TheGermanBastard

hello ed, just looking at your blade it must be an earlier Kanefusa, Straight if the top of my head the first ones are working from around the early 16th century and the first and second generations are ranked the highest. Your blade - from teh small provided images did not looky typical Kanefusa at first glance but again near impossible to tell much from these small images. The blade seems to have seen quite a few polishes. It is probably the Shodei or Nidei ... I'd be happy to see more detailed images of the blade

The blade looked just fine to me however I really liked the Koshirae. Wonderfull work in my eyes. A pitty one Menuki went missing as well as the Kozuka / Kogai. Those were probably very nice, too. It went very cheap. Due to the sellers bad setup probably foreign bids got blocked like mine.

Any more news on this?

Nice find! It polished quite well.

No, because it was in perfect polish and will remain so despite not having had a new Shirasaya made

Hello Joe, that is rust , under the Habaki, I would getit knocked off, get the Saya cleaned and split and be done with it. Take for example the littel Tanto you had bought from me. I am sure it resides in its old Shirasaya despit a recent polish and I think you did not get a new one made for it, did you? No need in my oppinion.

Well I am not with you on this one guys ... look at the blade ... no rust. So no need for a new Shirasaya imho. I won't give any names here but I have had very reputable togishi simply clain the saya and put the freshly polished blade back in there. This not having been my idea but their suggestion. over a decade later not the faintest of rust. However this can not be generalizd and it is on a case by case decission. but in this case I see absolutely no problem with this sword, hence no need for a new Shirasaya. The best I'd do is have it split by my Shirasaya maker of choice, get it cleaned and reglued. As for the Habaki a silver foil would do just fine or getting some rain pattern added and goldwash. Spending like 1k on Habaki and Shirasaya would be a waste of money in my humble oppinion. But everybody be their own judge. If you have plenty of cash to spend new parts sure will do no harm but to your wallet.

+1

So in this game one must also hope that the seller is honest, too and does not make false claims either.

Well, I must take on the topic and say that my dealings with the realKomonjo have always been satisfying. Mike Yamaguchi stands up to his word and is reliable seller.

Hello Stephen, I had misunderstood your posting. Sorry! Well said regarding the topic.

Hello, did anybody here happen to buy that Ujifusa Wakizashi? I liked its Koshirae and would have placed a bid if the seller would not have excluced Germany from his shipping locations https://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Japanese-Ujifusa-3rd-Gen-Otanto-Mid-1600s-Bizen-No-Kami-Fujiwara-Sword/273049602568

@ Stephen: The dog has not even left teh building yet As long as there has no fraud happened yet I think it is just fear. There is also way too little information on the table. Who knows, maybe the buyer is just picky, maybe he is a fraud or bulletsprinkler just missed a Kizu by accident. A while ago I sold a blade which I have had for almost a decade to a board member. I was very fond of the blade and sent it as I usually do upfront, only asking payment after the receival. Guess what: The blade had a bend! I missed that despite having had the blade for such a long time. I was very embarrassed and felt ashamed. So either I would have taken the sword back for a full refund or offered a partial refund. The buyer liked the blade very much so I offered a partial refund and he has been very happy with his purchase. Did I misrepesent the swod? Yes I did! Due to mere stupidness and ignorance of my very own. So I stood up for my fault and everybody was happy afterwards. Mistakes happen. Then one also has to keep in mind that people have become used to the attitude of ordering things and returning them for no reason. Ask any online shop owner. People order something, gets what they purchased but return it for no reason. Maybe it is that kind of buyer. We don't know. All we know for nos is that there has (yet) been no fraud.

It is just my personal oppinion but I fully agree to Hamfish. Doing a Habaki Upgrade would be wasted my money. Take two blades of equal quality but a different price tag due to one having a gold habaki or better Shirasaya and the other one being just copper and no tiger stripes bells and whistles. Would you pay feel like paying for example 4250.00 for the better quality Habaki and Shirasaya or prefer to go with 3000 for the same quality if blade and "just" copper? I can understand why someone may want a high qualiyt Habaki on a very high qualiyt blade. Probably it will then just change the price in a much smaller relation. Otherwise I personally treat Habaki and Shirasaya just as what it is: A fitting with a purpose. Or ask yourselves: How many people collecting Tsuba, Menuki, F/K or Kozuka do you know? And how many people do you know who collect Habaki and Shirasaya? Persoanlly I know none who fits the later category ...

Why a gold foil habaki?

I think you don't need a new Shirasaya and Habaki and not even a full foundation polish. Then being a Waki I think there is not huge value in it. A nice piece for the collector of that periode swords though

what's going on is that someone has initiated a retutn through paypal for whatever reasons and they will say in 99% of the cases that he is to return the item and get back his money. this has happened to any seller using paypal on more than one occasion before and will continue. anything else is just speculation driven by fear until the sword does not arrive in oroginal condition

And to make this clear: So far this thing is a pain in the ass from your point of view but no fraud (yet).

It is now up to PayPal. One has to argue with them now. Good luck. Then you have to wait and see what happens. Getting a different sword returned would be my least concern. If he wants to defraud you then he will not send you back anything but a nice brick at best Who knows, maybe he is just a picky buyer. You will then end up loosing a one way postage. That is still annoying but not a big deakl. You will just have to wait and see what happens. As others said, best don't do PayPal if you want to avoid this kind of thing. But if you do then you have to live with their random decisions.

Interesting to see hoiw many of you have had intentions to buy this sword!

You are welcome Tom

With most professional polishers you should expect USD 80 to USD 120 per inch ... in my humble oppinion putting this kind of money into that sword is not appropriate. But you be the judge. The scratches will easily go away ... all the openings you allready see won't but they will likely widen and you may get new ones as a bonus ... There is one area in the sword that is really bad and the overall amount of Kizu is not what someone would want. You will find solid papered Wakizashi in full polish here for sale that are by really good smithes at under 3000 USD. Your blade has severe issues. So if money doesn't matter and you just like the sword go ahead. If you want to be able to reclaim your investment you do not wish to get this polished. People should not get polished Mumei Wakizashi in general unless they are something special.

Hello Tom, to answer your question regarding restoration: I voite for no. The blade looks late Koto or Shinto, is basically unsigned but Machi Okuri (cuting edge moved up somewhat). Despite there are some flaws in the blade. I am afraid you would be buried when getting it restored. I agree to possibly Kaga. If you put taht thing up on eBay the gold Mei will trigger a lot of treasure hunters and it would be a much wiser choice then getting it restored (from an economical point of view). Best regards

This makes sense! But for the Habaki. I don't see why you would want to exchange it bob? In my oppinion the biggest bummer was thatb it is a Wakizashi size blade. Again a nice thing though

Thank you Francesco for letting me know and cheets to Markus Sesko for his great Kanji reading abbilities! Is there an error in the short bio? It says he loeved from 1926 to 1989 but that he dies in 1913? I think this sword was dated 1911 or 1912?