Jean

http://www.aoi-art.com/kantei/kantei04.html

http://www.aoi-art.com/sword/wakizashi/08217.html

For those interested, Sendai Kunikane school examples - we cannot consider really these swords as utsushi as this school has been working steadily in the hosho tradition. http://www.e-sword.jp/sale/0710_2039syousai.htm late generation : http://www.e-sword.jp/sale/0810_3023syousai.htm

Piers, FYI, it is the opposite of sharp, Flat the note is decreased by half tone, Sharp it is increased by half tone

Piers, In French, it is synonimous of "problerm".

BTW, watch it out as it will be probably soon be on sale on Aoi Art website. Tsuruta san seems to have some good swords lately

http://www.aoi-art.com/kantei/kantei03.html Probably, YH Nambokucho not often found probably because very much looked after

John, I am Jealous, how comme NBTHK never sends me postcard to say "hello!!"

Interesting pictures as Magoroku Kanemoto is reknown for having a sanbonsugi not well formed /irregular. It seems it is not the case in this wakizashi

Hi Mariusz, A few links http://www.ricecracker.com/info/sukekane.htm http://www.legacyswords.com/fs_ant_daito4.htm http://www.nihontocraft.com/Yokoyama_Sukekane.html http://www.to-ken.com/swordregister/no37.htm http://forums.swordforum.com/showthread ... nextnewest http://www.sanmei.com/shop_e/media/T310 ... _PUP_E.htm http://www.ricecracker.com/japanese_swo ... hi/sw9.htm Unusual one sanbonsugi Take care

Mariusz, this question makes me think you are doubting I don't know, but were it shoshin, I would not buy it because it is not representative of this school, atypical hamon, too regular gunome hamon.

Eric, Don't be sorry you are the only one to have given an answer to this quizz. I am deeply involved and (shall be) in my next moving and cannot check/give an answer as I have already packed my Japanese books.

From Andy Website

I would expect less refined hada, less hataraki more dull. But for this ou must be ablle to compare with good swords of same area, it means having seen/held some swords ...

Here it is : http://www.aoi-art.com/kantei/kantei02.html

Afterthought : Concerning the Tsunahiro, one thing noticeable in the given hint is that there are tobiyaki. These one are hardly visible on the pictures but if you look at the oshigata they appear with a crescent form which is typical of Sue Soshu, the other schools (Mino, Bizen ..) using roundish tobiyaki. Here is a very good picture taken by Big Mo of Soshu Tsunahiro Hitatsura where some crescent tobiyaki can be easily distinguished : http://www.nihontoantiques.com/gallery.htm There are other blades of Hiromasa with good horimono or hitatsura

Hi Tyler, You won't be able to distinguish a Bundle sword from another one without holding it in hand. Mei is not enoughn though it can be an indication. Bundle swords follow the same trend/fashion as good ones, same shape (purpose was the same), more or less same hamon (both were done by the same smith). Main difference are the following : less folding (layer) and above all less tamahagane which leads after a few polish to see core steel. As a general rule, you won't find original Hi or horimono because these were very time consumming to achieve and did not bring any added value to their primary function : efficiency on battlefields. Primirarly forged for foot troops under uchigatana form.

Hi Rick, Stephen said it all I like it. (Machi okuri. Take the distance between the 2 mekugi ana and you will have a good idea of its initial nagasa.) That's a very good starter sword. With such a sword, you won't have any excuse for not not knowing what are Kinsuji, sunagashi, hakikake .... I wish I had done as well when I bought my first sword more than 30 years ago, I did not know at that time what hada, hamon, hataraki meant or exist - there were happy days - Now I am glued in this Nihonto thing as in a cobweb Once again congratulation, it was worth waiting

Guido, I just have a feedback from my childish twin saying that probably e-bay has been reading your last post about the Last NMB Members Tokyo Gathering and decided to take care of your health :D :D

Hi Ted, Thanks for your post and to answer your question I am going to tell you that I have learnt nothing from this Kantei. Because no explanation was given with the answer and as already stated the Horimono are clearcly out ot his usual ones. The only thing I was confirmed in and I refer to late Jim Kurrash who was a master in this fiels is that kantei is very difficult exercise. I have not this article but if a NMB member has it please post it. The article was named: "Kantei is easy". To be brief, nothing must be taken for face value, there are no rules only trends.

Hi Ford, Please don't shoot the pianist. Is not creativity the essence of Art??

It was a gut feeling. As stated, jigane did not seem right for Kunihiro. Kaeri not long enough (in my opinion) for Shimada (there are always exceptions). There were very close links between Odawara and Shimada. Tsunahiro was well reknown for his carvings but this one is uncommon and not representative of this smith. Now, this kantei was sheer luck, because I did it on gut feeling. though I have seen/hold some swords by him. Remember Darcy's sanji Kunitoshi kantei, it was my gut feeling but I changed for Kanenaga after studying pictures for long minutes because of Masame. In fact, it seems that first straight answer can lead to a good kantei. Too much analysis can lead to wrong kantei

James, I won't say anything about hamon because of poor pictures provided. Mei : kanji don't match with examples provided Nakago : Were it not for the fuzzy overall picture of the blade and koshirae, I would have sworn that the makago had a soshu flavour from the other pictures. Nakago : Compare your examples to the pictures, the one in the picture is very curved on the ha side. Mekugi ana are not aligned in the same manner as in your example

Does the answer lays here? (coming from jacques links)

They can, Cesar's compressions for example, I even remember paintings achieved through a horse tail, which, before the trick was discovered, were considered as Art.