Ray Singer

That's very interesting, I bought John Slough's entire sword library (that he had with him) when he was living here on South Beach. I was not aware that he had additional references and would have expressed an interest had I known...

Much appreciate the additional information, thank you.

Here is a list of sword that I have on consignment. Any inquiries, please email raymondsinger@gmail.com... 1. Kanabo Masatsugu yari $4,950* 2. 100cm Tosa Kunimichi Onagamaki $10,950 * 3. Kawachi (no) Kami Yukihira wakizashi w/ 9mm kasane (Tokubetsu Hozon, actual sword in Fujishiro) $8,500* 4. Osuriage Bizen Ieshige tachi (Oei) $2,800* 5. Teishin Nyudo Sadashige of the Gassan school. Top quality gendaito in excellent condition gunto koshirae. $6,500* 6. Hizen (no) Kuni Masatsugu gendaito. Flawless with beautiful ko-choji hamon in shirasaya $2,200* 7. Kongohyoe Morimitsu gendaito in buke zukuri koshirae $3,200* 8. Hosokawa Masayoshi kodachi in shirasaya with efo (no) tachi habaki $4,500 * 9. Kanemoto suriage wakizashi and exceptonal, mint koshirae - NTHK papers $5,500* 10. Signed Omi Daijo Tadahiro katana (suriage) in beautiful koshirae $5,500 * 11. Ubu Nambokucho or earlier tachi, signed Yukihira, $1,600 * 12. Yamato Hosho utushimono with provenance to Mitsumasa Yonai, papered to Ogawa Kanekuni $6,000 * 13. Large katana signed Chounsai Tsunatoshi with a date of Keio gannen (1865). $6,000 * 14. Unusual hira-zukuri naginata by Soshu Kunihide $3,750 * 15. Hioki (Heki) Kanetsugu tanto circa 1865 $2,800* 16. Yoshitake yari (Shinto) $600* 17. Hidetoki naginata $3,375* 18. Jumonji yari signed Nanki Shigekuni in koshirae $2,250 * * (plus shipping and PayPal)

https://www.aoijapan.net/masterpiecesaneo/

It was described correctly as a Chikushi naginata. The seller is also a member here (recommended). I will share a Saneo example shortly.

I would say it is more than that, and that the nakago has been deeply ground in the area below the habaki-moto.

If it is a clear match against established reference examples (and otherwise qualifies) than it can receive papers.

Norikuni (相州住憲國) or Yasukuni (相州住康國) are possible.

I regret not bidding on this one. It came up for auction at a very difficult time financially. Who knew pre-school tuition would be such a challenge? https://www.aoijapan.net/tanto-mumei-den-tametsugu/ Anyone here the buyer?

信吉 - Nobuyushi.

Chris, the first kanji appears to be HIDE (秀). The second is challenging (to me). My initial thought was 秀弘 but I don't believe that is correct.

Perhaps: Hishu ju Fujiwara Yukinaga (肥州住藤原行永)?

Hayakawa Kaneyuki saku (早 川 兼 進). Per Sesko, he was born Hayakawa Masao in 1906.

Perhaps Keicho.

I did recieve assistance on this one a while back. Ōgesa katateuchi setsudan (大袈裟片手打截断) Yamano Ka Uemon roku ju yon sai Nagahisa Kao (Yamano Nagahisa at the age of 64) Kanbun 1 nen hachi gatsu hi (a day in August 1661) Also, credit to Ford Hallam for the remarkable work restoring the patina of the nakago.

Suggest Roger Robertshaw, as he has familiarity beyond the Tadayoshi / Tadahiro mainline. Hizento.net

Thank you Guido, I somehow managed to overlook that.

There is no confusion on my side about the designation of this sword, but have heard more than once that it may not be possible to re-export such pieces. Christie's stated that the export of Juyo Bijutsuhin is not possible when the Manno Museum collection was dispersed several years ago. Not that I consider Christie's to be an authority on this subject, but I would expect that they researched prior to the issuing that statement during the auction. There are to my knowledge several Juyo Bijutsuhin in private collections outside of Japan. Very curious to know of any other cases where such swords were imported for restoration and/or shinsa and had been able to easily re-export afterwards. As Brian mentioned, the one-year time span may indicate that this was not a simple process.

Not challenging Fred's article, but this is the first I have heard of the replacement of a Juyo Bijutsuhin certificate. I would be very interested to see a reissued Ju-bi paper.

In terms of reference examples, there is one here: http://www.ginzaseikodo.com/kanehiraE.html And a kinmoku habaki I own attached.

Fuyuhiro saku

The topic of legally exporting Juyo Bijitsuhin has been discussed in this forum on and off for the past few years. I thought it would be of interest to share a link to an article newly added to Fred's website, where the highly important Ju-bi Soshu Akihiro (and its export from Japan) is written about... http://www.nihonto.com/soshu-akihiro-%E7%9B%B8%E5%B7%9E%E7%A7%8B%E5%BA%83/ "After acquiring this blade in the USA, I returned it to Japan for restoration and replacement of the missing and lost original Juyo Bijitsuhin (重要美実品) designation certificate. I also requested permission to properly and legally export it from Japan. After about a year, permission to export it was granted so now it can legally be owned outside of Japan. It should be noted that without such permission, blades of this designation are not allowed leave Japan." - Fred Weissberg Here is one of the previous threads: http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/13787-prewar-kokuho-and-juyo-bijutsuhin/?hl=%2Bjuyo+%2Bbijutsuhin

Glad to hear it. Brian is the only habaki-shi I use, including habaki for swords I sent to Japan for the remainder of their restoration.

The homepage is now in a newsfeed format, so that any new additions to the site (swords, fitting, articles, etc) will appear at the top of the feed. Each item has the date it was added to the site. This newsfeed replaces the 'site updates' list Fred previously had at nihonto.com/itemsale.html. Best regards, Ray

Musashi Taro Yasukuni, a smith associated with the Shitahara school. Addendum: sorry I missed your comment about being familiar with this smith. The reverse has a Zodiac date to the Shōtoku period, and an additional description (正徳丙申仲春発生之時 真丸煉作之). I will try to help translate. I believe that 真丸煉作之 refers to the forging technique of the Shitahara school (they more often have a longer notation of the 15 fold method) and the date is 1716. Best regards, Ray