TheGermanBastard

I bought a tsuba removal Kit on Amazon. Price was low .. quality is less than that. Total junk. What was described as "2 Velvet Blocks" turned out to be two junk wood blocks with red gaffer tape. Absolutely useless and so poorly made one should feel ashamed. The brand name is Musashi. Probably sold by lots of reseller with the sane source. Don't waste your money on this crap ...

I hope you can resolve this. Good luck!

Nagasa is 68,5 cm by the way.

Yes, Pauls fess are very reasonable .... @ Guido: Some people play smart others try the other way round

The US NTHK-NPO Shinsa was 275.00 last year per issued Kanteisho plus USD 100.00 handling service if sent in (plus shipping and return shipping). In my oppinion this only makes sense if you can personally bring in your sword. Otherwise it is not significant cheaper than sending it to Japan for NBTHK Hozon which I would do then. if you attend the show in person then it is an option. I remeber that some years ago it was USD 200.00. You can use Paul Martin as an agent http://www.thejapanesesword.com/services/nbthkshinsa-fees.html Getting Hozon will cost you about 65.000 Yen if a NBTHK memeber plus shipping to Japan. Unless a blade is of significant importance it makes no sense economically speaking.

The mere fact that he does Sayagaki will allready tell enough as to that a blade is not bad. Of course Sayagaki has the downside that it can be taken advantage of by swapping Shirasayas ... that however is mostly seen with older Sayagakis. Older NBTHK papers issued under Tanobe are in my oppinion more desireable than those since he left.That is again my personal oppinion. I do not want to take it offtopic but Fujishiro papers are also to be held in high regard in my oppinion.

I would liekt o thank everybody for taking their time and kindly providing their valued oppinions and thoughts I think Koto periode, most possibly Muromachi with Yamato influence is a reasonable call. Sue Mihara sounds like a good Kantei in my oppinion.

the one whose attribution you like best the oppinion I'd put most value towards is a Tanobe Sayagaki. As far as the NTHK goes you have to distinguish between the NTHK/NPO and the NTHK Yoshikawa branch. Personally I do not go for Yoshikawa (Junior) papers and prefer the NPO. Just looking at the Shinsa system I prefer the NTHK system. As others pointed out NBTHK will offer very limited information on many Hozon occasions like not stating the generation. if you want to sell at the highest price you will likely want to try to obtain the hightest NBTHK level possible. if you are just keeping the blade for your own collection you may want to out your money into more interesting paper work like Dostojevski, Bukowksi or whatever gives you joy and excitement.

No, not Shinshinto.

Before the Hadori was reworked I had assumed a Bizen blade. There was heavy Hadori so the Hamon was not visible. But now I no longer think it is Bizen Shitahara would match up with this kind or Horimono.

Thank you for your thoughts. Would you mind giving me your Kantei points? I think it is a safe bet to assumne a Koto blade.

This is a truely magnificient sword

Thank you Christoph. I'm happy to hear what others think as well. Thank you

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I'd appreciate Kantei thoughts on this blade. Thank you

One more .. Solid SIlver

Nice piece at a good price!

Well, an interesting approach ... while I believe that what gets hurt first in economic depression is the antiques market ... we have seen this numberous times. @ Ray Thank you for your remarks. I can see where you are coming from but in this case the judgement somewhat puzzles me sine this is not really a noted / important smith?

This is a good quality Kanbun era sword: https://www.ebay.com/itm/K-Japanese-KATANA-SWORD-2-body-cutting-test-Sadashige-w-NBTHK-Tokubetsu-Hozon/153284338916 However I wonder how it could get TBH? I thought Suriage Shinto would not get TBH?

That is my point. Now it is may be due to my poor command of English language or due to my poor humour or most likely both that I could not bring accross my point Nihonto = Japanese Art Sword Art is NO science but always a subjective issue. Hence there is bias. Even in science there is bias on many occasions by the way - which should not be ... Some of the hightes rates blades by the NTHK would not go Juyo, and some Juyo blades may not get a as high rathing by the NTHK as they both do have their own = subjetcive rules. The rules are consistent so you can likely predict how well a blade well get rated by either organization but again it is a subjective rating according to an organizations defined terms. Some old Juyos might no longer go Juyo these days and some blades that do not go Juyo nowadays will do in the future. In the end I find the discussion about Juyo pretty annoying ... it is like everybody was dying for getting the centerfold of the year and forgetting about all the girls next door. This would result in many unhappy girls and boys and klling man kind ... But to be serious again: Everybody feel free to talk about what they enjoy best in Nihonto and there is little doubt about the quality of Juyo blades but there should be no doubt that it is to be taken with a grain of bias. And again I am with matt when he calls it "Juyo Game" ... other respected persons call it competition

I call that a change of oppinion / bias It is all bias and taste in art.

Darcy sorry, while I admire your knowledge and views in general I can not agree to the core message of your post. It is false. It is subjective. Claiming there is no bias in art is nothing but a biased view. There always has been and always will be bias in art. Art is indeed just a stereotype of biased evaluation. Art is not dichotomical true / false science. Hence I see your post as the expression of a biased oppinion. Your reality where everboy does have his own reality. A long time ago a Germnan gentleman invited an artist to Germany to help promote his work. The exhibition was a tital failure. The artist did not sell a single work. The friend whio had invited him bought seberal of his works rather out of pitty for him. His name was Gunther Sachs and the arists name was Andy Warhol. Since then the bias towards this artist has changed somewhat. One day will well likely see Gassan Sadakazu go Juyo. Will his swords just become better like vine? No. The bias will change. The realiyt of the NBTHK Shinsa will change. The sword will remain the same. So yes, there is a set of subjective rules which will make it pretty much prdictable if a sword will pass NBTHK Juyo shinsa. Pretty much as with some swords results may differ on each season. Dary has done an excellent job on analysing the criteria of Juyo passing. So a sword that has passed this process can be without claimed to be judged Juyo by the NBTHK. Whtere it is art or even great art that is up to you. My wive does have a completly different view on swords as art than I do ... But hey, it is a free world so everybody is allowed to do what they like best, enjoy what they like best and spend their money on what they like best.