mafea

Thank you all for the info, I apologize for the breach in etiquette, (Pat B). The habaki doesn't want to budge, I tapped on it, etc. but opted to not get too aggressive. I bought this with a few other blades, including a wakizashi with tokubetsu kicho nintei-sho nbthk papers, (Yamishiro Daijo Minimoto Kunishige). The cost seemed reasonable for just that so everything else is a bonus... I will plug along at identifying the other three blades, it is a great challenge! If I get completely stalled I will prevail upon your expertise. Thank you all again, Pat B

Good morning, I am relatively new to this hobby, and I am struggling with the mei on a tanto. The first kanji I got as "hisa", but the next kanji has me stumped. The pictures don't show the hamon very well, but in real life it is straight with a slight wave, visible what I would call ko-nie. I know that I should be able to at least get the era, but tanto's seem to be more difficult, with forms of blade, etc. the same or copied throughout time. Again, I am new to this with a small collection that I am slowly growing, so I appreciate your patience with a neophyte; I have put in a ton of time slowly trying to educate myself and am building a library, but as I am sure everyone will agree there is nothing easy about this! Thank you, Cheers