DRDave

Curran, Scroll to bottom of this page.

I would agree. It appears the habaki is soldered to the blade. Are there any markings on the nakago?

One more with the subject motif.

Stephen, Just curious; no worries with it being nigimei? Thanks! Dave

I don't recall seeing bohi before, either; but perhaps it was added later? A quick look through Tom Kishida's The Yasukuni Swords, didn't find any mention of hi, but I may have missed it. The book does include photos of two examples that have horimono (one dated 1933, the other 1940) however, one is a tanto, and the other I'm guessing is tanto or wakizashi (not katana-length nakago). There are also several katana-length blades that have hi, but they're all post-war. The hamon on the eBay blade looks a little wide to me, and the sori a little shallow; but on a 1935 blade, maybe they had yet to solidify the standard?

I'm seeing some inconsistency in detail between the two tsuba, and wondering if that's unusual for a daisho pair, or not.

Dave, Can you post a close up or two of the blade and tip? The following links will give you an idea of the variation among Emura blades that are in polish. http://www.aoijapan.com/img/sword/2014/14656-2.jpg http://www.aoijapan.com/img/sword/2016/16095-2.jpg http://www.aoijapan.com/img/sword/2009/09149-2.jpg http://www.aoijapan.com/img/sword/2013/13293-2.jpg

Looks worrisome to me. What do you think?

A gift sword is treasure.

Haven't got Slough's book, but Aoi guaranteed this would paper, and I'd say the one on eBay compares favorably.

I thought the theme was wild hares.

I'd bet Marcus Sesko is familiar with copyright laws, so perhaps he will chime in. All I know is, my Koza volumes state Copyright 1992. Whether that would hold up or not, I haven't a clue.

They're copyrighted. It likely he gave ownership to someone.

I'm curious what percentage of one of those blades is actually done by hand.

Found this Edit: and this

Indeed. It's fantastic.

Wow! Elegant. Congratulations everyone!

Dan, I'm excited for everyone that has submitted items to shinsa, and best wishes to all. Question for you and other members about orikaeshi mei. Most photos that I find show full or partial mekugi ana on the fold, similar to the two examples shown in this thread. And sometimes a mekugi ana is obscured by the fold but appears on the opposite side. Would you question an orikaeshi mei where there was no evidence of previous mekugi ana? Again, best wishes and congratulations in advance .

Talented indeed. Lovely masame.

Couple more bunnies.

Speaking of Mishina; how's this for a match?

Stephen, Is this what you're thinking of?

I had emailed the seller (Aoi) about it a couple of days ago, and late yesterday, received their response; they too, say it's umegane. There is some evidence in the hada suggesting the possibility of bigger issues requiring umegane, but I still wonder. Life was far from normal in Feb 1945. Bombing of Tokyo; invasion of Iwo Jima. I wonder if maybe the additional metal was of such significance to the smith that he just wanted to incorporate it into the blade.

Nice. Congrats on your daisho! Dave D.

Hi Ken, Hope everything is going your way in Hawaii. I was stationed at Helemano from '73 to '76. I'd like to get back there and see how it looks today, although there is probably very little that I would recognize. My main interest is the process of making the blade; smelting, forging, shaping, tempering, polishing...all of it is fascinates me. Take care over there, Dave D.