Mark S.

First thing I thought of was some peening marks on an old WW2 rifle of mine. Originally used (in this specific case) to tighten up a rear sight installed in a dovetail. Of course there are many other applications in the machining world.

My apologies…

General bohi related discussion… If you take the attached chart of sword construction and draw semi-circles indicating bohi in the mune area of each one, you can see how quickly you get into core steel of each one. Blades were made in certain ways without the concern of the addition of bohi. I think there was a general acceptance that the lightness and strength added by the addition of bohi was more important than the flaws brought out by them. If not structurally unsound, minor flaws in the bohi aren’t a huge concern as long as the rest of the blade is sound, at least in my opinion… I assume I am pretty much looking at core steel in any bohi. A good polisher can probably burnish away minor core steel flaws, but core steel is still core steel. Not sure if it has been discussed, but should we expect the same level of ‘perfection’ when core steel is observed in the bohi? What should high quality core steel look like? We are usually looking at high quality outer steel and only condemn core steel because it is exposed from repeated polish. But should it be condemned as a ‘flaw’ when a bohi cuts deeply into it? Interested in the discussion.

Will be interesting to see the Hozon paper to see if it specifies a time period or narrows things a bit. Ko-Mihara vs Sue-Mihara vs Kai-Mihara, etc.

Google “jibata back strap loom”. This menuki would only be a couple parts of it, but maybe???

Seal and watermarks

Just adding (pretty much same info), here are marks from a May 2023 Hozon.

I hope the LARGE stack of pink papers on the table at the top of the pics wasn’t a bad sign!

No one willing to give details about their Shinsa results?

Would love the see results. Maybe give use the basics like: 1) Item: KATANA/WAKIZASHI/TANTO/ ETC. 2) Mei or attribution if mumei 3) # of points. 4) Interesting notes or anecdotes. Did you think it would pass? Did it match your expectations? What did you like about it? Etc., etc.

As has been mentioned before, many scratches and swirl marks are added when the uchiko ‘cloth ball’ smacks along the surface of the blade by an over-eager applicator. In the rare cases I use uchiko, I angle the blade and tap the ball along the mune and allow uchiko to fall along surface of blade and then turn blade to other angle and tap down mune again to get uchiko on both sides. I probably waste uchiko, but it’s a small price to pay vs. having ‘Sun-burst’ scratch marks all over my blade.

And, of course, the tissue paper (I also use plain toilet paper as well) should be free of all oils, scents, moisturizers, etc, etc.

Of course this is my personal opinion… but I don’t always discount old papers. I think it was submitted for Hozon just to re-confirm the mei and it probably wasn’t worth the added expense to reconfirm the Tokubetsu rank. I just don’t believe EVERY old paper is ‘wortheless’ or that ALL the old Shinsa panels had no idea what they were doing or were corrupt. But, each to their own. I guess it comes down to: 1) Do you like the blade? 2) Are you OK if it is ‘only’ a Hozon level blade?

Albatross

What did you like about this blade? Why did you buy it? The best advice I can pass on to you right now is to take some time and study more. Many of the questions you ask are ones you should know BEFORE you make any more purchases.

Ooooohhhhhh….

Suriage and then damaged (hagire) afterward? Not quite sure what you are asking? Ray answered at same time

It would have to be signed: “Bizen ju Kiyomitsu” Without digging through my books and looking through all Kiyomitsu, I am not sure if any Kiyomitsu signed this way. Usually there is a Kuni or Koku and Osafune included in one form or another, but I don’t remember ever seeing just “Bizen ju”. If I squint and stare real hard, I ‘think’ I can see the following strokes (in red) of “mitsu”. Unless I could find a mei example that was just “Bizen ju Kiyomitsu” I would assume gimei.

According to Sesko, there were a few:

Usually NBTHK will only give what they are comfortable with. If they only thought Mishina, they would have stated only that. In this case, they are probably stating “one of the Kanemichi smiths” but no hint as to which one. If they wanted to be more specific, they would have stated the generation or given a time period. With mumei blades, this is usually pretty good. What can be a little more frustrating is when there is a mei but they don’t help with the date or generation.

I use these plastic stands I get inexpensively from a site called ‘WISH’. Items are direct from China in most cases. They come in different sizes, but I find the 5cm tall ones work best for almost all tsuba. No problem with scratching on iron tsuba, but if there is a concern I suppose the edges could be sanded down a bit or a small piece of cloth/silk could be used to cushion tsuba. They only cost about 50 cents a piece depending on quantity purchased. Other nice features are: they are stackable (don’t take up much room), because they are clear they don’t take away from or block viewing the tsuba, and if they get broken or lost it’s not a huge financial loss.

Oh I have some ideas… but as discretion is the better part of valor, I will keep them to myself as this is your home and I respect the fact you have a hard enough time herding us cats…

I’m sorry Brian… delete if you wish. HYPOTHETICALLY, if a newer member of the nihonto world were to purchase that naginata and was happy with it, wanted to join this NMB community and share that blade and their ‘newbie’ excitement, but just so happened to read this thread first, my guess is they would be reluctant to share that purchase, learn more, and really want to take part in all this. They could clearly see the reception waiting for them WITHOUT knowing the players involved. Long time members know what they are dealing with. I’ll be honest… it is a reason I don’t post too many of my blades just for fun anymore. I truly hope no one else is made to feel this way… it’s just me. I have shared blades by PM if I think it will help a person asking a question on the general forums… but opening it up to the albatross’s of the world… hell no. Done that a couple times and not really interested anymore. Lots of nice people here, but something that should be enjoyable has turned into an ordeal akin to flopping your privates out on a table and letting everyone whack at it with a stick for a while. Fun… no? Why does this all bother me? I was that same newbie at my first Sword Show MANY years ago (I won’t say which one or the parties involved by name out of respect). Little knowledge, little money, lots of enthusiasm, knew no one, VERY nervous I was at my first ‘real’ show. Brought in a family owned short mumei katana in WW2 gunto mounts that was owned by a work friend of mine hoping I could learn a little and pass that info on to him. Did I think it was a treasure… no, I knew just enough to know that. First person I met was an albatross. He saw me carrying it and came over to me. Asked what I had and asked if he could see it. He drew the blade and asked me if it was signed. When I said no, he frowned, put it back in scabbard and mumbled something to the effect of “it’s worthless”. Without another word, turned and walked away from me. My welcome to the nihonto world. Not sure if the next person I met saw this or was just coincidence. At the next table was a dealer who smiled and asked me what I had. Took it all apart, answered all my questions, gave me his thoughts INCLUDING the evaluation it wasn’t a national treasure, but he also shared (contrary to popular belief) some things I could learn from it. Took the time to show me a couple of his blades and explained the differences and things to look for. He also pointed to a couple other people (names you would know) and said I should go talk to them. Maybe he knew they would take pity on me. I purchased a blade from this gentleman years later. The first albatross?… to this day I will never so much as look at an item on his table and avoid him like the plague. I’m sure if he knew it, he would still be quite proud of himself. Albatross’s are like that. Now my place in the nihonto world is small and unremarkable, so maybe I’m wrong and should consider beer can collecting. But I’m still here for whatever it is worth (to me). The albatross almost killed that. He was more interested in his albatross status than he was in a potential new person. How many do we lose? What do we want here?

He feeds and lives on it.

His is the only way… Just another albatross post. Fly in… $h!t all over everything… fly off.