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Wow, that’s one outstanding Hamon! Beautiful! Even the mei is gorgeous!

Oh man! So sorry Robert. I’ve lost so many in my life that I know the feeling. May that poor little thing Rest In Peace...

Now, what I see that works well with French customs, is that they love to have an excess documentation, so I guess it’s the same in UK. I always ask the seller to add documents that I write myself included an accurate description, copy of PayPal invoice and links to the original sale page.

I hope you sell it Robert. I have cats and love them, so I can completely sympathize. I hope he makes it okay.

Love your thought process Kirill! Instructive and inspiring!

And I’ll add my name to the praise! You rock Bruce! Thank you for all your input!

I would have gone with you Chris. Looks like an O-suriage tachi from Muromachi period. But Ken points a puzzling detail about the drilled mekugi ana (the last one being quite recent by the way), so I'm lost. And I see some hada (itame with some loose grain that might be mokume, hard to say for sure). So, I have doubts and lack expertise but I'd say Muromachi. Of course, I'm probably 100% wrong! EDIT: On second thought, probably too much tapering for Muromachi, so shinto is probably right, though it's not the usual Kanei or Kambun sugata.

Yes, and clearly oil tempered too!

Very good pictures, Krystian! Would you mind sharing your secret? I suck at taking pictures!

A beautiful tachi, Ray!

Maybe it’s a map to where the missing Masamune is hidden! Three paces to great pine tree in the garden...

This is such a gorgeous sword! Probably one of the most beautiful swords ever!

Got it!

Interesting video, but I have to say the idea of using a file inside the saya makes me uneasy. If any wood shavings are left inside, it’s a sure way to scratch a blade.

Can’t tell you who the maker is, Yura, but everything is wrong, from the nakago, the Hamon, even the sugata. Nothing suggests Muramasa here, so Gimei. Looks to be a very ordinary katana here.

Princess P? I second my fellow collectors. Too much work to do on that one, unless your only purpose is to say “I have a Japanese sword”. I also recommend Ed! Great items, reasonably priced and easy to deal with!

I know, Stephen, I was referring to the link for the eBay sale! Speaking of which, that mei looks so bad I wonder how could anyone have the guts to pass it up for the real deal. It’s so obviously fake!

Thank you for the link! Looks as fake as my grandfather’s teeth! Quick! I have to buy it!

Link?

Jussi, You’ve put into drawings what I actually have in mind. I have a Muromachi Soshu Blade that is torii sori. Yet, when you hold it in front of you, bare, you’d swear it is a koshi sori. Obviously, it was a tachi in another life that got greatly shortened and machi okuri subsequently. If I take into account the nakago, it becomes koshi sori. So I guess that taking the nakago into account is a great way to imagine what the blade used to be. Now, there are pitfalls here! But I’m pretty sure this way of thinking is helpful in getting a further notion of the original sugata.

Well, many times, the lowest mekugi ana is the first one. Then it’s not too difficult to extrapolate (the three fingers empirical rule) where the first machi was

Actually, that was why I asked the question. You read stuff like “this school usually forged a koshizori” but when you’re in front of an Ō-suriage, machi okuri Blade with almost no sori left, it’s extremely hard to imagine the original sori. An ubu blade is relatively easy to date, others can be a real challenge as sugata has been altered so much that you’re only left with the other Kantei points to come to a conclusion.

Okay, thanks for the clear answer. Cheers!

True, but then, the curvature continues into the nakago, so shouldn’t that be taken into account to know wether the sori was torii, koshi or saki?

Okay, Chris, i guess I should have added machi okuri!