FletchSan

The NTHK attribution was UDA Kunimune and the sayagaki was a little more ambitious - O-Sa. Cheers, Ben

Uda & Muromachi match one of the attributions - nice work.

School is correct !is it possible to order the photos you upload to NMB? I’ve always struggled with this and the order has been random.

Hi All, A few images of a recently acquired o-suriage Katana with long bands of nie throughout the hamon and clear utsuri. Out of polish, though hopefully enough detail in the photos for a few comments. There are two attributions though interested in your thoughts as always! Nagasa: 67cm Sori 1.9cm kasane: 6mm Ben

15 mins from my place - I’ll be there on Sunday, looking forward to seeing the display!

I picked up a few hand-painted collotypes of Japanese photographs and amongst them was this great image of a curio shop. Nowhere near the quality of the albumen prints - though still interesting. If only I had a time machine to visit his shop... would love to know what we have here ! I think I'd go for the ōdachi lying on the floor Ben

Thanks Emma! I’ve ordered a book called Photography in Japan 1853-1912 that I hope will identify a few. I’ll look into Mukashi Mukashi as well. I’ve found some information on a few of them online though many of them don’t seem to have been published before so fingers crossed. Ben

Added another 20 photos to the Photos of Japan website and also had a go at creating a few t-shirts lol

A preview of the new album and what is inside. Some pretty stunning images and a beautiful album, can't wait to upload them all to the website.

No worries. I’ll let you know when they are on the new website. It takes ages to scan each at high res then processing them ready for the store & site so I’ll be doing a few this weekend and the rest over the next couple of weeks. They’ll appear under the new gallery section https://www.photosofjapan.com/gallery/

I got a bit carried away and created a web site as well The plan is to have a gallery of all images and research and document them on the site as well as a link to the redbubble store so people can order high res prints if they so desire. I also scored another album with an additional 50 photos which I'll be uploading http://www.photosofjapan.com cheers, Ben

Hi All, I have been very busy carefully scanning the prints from my album in high resolution and have created a Redbubble store so others could order prints and enjoy them also I've only scanned and uploaded 42/97 though will continue to add to the collection over time. If there are any photographs that people would like available on the store let me know and I'll move it to the top of the list! https://www.redbubble.com/people/Fletchsan/shop?asc=u cheers, Ben

Btw I had the same issue trying to send a sword to the US about 6 months ago with the same story that it was due a new arrangement between US and Auspost preventing weapons from being sent and it was returned to me as dangerous goods. I’ve been using DHL ever since with no issues.

Will do, and I get it The seller wasn’t a collector and was just told it was most likely gimei given the name which is the right assumption of course. It hasn’t been confirmed either way by Shinsa as it was part of an estate sale and hasn’t been in the market before as far as I know. Anyway all I can do is research it and eventually submit it if the workmanship matches the mei

A few papered mei examples for comparison. Mine being the first image. Seems to be some variation over his long career. The second image is the only other tanto example I've been able to find though - which is the closest match. I also scanned the nakago which shows a lot more detail. [edit] I found another tanto example and the hide character is a reasonable match also found a suishinshi masahide wakizashi on unique Japan that has the same mitsu-mune and rounded back of the nakago. Kantei is fun

The oshigata in my original post is an original one, not my tanto. The reason I included a picture of it is its simularity. Its from Markus Sesko's Shinto & Shinshinto Katei p.304. That example is from his early artistic period so if mine did pass Shinsa I'd suspect it was from a similar period.

Yes, aware of Andrew and have used him before. I guess we can't complain about not having Shinsa in Australia given we have a local qualified Togishi

Thanks Paul. Unfortunately I’m limited re: Shinsa options being in Australia. I figure if I was to go to the expense of shipping it to Japan and using an agent etc I’d be better off waiting. At least with a window / togishi looking at it in hand I can get an informed view of whether it’s worth sending on to Shinsa I guess. What options do you have in the UK? Would you send to Japan or the US for Shinsa for something like this?

Thanks. I’ll try to get a window done at some stage before thinking about Shinsa. Does anyone have any more examples of papered masahide tantos? I could only find one other. I think my new litmus test to know whether it’s worth keeping is whether or not Bob mentions that it’s something he’d be willing to trade for

Hi All, I took a gamble on this tanto and I have a pretty good feeling about it and would like some feedback. It is signed Masahide with the Kao and as far as I can tell is a pretty decent match on several Kantei points. The condition isn't great to see too much detail, though the hamon is still bright captured under the right lighting. The shape of the tanto, yasurime, and mei are all pretty close to a few examples I've compared to. What is left of the fittings look like they were good quality. The provenance is also good being in the same family since the war, so hasn't passed through collectors hands or been previously papered. What do you think Jackpot or Junkyard? Ben

I haven't had any issues import swords either and I live in the state with the strictest laws re: sword ownership, Victoria. Ironically though, I have had issues shipping to the United States via Aus Post and have had to use DHL instead. I feel your pain as customs can be hit or miss though I've never had major issues like a sword being returned that was sent to me. Hopefully just a once off !

Hi Ken, Sorry, I was focused on the inscription and realisation that it must have been added when the sword was shortened vs. made and hence may be earlier than the date I guess it also raises the question about how long after a sword is made would suriage be typically be done. I guess the answer is anytime and may just be due to requirements of the new owner or current fashion in respect to length & fittings. There are photos in this post I created a few months ago, it's the one with Futasuji-hi on both sides. http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/22628-kanemoto-daisho/ I have also attached a scan that is fairly terrible though does show the change in the hamon from regular to irregular sanbonsugi. cheers, Ben

Interested in a few thoughts on an inscription I have on a Kanemoto Katana which has NTHK-NPO papers though doesn't mention which generation. It has a fairly regular sunbonsugi hamon with some areas of irregularity and a jizo boshi. The sword is dated and has an inscription of ownership which I have had translated. So the puzzling observation I have is that the date and inscription (in particular the date) are quite high up on the nakago, and assuming the lowest hole on the nakago was the original (you can see where the Hamachi was above the lowest mekugi-ana on the 1st pic attached), then the date and inscription would have been added later. The Kanemoto signature on the other side is below the lowest mekugi-ana so all good there. The date is 1557 so I had assumed possible 3rd generation Kanemoto though perhaps it may be earlier and the date reflects when the sword passed to its new owner and suriage was performed? thanks, Ben

Not exactly what you are after, though I have a katana with a naginata-hi on one side and futasuji on the other side.

Excellent. Thanks Steve!