Vermithrax16

Nickm, I would search the NMB and you can read a lot about your very question.

Let's revive this thread. Some cool stuff coming.

Nice article and what a SMALL world! I attended a discussion led by Julie A. Lauffenburger not long ago (I work in Biotech/Pharma) and had I seen this I would have brought it up. EDIT: The odds of two people having that exact same name has got to be small, but I was mistaken. Amazing. Glad the tsuka is off. I can't see the kanji but maybe others can.

To further beat the dead horse... I will not buy anything sword wise without papers. Menuki, tsuba, etc I rely on help from good friends or my own research. To Greg's question always see if there is a Ko, none, or Sue designation on papers, that will tell you the era.

Well that's one way to start off 2019! Really like them all Frank. Great old iron on the Tosho. Well done.

Hoping to have something I have been waiting on for a while in hand soon, but alas, after the New Year.

Not Kenjo???? Wow, that would be my bid. Komai is a good second opinion.

If you know exactly what you want, there are numerous options in the 10K range for most any era, work style, etc. "Sought After" is an amorphous term. By the book folks will go the Koto era, probably Bizen path. What is a single person looking for is a better question. Carbon copy a "gold standard" collection may be what one wants to do, who knows. Save up another 20k to buy a Juyo. Ok, Juyo is a WIDE sliding scale; Aoi Art has several in the 20k-30k range right now, would anyone here buy them? Why not save up another 30k-50k to get a higher end one? Hell, why not 100k-200k and go Toku Juyo. I mean, this is silly. The purpose I would think is to learn and study this art. NMB is a great resource but the budget aspect get passed by too much. "Yes, your sword is nice but for another 30k you could find better". Well, no kidding.

Just an added word; Having extensive reference material on hand is crucial to this study. As is the NMB and the stored info here.

Here is a Shinshinto example Greg: https://yuhindo.com/suishinshi-masatsugu/

Barry already nailed it. It's a sign of a newer sword, or if one is lucky, a shinshinto or even shinto era sword that has not seen more than a polish or two.

NICE acquisition Frank!

Those are sick excellent! Merry Christmas!

Bachman Books 1st edition:

If I was not on a specific plan of collection, I would have added at least 3 of your swords. Excellent offers Joe.

Good shots Ed!

Too kind Ray, but thanks.

1. A signed Hosho sword will almost certainly never leave Japan. So we don't need to worry about that . Kunikane had many generations and he is faked a lot as you have documented many times here on NMB. It depends on ones own goals; if masame is THE goal, go with the best work you can find and skip the mei validation if it's not important to you. For me I am looking for the best masame works by the best smiths that executed it. Thus, I want a validated mei to go along with the sword. 2. NOTHING! From what I can put together, the 3rd gen was the most skilled at masame execution. But here is a nice 13th gen right now for sale that is super nice: https://www.aoijapan.com/katana-ou-kakae-masatomo-oushu-sendai-ju-kunikane-saku-kore-13-th-generation/ 3. See #1 above. Mumei shinshinto is a no go, but if the quality of work is good enough, shinto and older should be fine, especially with a Tanobe sayagaki and/or papers.

Through some dialogue and interaction, Peter asked a few questions in another thread. I think it best to discuss it here in the Nihonto section. His post: "I opened a followed up conversation with Jeremiah to discuss this topic - and I was tempted to keep it there. But, what the heck, let's see if anybody else wants to discuss this topic. 1. Lets start by discussing blades with masame hada but questionable signatures. I don't know enough about Norikatsu to comment about him, BUT SIGNED masame blades with either Hosho or Kunikane signatures are - well - always suspicious. How is a guy going to treat them? Does a questionable signature outweigh nice masame? 2. And what's wrong with Kunikanes other than 1-3? Who the heck WERE those guys What's wrong with their stuff? 3. Finally, what about mumei masame blades? They seem to come in two flavors: a) recently de-signed blades and B) old blades that seem to have never been signed. How should be treat those swords? Do we respect swords that once had a signature that has been removed? Peter"

I have been very pleased to see Ray's results. I am off work from today until January 2nd, so I figured I would try and see what I could do using some light angles, camera phone angles, magnification, etc. Let's just say......well most shots were not very good at all I did get 3 I like and they show the elegant masame work on the Norikatsu katana I have. Hope you all like:

I will be trying this!

Sometimes I forget what goes into the forging of an exceptional nihonto and the top flight fittings that sometimes come along with it. To see a picture set like this, makes me smile.

The blade is magnificent but I am drawn to the habaki like a moth to fire! Great pictures Ray. Would love a tutorial.

3rd for Mito. This is one I have (NBTHK Hozon), it's large like yours and the general detail work I think is similar:

JohnTo wrote: "The good thing about finding a signature of a minor artist on a piece of kodugu is that it is probably genuine." I accepted this as a fact BEFORE I started studying and looking for kodugu. After some experience, I think we can put this one to bed. Gimei can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever. Raise hand if you got the movie reference.