Vince6

OK...the outcome of the mail-in Shin Sa of NTHK turned out to be not passed...They said the blade was re-tempered...Hopefully NTHK will still provide some more information about the sword, even it is not passed. BTW, what is the possible incentive to re-temper the blade? To make it look like product of other smith or school? Vincent

just can,t agree more...

Good morning, gentlemen. I wish I could reply earlier but I was busy wiping my tears …hehehehe…Well, you guys are like Sherlock Holmes, can’t believe you could even figure out who the seller is. Yes, I bought it from Koushuya, a Japanese seller on eBay. Paul, I am not sure if that is the blade you helped your friend to sell since it seems come from Japan. And if it is the one, let’s hope I didn’t over pay too much…(wiping tear again) Really appreciate Marius for helping me study this blade, Uda is a good direction to find more pictures and documents for comparison. Some people may only want to see compliments or positive feedbacks, but only true opinions and thoughts can be helpful. However, maybe I should post those swords here before bidding next time… PS: here are some more pictures with Hamon, maybe still not clear enough. I will take more pictures and post here when I receive it. Vincent

Dear Brian, yes, it is ohmura's website http://ohmura-study.net/206.html

the left one "Shinto"(新刀) Wakizashi(脇差) Mei(銘), the name you mentioned is "inoue izumi no kami" (井上和泉守國貞) which is EXTREMELY rare. and the other few lines looks like the name of previous collector "Ozaki den Ryu Emon" (岡崎传龙衛門)and where he lives... Vincent

Hello, everyone I have to admit this is a compulsive buying, and I lack of sufficient knowledge to tell the attribution of the sword. At first, I was attracted by the carving which is an arrow with a symbol of Aisen-Myoo (愛染明王). The arrow matches the symbol because Aisen-Myoo's dedicated weapon is arrow (and bow of course) in Japanese mystery, and this is not a common knowledge so I thought the sword is not a cheap fake iron bar at least. Then I thought of the important smith of Rai-school, Aisen Kunitoshi (愛染国俊), who made a masterpiece of tanto with carving of Aisen-Myoo (his symbol in fact) on it. My rationale told me it can't be Aisen Kunitoshi, but I just couldn't help buying it. There is no paper with it, so would you please kindly help me assess the sword? (I think it is Yamato-school though I really want to believe it is from Rai-school...hehehe) It's nagago is osuriage, total length is 36.8", blade length 25.3" and sori is 0.47", can't really see the type of Boshi in the pictures the seller posted. Any information you provide will not become commercial use since I will never sell it. Thank you very much. PS: The pictures are from seller's auction page, and I will post more if needed when receiving the sword. Vincent

There is a website (http://ohmura-study.net/206.html) which has very detailed introductions about Showa Gunto, and it also mentioned Yoshitada...It's a bilingual website so you can search for Yoshitada and his name in Kanji (義忠) I guess it is a little bit confusing since both "義" and "吉" are read as "Yoshi" in Japanese. Hopefully it can provide something useful to JH. SInce the arsenal stamp and "Showa Sakura" stamp were introduced in Showa 17~18, I don't know why this sword doesn't bear those stamps. A wild guess, or a better one to JH, is that this is a hand forged Japanese Sword since those stamps were only applied to those Gunto made with non-traditional way. (made by machines, or semi-traditional way) As for the mei, I personally think it is quite beautiful in a calligraphic viewpoint. I also found another Shawo Gunto made by Yoshitada which was sold at the price of 180K Japanese Yen. Unfortunately I can't compare the mei with yours, but it also doesn't have those stamps on it (http://n-kosen.com/katana/C162.html)

Dear all, Good morning. The Japanese seller finally kindly replied with the picture of Torokusho, however, it just made me even confused... The issued date looks like Showa 6 to me(though the first few words are kind of blurry), but the whole sword registration system was not implemented until Showa 26, the year discussed in the thread as "Daimyo Toroku." On Showa 26, the year that Japanese government introduced the registration/management system of Nihonto, "daimyo" (feudal rulers, elites, big families) were firstly invited to turn in their swords for registration. This fact somehow supports Darcy's viewpoint that people may be able to find more important swords turned in on Showa 26, but it doesn't mean the swords turned in on other years are less valuable. Anyway, thank you for sharing your knowledge and thoughts here.

Dear all, I've sent the sword to Chicago Swordshow for NTHK's Shin Sa, and hopefully they will inform me the answer next Sunday. On the other hand, I also email the seller in Japan to ask him check the issue date of torokusho, unfortunately he didn't reply...I am a bit frustrated because normally those Japanese sellers are very friendly and eager to help...but anyway, will update the result of the NTHK Shin Sa next weekend. Oh, I almost forgot, is there any way we can tell whether the paper is issued by the HQ of NBTHK in tokyo? The envelop of the paper has their Tokyo address on the back, but I guess they use that kind of envelop for every papers no matter it is issued by Tokyo HQ or other branches. Vincent

To be honest, I am happily amazed when seeing the discussions above. You gentlemen are knowledgeable and I can really feel your passion for Nihonto. Especially I have to thank Darcy for his time and energy, his article is harsh but literally educational to beginners like me. I also agree with Paul that we should spending more time to study the swords, papers should be something just like references. Fortunately, I just knew that NTHK (Nihon Token Hozon Kai) is having an overseas assessment this month at Chicago, I guess I will send this piece for their assessment, not because I want a certificate to guarantee its value, but just to solve my curiosity. Besides, NTHK's certificate will also include descriptions of Hamon and Jihada characteristics on its certificate, which is also helpful to learn more about the sword. I will keep you guys posted when receiving the assessment result from NTHK (probably early May). Again, thank you very much, every of you PS. The pixel of the picture of Torokusho is not high enough, it looks like Showa 6th year to me. And Japanese government takes those Torokusho back before the swords were exported. Vincent

Dear all, Hello to every one. I am new here and I apologize if this topic had already been discussed . Recently purchased a Nihonto with NBTHK green paper dated Showa 50. I understand many, if not all, collectors have serious doubt regardingi the authenticity of NBTHK papers issued during this period of time. People think that those NBTHK branches issued paper cautiouslessly or with some other motivations, and the owners of real Nihonto would send their swords to NBTHK again for a second assessment and yellow paper. However, what if the green paper was issued by the headquarter? is it also not trustworthy? A further question is, how can we tell whether the paper was issued by NBTHK headquarter or branches? (Call them is no-no, I can't speak Japanese, unfortunately) Thank you very much to those who answer my questions and who just join the discussion, the only way I can express my appreciation is to share the sword I just bought with you. Vincent