AndyMcK

3rd blade Mei, Kaneshige, has seen a lot of life and is quite worn but still seems elegant. Has original torokusho with it (don't ask me how, was attached to it) and description on shirasaya. Nagasa: 34,7 cm Sori: 0,9 cm Motogasane: 0,5 cm Motohaba: 2,6 cm Sakigasane: 0,3 cm Sakihaba: 1,9 cm Has stains and scratches, will not survive a full polish in my opinion. Asking 600€ for this. Antti

Second one. Blade with mei, can not regocnize the kanji probable added later by owner or worn down because nakago looks like it has been cleaned. Blade is very strong and has some stains and oxidation but will polish out nicely. Some scratches and nicks but nothing serious. Looks like a shinto period blade with suguha hamon. Nagasa: 40 cm Sori: 0,9 cm Motogasane: 0,6 cm Motohaba: 2,8 cm Sakigasane: 0,5 cm Sakihaba: 2,2 cm Asking price 800€, small room to negotiate. Antti

Hello all, selling few wakizashis to finance projects. All need some love and have seen better days. First one. Blade with mei Yamato no kami Tadayuki. Long opening of laminations and also stains and scratches on the blade. Old polish, touch up by some amateur or the normal story of sandpapering to remove rust. Nagasa: 54 cm Sori: 1,4 cm Motogasane: 0,7 cm Motohaba: 3,0 cm Sakigasane: 0,5 cm Sakihaba: 1,9 cm Has a lot of thickness left in the blade but cannot quarantee the ware will be smaller after polish. Asking price 800€ plus shipping costs. PM for better photos of more info. Antti

Ah so you were the sneaky man who won it while I was sleeping.. Nicely done and the price was not bad if it indeed is the same blade (looks like it). Hope to see this one polished! Br, Antti

I would also ask guidance from near you to remove the tsuka and even if it causes damage to the same (rayskin). The condition suggests like Stephen said that you need to get a shirasaya done and probably refurbish the old koshirae. Interesting blade and waiting to hear what you find from the nakago. Antti

Hello there! Might be a coincidence but there was a exactly same length Sukehiro saku for sale by Komonjo from Japan without the habaki though. Did you get it from a Japanese dealer? Would be nice to compare these if they are from same source. Antti

On the other hand.. Why lose sleep over someone asking for help and receiving it? We also have the benefit of getting the photos, information and possible locations of said swords to further someone's individual research or collecting goals stored here on the board instead of never even laying eyes on the said blades. And for the newer people it is a good practise on translating kanji. Of course understandable is the frustration if someone really puts work into researching the blades without any other benefit than learning (which is one of the best benefits, money burns in peoples pockets, knowledge can be used again and again ;D ), that is probably the reason many use the board to translate instead of paying someone to do the translation. Antti small edit to ease the frustration, it would be kind to offer the blades translated for sale here also

Thank you for the information Ford, well if there is nothing special about it, it can continue to accompany the blade or go to a shinsakuto project. I tried to find those usual casting marks from the inner surfaces but there seemed to be none, maybe due to the rigorous filing. Antti

Thank you Grey! Will contact him! Antti

Hello Grey! Thank you for the information! And as for the scratches, I presume the previous owner/owners treated the tsuba with similar care as the blade.. it had been given a good once over with steelwool or similar... Any info on the style/school of this kind of tsuba? Antti

Hello gentlemen, I have this tsuba in one shinto blade that has had some rougher life. Could you tell me more on it? Not too knowledgeable on tsubas. And also in some for sale section people talked about those dovetail cuts and I remembered that I saw them in some of my tsybas fitted to a blade so tried to get them also in the shots. Thank you for any help! Antti

Thank you Peter! Antti

Thank you both, Shibata was new one, and like guessed Bonhams was the first one I found while netbrowsing. Antti

Greetings all! I have started gathering information on Jokeishi Masaaki and would like to pass on a kind request to all of you with lot of experience and information gathered along the years. I am trying to find as mich information and photos/rubbing scans of Masaaki work to further study my own. From Markus Seskos book: Masaaki (正明), Bunkyū (文久, 1861-1864), Musashi – „Sakuyō-shi Jōkeishi Masaaki“ (作陽士城慶子正明), „Takemura Tsune ́emon Minamoto Masaaki kore o seitan“ (竹村恒右衛門源正明精鍛之, „carefully forged by Takemura Tsune ́emon Minamoto Masaaki“), „Jōkeishi Masaaki“ (城慶子正明), civilian name „Takemura Tsunejirō“ (竹村恒次郎, the first name can also be read as „Kōjirō“), he was a student of Hosokawa Masayoshi (正義) and worked for the Tsuyama fief (津山藩) of Mimasaka province but from Edo where he had his forge in the Fukagawa-Morishita district (深川森下町), his gō was „Jōkeishi“ (城慶子), his strong point was the Bizen tradition, dense ko- itame with utsuri, gunome-chōji-midare in nioi-deki with many ashi and round yakigashira, but he also worked in the Sōshū tradition and tempered a notare with kinsuji and sunagashi with nie and broad nioiguchi, he was one of the best students of Hosokawa Masayoshi, we know date signatures from the Kaei era (嘉永, 1848-1854) to the third year of Meiji (明治, 1870), he also signed his name „Masaaki“ with the characters (正日明) I have so far found only one photo from auction house, one from NTHK publication and of course Seskos index information along with Fujishiro references. So if you have any sources that have photos of his blades, mei and general information, please pm me or for the educational purposes feel free to add to this topic! Thank you in advance! Br, Antti

Excellent information and lot of material to go through. As a sidenote, does someone have electronic version of the Fujishiro translations? My Japanese talent is way too inept. Antti

Do we know how he is moderating the individual sales adds? Sometimes it looks like there might be few people making them. If not, it is really quite strange for him to appreciate showato so highly... Antti

Hard to say straight from the photos but is it a showato? Even with the stamp or water quenched and stamped to be approved for field?? But like said, makes you wonder on the rating system. Antti

Why can't we have such sales or auction in Europe... I have a hunch that there will be several swords up for sale soon.. Antti

Congrats to all and thank you sponsors and Brian! Antti

I think they are added by whoever is doing the polishing job, I have few mei with similar strokes and another with different. So not the smith but someone else. Antti

Thank you Guido, clear examples and a quite possible explanation on the amount of blades in the wholesale market. Antti

I know also the costs Guido and like said folks making fully traditional blades without any big name do have it hard. I think merely quality tamahagane for katana-sized blade costs more than 1000$. But they are coming somewhere from Japan, unless we are ready to open a discussion on how they are smuggling a ton of blades from China to Japan, with their strict import laws and procedures. And then there is also the question that have the chinese finally learned to mass produce decent katanas... rather torn between which to choose from these negative ones so I rather stick with my naive view that these are semi-mass produced, student works etc. And I think they eat so many dogs in China that they will rather meouw than bark. kind of missed that comments inner meaning as there are no chinese present I presume? I do hope that someone can give definate and accurate answers, we are still throwing darts in the dark and hoping to hit the mark. Does anyone know how the smiths are teaching their students in blade-making? Steel, process etc. traditional workshop vs. semi mass? And sorry on my behalf to the OP for dragging this on. Antti

I agree, lot of if's and but's... and to add a but, do you think the people making swords keep their skill up by just waiting to get an order or would you rather do your 2 blades a month quota and keep your skills in check and test new ideas? Like said all we talk here is mere speculation in one way or another withou any definate proof. And business is business, even in Japan like Darcy just stated. If you have 20x blades in your shelf dusting away and not bringing in any $ wouldn't you be willing to sell it for huge minus just to buy more tamahagane and continue keeping up your skills for example. I do think that many of us westeners have a rosy tinted glasses on when we think of nihonto and the tradition surrounding them. We tend to forget that people do want to earn a living (or food to the table) in any means necessary, in Europe, USA and Japan alike. Bear in mind that many of you are proud owners of a nihonto shop also and looking to make a profit while buying wares and selling them forward. No disrespect meant but in my country disrespecting a "colleague" publicly is one of the worst things you can do to him and usually it is considered more courteous to not pound on a person with out definate proof. what I am saying that "competition" on buyers during these economic times are harsh and we all know what we like to do if someone is undermining the prices... Sorry if I seem blunt, I am Finnish. I do not bend around the bushes or leave things unsaid. and we do have a saying "Se koira älähtää, johon kalikka kalahtaa" so if you do feel offended, look it up. Like I said earlier, good blades for martial artists, even some interesting ones. I do not know how well these photos show qualities but in hand rather decent. And some laminated torokushos for folks. Sorry for the rather long rant but I do think that people deserve fair treatment on and off the net, present of not. Antti

Correct me if I am wrong but is it not nowadays mandatory to sign the blades in order to get the torokusho? So maybe there is the reason for summary smiths with easy access meis for copying? Antti

Hello folks, I have purchased several from him and when I questioned the meis he was up front and honest on them. Similar response and also got one photo from his bulk purchases at a Japanese smiths workshop, two of those ended up on my wares and they all held torokushos so registered ones. There is activity present on them, hada, hamon and others. Some have had a fast polish and bad nugui that masks lot of it. I will try to find some photos tomorrow when I am home. Blade seem to be like posted earlier, from smiths who cannot make "full" living and have not gained fame for their works, so copies and forging tests but genuine Japanese made gendai blades. My interest of them is purely on martial arts practice oriented, blades for people training, with few exceptions that I plan to keep myself. Antti