raynor

Hello George, It was somewhat a baptism of fire. Because of the pandemic I've been stuck in Norway with the majority of my collection left overseas in Miami for around two years now. Fortunately I measured the nakago and the antique habaki in the past, so with those numbers available I knew what tsuba, fuchi and kashira were possible good fits proportionally, which I gave more importance then visuals to avoid having to alter any of the pieces. Although I managed to maintain a fellow theme with small ume flowers throughout the fittings despite my minion shipping the wrong set of menuki. I had family in Miami measure and ship the fittings, the blade was already in place since Moses Becerra of nihontoantiques.com who did the work had it with him from assisting with shinsa earlier. The most enjoyable part of the process was definitively seeing how it all came together and that it exceeded my expectations since I have in fact not seen all the pieces together before. The tsuba I have never had in hand, I acquired it specifically for this project since it was confirmed by the seller in Japan by photos to match the nakago on my blade remarkably well. Kudos to Buyee for making such interactions easy. Also planning and picking out the antique fittings was a great deal of fun and learning. My first set of fuchikashira had to take a back seat, you actually require kashira with shitodome when mounting as I realized just before shipping. I wanted it all to be antique materials save the new woodwork, ito, seppa and same. By far the worst part was shipping items around during a global pandemic, I'm sure I am not the only one with experience what this global mess did and still do to any shipping further then ten feet. Moses has kept apologizing to me for the time this has taken, but considering work like this takes time and a nice slap of pandemic on top does not speed things up the wait for his work and supplies from Japan has been expected and quite manageable. The work done was new saya, tsuka, same, ito wrap and sageo. I already had a tsunagi and the original habaki so did not need that full package of work done. The total cost for me will likely end up north of ~$1800, party because of DHL who is the only comfortable shipping option to me now is currently having a laugh with exorbitant covid prices in the hundreds of dollars.

Hi all, It is wisely said on this forum that one should not invest time and money into building koshirae for every blade in shirasaya that falls in ones lap, for many good reasons. However to my defense the blade came with a good tsunagi when I bought it from a forum member here, this pandemic has ruined enough of my fun lately as it is, and dammit its my money to squander from the rooftops! I put together a set of antique fittings that fit the blade's proportions and had a new saya, tsuka, ito and same done profesionally. I'll post better photos when I have it in hand, still waiting for sageo and origami before its shipped to me. This is my first time composing a koshirae, hopefully my greenhorn tastes are not too much of an eyesore

I'm sorry, but the size of his head versus his hands in that shot has me in stitches. I need the weekend..

I think it was gen. MacArthur who presented the sword to president Truman, and I also think it was as an official post war gift from the Japanese. In no way 100% sure on this info but a little voice in my head says so.

A Japanese swordmaker tests one of his blades with little concern for its wellbeing in the name of learning. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTskoJTvvQc I believe they tried to somewhat recreate sword testing from the Edo period. I knew the sword would not survive but being familiar with some of those materials color me impressed how it performed.

Disastrous polish and nick in kissaki.. much better options for $4000k.

This is unfortunately nothing new. Many fields are plagued with people who often have the best of intentions but no intent of expending any effort. The world is crawling with experts having completed ardourous six week letter courses or video classes. Often in some old field not taught in "modern" learning institutions like martial arts, meditation or old crafts like sword polishing. Our ancestors took their skills very seriously and many reached levels in their arts beyond anything seen in the industrialized world since. The only good defense against growing ignorance is knowledge, the internet is a good tool for it but it often feels like showeling s**t against the tide. Cest la vie.

Biting my fist. Don't want to pull out of the stock market these days and probably would not survive the wife's reaction, though probably less then her shoe budget judging by what I see when gazing into the depths of her closet. If this one lingers I might crumble, it just ticks so many boxes. Good luck on the sale!

Absolutely disgusting behavior. What is wrong with people? What did the customs office have to say for themselves?

I don't own many swords and none of them have I had polished though I have some mounting projects going, a less damaging greenhorn vice. Polishing is a very serious decision. These items cannot be improved, only preserved. Unless a sword is in a bad state, leave it be. Many collectors get tempted to have blades polished when they often do not need it save our desire to have it appear new and shiny, which even in the best hands requires removal of steel. Polishers need to eat too so I assume not many, even in Japan besides very top guys will raise a flag if a blade is not in need of work beyond a cosmetic face lift to appease a new owner. Over a few centuries that adds up.

Ah, the ruffling of feathers. Too loud and it will drown out your ability to learn.

I am in no way a nihonto expert. That is why I am here. There is lifetimes of knowledge in this subject, wich is part of the attraction. Sharp slab of steel or unique work of art - depends on ones perspective, or why not both? It is what you make it like everything else in life, and people will have different tastes, just because one is more expensive to pursue does not dimish the others in comparison. Passing judgements or absolutes one way or the other is different then passing advice, especially in a field like this where so much is in people's head and not just present in these wonderful slabs of steel.

A late Japanese polisher, name escapes me at the moment, said ALL remaining nihonto should be cared for as if national treasures, were it feasible. With a millennium of time, tens of thousands of smiths and considering these are hands on weapons ofcourse there is spread in availability, quality and condition. People will collect based on different criteria. Much is established for centuries. Many collectors wisely follow those set guidelines rather then reinventing the wheel. Personally in my collecting quality is paramount. Quality as a sword, as a cutting, fighting weapon. Age, smith and provenance is a bonus, but not if it affects quality as a weapon of the time it was forged. Is a tokubetsu juyo, signed ubu down through the mists of time Heian period tachi an amazing sight and desirable piece to own? It sure is. Would I rather bring the only blade I currently own, a late shinshinto signed and dated hefty ubu mid level papered katana to a swordfight? You bet. I'd rather put the extra money into my savings and stocks. I am in no way dismissing nihonto as pieces of art, they absolutely are, more so then much else under that distinction in my opinion. But they are in the end swords, weapons. And beyond that, slabs of steel albeit carefully put together. The whole arguments about elitism and bragging rights become then to me very clear as pointless made up modern bickerings. Lets be better, especially considering actual important things going on in the world. Agreeing to disagree is a quite satisfying compromise.

Thats some optimistic pricing.

Not the worst I've seen but enough red flags to say stay away. No smith nor polisher worth their salt would let that kinda kissaki, or lack of, out the shop for instance.

I didn't know Masamune dabbled in tosogu, such high level distinguished work is undoubtedly from his hand.

Never had a bad experience with either DHL or Buyee, solid services.

Great sword!

My stepfather's uncle in law is a farmer in southwestern Norway. Some years back he blew up a large boulder on his land and among the debris where the boulder had sat he found several flint arrowheads and one large pristine spearhead in white stone, looks like it was carved yesterday, about 8-10 inches long. Apparently someones hoard from way back, several experts agreed on it being a late stone age or so hoard. A couple tearing up their living room floor last week for refurbishing found a viking grave under it, and now that the glaciers are melting people are finding items from the viking age, middle ages and iron age almost daily here in Norway. "Biggest" find is probably the first viking ship being excavated this summer since about a century. Going camping this summer cause of covid and plan to drive by that excavation and peek since it is right by a road. People loose the strangest things indeed!

They do indeed look more like water buffaloes, I assumed cows since there are not many water buffalo in Japan.

Yep. If I wasnt in the midst of a pandemic and another restoration project I'd be all over this, beautiful blade.

Those two holes caught my eyes to, overall the inlays seems to be in good condition besides those two holes, they appear placed more directly on the branch then the flowers, maybe two little metal birds escaped. Would this piece be worth sending to Shinsa once the world goes back to normal? Shoami makes a lot of sense but since that is a big bucket it would be helpful if they could nail down things like age etc more direct.

I was surprised at the amount of zooming the photos allow, if every item is photographed like that the digital museum might be better then an in person visit

A list of tsuba and a few fuchi kashira from the up and coming digitization of the new Norwegian national museum collection. The popup just states that the site is in beta. Google translate might be handy. The photographs can be enlarged by clicking on them and then further zoomed onto details at wish. https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/samlingen/objekt/OK-08396 https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/samlingen/objekt/OK-02955 https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/samlingen/objekt/OK-09434 https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/samlingen/objekt/OK-08390 https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/samlingen/objekt/OK-08395 https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/samlingen/objekt/OK-04742 https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/samlingen/objekt/OK-02951 https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/samlingen/objekt/OK-04747 https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/samlingen/objekt/OK-04748 https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/samlingen/objekt/OK-04752 https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/samlingen/objekt/OK-04744 https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/samlingen/objekt/OK-08394 https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/samlingen/objekt/OK-02957 https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/samlingen/objekt/OK-08392 https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/samlingen/objekt/OK-04749 https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/samlingen/objekt/OK-04741 https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/samlingen/objekt/OK-08393 https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/samlingen/objekt/OK-02954 https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/samlingen/objekt/OK-09440 https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/samlingen/objekt/OK-08391 https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/samlingen/objekt/OK-07148 https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/samlingen/objekt/OK-04753 https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/samlingen/objekt/OK-04754 https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/samlingen/objekt/OK-02967B fuchi https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/samlingen/objekt/OK-08413A fuchi kashira https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/samlingen/objekt/OK-08403A fuchi https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/samlingen/objekt/OK-08403B fuchi https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/samlingen/objekt/OK-07306B fuchi

Fairly large and heavy iron tsuba at about 8cm (slightly over 3inches) horizontal and vertical, mumei and unknown school to my fresh eyes, shakudo cows and likely gold, brass or so flowers and leaf inlays. Does anyone have any idea or opinion on the school, ballpark age or other information of this? I know I like it, but always eager to hear other actually educated perspectives. I take it the tsuba is older then the fairly recent meat eating practice in Japan, (since Meiji restoration or slightly prior I think) before European influences the cow was one of the most revered animals to the Japanese. Unfortunately these two first photos in bleak indoor light is the best I can do at the moment, until the pandemic passes this tsuba is out of the country and my reach.