DUTCHMN

Thank you and yes I do take it to heart, hence I am asking questions here with people that clearly know what they are talking about before me acting upon anything. It is great that boards like these exists

I agree that it sounds suspicious but the store is Tozando in Kyoto, a well known store is it not?

I negotiated them down to JPY900000 (roughly $8000) from JPY1250000. I would have preferred to pay half of that but they are not likely to come down further. I am going to ask and see if they are willing to get a NBTHK Hozon.

I contacted the store and they confirmed they still have the sword

My apologies Steve for missing that forum rule. The sword was reserved by me so I wonder if they claim it was sold because I had an hold on it but I am afraid you might be right and it the sword is gone. Dries

Yes I had suggested that to the store but they said that since they know it is an utsushi, it would be a waste of money

Hi Matt, with Hozon Guarantee do you mean having them send it in for a shinsa?

Hi Jussi, First of all thank you so much for your fast and elaborate reply, very useful! I also like the reference to the follow board members here in the Midwest, including the sword club, didn't know that existed here. Joe already reached out to me. Regarding the sword, I am impressed with your knowledge and ability to translate because it matches what the store said. It first they claimed it was a sword by Ōmura Kaboku but later they came back and said that it was made by one of his disciple and therefore a utsushi. (copy) The struggle I have is whether I go for a sword that really spoke to me or one that came from a great sword smith with great history. I guess the big concern I have is the price of the sword as you can see from the pictures in the store. Correct me if I am wrong but it seems way to high if it was made by his disciple rather than himself. I apologize for not having great pictures but I wasn't able to communicate with the store owner for him to take the sword out so I could take detailed pictures of the blade. Is this the same sword that you found?

Hi, this is my first post to this forum and I am glad that forums like these exist as they help people out greatly in their search for answers to the many questions that people run into during their journey to find the right Nihonto. I was in Japan earlier this year and as part of that trip, I kept my eye open for a Katana that spoke to me. I game along a particular Katana in Kyoto that I loved but unfortunately the people that worked at the shop at the time did not spoke any English so I wrote down the details so I could contact them later which I did upon my return. I am still contemplating buying the sword but it comes at a significant price which I am willing to pay if it wasn't for some concerns that I have. The sword does not come with origami by one of the major Japanese sword study associations (NBTHK or NTHK). Instead it has papers from Juho-Token-Kenkyukai. I found more information on these papers from http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/659-kantei-paper/ I was hoping that someone could help me translating these papers. Thanks in advance!