Jussi Ekholm

First of let me say I am not biased in favour of either organization. Yes I am NBTHK member but I would be NTHK member too if they had a presence in Europe. I do plan to run both of my tachi (NBTHK papered) through NTHK shinsa just for fun if we will get one in Europe and I will be able to attend. Financially that makes 0 sense in my opinion but there is much more to this hobby for me than pure finances. I personally feel NBTHK papers dominate totally financial side of things. And if you have highly ranked good sword there is no reason not to have it papered by NBTHK. As a collector I appreciate NTHK papers a lot but in my opinion they do not hold financial value. As Japanese and international dealers understand business side of things, they know the difference it makes if the sword has no papers / old NBTHK papers / NTHK papers / modern NBTHK papers. @Prewar70 James was/is the sword you were looking at a signed and dated tachi by any chance? There have been few very interesting NTHK attributions for mumei swords I've seen popping up online lately. They are in 1M+ range (well didn't see the asking price for the first one but...) Kanemitsu: http://www.nihonto.us/O-KANEMITSU%20KATANA%20RT.htm den Enju Kunisuke: http://chigaitakanoha.com/touken/cat01_item001.html Ryōkai: http://chigaitakanoha.com/touken/cat01_item056.html den Aoe Yasuyuki: https://www.seiyudo.com/ka-100313.htm

I am with Ray's Taima opinion that they are highly thought of in general, and also Ryūmon Nobuyoshi from Senjuin. Also elevating Tegai Kanenaga and Shikkake Norinaga above others in their respective schools. Here is a bit of statistical data about signed Yamato blades from my database (lots and lots of further work to be done on it). I can maybe do some more digging when I have more free time. 509 Yamato swords pre-mid Muromachi (approx) so far in it. (Didn't include Shizu Kaneuji in this count, I have only 1 包氏 signature documented so far) Senjuin 15 smiths / 29 signed works in total 14 smiths only have 1 signed blade (2 odachi, 6 tachi, 1 kodachi, 4 tanto, 1 ken) Ryūmon Nobuyoshi 6 signed (6 tachi) Senjuin (or just partial mei) 9 signed (5 tachi, 1 naoshi, 1 ken, 2 yari) Taima 4 smiths / 11 signed works Kuniyuki 5 signed blades (4 tachi, 1 kodachi) Aritoshi 3 signed (3 tachi) 2 smiths only have 1 signed (1 tachi, 1 tanto) 1 mei Taima (1 katana) Tegai 9 smiths / 46 signed works Kanenaga 29 signed blades (24 tachi, 4 katana, 1 tanto) 17 other signed pieces by various smiths (6 tachi, 9 tanto, 1 ken) Hōshō 5 smiths / 13 signed works Sadayoshi x 2 (2 tanto) Sadaoki x 4 (1 tachi, 3 tanto) Sadakiyo x 5 (1 wakizashi, 4 tanto) Sadamune x 1 (1 tanto) Sadatsugu x 1 ( 1 tachi) Shikkake 2 smiths / 21 signed works Norinaga 18 signed works (10 tachi, 2 naoshi, 5 tanto, 1 ken) Sukemitsu 3 signed (1 odachi, 2 tachi) So if my math is not failing that should be about 120 signed works from Yamato so far in 509 swords. Of course the signature vs. mumei ratio is bit skewed as the focus is on top & high end pieces. And information of those is more easy to aquire compared to your basic stuff. EDIT* as Chris mentioned below about the blades so I added which blades the signed ones are.

I guess this would be a rhetorical question but how many swords with asking price well above 1M yen do you see for sale with NTHK papers in Japan?

I think NBTHK has been applying the den prefix quite lot at least in early shinsa. In the first 25 sessions there are lots of den prefixes on old mumei swords. One of the den Awataguchi Kuniyoshi stayed with den prefix on Tokubetsu Jūyō 6. Same with den Awataguchi Kunikiyo on Tokubetsu Jūyō 7. Sukezane kept the straight attribution at session 6. Those are the 3 mumei blades so far from this session that I know passed also Tokujū. There can be (probably are) few more but I don't have most of the Tokujū books yet. As for signed Hōshō, so far I have documented only 14 swords. 1 Kokuhō, 2 Jūyō Bunkazai, 2 Jūyō Bijutsuhin, 4 Tokubetsu Jūyō, 4 Jūyō and 1 Unknown status. I remembered that Darcy had done full statistics of signed Hōshō at Jūyō level and they seem to total 14 in number. So it seems like I'm still missing at least 6 signed Jūyō Hōshō.

My guess would be 筑前住源信国吉政 Chikuzen no ju Minamoto Nobukuni Yoshimasa

And here is the 2nd book. I admit as koshirae and fittings are not really my strong point I just listed them as items. Eventually when I get enough spark to do those I'll make good descriptions of them but they aren't a top priority for me... Book 2 1. Tanto – Umetada (1588) - 城州住埋忠作 / 天正十六年九月日 2. Tanto – Umetada (1590) - 城州住埋忠作 / 天正十八年十一月日 3. Tanto – Umetada (1591) - 城州住埋忠作 / 天正十九年三月日 4. Tanto – Umetada Myoju (1617) - 山城国西陣住人埋忠明寿 / 元和三年八月日 5. Katana – Horikawa Kunihiro - 国広 6. Tanto – Horikawa Kunihiro (1613) - 城州堀川住国広 / 慶長十八年三月日 7. Katana – Horikawa Kuniyasu - 国安 8. Wakizashi – Kunitomo - 越後守藤原国儔 9. Katana – Kunimichi - 出羽大掾 藤原国路 10. Wakizashi – Kunimichi - 出羽大掾 藤原国路 11. Naginata – Ariyoshi - 阿波守藤原在吉 12. Naginata – Iga no Kami Kinmichi - 伊賀守藤原金道 13. Katana – Tanba no Kami Yoshimichi - 丹波守吉道 14. Katana – Rai Kinmichi (1684) - 大法師法橋来栄泉 - 和泉守藤原来金道 / 貞享元年八月吉日 15. Katana – Kiju (1724) - 筒井越中守入道藤原紀充 / 享保九年正月吉日 16. Katana – Oya Kunisada - 和泉守藤原国貞 17. Naginata – Oya Kunisada - 和泉守藤原国貞 18. Katana – Shinkai Kunisada (1670) - 井上和泉守国貞 / 寛文十年八月日 19. Katana – Inoue Shinkai (1675) - 井上真改 / 延宝三年八月日 20. Wakizashi – Inoue Shinkai (1675) - 井上真改 / 延宝三年八月日 21. Katana – Inoue Shinkai (1678) - 井上真改 / 延宝六年八月日 22. Katana – Kunisuke (Shodai) - 河内守藤原国助 23. Katana – Kunisuke - 河内守国助 24. Katana – Kunihira (1679) - 摂州住国平 / 延宝七年二月日 25. Wakizashi – Tsuda Sukehiro (1669) - 津田越前守助広 / 寛文九年八月日 26. Katana –Tsuda Sukenao - 近江守助直 / 以南蛮鉄造之 27. Katana – Tsuda Sukenao (1679) - 近江守高木住助直 / 延宝七?年二月日??? 28. Katana – Tsuda Sukenao (1680) - 近江守高木住助直 / 延宝八年二月吉日 29. Katana – Tsuda Sukenao (1686) - 津田近江守助直 / 貞享三年八月日 30. Katana – Tsuda Sukenao (1687) - 津田近江守助直 / 貞享二二年八月日 31. Katana – Tsuda Sukenao (1693) - 津田近江守助直 / 元禄六年二月日 32. Katana – Kanesada - 越後守包貞 33. Katana – Kanesada - 越後守包貞 34. Wakizashi – Kanesada - 越後守包貞 35. Katana – Ikkanshi Tadatsuna - 粟田口近江守忠綱 / 彫物同作 36. Katana – Tanba no Kami Kanemichi - 丹波守兼道 37. Katana – Kunikiyo - 山城守藤原国清 / ?南蛮鉄?之 38. Yari – Shimosaka - 肥後大掾下坂 / 越前住 39. Tanto – Sadakuni - 肥後大掾貞国 40. Tanto – Shigetaka - 播磨大掾藤原重高 / 越前住 41. Tanto – Shigetaka - 播磨大掾藤原重高 42. Naginata – Hirotaka - 越前住伯耆大掾汎隆 43. Katana – Takahira (1626) - 越中守藤原高平 / 寛永三年十一月日 44. Katana – Kaga Kanewaka - 加州住兼若造 45. Katana – Kaga Kanewaka (Nidai) (1661) - 越中守高平三男兼若造 / 寛文元年八月吉日 46. Katana – Hankei - 繁慶 47. Katana – Kaneshige - 和泉守兼重 48. Katana – Okimasa - 長曽祢 49. Katana – Yasusada (1657) - 大和守安定 / 明暦三年八月日 50. Katana – Tachibana Yoshitsugu - 肥後守法城寺橘吉次 51. Katana – Masateru - 越前守法城寺橘正照 / ??? 52. Katana – Tachibana Tsunemitsu - 対馬守橘常光 53. Katana – Suishinshi Masahide & Sendai Kunikane & Masanaga (1782) - 秋元家臣川部儀八郎藤原正秀 - 天明二壬寅年二月日 / 奥州仙台住人本郷源之助藤原国包 - ?????? 源正永 54. Katana – Suishinshi Masahide (1815) - 水心子正秀 / 文化十二年???? 二月吉日造 ???? 55. Katana – Koyama Munetsugu (1860) - 備前介藤原宗次 / 安政七年二月日 56. Katana – Unju Korekazu (1861) - 石堂運寿是一精鍛作之 / 万延二年二月日 57. Katana – Unju Korekazu - 石堂運寿是一精鍛作之 58. Katana – Minamoto Masayuki - 山浦環正行 59. Katana – Kiyomaro (1854) - 源清麿 / 嘉永七年正月日 60. Katana – Kiyomaro (1849) - 源清麿 / 嘉永二年二月日 61. Tanto – Kiyomaro - 清麿 62. Katana – Masao (Tenpo) - 天然子寿昌 / 天保??? 二月日 63. Katana – Nobuhide (1865) - 栗原筑前守平信秀??? / 慶応元年八月日 64. Katana – Kiyondo (1867) - 荘内住豊前守藤原清人 / 慶応三年八月吉日??? 65. Wakizashi – Tegarayama Masashige - 奥州白川臣正繁彫同作 / ???? 66. Katana – Sendai Kunikane (Shodai) (1633) - 山城大掾藤原国包 / 寛永十年十月日 67. Katana – Kaneshige - 奥州涌谷住包重 68. Katana – Tegarayama Ujishige (1657) - 播州住人大和大掾藤原氏重作 / 明暦三年五月吉日 ??? 69. Katana – Shichibei Sukesada (1647) - 備前国長船住七兵衛祐定作 ???? / 正保四年二月吉日 70. Yari – Teruhiro - 肥後守輝広作 71. Yari – Teruhiro - 肥後守藤原輝広 72. Katana – Nanki Shigekuni - 於南紀重国造之 73. Naginata – Teruhiro - 播磨守藤原輝広 74. Wakizashi – Ujifusa - 飛騨守藤原氏房 75. Katana – Kunifusa - 国房 76. Katana – Nobukuni Shigekane - 筑州住源信国重包 77. Wakizashi – Tadayoshi (Shodai) - 肥前国忠吉 / ???? 78. Katana – Tadahiro - 肥前国住近江大掾藤原忠広 79. Katana – Tadahiro - 肥前国住近江大掾藤原忠広 80. Wakizashi – Tadahiro & Tadayoshi - 近江大掾藤原忠広 / 肥前国陸奥守忠吉 81. Wakizashi – Yoshinobu - 肥前国住人吉信 82. Katana – Masahiro - 肥前国佐賀住正広 83. Katana – Masahiro (Shodai) (1627) - 肥前国佐賀住正広 / 寛永四年二月吉日 84. Katana – Tadakuni - 肥前住播摩大掾藤原忠国 85. Katana – Tadakuni - 肥前住播摩大掾藤原忠国 86. Katana – Tadakuni - 肥前住播摩大掾藤原忠国 87. Katana – Muneyasu - 肥前国住人源宗安 88. Katana – Mondo no Sho Masakiyo - 主水正藤原正清 89. Katana – Yasuyo (1803) - 主馬首藤原朝臣一平安代 / 享和拾三年八月吉日 90. Wakizashi – Yasuyo - 主馬首藤原朝臣一平安代 91. Katana – Motohira (1804) - 奥大和守朝臣元平 / 文化元??? 92. Teppo - 93. Koshirae – Tanto Koshirae 94. Koshirae – Tachi Koshirae 95. Koshirae – Tachi Koshirae 96. Koshirae – Tachi Koshirae 97. Koshirae – Tachi Koshirae 98. Koshirae – Tachi Koshirae 99. Koshirae – Tachi Koshirae 100. Koshirae – Katana Koshirae 101. Koshirae – Tachi Koshirae 102. Koshirae – Tachi Koshirae 103. Koshirae – Tachi Koshirae 104. Koshirae – Tachi Koshirae 105. Koshirae – Tachi Koshirae 106. Koshirae – Tachi Koshirae 107. Koshirae – Tachi Koshirae 108. Koshirae – Tachi Koshirae 109. Koshirae – Tachi Koshirae 110. Koshirae – Katana Koshirae 111. Koshirae – Wakizashi Koshirae 112. Koshirae – Wakizashi Koshirae 113. Koshirae – Wakizashi Koshirae 114. Koshirae – Katana Koshirae 115. Koshirae – Wakizashi Koshirae 116. Koshirae – Daisho Koshirae 117. Koshirae - Daisho Koshirae 118. Koshirae – Katana Koshirae 119. Tsuba - 120. Tsuba - 121. Tsuba - 122. Tsuba - 123. Tsuba - 124. Tsuba - 125. Tsuba - 126. Tsuba - 127. Kogai - 128. Menuki - 129. Tsuba - 130. Tsuba - 131. Tsuba - 132. Menuki - 133. Menuki - 134. Menuki - 135. Kogai - 136. Kozuka - 137. Kozuka - 138. Kozuka - 139. Kozuka - 140. Fittings - 141. Futakoromono - 142. Kogai - 143. Menuki - 144. Fittings - 145. Kogai - 146. Kogai - 147. Kogai - 148. Kogai - 149. Kozuka - 150. Kozuka - 151. Tsuba - 152. Kozuka - 153. Fittings - 154. Tsuba - 155. Kozuka - 156. Kozuka - 157. Tsuba - 158. Tsuba - 159. Tsuba - 160. Tsuba - 161. Fuchi & Kashira - 162. Kozuka - 163. Futakoromono - 164. Mitokoromono - 165. Tsuba - 166. Daisho Tsuba - 167. Fuchi & Kashira - 168. Mitokoromono - 169. Fittings set - 170. Fuchi & Kashira - 171. Tsuba - 172. Fuchi & Kashira - 173. Daisho Tsuba - 174. Tsuba - 175. Daisho Tsuba -

It was nice to have a day off and I spent the whole day with Jūyō 25 items. To me it looks like it was a great session. Some amazing items were featured as well as few not so great in my opinion. Of course this is just an opinion without seeing the actual items in person. There shouldn't be errors in this as I took care in writing this. The ? in Book 1 usually means a missing kanji. In Book 2 some of the later swords had really long and complicated signatures I skipped bit stuff there and ???'s are there to remind myself to return and complete them at another time. Book 1 1. Katana – den Awataguchi Kunikiyo – Mumei 2. Tanto – Norikuni - 則国 3. Tanto – Norikuni - 則国 4. Katana – den Awataguchi Kuniyoshi – Mumei 5. Katana – den Awataguchi Kuniyoshi – Mumei 6. Tanto – Yoshimitsu - 吉光 7. Katana – Rai Kuniyuki – Mumei 8. Wakizashi – Niji Kunitoshi – Mumei 9. Tachi – Rai Kunitoshi - 来国俊 10. Katana – den Rai Kunitoshi – Mumei 11. Tanto – Rai Kunitoshi - 来国俊 12. Tanto – Rai Kunitoshi - 来国俊 13. Tanto – Rai Kunitoshi - 来国俊 14. Tanto – Rai Kunitoshi - 来国俊 15. Tachi – Rai Kunimitsu - 来国光 16. Katana – den Rai Kunimitsu – Mumei 17. Tanto – Rai Kunimitsu - 来国光 18. Tachi – Rai Kunitsugu - 来国次 19. Katana – den Rai Kunitsugu – Mumei 20. Yari – Rai Kunihide - 来国秀 21. Tachi – Ryokai - 了戒 22. Katana – den Ryokai – Mumei 23. Katana – den Ryokai – Mumei 24. Katana – Nakajima Rai – Mumei 25. Katana – Nakajima Rai – Mumei 26. Wakizashi – Nobukuni (1361) - 信国 / 康安元年二 27. Wakizashi – Nobukuni - 信国 28. Wakizashi – den Nobukuni – Mumei 29. Tachi – Nobukuni - 信国 30. Wakizashi – Nobukuni (1413) - 源左衛門尉信国 / 応永廿年八月日 31. Wakizashi – Nobukuni - 信国 32. Wakizashi – Nobukuni - 信国 33. Katana – den Hasebe – Mumei 34. Wakizashi – Hasebe Kuninobu - 長谷部国信 35. Wakizashi – Hasebe Kuninobu - 長谷部国信 36. Tanto – Hasebe Munenobu - 長谷部宗信 37. Ken – Senjuin – Mumei 38. Ken – Senjuin – Mumei 39. Tachi – Senjuin - 千手院 40. Kodachi – Senjuin Kunikiyo - 国清 41. Tachi – Senjuin – Mumei 42. Katana – Senjuin – Mumei 43. Katana & Koshirae – Senjuin – Mumei 44. Yari – Senjuin - 千手院 45. Katana – Kanenaga – Shumei 46. Katana – Tegai – Mumei 47. Katana – Tegai – Mumei 48. Katana – Tegai – Mumei 49. Katana – Tegai – Mumei 50. Katana – Tegai – Mumei 51. Katana – Tegai – Mumei 52. Katana – den Taima – Mumei 53. Katana – den Taima – Mumei 54. Naoshi – den Taima – Mumei 55. Tanto – Taima – Mumei 56. Katana – Cho Aritoshi – Mumei 57. Katana – den Cho Aritoshi – Mumei 58. Katana – Shikkake Norinaga – Mumei 59. Katana – Shikkake – Mumei 60. Katana – Shikkake – Mumei 61. Tanto – Norinaga – Kinzogan 62. Katana – Hosho – Mumei 63. Tanto – Hosho – Mumei 64. Wakizashi – Hosho – Mumei 65. Tachi – Sukemitsu (Yamato) – Mumei 66. Katana – Yamato Shizu – Mumei 67. Katana – Yamato Shizu – Mumei 68. Naginata – Kanabo Masatsugu - 南都住金房 兵衛尉政次 69. Wakizashi – den Takagi Sadamune – Mumei 70. Katana – Shizu – Mumei 71. Katana – den Shizu – Mumei 72. Katana – den Shizu – Mumei 73. Wakizashi – Shizu – Mumei 74. Tanto – Shizu – Mumei 75. Katana – Naoe Shizu – Mumei 76. Katana – Naoe Shizu – Mumei 77. Katana – Naoe Shizu – Mumei 78. Katana – Naoe Shizu – Mumei 79. Katana – Naoe Shizu – Mumei 80. Katana – Naoe Shizu – Mumei 81. Katana – Naoe Shizu – Mumei 82. Wakizashi – den Naoe Shizu – Mumei 83. Katana – den Kinju – Mumei 84. Wakizashi – Kinju (Nidai) – Mumei 85. Wakizashi – den Kaneyuki – Mumei 86. Katana – den Tametsugu – Mumei 87. Katana – den Tametsugu – Mumei 88. Naoshi – den Tametsugu – Mumei 89. Katana – den Tametsugu – Mumei 90. Tachi – Kanenaga (1399) - 濃州住人兼長作 / 応永六年五月日 91. Katana – Kanesada - 濃州関住兼定作 92. Katana – Kanemoto - 兼元 93. Katana – Ujifusa (1568) - 濃州関住兼房作 / 永禄十一年六月吉日 94. Yari – Hironaga & Hiroshige - 濃州住弘長 / 菅原弘重作 95. Katana – Sanekage – Mumei 96. Tanto – Sanekage – Mumei 97. Tachi & Koshirae – Nobunaga - 信長 98. Wakizashi – Fujishima - 藤嶋 99. Katana – Norishige – Mumei 100. Tanto – Norishige – Tomei 則重 101. Katana – Ko-Uda – Mumei 102. Katana – Ko-Uda – Mumei 103. Katana – Ko-Uda – Mumei 104. Katana – Ko-Uda – Mumei 105. Tanto – Uda Sanekuni - 宇多真国 106. Katana – Shintogo – Mumei 107. Tanto – Shintogo Kunimitsu - 国光 108. Katana – den Yukimitsu – Mumei 109. Katana – den Yukimitsu – Mumei 110. Wakizashi & Koshirae – den Yukimitsu – Mumei 111. Katana – den Masamune – Mumei 112. Tanto – Sadamune – Mumei 113. Wakizashi – Hiromitsu – Kinpun 114. Wakizashi – Akihiro - 秋広 115. Katana – Hiromasa - 相州住広正 116. Katana – Kunitsugu (1506) - 相州住国次作 / 永正三年二月日 117. Katana – Tsunaie - 相州住綱家作 118. Wakizashi – Yoshisuke - 義助 119. Wakizashi – Motosuke & Hirosuke - 駿州住元助広助作之 120. Katana – Muramasa - 村正 121. Tanto – Muramasa - 村正 122. Tachi – Tomonari - 備前国友成 123. Tachi – Masatsune - 正恒 124. Tachi – Masatsune - 正恒 125. Tachi – Toshitsune - 利恒 126. Tachi – Kanehira – Tomei 備前国包平作 127. Tachi – Nobufusa - 信房作 128. Tachi – Takakane - 高包 129. Tachi – Kunitsugu - 国継 130. Tachi – Kageyasu - 景安 131. Tanto – Kageyasu – Mumei 132. Katana – Ko-Ichimonji Yukikane – Orikaeshi 行包 133. Tachi – Sukeyoshi - 助吉 134. Ken – Yoshifusa - 吉房 135. Katana – Ichimonji Sukezane – Mumei 136. Tachi – Suketsuna - 助綱 137. Katana – Suketsuna (Kamakura Ichimonji) – Mumei 138. Tachi – Ichimonji - 一 139. Kodachi – Ichimonji - 一 140. Katana – Ichimonji – Mumei 141. Katana – Ichimonji – Kinzogan 142. Katana – Ichimonji – Mumei 143. Katana – den Ichimonji – Mumei 144. Katana – den Ichimonji – Mumei 145. Wakizashi – Ichimonji – Mumei 146. Wakizashi – Ichimonji – Mumei 147. Tachi – Yoshioka Ichimonji - 一 148. Katana – Yoshioka Ichimonji – Mumei 149. Katana – Yoshioka Ichimonji – Mumei 150. Wakizashi – Yoshioka Ichimonji – Mumei 151. Tachi – den Kagehide – Mumei 152. Wakizashi – Nagamitsu – Mumei 153. Katana – Sanemitsu – Mumei 154. Katana – Sanenaga – Mumei 155. Katana – Sanenaga – Mumei 156. Tachi – Kagemitsu - 備前長船住景光 157. Tanto – Kagemitsu (13XX) - 備州長船住景光 / 元?三年十月日 158. Tachi – Chikakage - 備前国長 159. Tachi – Bizen Sukenaga – Mumei 160. Tachi – Unsho - 雲生 161. Katana – den Unsho – Mumei 162. Katana – Unji – Mumei 163. Katana – Unji – Mumei 164. Katana – Unji – Mumei 165. Katana – den Unji – Mumei 166. Katana – den Unji – Mumei 167. Tachi – Nitta Masatsugu - 備前住左近将監正次 168. Katana – Ko-Yoshii – Mumei 169. Katana – Ko-Yoshii – Mumei 170. Naoshi – Ko-Yoshii – Mumei 171. Katana – den Kanemitsu – Mumei 172. Wakizashi – den Kanemitsu – Mumei 173. Tanto – Kanemitsu (1357) - 備州長船兼光 / 延文二年三月日 174. Tachi – Tomomitsu (1363) - 備??船 / 貞治二年三月日 175. Katana – Motomitsu – Mumei 176. Naoshi – Masamitsu – Orikaeshi 備州長船政光 177. Tanto – Motomasa (1371) - 備州長船基政 / 応安二二年二月日 178. Naoshi – den Yoshikage – Mumei 179. Wakizashi & Koshirae – Kanenaga – Mumei 180. Katana – den Nagamori – Mumei 181. Katana – den Nagamori – Mumei 182. Katana – den Nagamori – Mumei 183. Katana – Motoshige – Mumei 184. Wakizashi – Motoshige (1357) - 備州長船住元重 / 延文二年十月日 185. Katana – Shigezane – Mumei 186. Katana – Omiya Morikage (1375) - 備州長船盛景 / 永和元年十月日 187. Katana – Omiya Morikage – Mumei 188. Katana – den Omiya Morikage – Mumei 189. Tanto – Omiya Morikage (1362) - 備州長船盛景 / 康安二年六月日 190. Katana – Omiya – Mumei 191. Katana – Omiya – Mumei 192. Katana – Omiya – Mumei 193. Tachi – Iemori (1403) - 備州長船家守 / 応永十年八月日 194. Wakizashi – Iemori (1394) - 備州長船家守 / 応永元年十月日 195. Tachi – Moromitsu - 備州長船師光 / ???年八月日 196. Tachi – Moromitsu (1395) - 備州長船師光 / 応永二年二月日 197. Tanto – Moromitsu (1387) - 長船師光 / 至徳二二三月日 198. Ken – Moromitsu (1398) - 備州長船師光 / 応永五年三月日 199. Katana – Morimitsu (1406) - 備州長船盛光 / 応永十三年三月日 200. Tanto – Yasumitsu (1427) - 備州長船康光 / 応永三十二二年八月日 201. Wakizashi – Norimitsu (1500) - 備前国住長船四郎左衛門尉法光 / 明応九年八月日 202. Katana – Katsumitsu (1523) - 備前国住長船次郎左衛門尉勝光 / 大永三年八月吉日 203. Tachi – Suketsugu - 助次 204. Katana – Naotsugu – Orikaeshi 備中国住人直次作 205. Naoshi – Aoe – Mumei 206. Katana – Aoe – Mumei 207. Katana – den Aoe – Mumei 208. Katana – den Aoe – Mumei 209. Katana – den Aoe – Mumei 210. Naoshi – Aoe – Mumei 211. Tanto – Tsuguyoshi (Enbun) - 備中国住次吉作 / 延文?年七月日 212. Katana – Ko-Mihara – Mumei 213. Katana – Ko-Mihara – Mumei 214. Katana – Ko-Mihara – Mumei 215. Katana – Ko-Mihara – Mumei 216. Katana – Ko-Mihara – Mumei 217. Tachi – Kokubunji Sukekuni - 助国 218. Katana – Hokke Kaneyasu – Mumei 219. Tanto – Nio Kiyokage - 二王清景 220. Naoshi – Tanshu Kunimitsu – Mumei 221. Tachi – Kunimune (Hoki) - 国宗 222. Katana – Hoki Hiroyoshi (1565) - 伯耆国住見田五郎左衛門広賀作之 ???? / 永禄八年八月吉日 223. Katana – Hoki Hiroyoshi - 伯州住広賀作 224. Katana – Sekishu Naotsuna – Kiritsuke 225. Katana – den Sairen – Mumei 226. Tanto – Sa - 左 227. Tanto – Sa Yasuyoshi - 安吉 228. Wakizashi – Sa Yasuyoshi – Shumei 229. Katana – den Sa Yukihiro – Mumei 230. Katana – den Sa Yoshisada – Mumei 231. Katana – den Sa Sadayoshi – Mumei 232. Katana – den Sa Sadayoshi – Mumei 233. Wakizashi – Sa Kunihiro – Mumei 234. Wakizashi – den Sa Kunihiro – Mumei 235. Katana – den Reizen Sadamori – Mumei 236. Katana – Miike – Mumei 237. Katana – Miike – Mumei 238. Tachi & Koshirae – Bungo Yukihira - 豊後国行平作 239. Katana – Bungo Tomoyuki – Mumei 240. Katana – Enju Kunitoki – Kiritsuke 241. Katana – Enju Kunimura – Mumei 242. Wakizashi – Enju – Mumei 243. Katana – Enju – Mumei 244. Katana – Enju – Mumei 245. Katana – Enju – Mumei 246. Katana – Enju – Mumei 247. Tanto – Enju Kunisuke (1326-1329) - 国資 / 嘉暦??二月日 248. Katana – Ko-Naminohira – Mumei 249. Katana – Ko-Naminohira – Mumei 250. Tanto – Tomoyasu - 波平友安作 / 八月吉日

As Hōshō seems to be quite popular in here lately, here are the Hōshō passes from 20 to 25. You probably discussed this with Darcy but I think it might be beneficial if others are interested in this subject. 20 - 2 Katana 21 - 1 Tanto (signed) 22 - 1 Katana, 1 Tanto 23 - 2 Katana, 2 Tanto 24 - 1 Tanto 25 - 1 Katana, 1 Wakizashi, 1 Tanto In general Hōshō attribution seem to be quite rare. What is really blowing my mind regarding Yamato schools is how staggering record mumei Taima blades have at Jūyō.

My condolences, never met him in person but discussed a bit with him online. He always seemed to offer his assistance in every forum he was involved with and had a great knowledge about Eastern arms & armor in general.

I think it is very interesting one and nice sword. My first thought was it's surprisingly affordable... Well it's relative as I might never shop at this level. But after going into my statistics it seems like Naoe Shizu Jūyō mumei longswords go around 2-3M Yen asking prices in Japan. Measurements seem very typical to Naoe Shizu longsword, c. 70 cm length, sori between 1-2 cm, motohaba bit over 3,0 cm and sakihaba around 2,5 cm with long kissaki. I think Kirill has been voicing out an opinion about some attributions being general ones, and I guess I could share that view a bit. Naoe Shizu is very "general" attribution that gets handed out quite often, and I believe it's considered as a lower tier attribution. For example as I am documenting early swords there are 50+ mumei katana with Naoe Shizu attribution in just in the first 20 Jūyō shinsa. So it is not a rare attribution by any means and Naoe Shizu swords pop up for sale quite often. As for this particular sword I'd think similarily with Rayhan that way this is polished enhances the hada and makes it stand out a lot. Also the difference between Aoi oshigata and Jūyō oshigata is really big, and shows what different things people are seeing in it and how they see it. However it is crazy how really small things affect our views. Personally I like the shape of this one that was sold by Samurai Nippon a lot more. When you look at Jūyō papers you can see almost all the measurements of these 2 are really close. But the 2nd one gets my pick really easily by just looking at overall level. The asking price for this was 2,7M https://www.samurai-nippon.net/SHOP/V-1717.html

I am so happy how this is turning out, shows what a great community we have! I feel the stars are aligning with this one and I hope it will help your mother getting a new home or otherwise help your family in a good way. It's a great family story in general added on to the probably great set of stories already within your family line. Here is a picture of the Jūyō 13 sword, and as there are only 5 other known signed examples as Darcy noted, we now have 3 of them in this thread.

I think Ray's Ko-Uda guess would be the same one I would go for. In general when dealing with Uda school Ko-Uda usually refers to Nanbokuchō and Uda refers to Muromachi work. My guess might be that the second hole is the original one and sword would have been bit over 80 cm tachi originally. Of course the other possibility is that all of the original nakago is lost and this would be an odachi of over 90 cm. I feel that 3,3 cm motohaba to 2,2 cm sakihaba falls nicely within the common range for shortened Nanbokuchō swords being on the wider side on bottom and lower mid tier on the top. I have been often puzzled how many of the mumei swords still above 73 cm are (at least appear to be) greatly shortened, as there seem to be a lot of them, and surviving very long tachi are extremely rare. Due to that I personally feel that 80-90 cm potential original length might have been much more common than 90 cm+. And while there are even Nanbokuchō odachi out there with small kissaki, personally I'd expect sword to be wider at sakihaba and kissaki longer in overall if this was a really large sword originally. Similarily like Ray I would turn my attention to combination of hada and hamon together. Hada shows to me as hada-tachi (standing out), and like Ray explained earlier there seems to be large patterns mixed in with flowing pattern. I think Jean guided in another thread that this would point towards Northern provinces. There are also some schools down in Kyūshū that made standing out hada with similarish pattern, but when you combine the hamon in the mix that would make me go towards Uda specifically. There are other Hokkoku-mono that have similarish hada and jigane but they generally applied bit different style of hamon in my opinion. Also way up north there is Hōju which I personally like a lot. They share many features that are common in Uda work but they are quite rare and I would often lean towards Uda. Here are few examples of descriptions of Uda workmanship by NBTHK

I hope more experienced members will provide you information soon. Interesting piece, I am really puzzled by it, to me it does not seem like Nanbokuchō period Kanemitsu. The features I see on the blade by looking at the pictures do not resemble those I would expect from Kanemitsu. The sword you linked is another Jūyō Bunkazai by Kanemitsu, here is a link to the Fukushima Kanemitsu: http://www.emuseum.jp/detail/100501/000/000?mode=simple&d_lang=en&s_lang=en&word=kanemitsu&class=&title=&c_e=&region=&era=&century=&cptype=&owner=&pos=1&num=3 You can see some of the high classed works of Kanemitsu here online: http://www.sho-shin.com/kanemit.htm(Just note that Sho-Shin website has still the old designations, in the current classification there are 0 Kokuhō by Kanemitsu, the ones at Sho-Shin site lists as Kokuhō were deranked to Bunkazai) I am also very surprised this was written as a katana in the NBTHK paper while it is supposed to be a tachi from 1335. I believe this mei type 備州長船住兼光 is a prestigeous form by Kanemitsu, so far I have 17 signed tachi by Kanemitsu listed and only 4 of them have this style of mei and all are Jūyō Bunkazai. In total I have 47 signed works by Kanemitsu listed so far. This particular style appears on few tanto too but it is very rare in general.

I am not a fittings guy but it immidiately brought Chinese Dao sword guards to my mind. I'd think it might be Chinese instead of Japanese. See few links for reference of Chinese guards. You can see 3 out of these 4 have the same theme with twin dragons. https://www.ashokaarts.com/img/product_images/image/detail/chinese-dao-sword-with-pierced-brass-dragon-designs-9-5184.jpg http://www.mandarinmansion.com/images/chinese/qing-southern-saber/qing-saber19.jpg http://www.mandarinmansion.com/images/chinese/qing-chinese-officer-saber/qing-chinese-officer-saber15.jpg http://www.mandarinmansion.com/images/chinese/horse-tooth-saber/chinese-horse-tooth-patterned-saber9.jpg

I was browsing some European sword sellers aside from my regular Japanese site check. Egbert Mezingas site https://www.japanswordart.com/ had a link to upcoming auction of Japanese items. Yes there are some swords & accessories but they didn't really interest me but there was a great collection of books up for sale. For a moment I thought about trying to bid on lots but as I already have most of the interesting books in there and I've spent more than I should afford on books lately I should pass on this one as if won I'd end up just having multiple copies of very expensive books. But as I know many of these items well I thought I could give tips to members on these books. https://zeeuwsveilinghuis.cloudcatalogus.nl/Home/Cataloghere is the link to the auction and swords start on page 5, item number 301. The book lots are on page 6, 341,342,343, unfortunately some translations for Japanese source books are in different lots than the original books and some sets are mixed. If someone would be able to land all of the lots that would make a great library. Lot 341 - Zusetsu Nihonto Yogo Jiten by Kotoken Kajihara (the english partial translation is in lot 343) Meihin Katanaezu Shusei by Tanobe Michihiro (the huge book at the bottom limited edition of 600, amazing resource) Nihonto Zuikan Koto volume (Shinto is in 343) Yumei Koto Taikan by Iimura Shinto Taikan by Iimura (2 volumes) Shinshinto Taikan by Iimura Lot 342 - Afu Translated volumes of Nihonto Koza, 5 sword volumes Lot 343 - Kanzan Token Koza, 5 volumes set (missing the 6th one) Showa Daimeito Zufu, (just got this recently and one of the absolute best books to have partial English translation is in the lot too) Nihon Toko Jiten by Fujishiro (AFU translations are in lot 342) Nihonto Zuikan Shinto volume (Koto is in 341) Selected Fine Japanese Swords NBTHK Europe Osafune Choshi Token Hen (This book of Osafune Smiths would be only one I would be after) Of course there are also lots of books from Markus Sesko and few editions of Hawleys in the lots. The price estimates on the books are funny, I think the auction staff didn't even bother to check out the actual value of these books. I think here is a good chance to get your hands on amazing reference material that usually takes years to collect. And of course if fellow NMB member wins the last lot, I might be tempeted to buy that Osafune book.

I think it is extremely rare feature and I'd try to look into Heian period schools as Ray suggested. The problem is that most swords of that age would have had their kissaki reshaped at some point in time. I tried to look Tokubetsu Jūyō items (from sessions 2-10), and I only found one good example and few others that had been reshaped from their original form. The only one I found is a shortened Mitsuyo blade from early-mid Kamakura (session 3). I think the Miike school profile being wide at sakihaba and kissaki is short it helps to retain this form more easily than more narrower swords. There is still very slight fukura but it was the example I found that is not at Cultural treasure level, as those cannot really be owned outside of Japan.

Just to prove the point that great items even from "weak" sessions will pass on to the top. As I was doing my browsing session at Japanese sites I noticed my all time favorite Kusanagi offering had passed Tokubetsu Jūyō last year in session 25 (I didn't pay too close attention to results when they were released in the magazine). This sword passed Jūyō in session 26 which is in the "weak session" group. Pretty spectacular late Heian period Odachi: https://www.kusanaginosya.com/SHOP/368.html Also it can be observed here that more research has been done on the sword between the Jūyo to Tokujū sessions (and perhaps information on these smiths have increased over the years). You can see that this sword was attributed to Yoshioka Ichimonji Yoshimune (late Kamakura) at Jūyō 26 shinsa, and now at Tokubetsu Jūyō 25 the sword got attributed to Ko-Bizen Yoshimune (late Heian). So the sword "aged" few hundred years between the shinsa sessions. For those interested, you can see the Jūyō paper in the ad when it was for sale before being upgraded to higher papers https://web.archive.org/web/20161107181756/https://www.kusanaginosya.com/SHOP/368.html

This seemed to be mostly for US sword shows so I cannot comment on them as I've never been to one. I can agree with the view that going to Japan is a priority over other travels to me. And living with limited budget going to Japan hands down beats going to USA for me. As an European I was really happy that we finally got a big show in Europe (possibly comparable to US regional shows) at Utrecht. An it was amazing experience meeting old friends and new ones too. To be honest not once did I even think about buying anything during the entire event. Social aspect and seeing some items were the things that took my time. And I got the feeling during the event it was probably lot less buying & selling going on than in the US shows. Only thing about the show that left me puzzled was the lack of people attending... I was really surprised how small the number of people was. I was thinking it would tick all the right boxes. First major show in Europe in a long time X - central location in Europe with easy access from around Europe X - Museum style display with amazing items on display X - Great and informative lectures X - Lots of dealers from Europe, Japan and America attending X - Some great items for sale X - Great time slot during the summer X - I think it is really important for us as a small community to show our support for the shows. Well swords are pretty outdated in the modern world. Most young people will find this hobby incredibly boring. And I agree you'll get lot faster enjoyment at fragging on Apex Legends / Fortnite, swiping through Youtube/other similar stuff etc. It is common problem that children and youth get addicted to fast and ever changing satisfaction on things. The attention span gets shorter as they are used to so fast pleasure on things that give way too much pleasure to brains at once all the time. And I doubt that anyone will be able to make Japanese swords a hit among people. The person(s) posessing skills like that would most likely have already succeeded in something else they are doing.

I think the easiest way is to search items by the smith from online dealers and see what the asking prices are/have been. If the smith is not totally unknown there should have been some of his work been sold by some of the dealers in Japan. It is quite difficult to find well made well preserved long sword for 2000 - 3000$'s. You don't find too many long swords for sale at c. 2000$ range.

Darcy has been on the roll lately, so much good data for everyone to use. I can only nod my head in agreement of this data. Now as I'll be soon entering the early 20's "weak" Jūyō sessions I already noticed the increase of items after the 13th session. 23 and 24 will be the top dogs in item numbers and both feature 3 books and close to 500 items each session. Now Darcy did write a notice that you should approach carefully for the swords passing from 20 to 28, I'll include 29 to that list and provide the number from 20 to 29 there were c. 3300 items passing and that is about c. 25% of the total Jūyō items. And while the 20's sessions had some weaker passes too (like some other higher total item sessions) the number of items passed in 2X sessions is so great it affects it affects the overall volume of Jūyō. But also read what Darcy wrote about top items passing onto Tokujū regardless of the session. For example Jūyō 19 was a big session with 399 passes, but there were some real gems among the items and many went on and passed Tokubetsu Jūyō in various sessions (will know a lot more when I get up to more recent books). Good thing about numerical and statistical data like this is that it is factual. The amount of items passed is what it is and items that made the cut made the cut at that moment. We can of course afterwards debate on lot of things but the factual data cannot be changed. As an odachi fan I am ashamed that I forgot the third Kokuhō on my earlier list (Nagayoshi)... :D

It is classified as a kodachi instead of wakizashi that they have in title, also Ōei 10 = 1403 and not 1344. I think the description is funny and different.

Should have guessed Darcy has already done the thing I am doing with much wider period scope and bigger databank... Well as I've been doing similar research I can share few observations. Surviving ōdachi are very rare, as you can see in Darcy data there are not too many squares above 91 cm mark. There are few more as Darcy set a limit at 150 cm + for example Tomomitsu and Tomoyuki ones are Kokuhō and there are bunch of Bunkazai too. And of course there are swords that do not bear these designations but have other provenance. Also you can see that the upper end of 80's is quite few in number too, not too many marks above 84 cm in general. I don't want to copy Darcy's image and draw with Gimp over it but for me personally the most interesting part is the following (you can draw a square or something in your head). Horizontal line from 900 to 1450 and vertical line upwards from 80 cm. You'll see that only small bunch of tachi fall within this group. I know I've talked many times how much historical importance and swords being close to original shape means to me. Even though you add Kokuhō, Bunkazai, lower tier papers, all swords without papers, you cannot change the fact that pre 1450's tachi above 80 cm in length are very rare swords that in my mind should be paid special attention due to their survived length & shape. I think we should be able to get interesting discussions on this subject in general.

Encountered this one on my weekly sword shop browsing, I remembered there was alraedy a thread about the last one, so I thought I'd resurrect this. Not nearly as curved as the first example but still pretty extreme. http://www.nipponto.co.jp/swords5/TT327973.htm

I think it was an average length tachi as Darcy suggests it was c. 72-74 cm originally. That is very common length in Awataguchi tachi. I have measurements for the signed Kokuhō and both Bunkazai tachi by Norikuni. One of the Bunkazai is 72,8 cm and has not been shortened. The shortened Kokuhō and other ubu Bunkazai are/were longer originally. There are multiple remaining signed Awataguchi tachi that are over or very close to 80 cm, however there are still surviving tachi in original length that are around 70 cm and even few below that. I think Darcy has made excellent write ups lately on this Norikuni and Nagamitsu. The only downside about them for me is that they are too comprehensive, they have pretty much all the needed info so I don't have to dig any info by myself which I love to do. I think this is perfect example of rarity that I tried to bring up on the unpopular schools thread. As there are only 8 known signed works by Norikuni.

I agree that Taima work is generally very good and that is the reason why they achieve the high tier papers. Wouldn't mind having one in my collection. I think in general for mumei swords you can go "quality first" if you can word it like that. The quality of the sword needs to be very high for Jūyō and extremely high for Tokubetsu Jūyō. Where as due to historical & rarity factor signed swords can be allowed more leeway in their condition and quality. Even though it might have sounded funny I didn't mean average Takada swords with the comparison to Nagamitsu, as the signed & dated Tomoyuki tachi is to my understanding Jūyō Bijutsuhin. There are tons of signed Muromachi Takada swords that are historically quite insignificant and there are even multiple signed and dated short swords by Tomoyuki so they are not as rare in comparison. Same logic could be used for other smiths/schools where signed tachi are rare. Like signed Enju tachi in general are really important, as are signed Yamato tachi (pre-Muromachi). But as you said Paul we should try to appreciate swords as whole and try to enjoy the good things on them, be it extremely beautiful jihada or shape that has been preserved nearly original for really long time. Some swords just have more good things than others which elevates them above the rest (talking about high quality items here).