ChrisW

A beautiful sword. If you brought it to the Chicago show at the end of the month, you'd surely sell it there to someone.

This is a question that only a polisher could answer definitively. If you're able to make it, there is a sword show in Chicago during the last weekend of this month. There will be several known polishers there that could assist.

Save one of the photos to your computer, go to Google images and do a "reverse image" search. You'll upload the photo to their search engine, and it will find all instances of the same or similar photos that turn up in its search algorithm. If you get the same or similar photos, then you've got a fraudster if said lady isn't the daughter of Sam Young.

I'll go ahead and see what turns up for you.

Update: Did a quick search using Google lens. None of the photos turned up anywhere else online. So they are likely to be taken for the first time. Which makes it more likely this is legitimate, but still: caveat emptor.

Get this in front of a traditionally trained polisher.

Some options include: Bob Benson or Woody Hall.

3 hours ago, Ray Singer said:

Unfortunately my impression is that this is a Chinese fake.

That was my suspicion too after further study. Thanks Ray!

1 hour ago, ROKUJURO said:

Chris,

I will keep posting this as I feel it is very impolite to throw in some hastily and incompetently made photos and let the members try to get something out of it.

My opinion is, if someone wants help, they should make it easy for those who are expected to help. And that has nothing to do WHO made the photos, it is the responsibility of those who post the images.

A newbie can be excused as they usually don't look how it is done, but an experienced member might know better.

It is not personal, it is just the way it could be made better.

And yes, the sword in question (GENDAI-TO, not Gendai) looks non-Japanese to me as well.

Thanks for the largely non sequitur.

He was informed that the quality of his photos may or may not receive results. I decided to try for him anyways.

12 minutes ago, ROKUJURO said:

Chris,

after more than 2.000 posts, you certainly know how to post images!
 

-  pictures of the NAKAGO and the 'naked' blade always with tip pointing upwards 

-  taken directly from above

-  with light from the side

-  well focused
-  showing details like HAMON, HADA and HATARAKI

-  against a dark background to get a good contrast

-  and presented as cut-out so nothing is distracting from the blade itself 

Jean, if you had read my post, you would know that these are not my photos.

If you cannot post anything constructive to the post requests, then don't post. Thanks!

No idea. I've not yet seen this one in person and the photos are all he's given me to work with. But I fear for his sake that you may be right.

Anyone else?

Hey guys,

Posting this for a friend who is not tech savvy. He wants to know who this smith is. He believes it to be a gendai smith by the name of Okano Mitsuhiro. I attempted to look them up and found nothing. Anyone got a lead on this smith or has he discovered one that's fallen out of the meikan? Also, what kamon is that? It appears to be cast into the piece, rather than attached like a usual one.

27" nagasa with an attractive sanbonsugi hamon. Very minty Type 98 mounts.

Thanks!

Congrats on your new custodianship!

No such thing as a 'spot polish'. If a sword is to remain in good health with crisp geometry, then a full polish is done.

Congrats Dan! See it at the meeting.

2 hours ago, DTM72 said:

You probably passed right by it. She was literaly covered under a pile of other swords of all different types. You could not see it! he was only about 5-6 tables down from me, in the same row. The dealer was starting to pack-up and asked what I was looking for. I said "any Nihonto, especially if it is unusual." He said he has 2 ken. Dug through the pile and handed both to me. The first honestly looked like a yari, and was in poor polish. The second was this one. You know what they say, "you don't choose the blade, it chooses you". I think it must be true.

 

BTW, when I laid it on my table, the wife snatched it up, checked it out and said "I like it, it's mine now". lol. Could be worse, she could hate this collection/hobby and not allow me to do it.

Dang! Well, there was just so many tables to see. Didn't get through it all. I didn't leave empty-handed though. Picked up a signed naginata-naoshi blade that Nick Nakamura told me is signed "Moriyuki" and I got it for very little. So I didn't do too bad!

26 minutes ago, DTM72 said:

Sorry about that Chris! At the end of the show on Saturday, My wife, son, daughter, best-friend and his daughter, helped my to pack-up and load out. I promised them all that I would buy dinner. No joke, pack-up took 20 minutes, including putting everything in the truck! Went straight to dinner after the show, got stuffed, then to the hotel to shower and sleep. Got up Sunday morning, had a half-assed breakfast in the lobby, then hit the road to South Carolina. Stopped in Lexington, KY for Skyline chili, since we don't have that in S.C.

Long story short, sorry I didn't message ya! Was ready to get home. <-- 9 hour drive.

No problem Dan! But if you're not planning on holding onto that ken, you should let me have first crack at a trade/purchase since ken are sort of a big soft spot for me!

I'll get some pictures up when I am able!

I've got two ken actually.

One signed "Yukihira", early Kamakura piece.

Another, mumei but probably Yamato and late Muromachi.

I like the one you've got Dan! I wish you had messaged me about it after the show!

Far as I know, there are 11 generations of Shigekuni which date back about 400 years. The most famous being Nanki Shigekuni 1st generation. Hawley has him at 115 points and 15m yen in Toko Taikan, Sai-Jo Saku in Fujishiro. The 11th generation stopped working in the Ansei era and there are no more recorded after that.

https://nihontoclub.com/smiths/SHI206

Would be a dream come true if this blade were him! But that is unlikely to be the case. But you still have many other to compare to and see how they compare.

If you'll be at the Chicago show, I'll have a papered 11th generation Shigekuni yoroi-doshi that you can compare this blade to and see how the workmanship compares to mine.

Shigekuni blades were known for being well made with lots of activity in the hamon and boshi.

Not to get your hopes up, but it sounds like Suishinshi Masahide. Which would be a big name and unusual. I can't speak about the veracity of the mei though.

2 hours ago, DTM72 said:

Was good bumping into you @ChrisW! One of my trips back to Indy, I will be sure to meet up with you and the ITK, even if it is just for coffee.

 

@AlphaRaider would love to see the pics you took! I had the table in the far back left corner with 2 suits of samurai armor on either end of the table.

Yeah! Just let me know early in that month and I'll get you our meeting date. We usually schedule the next month's meeting at the end of the most recent meeting so we can arrange for the most convenient time for our members.

20 minutes ago, AlphaRaider said:

I went to the show this year and it sure was amazing. There were quite a bit of swords of Japanese origin and from WW2. I found a fair amount of Japanese WW2 military items as well. I took over 400 images of the booths.

 

I walked around with my sword, not necessarily to sale but got to share it with many people. I got a fair amount of offers from the public, and two vendors/people actually spent some time viewing it which was neat and always nice to hear kind words as a beginner myself. 
 

I didn’t purchase any swords but there were 3 that caught my eye. Prices seemed a wee bit high compared from the last collector show I went to but that’s life and it’s the SOS’s so ehh. However the selection makes up for the price and in all honesty this show is about the nice stuff so paying more isn’t a bad thing considering it’s probably pretty nice. That being said I attend around 122 ish shows a year on the gun show side but this show yields more swords you’ll ever find at a gun show. There were a lot of wonderful people and so many great military’s items.  We left with 3 backpacks full of goodies and I now own one of the most beautiful signed flags I’ve come across. So it’s hard to beat that.
 

We will be going again next year so maybe I can meet up with a few of you there.

 

 

 

The Show of Shows was definitely overpriced on a lot of things, but there were deals to be had! Just had to keep a sharp eye out. I picked up a signed naginata-naoshi for relatively little and I got to hang out with some good friends.

I didn't get to meet you, so if you're coming to the Chicago Show this year, do stop by the Indiana Token Kai table and say hi to us.

~Chris

Looks like a thin and narrow fukure.

If you like, the Indiana Token Kai has monthly meetings. We are based in central Indiana. Message me if you'd like more info! Our next meeting is on the 24th this month.

I ask because if it is fairly thick, then it might be considered a yoroi-doshi aka an "armor piercing" tanto. But this appears to be a normal tanto. I wouldn't call it a kaiken unless it comes in appropriate koshirae. It is the koshirae that makes a kaiken what it is if I recall correctly.

How thick is the mune of the blade near the machi?

@Bruce Pennington@Stephen@Brian

Well, I finally got around to taking some quick photos. I've photographed them as a pair, but they're two very different blades. Both in army mounts though.

The wakizashi is a 21.5" blade signed simply "Nobuyoshi" and could be any of the late 1500 to middle 1600's Nobuyoshi. It has a very active choji hamon with a lot of tobiyaki. Dan from my ITK group likes to call it "florid choji". I like to think its almost like paint or blood dripping. Nothing special about the mounts other than the condition being very good with much of the gold plate/wash present. Good portions of the chrome on the saya is gone, but the condition is stable.

The longer blade is a 25.75" cut-down tachi which I believe is from the Late Kamakura era. It appears to have been around the 30 to 31" mark originally. The nakago has three mekugi-ana and retains about 1.5" of the original length of the nakago. The hamon is a very narrow razor-thin suguha and is very difficult to capture. The mounts have a kamon on the backstrap. I believe it is a Tokugawa crest. It is missing one seppa unfortunately. But the chrome plating is near immaculate on the saya.

That's about all I know of the two. I'd welcome opinions on school of the longer blade as I've no idea without visible hada and a barely visible hamon through the clouding.

Edit: apologies for the photos as usual. Working with a phone camera and then an image compressor means much is lost. They'll both be with me at the Chicago show this year again too.