Jussi Ekholm

I think the wakizashi sized ana makes sense for it to be used as tameshi-tsuba for a small blade. On Markus' Tameshigiri book it says on tameshi-tsuba that for ko-wakizashi tameshi-tsuba should weigh about 560 - 750 grams and for wakizashi c. 200 - 450 grams. Of course it could have been made for totally different purpose too.

I am sure you will be happy with your purchase Rob. As for Mihara classification I think common age groupings are similarish to this. Ko-Mihara c. 1310 - 1390 (earliest dated Bingo sword is 1324 according to Nihontō Kōza) Chū-Mihara c. 1390 - 1450 Sue- Mihara c. 1450 onwards I think you could say Ko-Mihara is generally to the end of Nanbokuchō. Chū-Mihara is to the beginning of Sengoku and Sue-Mihara is Sengoku period swords. For Mihara you can see that in many sources they are being listed being very close to Aoe. Sharing many similar characteristics with Aoe etc. Now some newbie dewbie thoughts. I've been reading some good stuff about mumei swords from many sources and my own understanding about mumei attributions is getting more "open". I used to think them as too set in stone. You can sometimes hear seller/owner saying/writing that this Mihara sword looks like Aoe and could very well get attribution to that school. Which could very well be true but the opposite is something you don't hear too often. I believe Aoe classification on mumei sword indicates higher overall level than Mihara classification in general so you don't see dealers & owners wanting to make their swords "lesser". Like Paul said above about the Enju / Rai, you sometimes hear speculation about mumei Enju getting a pass for Rai but you don't often hear sellers/owners of mumei Rai blade saying it could very well be "only" Enju. That being said all that speculation above is way over my actual knowledge level. I haven't seen & handled enough Rai / Enju blades in person to know the subtle differences etc. same goes for Mihara / Aoe. But I keep following the sword market which is fun even though I don't buy anything.

Well I don't think it can be too bad buy for 39,99$'s. You can't really get even a decent Chinese made replica tsuba for that price.

As I do not have too experienced eye for details (or even too good eye sight) the written description is many times more helpful for me than pictures. However I think the hints Aoi had for this one might be bit too helpful as you could make a guess for Naotane without even seeing the blade just based on the hints. I must admit that without written hints and by looking at the blade only that would be a hard one for me and I am not sure if I would be able to arrive to same solution as with written hints available.

Good job guys. That is a beefy blade.

This should be a great event. I am really bummed I cannot attend this one. Hopefully I can get to UK another time.

I was thinking tameshi-tsuba for the one that Marius was selling. As it is very plain and the weight would be comparable to those listed in Seskos Tameshigiri book. Also as the nakago-ana is not too large so I would guess it was not for really big sword. I think it would fit quite well to description of tameshi-tsuba for wakizashi. Of course this is all just arm chair speculation.

I am not a tosogu guy. I like the animals in this but somehow I don't like the "base". As I see that Ford is checking this out we might get more insight on it.

I did my routine check of many Japanese dealers today and I thought I'd keep an eye out for Naminohira for you. Here are 4 examples. The 2 middle ones are in my opinion the most interesting of the bunch. Naminohira Yasunashi: http://www.nipponto.co.jp/swords3/KT325453.htm(signed, dated, papered) Ko-Naminohira http://kimuratouken.com/01-287.html(papered tachi) Naminohira http://n-kosen.com/katana/A2756.html(papered mumei, very small slender sword with lot curve) Naminohira http://toyuukai.com/2016/09/%e6%b3%a2%e5%b9%b3%ef%bc%88%e8%96%a9%e6%91%a9%ef%bc%89/(papered mumei)

What Grey said above, that is an amazing book.

Uwe Amazing thread!

Thank you for the meeting report and pictures Uwe.

As we are not supposed to really comment on sales, would it be possible to post an image or 2 of this tsuba along with the measurements for discussion after the sales Marius? This is of course if the new owner will also agree on it too. I had that thought immidiately when seeing this rare piece, like you said this is really a conversation starter.

I second what Geraint said earlier. I don't think it is Hitachi Masayuki either, those 2 famous ones are the only ones I have reference mei as I don't have too many books on newer swords. But there are plenty of Masayuki. Looks like a nice sword to my eye. Regardless of the mei.

Very nice collections & displays. Here is my collection 1 tachi & 1 tsuba. I keep it in the bag on normal days but took it out for a pic. I always keep my Japanese swords stored in bags and keep replicas of European & Japanese swords for displaying.

As I am of the younger generation of collectors I know some things that might get young folks into swords but the difficult part is getting these interested ones into collecting & appreciation. I am not sure how well Tōken Ranbu is known in the western world? But it is a game where basically famous swords are shown as young men. I have heard that this is quite popular among the young girls/women in Japan. http://www.dmm.com/netgame_s/tohken/I believe there was just an anime adaptation of this game. In the anime front there is pretty much a new series that has swords & samurai every new season. For the fall 2016 I think most popular "sword anime" was Drifters. Personally I didn't like it too much. Story synopsis can be read at https://myanimelist.net/anime/31339/DriftersBut in short main trio is Shimazu Toyohisa, Oda Nobunaga and Nasu no Yoichi. Then on the western front there is the new AAA game from Ubisoft that can get pretty popular on release in February. For Honor is in closed beta and I watched the top Twitch streamers getting first touches on it in front of pretty big viewer numbers. Game is Samurai vs. Knight vs. Viking. https://www.ubisoft.com/en-US/game/for-honor/ I have to share Peters thoughts of sword collecting being fun being one of the key aspects. For me collecting should be fun and unfortunately as my own taste has gotten more refined most of the actual collecting will be done far in the future. I most likely will jump in on a screaming deal but at the moment it is impossible to get the stuff I really want... Because buying a authentic sword is a very big decision for most then new buyers often want to ask help in order to get a good deal and not get burned on it. I think that it is a great thing that people are asking advice but at the same time I think we arrive to the fact that Peter pointed out earlier, the decisions are not necessarily that personal anymore. Are you buying what you really like or are you buying a sword that the community thinks is good?

Welcome to the forum Rayhan. I was happy to read your post. I'll just write a short reply as I am at work. I think the opposite that there are lots of mentors who are willing to share their knowledge but not too many young/new collectors to use that help. Many European countries have their own Japanese sword societies with knowledgeable members. I think most of them would welcome members with open arms if a new interested collector would walk in the door. And then we of course have the NBTHK here in Europe, you can learn so much at the NBTHK meetings. For example here in Finland a new enthusiast could get into our meeting in a heartbeat but those are really hard to come by. We've tried to do some public presentations and small lectures but it is difficult to create interest if there is no desire for swords. I always think sword collectors & martial artists as the most potential group for future collectors but don't know if that is true...

Looks to me that the sword is attributed to later generation Aizu Kanesada.

I agree with the above posters. Koshirae Taikan by Markus Sesko is a great book I strongly suggest getting it. Uchigatana koshirae is also another amazing book.

Unfortunately not too many young sword collectors are wanting to collect authentic Japanese swords. I guess money is somewhat an issue but I think people often just don't have enough interest. I've been on various sword forums most of my life and very few people make the jump from Chinese made production swords to Authentic Japanese swords. I've been trying to "recruit" people a bit for some years but I've kinda given up on that. If someone has genuine interest they will start figuring things out on their own and contact people. You can't force it. The first step to collecting is quite big at the moment, too big for many to take. I think collecting swords is bit crazy hobby in modern world and it takes special kind of crazy to collect Japanese swords...

I would be very cautious with a sword with 守家 Moriie signature. At first I would think this as Muromachi period wakizashi with gimei 守家 signature.

Search for netaba-awase. Warriors knew how to sharpen & fine tune their swords back in the day.

I would like to get 1 limited edition.

Just received my copy today. Unfortunately it has to wait to next year until I can really get into it but of course I had to take a sneak peek. I can share the opinion that was posted above, this is spectacular work and the full set will be an amazing series to have.

What is your price range and do you have some specific preferences? I think there are multiple swords of this school listed by various dealers in Japan. I unfortunately don't have a blade for you but I should be able to maybe link few.