Utopianarian

Practicing lighting trying to get better at pics. Focusing on hamon. Maybe phone just isn’t cutting it. Might look into actual higher end camera which is better suited. My pics haven’t improved much. I wished I loaded the pics Darcy took of some of those world class blades before the site was removed off web. Darcy was a master of focusing on the features a school was known for and squeezing out every bit of that rendering amazing images. Anyways here are a few laughable novice pics to look at in case you are bored.

One man’s Gimei is another man’s treasure…

Would you consider gold coins or bullion? PM me if you would entertain the offer

The blade looks very close to Aoe works. Nice quality KoMihara works and even quality Enju are hard for me to tell apart from Aoe. Might be a polish away from Chu Aoe with a NBTHK nod and repaper. Sugata definitely Nanbokucho.

78cm nagasa very nice and love the kissaki. Many Nanbokucho were even larger which is impressive. So is this blade ubu or was it even longer nagasa. This blade is tempting. Giving some time to think about this one. Wife will kill me. Do you have close up pics of nakago or if Hamon runs into nakago if suriage. Hard to tell from pics. Info probably in the Hozon paper you posted. Anybody to translate for us to know more about this beauty

I know by that wooden floor and notorious purple rug you bought it from komonjo on eBay out of Berkeley California. He knows what he is selling so no lost National Treasures there… the guy passes tons of swords and found the perfect schtick selling an endless pipeline of gimei blades with big names chiseled on them on eBay and not giving much in regards to description. Some advice: in the future not only study the blade but kantei the seller as well..

I guess it would depend on what one defines as the end.. Four horsemen of the apocalypse or idiomatic in context unless speaking rhetorically 😳

That makes sense. The world will follow suit. From an energy standpoint and economic it makes sense. Companies will not produce these due to cost and no subsidies from government for energy efficiency. It obviously is pretty much the standard and will phase out completely

To my fellow board members. Just a heads up that in the United States under the Biden administration and Department of Energy announced that there will be a phase out of incandescent light bulbs and banned completely effective July 2023. Only limited applications on halogen and incandescent bulbs that meet efficiency standards which will greatly effect the availability if not completely of traditional incandescent household bulbs. I use the incandescent bulb for nihonto study and some of you on the board may have the same preference as well depending on light source choice and application of use. Might want to stock up while they are still plentiful and cheap right now. The incandescent light bulb may very well become a relic of the past.

I have a reputation for being a dreamer which I am. I have a signed Nobufusa blade I recently came across as well that seems very convincing but I already know the responses I will receive posting it so I figure I will save myself and others time on this one. There are other Masamune blades out there signed but the odds are not likely to be the same Masamune Ray is referring to which that specific blade is not signed. Many Fakes out there as well. Btw Powerball today is 1.6 Billion. I think one might have a better chance hitting jackpot than finding the Honjo Masamune

Surface powder and rust buildup is evident on the blade but are not reflective. The zoomed in pic is reflective nie when a light source is cast upon it. I don’t think “rust or surface powder ” is congruent or have much in respect to luminescent properties

The nie is bright and polish in excellent condition on the shinogi-ji. The hada polish not so good. The question still remains if anybody knows if this specific trait has any relevance or not.

Something I failed to mention which may prove to have some significance to help with attribution. The nie is more prominent on the shinogi-ji very dense and thick and highly reflective more so on the bottom part of the blade with of course masame graining pattern. Surprised how reflective the nie looks on the lower shinogi-ji especially with the old polish and what remains of the old burnishing. I tried to research any schools or smith known for that type of feature but can’t find any more information.

Okan thank you. Very interesting and informative. Yamato blades are very hard to attribute if mumei in a lot of cases it seems. It’s kind of disheartening or I guess my expectations are too high and lack of experience. Especially with the excellent example of Hayashida-San vs NBTHK and the different points of view. Such a great amount of knowledge between the two and as you stated Yamato at the end of the day. All I have to say is I will never drop big bucks on a Papered mumei Yamato with a specific attribution ie…Kanenaga

Thank you Okan for sharing your helpful knowledge set on this blade. The general default to attribution on a difficult to judge Yamato from what I have researched narrows down to Senjuin generally. Mostly crickets on this board for most to respond on this blade which I understand it’s a tough call. Thanks to those of you and your consideration whom shared their knowledge on this difficult blade.

Thank you Ray

I’ve tried and hard to read. Any assistance is appreciated. Filled Ana over some of the mei

Seems like this is about ego not nihonto. Like another Rocky sequel

Yamato Senjuin

Depending on the angle of the pic or light source can dramatically change the appearance of the blade. Here are pics that show nie on the blade. I am starting to think posting pics of blades doesn’t really help much. In hand always best which is tough when one cannot attend group studies etc..

Thank you for assessment it helps to narrow down and rule out.

Here are about the best I can get. I included quite a few pictures in this post but of course in hand is the best. your thoughts? I think Tegai Kanenaga with some Soshu influence apparent in this work. Of course shape of blade and curvature alone is not reliable as I had mentioned earlier in this post.

What really intrigued me was the middle Kamakura shape to the blade. I know others will laugh but feel free to give your honest opinions. Do you or others feel from at least what you can see from the pics posted so far a general idea. Yourself, Michael, Jean, Jussi and others to many to list of experienced collectors who may have a ballpark idea. I will try to add more pics in the future. Right now at work.