Jacques D.

The size of the machis, especially the size of the ha-machi allows to see if a blade has been polished a little or a lot, the less the ha-machi is protruding the more the blade has been polished. That's why very often the sellers present the blade with the habaki. In general ha-machi koto are less prominent than shinto ones which are less prominent than shinshinto ones. This is an important criterion because the old blades (before the Sengoku jidai) and especially the Soshu blades do not have a shingane and neither do the tanto, whatever the period.

Not always, it can also be a lack of mastery on the part of the swordsmith. i would add this is not the only criterion to judge the state of fatigue of a sword, the size of the machis is also very important. This is obviously not valid for blades forged before the sengoku-jidai (except for machis)

Oh guys, try to be serious, Kantei is not chiromancy

About Hon-Ami Myohon, the picture below is from the french version of this book : https://www.amazon.fr/Japan-Encyclopedia-Louis-Frederic/dp/0674007700/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=9780674017535&linkCode=qs&qid=1627412358&s=books&sr=1-1 Translation : Hon-Ami Myöhon , sword maker (1252-1355) Ancestor of the Hon-Ami family.

Oups, you are right John and me totally wrong. Honhami Myohon is said to be dead in 1353 or 1355.

The text i shared cannot be found on Internet; i got it from the curator of the Baur Museum whom i know personally. It's written in french and i translated it (hope translation is correct). Must be read as we do, not in the Japanese way => 13th century = 1400s

No check needed, gimei.

A little text about polishing from the Baur Museum in Geneva

The Nihonto meikan lists another Bizen Tochika who worked around Shoo (1288/1293). It's possible Fujishiro made a confusion.

It's the nidai Yasuhiro (Jokyo), chujo like the shodai

Detecting a gimei is not astrology Detecting a gimei is not so easy, it cannot be done without authentic examples, throughout the career of a smith. Recently, I made a mistake on a Masayuki I know well.

There's a guy waiting for information, maybe you should stop talking nonsense. I suggest you seriously study the the differences in styles in the Bizen signatures, you are far from it.

As there are in Muromachi 3 smiths (low ranked) who signed Bishu Osafune Sukemune , i wonder what allows you to say that it is probably gimei. As for the sugata since this blade is very tired (see the machi) it is difficult to date it especially without any measurement. I think it's probably a kazu-uchi mono.

In ko-bizen there are two kinds of sugata (the difference is mainly in the mihaba with a kissaki in proportion and the depth of the sori) and the kamazu-kissaki is not an absolute rule, Masatsune for example making a ko-kissaki and even sometimes a chu-kissaki

Maybe, but very expensive judging by this example http://www.shoubudou.co.jp/products/detail.php?product_id=171