Jussi Ekholm

I think it depends what you are willing to accept. Looking for verified signed tachi from Heian you are looking at big bucks even if the condition would be off. Signed (verified) Kamakura tachi by unremarkable smiths occasionally appear for "reasonable" prices. If you are willing to go for shortened and attributed swords then things are more doable, however there is always the uncertainty factor even if the sword would be professionally attributed. Do you have a budget in mind?

Awesome like always Moriyama-san. I think you are doing very well Chris, this is very difficult handwriting and translation and you are doing it

I believe the term would be 四所物 - Yondokoromono However it can be bit complicated as there are also sets that are classified by NBTHK as Mitokoromono & Tsuba or Mitokoromono & Fuchi/Kashira.

Giordy and Steve gave some solid advice. I would recommend at least 500,000 yen budget if looking for old signed tachi. Here are few (authenticated by NBTHK) examples in that range, not that none are these are very desirable items but they show that can be achieved for small budget. Hidekage: https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/m1064309208 (unfortunately sword dealer had took the info down on the site when it went to Yahoo JP) Tsuneie: https://www.aoijapan...fune-ju-den-tsuneie/ Moriyuki: https://www.e-sword....katana/1910-1012.htm Hisamitsu: https://www.e-sword....katana/1610-1080.htm

Whoa, thanks for information Now I must resist the temptation to start Yahoo JP hoarding...

What would be your approximate budget? You can find signed old pieces for reasonable amounts as Giordy mentioned above,

Were you planning to use an agent for bidding? I don't believe Jauce, Buyee or other proxy bidders will be able to allow swords for bidding, as the de-registration process is bit complicated.

I believe the signature would be 江府住立花圓龍子藤原義秀作 / 元治元甲子(X)八月日 Smith is Tachibana Yoshihide and dated to 1864. Unfortunately I am not confident in the one character that I put as X but someone will fill that blank spot.

I feel the main question is what the sword is in general and how do you feel about it? I own a sword with problematic bōshi. Got it from fellow forum member who is a great sword dealer, after realizing the flaw on inspection he offered a huge discount on the item (so flaw like this affects the price by a great factor). I am super happy with the item and I would much rather own an unique item with huge flaw than a pristine item that is not to my liking. It just depends on how do you feel about the item in general, at least for me. In my league I cannot afford items to my liking that are close to perfect so I need to search for items that are available in my range that I still want to have.

I feel late Muromachi could be plausible for the sword.

I do not know a thing about these other than having seen few old ones. However I am liking your work and I think you are talented.

I think based on those pictures it would be impossible to me to say almost anything. Just on the size of the sword & nakago I might guess later part of Muromachi.

I think the signature style 高田住XX - Takada jū XX is very rare. I have a book of Bungo smiths and there are the 2 different Yukihisa smiths mentioned with small brief info on them but I cannot find a reference mei for either one. There is only one similar style mei in the book 高田住国久 Takada jū Kunihisa in the book but it seems even less info on this smith. How long is your sword from the habaki notch to the tip in straight line?

Perhaps you could take a high quality picture of the signature and another of bottom character directly from above. There were some good possibilities that could be plausible smiths of the item. Your sword seems to have the old NBTHK Kicho paper that was issued in 1972 (昭和47). Back when the old papering system was in use by NBTHK then also branches around Japan could issue the papers. Even though these things have happened much before I was born I have looked into it as I am lucky to have the NBTHK magazines from this time. For example in 1969, there were several local branch shinsa every month. Now as I have the magazines there were problems in that method of shinsa, and local branch shinsa were stopped few times, before altering the system to the current one. I believe one local branch shinsa termination happened at the end of 1972. I think sending to NBTHK might not be worth it, as Kirill said. Even though I am a member and big supporter of the organization and I do appreciate their current system, unfortunately currently just the cost and difficulty of sending an item like this from outside Japan is just too high in my personal opinion. I do think there is a high chance that NBTHK would have some info and references on the smith if they can read/guess the character. They do have their own records of papered items and I think Hozon blades are 120,000+ currently but I believe they do not share those records. I feel you have nice and interesting item, hopefully you are enjoying trying to figure it out. I think that is one of the fun parts of this hobby.

The Kanetsuji (兼辻) blade is not connected to these two listings I presume? Funny enough I accidentally bumped into this smith lineage last night when browsing some items. There were several generations working late Muromachi period. For me both the N.1 and N.2 could look interesting. However when looking at images of N.1 it seems it could be very worn down.

Awesome item and very interesting connection.

Happy they arrived safely to you

I think it is just a matter of collecting preferences and budget. Not everyone can collect at the same level, nor do they want to even follow the commonly advised approach. For example you could have a shortened Edo period blade in good condition vs. long original length blade by same smith in worse condition. Your preferences would be a deciding factor if you would choose one over another blade.

Well 76,000 yen isn't really too much, and I agree with you that I like the shape and size of the wakizashi. Like Kirill I would think possibly late Muromachi for the sword. I have not seen an example by Nanbokuchō or even early Muromachi Masahiro having this signature. I feel 相州住正広 Sōshū jū Masahiro is the most common signature.

As someone who has been on a budget for a long time, I think there would be few different types of approaches that I might go for. As getting all the boxes ticked on a budget will be very difficult, especially when seeking very old items. 1. Focusing on shape and size. This is my personal preference . Aiming to get an item to your desired size and shape regardless of school or condition. 2. Quality and condition first, trying to go after the best item in that field while putting the size and school as lesser importance 3. Focusing on a school and perhaps even a smith, looking after available specific swords. For number one you could seek something like c. 80 cm tachi and as available options for them would be very limited on a budget, so you would have to be open for condition issues and perhaps even willing to accept Muromachi period items (even when seeking for earlier ones). Second one would be possibly accepting wakizashi and very short katana blades as you can get higher quality on shorter blades when on a budget. Focus would perhaps be on attributions that are pointing towards high quality. Number 3 is quite self explaining as you could choose for example like Uda as we talked about in here. However when going something like Bizen in general the availability of signed ones rises by great multiples. Some highly desirable smiths and schools are not really available at a budget.

If you aim for Uda school tachi especially signed one, then it can be bit difficult task and the variation in price is huge. Here is an example of Uda Kunimitsu tachi from late Kamakura, this is very famous sword and perhaps we wont see it for sale again. It was 9,500,000 yen in 2013: https://web.archive....0/info/item/a470.htm For mumei Konyūdō attributed katana I have seen few in 800k - 1,5M range. Finding a signed Uda Kunifusa tachi is also super rare and priced accordingly. This haven't got a price listed but is should be quite expensive: https://www.taibundo...l.php?product_id=471 Mumei Kunifusa attributed katana I have seen prices from 500k to bit over 1M. For signed tachi I would recommend going for bit "lesser" names. This Tomotsugu tachi from late Nanbokuchō was for 700k : https://www.kusanagi...ya.com/SHOP/188.html Here is most likely Muromachi period Tomotsugu tachi, it has been listed in few places but 580k now: https://www.toukenko...i&katanaA071223.html This Tomonori tachi from late Nanbokuchō to early Muromachi has been at few dealers between 650-800k : https://www.kusanagi...ya.com/SHOP/463.html

Well can anyone really judge, if it would have been Tokubetsu Hozon wakizashi by a good smith for 600$? I mean it would have been totally outside my intrests but would have immidiately gone for it knowing it would be at least a super easy flip. eBay, Yahoo JP etc. can be really difficult places to shop, so I will advice caution. Of course you can actually get really good deals in them. I think I am bit backwards in my advice against the general concensus, I encourage buying something and enjoying it. Speaking from experience it is not really all that fun to save up years and years towards getting something, of course people have varying mentalities but I cannot really imagine many wanting to get into collecting will want to wait 5 years before buying the first item. Getting and handling new stuff is actually exciting regardless of the item level (at least for me).

Excellent work Manuel and great project Grev.

Here is the item at Yahoo JP: https://buyee.jp/ite.../auction/j1119171077

Chiyozuru is unfortunately not a "premium" tier attribution. I checked and NBTHK attributed mumei Chiyozuru katana seem to run around 400k to 800k yen from Japanese dealers. Many of them have koshirae in package. Very few of them are Tokubetsu Hozon and Hozon seems to be the most common attribution paper. The short length of yours is bit negative when you think about the price. However it does seem to be in nice condition. However it must be noted that pricing in Europe & US is bit different to Japan, and I base majority of my prices from Japanese dealers. And I don't really care about business side of things. There are multiple Japanese Sword dealers in the Netherlands who might give a much better estimate to you. And they could evaluate the sword in person too.