Vermithrax16

It's WELL worth the wait:

Ray always helps and goes out of his way to ensure a resolution. One of my most favorite pieces was acquired through him. Sorry your wait was long, but so glad it worked out.

1. Yamato Hosho 2. Mito Norikatsu 3. Sadakazu (masame hada style work) 4. Shodai Tameyasu I am about half way there.

If Ray is saying a blade will make you happy, and the pictures are good, believe him. The Masakatsu I bought last week was 10X times better than the great pics Ray posted, in hand. Excellent sword and listing.

Ok, I did some more pictures when it got dark tonight, I think I am out of practice. Maybe a DSLR camera time? Best I could do:

Is that good or bad?

Most that know me know my favorite work style is masame hada. It's to the point of obsession. As such, they are not a common sword type to be found and combined with the pandemic issues limiting dealings with Japan based sellers, it's been a long empty period for my collecting as far as additions go. But the NMB For Sale of Trade section can always offer something worth your time. Raymond Singer posted a tanto for sale, and it had all my wants. My favorite smith is Suifu Ju Katsumura Norikatsu. How about a tanto from his best student. Masakatsu? Well yes indeed, I had to jump on it. Thanks Ray! Masakatsu studied under Norikatsu since the age of 12. He later married Norikatsu's second eldest daughter and was adopted into the family, hence his name. It's been a while since I have taken sword pictures, and it was wildly sunny all day today which made my preferred way to take pictures difficult. Maybe some on a night this weekend will be better. This is a kata kiri ha style of tanto, so yes the different treatments of the two sides is meant by the maker. I am usually not a fan of bo-hi, but they look pleasing in hand for this work. It's a BIG tanto, at 27.9cm nagasa. The masame is excellent. Flows well throughout the blade. The nie deposits are abundant, and run in strings in many places. The kissaki (which my pictures stink today) is spectacular. Speckled with nie, reminds me of my Norikatsu sword very much. A great deal here on NMB and fast close (made buy Sunday, sword was here yesterday but signature required, so got it today). Very happy with this blade. NBTHK Hozon token.

Darcy wrote the great post on papers some time ago: https://blog.yuhindo.com/green-papers-no-papers/ That said a low level school attribution is less scary to me with green papers than a master smith. Love the shape of this sword.

Sold!

I love your out look and background. Study and time will reward in nihonto. Stick with it. This is the masame hada of Suifu Ju Katsumura Norikatsu, who you mentioned maybe taught the pupil mentioned:

The polish is very poor, and the pictures don't help. Hard to add any comment.

All, I am VERY interested in this kozuka by Jiryusai Tomohide. If a member here is the owner and be willing to contact me, we can probably work something out. Thanks. https://www.aoijapan.net/kozuka-jiryusai-tomohide/

Oh! This is promising!! I see some great masame and nie. I think NBTHK shinsa will not work, as shipping restrictions right now with Japan are bad. This sword will need a polish, so that's on the few here in the US. You need to decide what you want to do with the sword and how long to see it through. Worth it IMO from what I have seen.

I have a lot but what would help us more is if you can get a good picture of your swords hada and style. Take a glancing photo in a dark room, flash enabled. Here is the dated side picture of my Norikatsu. Like member Ken said, only a shinsa team can say for sure, but I don't think they are a match: Full reading of signature and date: Suifu-jū Katsumura Norikatsu kore o saku (⽔府住勝村徳勝作之) ‒ “Made by Katsumura Norikatsu, resident of Suifu (the government seat of Mito)” Keiō sannen hachigatsu hi (慶応三年⼋⽉⽇) ‒ “On a day of the eighth month, Keiō three (1867) Norikatsu masame hada:

Hello Terran, Nice looking sword! Norikatsu is my favorite smith. His signatures varied between standard block style and grass script ones. Like another poster wrote, a good hada picture is the best way to tell, his nie laden masame hada is quite distinct. Your mei seems just a touch thick for his works that I have seen, but he is a somewhat rare smith to see examples of. I have put your mei side by side with one I have that is verified: