Jussi Ekholm

Thank you for your efforts in arranging this Yurie. Now I will need to start asking my boss if she can allow starting my summer holiday in late May

The paper seems to be JTK instead of NTHK. Unfortunately I wouldn't put much faith in JTK papers. I am not that well versed in Edo period smiths but 2nd gen Kunisada became Inoue Shinkai, and I am not aware of 3rd gen Kunisada. The sword itself seems to be in quite nice shape. I would be cautious of the signature and would not invest money into the sword and would try to enjoy it as it is.

I think the question might possibly have bit of a flaw within it. As item quality often correlates with the papers it has. This is not always true and you can find very good Hozon & Tokubetsu Hozon swords but it is very difficult to find bad Jūyō sword and pretty much impossible to find a bad Tokubetsu Jūyō. For very high quality items you can pretty much ask what you want, as there won't be that much competition. I don't have that much knowledge about prices at super high level as they are often private and for asking only. However as I am bit obsessive about keeping sword records I remember 2 times when the sword has been listed initially as Jūyō and then it has passed the Tokubetsu Jūyō shinsa and listing was upgraded. Funnily enough they were with different Japanese dealers but on both times the price increase was exactly 2X, 10M -> 20M and 14M -> 28M. It kind of shows what kind of prestige dealers and market show towards Tokubetsu Jūyō, on case number 1 nothing else changed but on the case number 2 the smith was actually changed for a lot earlier one, and this was signed very long tachi! For lower level upgrade steps in papers the difference can be from 0 to very small. I have recorded multiple cases where the dealer has upgraded the sword from Hozon to Tokubetsu Hozon without any change in price, and some with small change in price. For Tokubetsu Hozon to Jūyō there have been some changes in prices but actually quite small ones. Now one has to consider that Tokubetsu Hozon swords with potential to pass Jūyō are high quality items to begin with and dealers wont sell them for cheap prices. I might be super strict but NBTHK attribution papers would be only ones I count having market value. Personally I wouldn't put any market value to other papers NTHK, NHTK-NPO, JASMK, JTK, ETC. For me they might be something nice to have but I don't see financial value to them. Now authentic sayagaki from the likes of Tanobe, Kanzan, Kunzan or Hon'ami lineage would be totally opposite. For example I would gladly have a sword without any papers but Tanobe-sensei sayagaki. Of course the optimal package for me would be NBTHK papers + Tanobe or Kunzan or Kanzan sayagaki. Now as I have love for peculiar old items that high level collectors mostly wont chase, I feel that if I will find an item that I would have strong desire I wouldn't stress about papers etc.

I think dealers and sellers will probably hate me... but it is so easy to track down items that peak my interest This is the Yasuie wakizashi: https://tokka.biz/sword/yasuie.html and after Tokka it has at least once appeared on eBay too. Interesting thing is that when you look at the item it now the koshirae has been tweaked since when it was sold in Japan. You can see that it has been rewrapped and kozuka has been changed. This is the Yasumitsu wakizashi: http://nihonto.us/YASUMITSU HIRAZUKURE TANTO DS.htm not much more to add to that The Gassan katana has been sold twice quite recently in Japan by different dealers. I think the estimate for this one is super wishful thinking. Personally I would not put much faith in the Shinsoku sword. Smith is kind of like an unicorn and I would at least add 0 and most likely more than that to the item if genuine by that smith. I think the Ōmiya sword could be plausible to the old NBTHK attribution. Would need better pictures and dimensions of the item to guess more.

What would be your approximate budget?

I am not qualified to judge polishing but I would guess that was polished after Hon'ami Nisshū attribution and NBTHK Jūyō shinsa. In my opinion that polishing style does not fit what is common style for Niō or Mihara work, the polishing should be more subtle. Our members who know more about polishing would be able to comment better what possible enhancements or peculiar style might have been used in that polish etc.. This item has been around this year a lot. First it was at Winners in April: https://www.winners-.../productDetail/97648 Then it was at Yahoo JP in August: https://buyee.jp/ite.../auction/b1100893218 And now it is at Aoi. You can see the valuation of it goes from 1,3M -> 1,8M and now it is starting at 2,2M. To me this is a problematic item that I would not want. Yes it has passed Jūyō but for me personally it does not seem interesting at all. I think Darcy used a term "Jūyō in name only" and I see this sword fitting that term. I would think this sword would not pass modern Jūyō shinsa at the moment. I might be bit harsh in my comments for once

Great stuff Okan

It is very interesting item and I think the price will (should) get higher than starting price. However there are some small things in Aoi Arts listing that might not been explained. The actual founder of Mihara school is considered to be Masaie (正家) during late Kamakura period. There was actually late Kamakura - Early Nanbokuchō period Masahiro (正広) in Mihara province. He is the famous Masahiro smith from Mihara. This tachi that is at Aoi is actually by 2nd generation Mihara Masahiro, he was working around late Nanbokuchō - Ōei. Now even though he is not valued as high as the 1st generation, he is still good smith and many works by him have achieved Jūyō status. And I personally cannot really identify the difference between Mihara Masahiro generations. I have just put down many signed tachi as Nanbokuchō works in general. Here on Aoi Art item NBTHK has specified in brackets that this is work of the 2nd generation. For comparison the Masahiro tachi from Tokubetsu Jūyō 2 is seen as work of 1st generation as late Kamakura period has been specified for it, and Masahiro tachi from Tokubetsu Jūyō 23 is seen as 2nd generation work as late Nanbokuchō has been specified for that one by NBTHK. I counted items I have info on so far and only got 25 Mihara Masahiro tachi in total. Then there are some signed naoshi, katana, and shorter blades.

Here the date is 1690 元禄三 after that comes the 60 year cycle 庚午 and you can verify from here that it actually hits the correct year: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/庚午 For the second silver inlayed cutting test there is no specific date mentioned. I think important thing on both of the cutting tests is notation in brackets (と...がある) to ... ga aru. Which in both cases notes that there is gold / silver inlayed cutting test on these blades but as NBTHK makes a remark like this then the cutting tests kinda need bit further research etc. It is kind of tricky to try to explain the remark as it kind of just mentions the is a signature etc. However the remark in brackets can also be verified in time with more information on resubmission or going for higher level submission. I think short explanation could be that there is some speculation on the signature / addons when there is this in brackets. Like in the two examples you posted, NBTHK has verified the signature of the smith being genuine and the speculation just considers gold / silver addons.

You are actually lucky as the Netherlands has lot of activity for swords. You can check http://www.to-ken.nl/ for starters. For the first Kiyomitsu sword I think NBTHK had specified (後代) late generation in brackets. At least that is what I am seeing in small picture. Kaga Kiyomitsu smith lineage started around Early Muromachi period. There were multiple generations during Muromachi period. Then the Kiyomitsu name continued in Kaga throughout the Edo period. Unfortunately I cannot really identify the smith and the character for mitsu (光) looks to be done in bit "special" style. That could help in identifying the smith. The Muromachi Kiyomitsu smiths that I have mei examples of, wrote in more traditional style mitsu. Also I think more typical longer Muromachi Kiyomitsu signature would be (加州住清光) Kashū jū Kiyomitsu. I can be wrong here but I would guess NBTHK meant later generation of Muromachi Kaga Kiyomitsu, instead of Kaga Kiyomitsu smiths in general. That is why for me it can be difficult when there is little addon information, as it specifies a bit but you also need to understand what NBTHK wants to specify. Fujishima is actually a school founded by (Fujishima) Tomoshige during Nanbokuchō period. The school originates in Echizen but moved to Kaga province during late Nanbokuchō period. Generally the school is considered as Muromachi period school even though some earliest smiths forged during Nanbokuchō period and some continued working into Edo period. It is fairly common to find work of this school just signed Fujishima. However the signature Fujishima (藤島) on your sword does not match any of the signed examples I have in my references. However I feel the style of hamon could be plausible for the work of this school.

Mr. Hoppen has wonderful items I have seen few of them in person and they were great. He also has one dream item of mine but unfortunately it is financially 15-20 years too early for me to try to get it

I see Markus and Michael have given awesome insight and hopefully you can get together with Michael in Amsterdam I do think your sword is Kamakura period and not later than that, when during Kamakura it was made, that I unfortunately cant say. It might have been bit unclear in my first message, as I was just pointing out that Ko-Naminohira as an attribution spans for a long time, from Late Heian period to Nanbokuchō. And I do believe majority of surviving Ko-Naminohira works are from c. Late Kamakura. There are many where just Kamakura is mentioned and for me personally accurate dating would be impossible. I am just lucky to have collected lots of books, and I have had fascination for Naminohira school, so I have good references. Here are 7 swords as reference that are among the earliest Naminohira school works. 1. Tachi by Yukimasa (行正) dated 1159 (this is earliest date on tang on a Japanese sword I have found so far), Jūyō Bijutsuhin 2. Tachi by Yukiyasu (行安), Jūyō Bunkazai in the collection of Sanage jinja (Late Heian - Early Kamakura) 3. Tachi by Yukiyasu (行安), Jūyō Bunkazai in the collection of Kyoto National Museum (Late Heian - Early Kamakura), Michael posted this Sasanuki earlier 4. Tachi by Yukiyasu (行安), Tokubetsu Jūyō 8, (Early Kamakura) 5. Ko-Naminohira Tachi, Jūyō 42 (Early Kamakura) (Michael posted this earlier, I did not know there has been mei discovery on this as I don't yet have all the Jūyō books) 6. Ko-Naminohira Tachi, Jūyō 19 (Early Kamakura) 7. Ko-Naminohira Tachi, Tokubetsu Hozon, Tanobe Sayagaki (Early Kamakura is mentioned in sayagaki) This was wonderful item and I really hoped I could have gotten this one years ago when it was sold. https://www.aoijapan...mei-ko-naminohira-2/ Here are comparison stats for above items, and I will put your sword as Y in the list Sword - Length - Curvature - Width at base - Width at tip - Tang length 1. 82,3 cm - 3,0 cm - 3,0 cm - 1,8 cm - 20,5 cm 2. 70,9 cm - 3,0 cm - 2,9 cm - 1,6 cm - 17,7 cm 3. 73,4 cm - 2,4 cm - 3,0 cm - 1,8 cm - 23,6 cm 4. 75,1 cm - 2,4 cm - 2,8 cm - 1,4 cm - 19,5 cm 5. 81,1 cm - 2,2 cm - 2,9 cm - 1,3 cm - 19,2 cm 6. 77,2 cm - 2,6 cm - 2,9 cm - 1,6 cm - 19,8 cm 7. 87,8 cm - 2,6 cm - 3,1 cm - 2,1 cm - XX Y 77,2 cm - 2,1 cm - 3,2 cm - 1,7 cm - 22,0 cm

Congratulations on a fine sword. I remember eyeing at the Japanese dealer but it was way above my level of collecting. I do have it saved as Kamakura period work in my files. Unfortunately I am not a home during this weekend so I don't have access to all of my data. Ko-Naminohira attribution spans from late Heian into late Nanbokucho period. Late Heian - early Kamakura Ko-Naminohira work is very rare (as so early swords usually are). The Japanese dealer who had it online is often quite optimistic in age attributions. Also I believe the sayagaki would be by Honami Nisshū (本阿弥日洲) and to me the date would be Heisei 2 (平成二) 1990. I am bit curious who told 1952 to you? I am not well versed in Nisshū sayagaki but I would compare it to other examples. You do have very nice tachi and I hope you will enjoy it. I can write better post next week when I am at home. I have c. 100 Ko-Naminohira swords recorded so I think I can dig up few similarish ones.

With just the paper as information, I would think this to be around mid-late Muromachi Uda Kunimitsu. The sword is a katana and has a short length of c.65 cm.

You guys have good eyes, I think you are correct with Ujifusa. However as Matt wrote I don't think there was ever an Ujifusa who got the title Sagami no Kami. I feel the same as originally that sword would be late Muromachi Bizen work and a signature has been added to it. To me the signature does not seem to be of good quality. Do you have overall pictures of the sword and measurements for it?

I believe Jan is correct with the translation. Now as the last two are bit obscured I cannot say anything for sure but my gut feeling is it would be a false signature of Sagami no Kami Fujiwara Masatsune 相模守藤原政常 I would guess the second last character would be 政 and I will link 3 authenticated examples of signatures to show how 政 looks on them. https://sword-auction.com/ja/product/5698/as21061-薙刀相模守藤原政常/ https://www.touken-world.jp/search/78076/ https://sword-auction.com/ja/product/5766/as17261-脇差相模守政常初代/ To me it seems the sword itself would be possibly late Muromachi Bizen sword. As it has that style of nakago, wide and non-tapering nakago were not too common outside late Muromachi Bizen (and few others). Of course all that I wrote in this post is just speculative based on few not too clear pictures.

I think Thomas makes a good point that sometimes prices can fluctuate a lot between different dealers. Of course we do not know stuff going on behind the scenes but sometimes swords do pop up for sale at different dealers with different price tags, there can be increase or decrease on price. Sometimes koshirae is added or removed etc. However most common is just the same sword with same koshirae if it has one. Lots of interesting stuff happening there. Often when a dealer has really good price the item will go very fast. While I think in general Samurai Museum is among more expensive shops I can concur the experience Thomas had, sometimes item they had for a good price ends up listed with higher price at another dealer. Of course that also happens the other way around too. I have not yet met Mike Yamasaki but I believe he has excellent reputation worldwide and I could recommend contacting him if looking for good swords. Another person in the US might be Fred Weissberg: https://nihonto.com/ They are premium dealers so not on the cheap side but you'll get luxury of great knowledge and excellent wares topped with stellar reputation. For such an expensive purchase I think it will be important to find the sword that feels right.

This is just my opinion but 7M yen is greatly overpriced. I believe USD vs. Yen has shifted a lot from spring as this was listed in April for 64k USD. https://web.archive....o-token-certificate/ Here are some comparison items for viewing. Unshō katana (mumei) - c. 2,7M yen Jūyō 55 - https://www.aoijapan...thk-55th-juyo-paper/ Unji tachi signed & dated 1327 - c.7M yen Tokubetsu Hozon (this item is absolutely wonderful historically) it seems to have sold lately, one of the most interesting blades of this school I've seen being sold online - https://eirakudo.sho...katana/detail/768547 Unji tachi (mumei) - c.2M yen Tokubetsu Hozon - https://web.archive....cn11/cn22/pg544.html Unji tachi signed - c.2,5M yen Tokubetsu Hozon - dealer didn't sell this at auction but it was gone from their website fast where it was listed for price mentioned here: https://buyee.jp/ite.../auction/q1098056239 Unji tachi (mumei) - c.2,5M yen Jūyō 49 (koshirae) - https://www.aoijapan...th-nbthk-juyo-paper/ Unji katana (mumei) - c.8-10M yen Tokubetsu Jūyō 6 - Qualitywise probably among the best Unji that have been online sales, this has been through multiple dealers: https://www.samurai-...net/SHOP/V-1800.html Unji katana (mumei) - c.4,5M yen Jūyō 53 (koshirae) - https://www.seiyudo.com/ka-020321.htm Unji katana (mumei) - c.2,8M yen Jūyō 22 - Kirill linked this one earlier https://web.archive....the-22nd-juyo-token/ Unji katana (mumei) - c.2,7M yen Jūyō 21 (koshirae) - https://www.aoijapan...th-nbthk-juyo-paper/ Unji katana (mumei) - c.2,7M yen Jūyō 17 (koshirae) - https://www.aoijapan...th-nbthk-juyo-paper/ Unji katana (mumei) - c.3,5M yen Jūyō 13 - https://eirakudo.sho...katana/detail/224967 Unjū katana (mumei) - c.1,5M yen Tokubetsu Hozon - https://eirakudo.sho...katana/detail/213458 Unjū katana (mumei) - c.4,5M yen Jūyō 65 - https://katananokura.jp/SHOP/2104-K01.html Unjū katana (mumei) - c.2,5M yen Jūyō 62 - https://web.archive.org/web/20220930200639/https://www.touken-sakata.com/刀剣一覧/刀-無銘-雲重-古刀-上作-良業物/ Unjū katana (mumei) - c.2,9M yen Jūyō 48 - https://www.aoijapan...attributed-as-ynjyu/ Unjū katana (mumei) - c.2,5M yen Jūyō 27 - https://www.aoijapan...th-nbthk-juyo-paper/ Unjū naginata-naoshi (mumei) - c.2,5M yen Jūyō 27 - https://web.archive....0/SHOP/1203-K11.html

Awesome trio Jeremiah

I think items like this fall into extremely rare curiosity category. I used my tracking skills and it seems like Samurai Museum had it listed for 9,126$ in december 2022. They are actually often having quite large profit margin added on items that have been at Yahoo JP and then came to their site, so I would assume they have large profit margin on every item. To me it seems their site is geared towards international buyers. Of course it is business and they have to make a profit. However just wanted to mention this if a sword is acquired from dealer who already has large margin in original price and new dealer adds on his/hers margin, then the item can get bit inflated. Yet in the end items are worth what someone is willing to spend for it, and there are different valuations depending on what people focus on.

I think we might have discussed this or similar item in the past on the forum if I remember correctly. You can see the item is currently offered by European seller Kyodai Originals in auction: https://www.catawiki...pan-education-period It is often the case that when dealers acquire swords then the older seller removes the listing. Some swords have switched owners many times and information about shops that owned the item is often lost. There are some geeks like myself who tracks old Kotō swords, sometimes it is interesting that there can be 200% price increase, koshirae appears with the item etc.

Sometimes the problem with English language sources is that they don't have kanji listed. There are multiple different Kunimori smiths that worked in Uda during Muromachi period. Kunimori (国守) mid 1400's and possibly the most famous one featured in Fujishiro Kunimori (国盛) early 1400's and according to some sources might be same smith as the following smith Kunimori (国森) mid 1400's and according to tradition son of 2nd or 3rd Kunimune The third one would be the smith in this case. Unfortunately I cannot provide an oshigata reference of him or any additional info. I haven't yet got a book focused on Uda school. I am not sure if there are difficulties in getting a sword to your country but I would personally avoid auction houses. I have voiced my dislike for auction houses and their business practices several times. I would think you would get much better deal buying from a legitimate seller, for example someone as featured seller at this messageboard. While the item might be initially bit more expensive you will most times get much more value for your money in my opinion.

Perhaps contacting @paul tsubadotinfo regarding sending to shinsa would be good thing. Paul knows these things very well and could give his advice.

For me the financial problem is spending 520,000 yen for restoration. As I'd think "similarish" wakizashi in polish and possibly papered might be in 200,000 - 300,000 yen range. You'll find lots and lots of affordable wakizashi in polish and with papers.

I do think it is very interesting item. However I really dislike auction houses and would not want to personally deal with them. Just saw that in this auction house there will be at least 30% buyers fee on top of what you are bidding on the item.