes than I will tune in, with the limited picture you have the last kanji could be Yuki but thats a long shot with what i can see and make out.

i recall it was very close, i dont have the picture to compare, just my memory. it was at a local sale up here in canada, there were a few swords. the sale was this past spring. I only recall it because i remember being stumped and going home that night to look it up in my books,

might be late muromachi, I have seen a couple ...

Ive seen sellers asking in the hundreds for a pair,trying to hand them off as old "ninja" and fool some poor individual. LOL.. made yesterday in china.i believe what you are asking about are the fantasy chinese steel claw gloves, correct? if so they are pure fantasy and you see a lot in cosplay ect...

looks like the nakago has two different patination colors? camera tricks? I agree, the lower end of nakago looks mid to late edo..

why not both? send it to NBTHK if you like. but dont rule out the united states shinsa's as well. the costs will be far cheaper, and a lot faster and close to home.. It would also be an interesting comparison. I mean its hard to beat getting papers for your blade for aprox. $300 give or take... just a thought...

hello Scott, I agree with geraint. post some pictures, It could save you a bunch of time. At the least you will get a general idea of where to go next and get the ball rolling.

there are some nice items in this arts of the samurai auction, I am registered and will make the trip to attend in person most likely. It will be a good experience to chalk down i believe. anyone else planning on going?

that's to good......

yes that sword is indeed as fake as a 3 dollar bill. you just need a sense of quality to see this one screams made in india.... or the like....

thanks harvg, gives us all a better look, it has age for sure, very unfortunate as others mentioned about the condition of the nakago, but hey what can ya do, whats done is done and enough said. im leaning towards 16th century, possibly Eisho...

welcome danny, you will find a wealth of knowledge here... post some pics of your blade you are talking about, cheers.

i agree with Jean, ive seen worse. although not stellar, it seems to be a good starter blade. i see a good hamon with nice nie crystals, hamon appears to extend past ha-machi. nakago appears to be o-suriage and nakago jiri seems to have some good age... lets get some more pics of the nakago jiri and nakago both sides. i had similar blades that passed shinsa when i first started out, one was a bungo takada and one yamato, blades condition were similar. one was o-suriage the other ubu.

i seen one last year in a shop, as chris said they are tough to tell. good luck.

at the end of the day these decisions you can only make for yourself. do some research, ask questions (as you are doing right now) you will find you will get many different answers. choose the one that you are happy with, after all your the one that has to like what you have done. as to the comments about blocking or deflecting, i agree with both and im sure both happened. since none of us were alive hundreds of years ago and at best we have books,stories,literature and traditions to go on, we really cant say what a sword was used for.. never say never! sure we can rationalize what samurai did in general have codes for fighting,traditions passed one and a standard of ethics. but did all fight the same? do all fight the same today? ive seen a couple with some very interesting technique. it is right to say we can only assume that they are battle scars, but at the end of the day we must judge the area,patina,age,angle ect... even if steel is present from another sword is not a definitive answer, who's to stop someone from sticking metal in it,or anyone for that matter foolin around hitting swords and one got like that?

the whole thing looks suspect to me right from its odd polished shaped kissaki to the odd moto-haba. mekugi ana look sloppy too.

in order to even try to judge the hamon ect. we need better pics of blade. some better pics of nakago and mei as well would help.

thanks Bob. this is a sword that really needs to go before a modern shinsa team. cheers.

thank you Bob.. I am quite aware of the Japanese sword flaws (kizu). im not saying that no boshi isnt an issue to some ,heck we dont even know if its thin, or the pic, could be good? who knows without holding in hand. I cant speak for others, but what im trying to say and what i feel is, i believe a person would be more inclined to except a thin boshi on a nambokucho era sword opposed to a edo period sword. Its almost a given that these early swords are going to have some issues that collectors might over look and except that they normally wouldn't in a latter sword say 1800s, after all they have had 100s of years more use,wear,polishing,ect.. this can be seen by the number of Kamakura blades we see opposed to edo blades... i cant speak for others but if your asking me would i except a thin boshi on an early tachi? heck yes... sometime you have to take what you can get, everyone has different levels of acceptance....

I agree with both chris and James. first off bad pics and a lot a glare,and not so good angles makes for a lot of eye tricking pictures. second im not sure it is Yaki-dashi ? and if it is, its not really an issue. many swords have had this done. one fast example that comes to mind ...and i quote from the book (one hundred masterpieces from the collection of dr. walter A. compton ) page 70 quote.. a ko-bizen tachi Hein period dated circa 1080 I quote Tempering pattern- (hamon) small,irregular clove form (choji-midare) in fine cloudy,luminous martensite (nioi) with some bright lines (kinsuji) lightning bolt( inazuma) forms a straight short line (YAKIDASHI) at the end of cutting edge (hamachi) and yokote). end of quote. in these two pics i posted ( tilt your head and crank your neck) :lol: it appears the nie crystals go beyond the ha-machi.... seems to disappear a little then seen again just before rust on nakago.but thats my eyes and again not great pics. and ive been told im blind :lol: as to the Boshi whether its the pic or not in my eyes a blade of this age its irrelevant as chris already pointed out.

depends on where you are, i just bought a wakizashi and ems Japan post cost was good, as this seller stated some areas is $64.00.... fed ex would be a shock though.. got a sword once from that states and by the time it got here the shipping cost was double with all these little add on fees.

thats the wonderful world of technology .being 30 inches now, it looks like it was a super long blade at least a minimum of 34 inches at one time, judging by the 2 mekugi ana and the one on the nakago jiri.

I have done a lot of research on the line of hiromasa, my first blade was a wak. hiromasa (eisho period) I have a few blades papered 3rd,4th and 5th gen. Im trying to get all generations :lol: although this does not look like 5th gen, it has some similarity to 4th gen. one thing i noticed is hiromasa has a great variance of strokes in mei. very inconsistent. when i bought my hiromasa wak. it was sold as probably gimei, the few that seen it said the same all to to unclear strokes partially unclear from the ravishes of time and rust. it went on to pass npo-nthk and nbthk.... only for sure way to know is to submit to shinsa.....good luck!

thank you chris for keeping us all informed. although I can not speak for others,I really appreciate the time and efforts you put in to keeping us all informed on many topics. I always appreciate and respect your opinion and knowledge, thank you very much...cheers