lovelight

Congrats. That's quite the starter item. If you feel that you will continue with this hobby, consider going to Tokyo in November for Dai Token Ichi. The number of swords and sword related items in one place is breathtaking. Airfare and hotel is a relatively small investment for the ability to see so many items in person.

Thanks folks. I'll give all of these a try. I'm having some difficulty finding the eunuch but anything is possible with the internet.

Hello all- I'm curious what light source folks prefer for observing the details in their swords. I've heard everything from halogen to candlelight to morning sun. A recent visit to an exhibit in Nara made me realize what a difference lighting can make but I can't remember what they used in the exhibit. Thanks- Ron

Makes sense. The difference between the upper and lower nakago makes me wonder if it might have been shortened twice. But my experience with nihonto and koto blades specifically is very limited.

Pretty healthy looking ha-machi for such an old blade.

Thanks Piers. That's quite a bit more than I had known prior. It's been fascinating inspecting and admiring the piece.

Yes please!

Thanks John!

Hello all- Asking for some assistance from the learned members of the forum with some papers. I believe this is just a certification of authenticity from the dealer as opposed to NBTHK or NTHK. So far, all I've been able to extract is the length of the wakizashi, early Edo origin, and that the papers were generated May of 2018. Thanks in advance for your help and feedback. Ron

Thanks everyone. The store is one of the biggest I've been to in Japan and also moves a lot of budo gear. I'm 99.9% certain they export internationally so I'll assume they familiar with tax free processes for exports. I can't find anything on their website referencing tax free purchases. It just seems impossible that they wouldn't for international nihonto sales. My plan is to have custom koshirae created for the blade. They said it can be done in 2-3 months. After that I'll ask that they ship it to me. I do not plan on taking it back with me from Japan on my flight. If I can get the 8% taken off for tax, I won't be that much over my original budget and getting something that's a bit more fancy than I had originally planned. I haven't decided if I should go to the trouble to submit the sword for a modern shinsa paperwork. I guess I'll worry about that after I hear back from the questions about taxes, price negotiations, etc.

Hello. I am considering acquiring a piece from a seller in Japan and wanted to see if I may be able to draw upon the knowledge of the experience in this forum. The seller posts on their website that the price is "including tax" so I assume that means it would be less 8% if purchased for export. Is that a fair assumption? When I went to view the katana in person, he seemed to suggest it was the pre-tax price so I was confused. Between my poor Japanese, his poor English, and the hand held electronic translation device, we couldn't seem to zero in on a common understanding. In terms of negotiating a price, what is a reasonable starting point to offer? Would 10% off be acceptable? I don't want to create a situation where I offend as I was planning on having koshirae built. The item is in shirasaya now but I would like to go ahead and have any work done for it while it is still in Japan. The item also has tokubetsu kicho token papers so I suppose it is recommended to have it resubmitted for evaluation before it leaves the country. The dealer is certainly well established and reputable. I'm not worried about that aspect. I would like to make sure that I'm getting a fair price and getting any in-country tasks done before it ships to me in the US. Thanks in advance for your help and insight. This is a rather important purchase for me and my family. Ron