Ray Singer

Your translation is correct Klaus.

Noshu Seki ju Nakata Sukenori.

I have agreed to extend the hold on this sword for another three days. As the interested buyer had also requested additional photos of the ji, I am attaching those here. Best regards, Ray

Looks like Ishihara Kanetada. A showa-to (mass-produced blade).

It does appear to be hakikkake. The lines of nie will follow the layers of forging (ie. layers of steel which may form sunagashi and chikei in the ji may show as hakikkake in the boshi).

Thank you for the kind words. This sword is now on a 24-hour hold. Kind regards, Ray

This piece has sold. Please move to the archives. Kind regards, Ray

This is a really wonderful Soshu ko-wakizashi with a hitatsura hamon that is full of activity. I will say at the outset that the sword has a mei of Muramasa and a sayagaki from Sato Kanzan which supports that mei, however I am doubtful. Looking at just the blade itself, I believe it to be Muromachi Soshu, such as Hiromasa. The hamon is full of bright, uniform ko-nie with profuse hataraki. The jihada is a large patterned itame. This is a wide and healthy hirazukuri wakizashi. Please see below for dimensions: Nagasa: 34.7cm Moto-haba: 30mm Kasane: 5.8mm This blade is in shirasaya with a very well made gold foil habaki with a solid silver base. Best regards, Ray

They may feel that the blade is wakimono, ie. shows traits that do not fit precisely within one of the mainline traditions and is therefore more difficult to categorize.

Tsuruta-san puts these pieces in the normal areas of his site (katana, wakizashi, tanto), but seems to offer his honest assessment of whether he feels the sword is a kazuuchi mono. https://www.aoijapan.net/katana-bishu-osafune-kiyomitsueiroku-6-nen-2-gatsu-hi/

There's nothing to my eyes that would indicate a kazuuchi mono, and I doubt that my assessment would change if seen in-hand. Sue-Bizen kazuuchi mono typically looks like these examples. Poorly forged, with loose and coarse jihada. A hamon that tends to be diffuse, poorly defined with inconsistent nioi-guchi and large areas of shimiru. http://www.aoijapan.com/img/sword/2010/10289-2.jpg http://www.aoijapan.com/img/sword/2015/15589-4.jpg

The kanji that John has written above reads Kuni Fumei. The NBTHK do not know who exactly made this piece, but are stating that the mei is authentic. http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/13092-unrecorded-swordsmiths-and-shinsa/

This is the so-called Ho Norimitsu line. http://www.sho-shin.com/sue3.htm

Not all Sue-Bizen which are sighed Bishu are kazuuchimono. Yours looks like a well made sword. It would not fall into the kazuuchimono category.

A friend purchased this one, which was originally described as Yagyu, with a Kanzan hakogaki. If he sells in the future, and if you have any interest, I'd be happy to connect the two of you. http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/Yagyu1.html Best regards, Ray

Just based on this photos, this really does not look like a hagire to my eyes. Hagire run perpendicular to the ha in a straight line. This kizu seems to move with the jihada and give a strong sense of being a kitae-ware which unfortunately intersects with the ha.

Hi Dion, Although there is an alarmist who has been propagating information about fakes of the current NBTHK kanteisho, this does not appear to be a widespread problem. More like fear-mongering around one small incident. Best regards, Ray

The translation (worksheet) for the sword contains all the relevant information. It is a mumei katana attributed to Bizen Tsuneie with a length of 66.8cm. The kanteisho appears to have been made out to a westerner named Wiseman (left column). The date is the 7th day in the 4th month of Showa 55 (April 7, 1980).

Wonderful, thank you for filling in these gaps. This was a great help Steve. Adding a link below for anyone interesting in reading a reference related to Kamiyo / Jindai (神代). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_the_Gods Best regards, Ray

I am struggling a bit with this sayagaki, for a sword attributed to Hoki Ohara Yasutsuna. Any assistance would be much appreciated. Best regards, Ray

I believe this is Yosozaemon. Bizen (no) kuni ju Osafune Yosozaemonjō Sukesada [saku]

As John said, there is no doubt that this is a fake. Please see below for clues which can help identify these in the future. http://www.jssus.org/nkp/fake_japanese_swords.html

A few photos of these menuki within their koshirae. Thank you again Kyle.

I agree that this is a very beautiful sword. I expect that the issue with the nengo contributed to keeping the price lower than what would be expected for a perfect Nobuhide. My speculation is that there was serious corrosion on the nakago, that has been skillfully addressed (yasuri-mei re-done).

There are also many threads in this board related to the best books to start with. Nakahara, Yamanaka and Nagayama are frequently recommended. http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/9782-best-five-or-so-books-for-beginning-nihonto/ http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/1901-best-reference-book/ http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/4722-book-question/ Etc... I'd start by sending an inquiry to Grey Doffin. http://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/