Lee Bray

Whilst you're correct, 'Muki' states that the spots on his blade are regular and have a corresponding mark on the opposite side of the blade. This, to me, sounds controlled and intended. The 'Shigetaka' blade that I started a thread on here has very similar markings, two spots together like a vampire bite, regularly spaced down the blade and these seem to be controlled. I have a naginata with choji gunome hamon that has one tobiyaki on the entire blade in between two choji peaks. That looks like a bit of clay came off. Just pointing this out so Muki can decide whether his are intentional or not.

That looks like tobiyaki in the pictures to me.

You got to hold that one? I saw them behind the glass in the side room and thought they were locked away from all. That Kiyomaro daisho was the highlight of the show for me, even viewed from behind glass.

Chrisf - your level of study and comprehension is apparent. Enjoy your cheap, rusty swords. Brian's level is also apparent and that's why he doesn't appreciate cheap, rusty swords. He wants something better. If you don't aspire to that, fine, but have the decency not to denigrate those that do. After all, you want respect for the low end of the craft, why not the high end? Making jokes about a persons character is low.

It looks fake.

A puzzle indeed. Why fake the mei of the 6th gen Shigetaka who seems to be a run of the mill smith and then why fake papers to verify it as such? The three kanji with question marks read - Yo Ito-Zou ("given to Itozou"), and the Japanese dealer that recently translated them also said he had no doubt the mei was gimei based on the carving style. The date discrepancy is enough to confirm to me that it is gimei and that the papers are fake, though. Thanks for the help, guys.

I have green Tokubetsu kicho papers from the 1960's for a Shigetaka blade I have. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8593 The sword is signed 6th gen Shigetaka and dated 1663, which is when the nidai Shigetaka worked, so I'm fairly certain my papers are meaningless.

A friend and I took six swords into Japan from Hong Kong via Narita airport in June. The process is not difficult providing you have organised with your dealer/polisher that you will be arriving. Customs will check with the dealer to verify you are taking the swords to him. We had a letter from our dealer stating this, including his contacts and address in Japanese. We checked the swords in at HK, ticked the box for swords on the customs declaration form in Japan (much to the surprise of the immigration counter lady), collected our two sword flightcases from the oversize baggage, handed them to customs and were escorted to an area where the registration process took place. This took a while, approximately an hour and a half, as the official measured each blade and noted the signatures. Include tissue and oil in your case as the official handles the blade. You are responsible for repacking. After this process we were given the registration papers and the swords and we went on our merry way.

Buddhist connotations? http://www.exoticindiaart.com/product/ZJ94/

There's an exhibition going on...they won't need to spend 4 hrs with you. I just think that 'half' an oshigata won't attract the average NihonTo enthusiast who tend to want the best for their blade. Complete, professional package for a small fee sounds better than a free, rough sketch.

My whimsical opinion has been drooling over this tsuba since Tsuruta San advertised it. Who worries about others and their circles? (j/k, Ford. ) Thanks for the other image, Eric.

There is a small section on how to make oshigata in the back of John Slough's Modern Japanese Swordsmiths if you have access to that book. "...was offering to do free "rough-sketch" oshigata" - I don't see many going for a 'rough sketch' as it couldn't be accurate and therefore what is the point? I think if you can produce an accurate oshigata for a reasonable fee, that would attract a better market.

I've just checked HK Post to see if there is any news and found this. http://www.hongkongpost.com/eng/publica ... /index.htm

That was a direct quote from Nakahara's book, Chris, just not well punctuated. I saw a Muramasa tanto at this years DTI and at first thought,"Woohoo! A Muramasa!" But then after seeing so many areas where the hamon ran off, I lost interest very quickly. Definitely more artifact than art, that one.

If the smell reminds you of mammoth tooth, perhaps the nakago(I presume you don't mean nanako) has been subject to extensive rubbing with bone or horn?

I think you got the wrong end of the stick, Ray. Obviously, with your sword being an heirloom, you have a different perspective on that sword. To clarify my earlier 'yes', I have a good friend that primarily collects HizenTo. He has all nine generations of the Tadayoshi school, most if not all with katana and wakizashi. To him, a verified signature is a big deal. His collection wouldn't mean nearly as much if half were gimei. Be it from a historical, collectors or value perspective. With 30 years of his own experience in the field, he's more than capable of identifying the separate smiths and gimei thereof but still feels verifying papers are an important part.

Yes.

I'm not sure I buy into the idea that a smiths mei will change radically over his career. Certainly there will be changes due to new titles or depending on the size of the inscription and the relevant nakago but I don't think his writing style will change that much. A smith is generally of a mature age when he starts an apprenticeship, be it in his teens or later. Then several years of learning before being allowed to put his name to swords he makes. Given the fact that the mei is the artists signature and forever more on show, I think they would take pains to ensure their mei would be regular and identifiable. Given their maturity and length of apprenticeship, I'd say they have the skills needed to make it so. I guess there will be 'bad' days and perhaps some smiths truly were cack handed at signing their swords(I'm not even convinced on this one as a cack handed smith is not going to make great swords if he's cack handed ) but I don't think this would be common. Consider the 9 generations of the Hizen Tadayoshi school. 9, possibly 10, smiths over roughly 200 years and their mei and kanji were very similar throughout. To the point that the direction of an atari can be the difference between real and fake. As to the Yoshimichi example above, I don't know which is gimei or shoshin or if they both are either, but I know that if I were the smith putting out the example on the left, I would not present a sword with the mei on the right. I read an interesting comment from a present day smith regarding the quality of their work, "The material is not precious." To me, that says the sword had better be perfect before it is presented. If it's not, throw it away and start again. Tamahagane is easier to come by then a good reputation.

Presumably the high bid is to deter any other bidders that don't realise the auction is fraudulent. Thanks for the heads up, Jock.

This was my first DTI and I was absolutely blown away by it. For me, there was not nearly enough time to take it all in but I think with the quantity and quality present, that would have been impossible anyway. I got to meet a few of the fellas from here but unfortunately not all that were present. Maybe in a year or two when I don't get so distracted by all the swords I'll get a chance to say hello. Fairly sure I saw Guido's face outside the ANA intercontinental arrival area when I arrived on Friday evening but not again over the weekend so missed that chance. Fantastic time...

Holding a fresh shirasaya in gloves sounds like a ticking clock to seeing a dropped sword. If the sword is on show for a lot of people, don't show it in shirasaya. In out, in out... If you're showing one or two people at home, make them wash their hands. Bare hands on nakago, clean cloth or tissue on blade steel.

Hi Guido. I saw that Kunitsugu at Bob's stall. I think the price was 4.5 million with the handachi koshirae in shakudo that was sublime. The katana is fantastic. There was a Rai Kuniyuki tachi and a tanto as well from recollection(which could be a bit hazy as my brain has been overloaded with a large amount of very good swords. It's not often one gets to see Kotetsu, Kiyomaro, Muramasa, Kunitsugu and a host of others on the same day.)

This is a current ebay auction, isn't it?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Tsuba-Hexagon-Gold- ... 3a5fb3e7cd Saw this on ebay and noticed the similarities. NBTHK attributes it to Shoami.

Interesting. I'm staying at the Ana but had intended to be at the DTI all day. I'll have to try and buy up all the meito first thing in the morning then...