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Katsujinken

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Everything posted by Katsujinken

  1. Katsujinken
    I don’t think you’ve bought a Chogi. The hamon looks closer to choji than mimi gata gunome to me. I am often wrong though! A beefy blade is a good start, but it won’t get you to Chogi on its own. :-)
  2. Katsujinken
    These requirements are unrealistic if you’re looking for all at once. But you can get in the ballpark, sort of: https://www.aoijapan.com/tanto-bishu-osafune-morihisa/
  3. Katsujinken
    Nice deal!
  4. Katsujinken
    The kiku mon looks strange to me. In any case, more pictures of the blade in focus and good light would help. But it really depends on your budget. This sword, regardless of the signature, is run of the mill journeyman work. If you polish it you would surely never recoup that investment, but there’s not necessarily anything wrong with that. In the end it’s up to you. Just make sure you use a legitimate and trained polisher.
  5. Katsujinken
    My vote is for reuse. I’m in Japan right now actually, and it is always a good reminder that the supply of junk is seemingly limitless. It’s totally fine in my opinion if the low end stuff finds a new lease on life in another capacity. Honestly it might not even be a menuki. I’ve seen a lot of antique leather tobacco pouches with what look like single menuki on them, but the shopkeepers do not call them menuki. Who knows...
  6. Katsujinken
    Does anyone know if this book (or one like it) has ever been translated into English? I love the pocket sized books like this. :-)
  7. Katsujinken
    Buy books now. They’ll pay for themselves many times over in the education they provide between now and when you do buy actual examples. Visit museums, join a study group or club if you’ve got one nearby. Buy the other stuff later when you have 1) knowledge, and 2) money.
  8. Katsujinken
    Also this! Mark is absolutely correct. And I’ll say again, unless you are 5 feet tall, a 60cm nagasa will not be appropriate for you. That’s technically a katana, but just barely. Finally, any kind of art polish will be wasted on a cutting sword because of how much abuse they take.
  9. Katsujinken
    Krystian, There are a few good sources of good modern swords for tameshigiri. What’s your budget? What style of swordsmanship are you studying, and where? How tall are you? Answering these questions and more will help us help you. :-)
  10. Katsujinken
    How tall are you? 60 cm is quite short for a sword you would use for practice unless you are only about 5 feet tall...
  11. Katsujinken
    I also really enjoyed it. Kudos to Paul Martin for his role in getting the sword back to its family, too.
  12. Katsujinken
    Yes, I know it can be bewildering and frustrating. The truth is without much better photos you are likely to get contradictory opinions online. The best thing you can do is take the sword to a show or meeting of a local club, if you have one. Where are you located? I’m sure our members would be happy to point you in the direction of the nearest show or club. Good luck! Michael
  13. Katsujinken
    This is not Rai. You’re headed in the wrong direction, I’m afraid. Without seeing it in hand my vote is that it’s not a nihonto. But if it is – and it certainly could be! – what you have is something much younger and far inferior workmanship to Rai or any contemporaries of Rai.
  14. Katsujinken
    I believe this is the permanent state for that market. I was sad to miss the show this year (work...), so it’s nice to live vicariously. Thanks for the posts!
  15. Katsujinken
    It is literally impossible to hypothesize whether or not a blade will go Juyo without seeing the blade. But what we can see here is quite lovely! For what it’s worth I think trying to read tea leaves in Tanobe’s sayagaki is unwise.
  16. Katsujinken
    The shape of the kissaki has been futzed with for sure. The geometry is off and whatever was done ate up some of the boshi.
  17. Katsujinken
    I love a happy ending! :-)
  18. Katsujinken
    So what is Aoi going to do for you?
  19. Katsujinken
    FWIW, whoever bought the previous Yoshioka Ichimonji when it was on sale tried to flip it at Bonhams shortly thereafter (not a great way to make money on a sword, if you ask me). As far as I know it did not sell. I examined it in hand, and it was a fine sword. But not especially remarkable in my opinion. As the other Michael said, Kamakura Ichimonji is where the action is.
  20. Katsujinken
    I think buyers looking at this level know that auctions are not the place to buy the best stuff for a fair price (and there’s plenty of it out there... in Japan). The top level dealers simply offer a better option – for sellers and buyers.
  21. Katsujinken
    It’s generally not advisable to try to reduce smiths to a scoreboard comparison. Looking at the NBTHK archives can give you a general picture in raw data, but there’s no shortcut to understanding a blade you’re looking at and putting it to some kind of context. That takes lots and lots of time and study and experience, and it’s an ongoing process for all of us.
  22. Katsujinken
    Yep. Alf is good people.
  23. Katsujinken
    A hagire is a fatal flaw that can not be repaired because it compromises the integrity of the blade. There are also probably good metallurgical reasons for this given the location of this flaw, but I’ll leave that to members with more expertise in that area. They can be difficult to see and sometimes are (unscrupulously) hidden, but they are not something that can be fixed.
  24. Katsujinken
    I just died a little inside.
  25. Katsujinken
    Strange. Haven’t seen that recommendation on a sword above ¥300,000-400,000. And it’s usually on tired/gimei/flawed swords, which in my opinion are just fine for training in qualified hands. There are definitely people practicing with $12,000 shinsakuto, but an old sword, even at the same value, is a different situation in my humble opinion.
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