Teimei

http://www.nihontoantiques.com/old_files/fss436.htm

Germany: - No Import duties (but you have to prove that the item is over 100 years old) - VAT: 19% + 17,5 % taxes on the shipping costs And now it get´s a bit difficult ! If you can´t (or you are just not willing to) prove that the item is over 100 years old, you have to pay additional 1,7% (customs tariff number: 93070000 Säbel, Lanzen, Teile hiervon...) of the Price of the item as custom duties. That is one method, the other is Kind of flat-rate-based and a bit easier (for the customs officer to calculate), but generally you have to pay more because the whole package is taxed with 17,5%. Regards,

Butterflies ! I don´t have a clue... bamboo maybe? Regards,

Stats? Great blade by the way!

I always wanted to do that :D !

Hi Chris, the seller stated that the wakizashi was from the edo period (and priced accordingly). So it could be that i paid for a mumei shinto wakizashi and got myself a quite healthy koto blade? Sounds not so bad to me ! I am now sure that it was shortened somewhere in the past. Unfortunetely they did a pretty sloppy job by just hammering the edge flat (to shape a new nakago). But all in all this "plain old edo period wakizashi" get´s more and more interesting. regards,

Hi Henk-Jan, i´ve always been unsure about that beaten metal on the cutting edge side. The seller stated that the blade is ubu mumei. But i think the fact that the wak was born as a katana, makes the piece more interesting . Thank you for your thoughts ! regards,

Hi Henk-Jan, i have never thought that the wakizashi was shortened, is there any sign to that? I am very proud of my small (but growing) collection of blades and tosogu! regards,

Found the original post about the sadayoshi katana: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=17093&hilit=gassan+sadayoshi

Kishu Ju Sadanaga

Excellent job, both teacher and student!!!

Agreed but what is the understanding from the collector community? Are things left better in their original configuration or altered to give a more appealing appearance? Should something be remounted in fancy furniture or kept as close to original as possible? Everything on this sword is iron with the exception of the hilt ornaments which appear to be copper / gold alloy covered in a purple-black application. Nathan, if something has an artistical, historical value or personal value, you should leave it like it is. Of course, you could alter the existing habaki or you could order a new one from a professional maker. But is it really necessary to spend quite an amount of money? I don´t think so. The habaki is functional and it fits the koshirae (imho :D ). Best Regards,

Peter, a good one too! I read my motto everyday, at the entrance of the library, where i was trained. Now back to the topic! Best Regards,

It would look like this.

Hi Peter, thank you for mentioning the vietnamese eBay! Seems like i need an account for your link :lol: . Best Regards, (as many, as you can afford to buy! :D )

Brian, thanks for your comment! Shinsakuto of course . That´s what i thought too, i hope my post here doesn´t ruin the price for me!

Hello dear members, in search for a kogatana i stumbled across this listing on ebay. (yeah i know ebay is the evil empire :lol: ) http://www.ebay.com/itm/KOGATANA-SMALL- ... 20e5e5eceb My problem is, that my experience with gendai smiths tend to zero. Thats why my question(s) is(are): - do you know this smith? - do you have examples of his work? (i could only find his FB page in Japanese) - general opinion on gendai works? Thanks in advance for any comment and opinion! Regards,

Good thing i downloaded them already! :D

Nice!

Hi, just a suggestion: http://www.nihonto.eu/de/restauration/t ... on/katana/ Regards,

This blade, i presume? http://nihonto.ca/gassan-sadakatsu/

My pleasure!

Hi Chad, could this article be of any use? viewtopic.php?f=1&t=16187&p=142535 Regards,

Jean, i don´t know if i would call him helpless (maybe i don´t know him well enough) and he has never told me what to buy and what not. He just gave me some general information about the importing procedure in general (taxes, customs tariff numbers etc.), which was kind of nice and made things a lot easier for me. I have never bought a sword from him to be honest, but all my transactions went smoothly and that was all i wanted to state here . Regards,