Jean

Steve, If you have the Nihonto Koza (AFU), have a look at Volume 3 Koto Page 352 and you'll see the description of this non uncommon hi (for the era) with Bonji engraved under.

my Eikkyo Bizen Yoshimitsu

Guido, be carefull, remember Richard Sorge

Look a the Kissaki for the tell-tale

One being the wild guess

i don't know about the sickles, but the second object makes me think of a needle used to repair fisher nets (could be made from whale bones). Wild guess

Warm welcome to you Doug :D

Not even true : http://www.afuresearch.com/glossary1.htm

Zokumei: 俗名 A name of the smith in addition to his regularly used name, for example, HIKOBEINOJO SUKESADA :D

Hi Tyler, We have all our taste and I shall never discuss them. I have a friend, Gilles, who is dedicated to shinshinto, Clive prefers Hizento, I like Yamashiro and Bizen. I am not a Nihonto specialist but I try to have people avoid the thousand mistakes I did in 30 years. If I do not know exactly what to do, I clearly see what I should not do - not meaning I don't do them

Tyler, Pictures give wrong impression of the blade colour. That is the scan effect. You cannot based your judgement of the steel colour on such pictures, furthermore with Photoshop, steel can have any colour : bright, Dark .... What do I see : A kanbun katana suriage/machi okuri, hadori polish making a suguha from a gunome one. Hada ware. Koshirae : Kashira and menuki seem to picture dragons, Fuchi/kojiri/kurikata representing flowers. To sum up, I see : a suriage machi okuri kanbun katana with some ware, a poor polish, a curious flashy koshirae - medium quality same. Whatever the price, I let it pass Just to say that I am much more selective than you. I can pass on the polish, the koshirae, but not on the suriage, machi okuri and ware (for a shinto blade)

Mark, For opinion on the mei, just send a picture to NTHK (with the corresponding fees) and you will have an answer

Hi John, Thanks for the answer. I thought that your kantei was maybe based on the sukashi (open work). Concerning the mimi, I really don't know what to think when I see the picture as it seems to disappear in its upper part. Is there, generally, a very different thickness between Tosho and Katchushi tsubas?

John, Just a question, I have read somewhere that raised mimi will indicate Katsuchi tsuba rather than Tosho. Can you tell us what to look for to make the difference?

Probably. Just drop a mail to Darcy to be sure.

Tyler, It is sold. Could you tell us why is it a beautiful sword, to your eyes?

From Darcy's website (a reference) : http://www.nihonto.ca/trip.html

Just a laugh about Van Gogh, we have a very good ad on TV for a French IP "Free" Van gogh after dinner in an inn offer one of his painting to the owner for payment and the innkeeper to say " Still Iris, could you not paint dogs or cats, that's the last time I accept such a painting" BTW, Ted, I must say you are wrong when talking about 5 year old children drawing, Vincent began his careeer by this kind of drawings - and me too but like with Nihonto I never overcame this stage

Thanks Ted to have express the "why" of my request

Peter, I like the sword and I don't give a damn about mei, my swords being Koto suriage but 2 (Both Bizen)

Rich, Thi site has benn my first Nihonto website and will probably be my last one (BTW, I use it every day)

Fritz, It will be very difficult to go further but I totally agree with Louis, it is a nice little wakizashi, not a museum piece but a very decent one compare to what I sometimes see on NMB. Whatever the comments you will find on NMB seldom you will find someone able to craft a piece of art like a sword or tosogu but Ford

Shan, Have you a good close up of both side centered on the hamachi, let's say 5 cm /2 inches above and under?

Dirk,

Henry, There was one totally unexpensive "Tsuba : an aesthetic study" something like this at a ridiculous price, NMB tosogu members will give you the exact name : a very good introduction to tsuba schools - After, the best way is to buy as much catalogs as you can to get familiarized with The kind of tsuba produced by each schools