tom kehoe

Reinhard, thank you!

Guido, Koichici-san, many thanks! tk

Gentlemen, This sword currently has NBTHK hozon papers. How would I go about determining whether it is worthwhile to submit for Tokubetsu Hozon papers? thank you again for the help. tk

Koichi-san, domo arigato gozaimasu! I've never been on that site before. I appreciate the reference. tk

Reinhard, Piers, Koichi-san, Thank you for all of the help! I have a number of books on Nihonto, but they say little about test cutting. Can you recommend a good reference on the subject? many thanks tk

Reinhard, many thanks for the information. so it wasn't common to do such formal tests in earlier periods? this is all that can be made out of the inscription on the nakago. http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/5065 ... ailig6.jpg tk

Piers, thanks for the reply and the translation. I speak a little Japanese, but I'm helpless when it comes to kanji. Is Yamano the name of the swordsman who conducted the test cut? BTW, it was kind f late last night when I posted, and I forgot to include the picture of the saya. http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/2155 ... asett3.jpg

Folks, Been lurking for a while, but this is my first post. I purchased this piece over the past weekend at the Florida Token Kai show in Tampa. Didn’t plan on buying anything, but I couldn’t walk away from this one. It's my first koto piece. The vitals: Unokobi Zukuri sugata, 27.5 inches, NBTHK Hozen papers attribute it to Masachika Mihara of the Yamato in the 16th century. Suguha hamon, nioi-deki, chu kissaki, fresh polish. No visible signature, but the nakago is badly rusted. The opposite side of the nakago bears a test-cutting inscription -- three with one cut. The sayagaki, as I understand it, is by Yoshindo Yoshihara. Love to hear your comments, thoughts, etc, and any translations on the NBTHK papers, or the inscription on the nakago would be most helpful. I'd also be grateful for any additional information on this smith. tk http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/5510/sugatakw9.jpg http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/603/ ... ntshf5.jpg http://img511.imageshack.us/my.php?imag ... dletm6.jpg