Vermithrax16

Grey, you should! Excellent sword. And people should. I know Nihinto sales are kept tight to fend off competition, but often times I am amazed what is out there just not online. This section should be more active with postings.

Damn Ed! That is a real deal!

Sudare-Ba, well done: http://www.samuraishokai.jp/sword/17314.html

Amazing Ron!

The % mumei is an amazing stat, can we flesh this out with some sources? Agree with Luis, my gut says no way but I learned a while ago not to be surprised! "Strong opinions, weakly held" - Peter Brandt

Aoi has been getting more wildly random with offerings over the last year. Some unreal, high quality items, and others that are either questionable or just no good.

Thanks for sharing this!

My purchases arrived from Grey no issue. He shipped them fast but due to the recurring Nor'easter storms we have had up here (another one tonight, kill me now), everything was super slow in arriving in New England. Very happy with books. Thanks Grey!

Peter, yikes, with what I have I can't say with 100% confidence. 1844 or so would be my guess.

Thanks Robert and Peter. Appreciate it. Yes, been hard to find examples for sure.

James, you are a lucky man!!!I would love to see a picture or two of this one if at all possible. It's stunning.

6 would have been more balanced

Sort of glad I missed this debate! My untrained opinion is this: - I posted a weird blade (this type) a while ago and went to the rabbit hole of flower cutters vs other uses. Everything I read tells me they were tools. - The fine fittings posted on couple above by OP look to be just cut down stuff, refitted. If the blue scale one has papers, post them so one can see was the blade given papers or just remnant koshirae. - If these were head cutters and they were valued, I would guestimate there would be a market for them already, one not just now discovered. To be fair, some I have seen are really nice, worth buying. But most just seem like remnant blades and cut down fittings with a story. Just my 2 cents.

I think this board knows my interest in masame hada swords. Some call it an obsession, which is probably true, but why use words with a sinister meaning During research over the last few months, I caught this little blurb regarding Kunikane 12th gen: KUNIKANE (国包), 12th gen., Kōka (弘化, 1844-1848), Ōshū – “Sendai-jū Kunikane saku” (仙台住国包作), “Ōshū Fujiwara Kunikane” (奥州藤原国包), “Ōshū Sendai-jū Fujiwara Kunikane” (奥州仙台住藤原国包), “Ōshū Sendai tōkō-tōryō Fujiwara Kunikane” (奥州仙台 刀工棟梁藤原国包), “Kunikane” (国包), real name Hongō Genbei (本郷源兵衛), he went later to Edo and studied there under Taikei Naotane (大慶直胤), the 12th gen. signed with the supplement Sendai tōkō-tōryō (仙台刀工棟梁, “master of all Sendai smiths”), he died on the 22nd day of the second month Kōka five (1848) at the age of 49, chūjō-saku Would LOVE to see an example of this smith if anyone has one, or any pictures, further info. Thanks in advance.

Relevant to our discussion here: https://yuhindo.com/ha/scotch/#more-712

Wow, about $1200 final bid. Amazing.

Nice Al!

These pictures are amazing! Tsuba is great too!

Occam's Razor says this is most likely and what I was thinking.

Sorry if I came off rough, this is a splendid sword. Interesting observation on the erased (possibly) mei patch. From what I have seen, it's probably a long story, but I can imagine a direct reason why that is.

Someone do a sticky on Tsuba care/restoration!

I evaluate blades on what they are, I felt this one was worth a look.

Seen ana holes punched through family emblems and crests, everyone told me "if it meant good in a fight, who cares".

I didn't even notice it had koshirae as I was looking at a Yamato SHIZU blade.

Agree, great sword Sean! Congrats!