Jean

Ken, Its your choice, all options are possible, that's the way of collecting. But once you are in the Nihonto collecting business interest seems to narrow to specific schools or period John has written : Is this the same as Koto o-suriage blades being "bungoed" at shinsa? :lol: :lol: :lol:

I agree with Mike The Nakago has a flavour which is not exactly Koto. Have a look at the yakidashi, it looks like Osaka shinto ..... Be careful, I have seen shinshinto swords with this yakidashi (Chounsai Tsunatoshi .......)

Pascal, You shall remain my friend forever :D

Paul, Very interesting blade, I think that NMB members (including lurkers :lol: ) shall welcome other pictures (hada, hamon). The aoi-mon reminds us of Yasutsugu but has probably been added later. The Nakago Jirimakes me think to early shinto rather than koto (ubu, one mekugi ana ..). Don't be fooled by the Bishu Osafune ...., very common signature for mass production swords during sue Koto (Sengoku/Onin wars), without hada/hamon pictures it is difficult to say more, except that the Nakago seems in pristine condition.

Tom, As is saying Brian a very bad copy : Look at the kissaki on your picture and compare it to the picyures you are going to find on commercial sites (cf . Dr Stein website) ...

Hi Simon, At shinsa, Kantei should be done without revealing the Nakago then we should see what so-called experts could do ....

Hi Simon, I am quite astonished at what you state.... I was thinking that so called experts could at once make the difference between a mei and a gimei. Attribution is another matter, for a mumei blade, as you can get as much attribution as experts .........

About the mei as I am far from being a specialist, till it is papered one day, I shall remain very cautious and state that "Kunisada" is inscribed on the tang. BTW, can we say that a gimeï is a meï? It is very interesting especially in auctions : That is the difference between : Katana signed by Nobukuni and Katana signed Nobukuni :D :D :D

A few rules of thumb seem to emerge : - never buy an unsigned, non certified, out of polish sword for more than 2k (too risky) (unless being an expert but even ...) - If you buy a tameshigiri antique sword, find an old sue koto Mino blade, thousands without any artistic value were made, they are as all Mino swords reliable, very sharp and not at all expensive Guido, It was not a criticism, we have all our part of dream. For exactly 600$ more I bought an Hitatsura (shortened, with some coarse hada) certified koto Tsunahiro blade ..... As we say in France, all tastes are to be found in Mankind ...

Peter and Guido, I think there are different ways/aims of collecting Nihointo. Do not condemn Jeremy, may he enjoy his sword for years. I am sure it is thrilling for him to practice cutting with a 150 year old sword. Question : is it the right price for a non papered, non polished blade? IMHO, it is too expensive. Never pay this price for a non certified blade and unpolished. FYI, one never knows what can happened after polishing. I bought a kanteisho (NTHK) Mino Tensho Kanetsune blade (for the same price). After polishing, 2 hagire. unvisible before polish. The seller took it back (I lost the polishing price). The only advise I can give Jeremy, beware of Hagire while cutting

Of course Milt, "Honny soit qui mal y pense" :lol:

Ron, You make me worried, I only collect katanas :lol: :lol: :lol: To my question ""I wonder, in this, where is good old Dr Freud sexual side to Nihonto collection ?" , to avoid Brian stepping in, trivial answers (such as : "In my p....") are strictly forbidden (Oups, sorry!!)

Outstanding!!!! Many thanks from all Nihonto owners

Sorry, Once again I cannot resist. Here's good old Jean "Freud" lecture. Collecting things is not as innocent as it may appear. It reflects several hidden personnal features of the Collector. 1- We are generally collecting old things. Nostalgy of good old days? insatisfaction of our daily life? Dreams? Life by proxy? Phantasm? 2 - Collections : What kind of collectors are we? Stamp collectors? car & bike collector? Arms collector? I have been seriously collecting since I was 18 (It needs cash to make a serious collection), I started with minerals and fossiles and get interested in mineralogy, kind of fascination for Nature "law and order", crystallograpphy mistery. I shifted in my 20's to collecting 19th century American handguns. I have always loved the Frontier myth, I am a western movies lover. Question : why collect "American" handguns rather than French hanguns? Because of French legislation on firearms, they were easier to collect and bear far more history compare to its French homologues (Civilian war, Pony Express), death power (no one shall confess it) and some kind of freedom? I shifted in my late forties to Nihonto, why? because of my training in Karate surely but why did not I practice Kendo, Iaïdo, Battodo, more related to Nihonto? I love the beauty of Nihonto, its symetry, hataraki and all its related stories, above all, it gives me the opportunity of learning a lot things and keeps my mind working (and I assume that most of us are in the same mood). I wonder, in this, where is good old Dr Freud sexual side to Nihonto collection ? :o Perhaps somewhere deeply hidden?

I could not resist asking the question : "If Desmond Morris thinks it's predominantly men that collect. His theory is that collecting is a modern day replacement for hunting". I am still wondering about my wife collecting shoes and handbags (I wish I had as many swords) :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Hi, Here is one not too bad at Aoi Art : http://www.aoi-art.com/sword/katana/06450.html

Thanks Koichi , I'll go for gimei

Hi Kjetil, I have no book at hand to check but I don't like neither the strokes of the second kanji nor the 'Jo' (in Daijo) kanji, there are no signs of wear in the signature compare to the overall nakago condition. But once again I am not a mei specialist (that's why I only buy papered blades :D )

Hi to All, I just would like to add, that : 1 - Do not limit suriage or extra mekugi ana being frowned upon starting from Shinto, unfortunately I have experienced it with Muromahi blades. There were so much blades produced during the Sengoku period, that at Shinsa they don't like (at the time being) Muromachi suriage blades. Unless by a top smith or in top condition, a suriage Muromachi blade (even signed) shall be borderline for passing Tokubetsu Hozon. In fact Muromachi katanas having standard length (compare to Kamakura/Nambokucho blades) have no excuse for being shortened. 2 - Do not forget that extra Mekugi anas means at 90% that the blade has been machi okuri thus midifying its nagasa. I have seen, by machi okuri, a katana becoming wakizashi (In this case, you can really stike a deal) I am still wondering if this blasde was not once a katana : http://www.aoi-art.com/sword/wakizashi/06354.html

Hi All, For those of the board who were there 8 months ago, have a look at this link: http://www.aoi-art.com/sword/katana/06291.html This Yasutake sword reminds us of the Juyo Miike blade Darcy put to kantei. Even the hada (mixed itame/masame) is right. The only thing missing is the Bohi.

Hi Christoph, I agree with Peter and Mike, It is a Gimei, compare the "kami" kanji of your sword with the scanned examples ..... Nevertheless, it is a really fine blade (the hell with gimei), if you want to buy it at a reasonable price you could do a lot of worse I have got a yoroï doshi with good koshirae and a gimei "Mondo no Sho Masakiyo". Nevertheless I bought it for its quality and its koshirae.

Hi Martin, The most complete worksheet is probably the one published in Dr Stein site : http://home.earthlink.net/%7Esteinrl/swrdinv.htm As for frames ready to welcome pictures, the easiest way is to make a copy of the related picture and paste it in the worksheet. BTW, it is the best way to have an exhaustive information on a sword. Now, IMHO, about kantei features, they generally are true for the 3 first swordsmith generations after that too much deviations. eg : - a soshu hitasura blade "kanteied" to Muromachi Tsunahiro, it is in nioi ....... (the kantei points here are the numerous crescent tobiyakis) - I have also a fantastic healthy end of Kamakura Osuriage Enju katana (kanteied "Enju" by NBTHK) and I am still wondering why because it has all the Rai kantei points and none of the Enju ones (according to the books) : no misty kitae at all ... When entering in kantei session, remember that (at 98%) blades exhibited are from the top first masters. Remember the article written by late Jim Kurrash "kantei is easy" .... I have seen the same Osuriage blades get different kanteis by NBTHK or NTHK, or by both and each time with very convincing demonstration.

Hi Mike, Here are kantei points by Honami Koson : Quoted : Sa Yukihide, student of Suishinsi Masahide Style : "Shinto den with style of Soshu Den" "Kissaki is made long but the fukura will be lacking. The width of the hamon from about the mid-section towards the boshi becomes wide and rough" Unquoted.

Hi everybody, Interesting sword as I have come along few months ago across a nijimei tachi Kaneyoshi (Mino kanji for Kane) which a strong Yamato flavour. Zenjo Kaneyoshi went to Mino end of Nambokucho, beginning of Muromachi. As a lot of Mino smiths, he was coming from Yamato and said to be a son of Tegai Kanenaga. he is part, as Honami Koson has stated, together with Akasaka Senjuin, of Yamato Mino Mono. I am quoting Honami Koson : "Zenjo Kaneyoshi an the Akasaka Senjuin Group worked in the strict Yamato tradition. Therefore works of the smiths belonging to these two groups can be considered the same as Yamato works, such as those of the Yamato Tegai smiths." If you check with Kokan Nagayama book, this blade does not belong to the Kaneyoshi smiths group. The boshi of this sword is Jizo, typical Mino, far from Kaneyoshi boshi (which is untypical Mino). IMHO, it is not a smith from the 15th century, rather 16th/17th century; the hamon is typical Mino, Gunome midare and perhaps based on but not sansbonsugi, definetly too irregular. Furhermore, looking from the munemachi the blade does not seem to have been polished a lot of time.

Hi Richard, I cannot be very helpful as I am interested mainly in Koto swords. Nevertheless, take notice that the Nyusen price in the NBTHK contest is not a reward but means that the sword did not meet much success with the Jury.