Hello,
This is my first post, my name is Fabio. I came into the (temporary) possession of a wakizashi that I am supposed to take to Japan as a gift for someone. The person who entrusted me with this is a collector, but could not tell me all that much about the blade. When I showed the chokoku inscription to an expert of the Royal Armoury I was told that it reads Hizen-no-kuni Ju Tadayoshi. Upon further research using Robert Robertshaw's book this points to a first generation Tadayoshi sword, between 1615 and 1624. I cannot quite believe that somebody would just casually hand me something as precious and rare as that, so my question to you is: how common are fake blades? And how can one tell the difference between a real Tadayoshi blade and an inferior imitation/copy (if these terms even apply)?
Thanks for your time,
Fabio
Chokoku on the Wakizashi.pdf
