Jwrussell

Hmmm, thanks Francois. I did consider it, but honestly not being able to read the language I am hesitant to go that route. I can of course find something that looks nice, but beyond Google Translate I'm not going to have much of an idea of what I'm seeing when it comes to descriptions, caveats, "small print" etc. Still, I'll take a look. Thanks.

Looks like a nice blade to my eyes, and a good price. But I'm very new myself.

Can anyone point me in the direction of some Katana Kake options? I'm looking for something with some...je ne sai quoi. Preferably for multiple swords. I would prefer antique, but I'm not sure I'm willing to pay the money for that at the moment. It would depend on the item. Ideally I would like to stay around the $200 mark, but I'm somewhat flexible depending on the item. Trying to avoid shipping from Japan, but it's not out of the question. Figured I would ask here about state-side options first.

Not something I would pay that price for. There are better blades available from trusted vendors.

I dislike any "mint" descriptions when dealing with Nihonto. They do not translate and are pointless. IMO they are simply used to attract/distract ignorant buyers. My inexpert eyes say the blade isn't in terrible polish, but not great either. And yeah, the saya is far from any understanding of "near-mint".

Very nice blade, Kaspar. Do you have any more pictures or info on the pole itself? Always love seeing these with an accompanying pole. The "whole package" so to speak.

What an amazing story!

Understood JD! So interesting the varied ways people appreciate these objects. For me, knowing it was a fake would totally ruin any enjoyment. I’m more interested in the historic and cultural aspect than I am the metal working aspect (though certainly not uninterested! LOL). To each their own and again best of luck!

You don’t need to shell out 4-5K even with some of the vendors I’m mentioning, just FYI. If you are willing to go anywhere between 1-3K there are blades from respectable dealers in Shirasaya (and in some jades even Koshirae!) that can be had. JD, excellent case in point, on this site!

If it hasn't already been said, check out the sellers linked in the forum's dealer section. You'll find better items from trustworthy sellers without having to worry about these kinds of issues. I absolutely understand the inclination to hit up Ebay, but the reality is there are just much better places to find good Nihonto, even at the price points you seem to be looking at. Good luck!

This is bare blade, right? So keep in mind the cost of shirasaya and habaki.

Loving the discussion, thank you to everyone for your thoughts. I'm continuing to research this on my own and am quickly finding out this is a very deep pool I have dived into. A couple of things to add as I look into this deeper. As Kirill mentions, I was leaving out the "Shinto Tokuden." And of course then we have some who classify upwards of 20 Shinto/Shinshinto schools from Hizen to Mutsu (working across the country). Also, within the Gokuden time period, we have both Majiwari-mono and Wakimono to describe "schools" that show multiple Gokuden traditions within one "school" and those schools who developed as offshoots or developed separately from the Gokuden (paraphrased from M. Sessko). A perfect example is on Darcy's site: https://yuhindo.com/reisen-sadamori/ And even within his description he quotes Ted Tenold stating "The masame in the ha of Kongobyoe works lends to their general classification of Yamato-den style." So, while I believe I still have a lot to learn and comprehend when it comes to this topic, I'm comfortable in saying I've cleared up that this is not nearly as linear a classification system as I was thinking it was.

Wow, Peter. I would bow if we were in person. I will have to take some time to really think about your post, but I believe I begin to understand what you are saying. I believe I have been thinking of schools in too literal and linear of a sense when it comes to schools.

Thank you so much for the reply, Jussi! Regarding Iesada and more broadly the Sendai Kunikane school/lineage, I refer to this very interesting blog post by Darcy which quotes "an article written by Han Bing Siong on the Yamato Hosho tradition." Consider swords #6 and #8. Note that he classifies #6 as "Shinto Yamato Hosho" and #8 as "Shinshinto Yamato Hosho". https://yuhindo.com/ko-hosho/ So returns some of my confusion. Do the Gokuden transcend sword eras, or are we really just talking influence once we pass out of Koto? And at what point does a Gokuden influence cease to place that smith's work within a Gokuden school? As it relates to Mitsuyuki, we are talking about a Koto smith, so in this case are we talking about a school/group that is outside of the Gokuden?

Hello everyone! I'm looking for some direction. Still very much in the early learning stages of Nihonto and I'm finding myself completely lost in the morass of traditions, schools (schools within schools?) and Groups. I have some basic understanding, so let me lay out some information and invite correction/clarification/etc. I've read Darcy's excellent article on "Nihonto Classifiation: Swords and Smiths," which lays out a good start to the topic, but of course when I put this into practice it gets messy. Perhaps the issue is that I'm expecting this to be too linear? For instance, I was expecting to be able to draw a line diagram starting with the Tradition, down through the School and then to the lineage. This is turning out to be difficult for some of the smiths I've tried it with. One I've had some success on for example: Yamato (Tradition )-> Hosho (School) -> Sendai Kunikane School (secondary school under Hosho, or is this technically a lineage) -> I(y)esada (Smith) So even with the above, where I have been able to (I think) laid out a good linear "map" from the major Tradition down through to the Smith, I still have some confusion. Is Sendai Kunikane a Lineage or Group or School? It's referenced as a school on Sho-Sin.com. As another example where I've had less success: (POSSIBLY) Yamato Tradition *very unsure here* -> Hokurikudo (School? really confused here) -> Echizen Kanazu(or Kanatsu) Group (Group???)-> Mitsuyuki (smith) So the above sends me in so many directions I really can't figure where I'm supposed to go from one level to the next with a lot of confidence. For instance, I've found references to the "Ura Smiths" which encompasses both the Hokurikudo and the Sanindo smiths. Is this considered a School or Level, or...? Again, any help is appreciated, including articles/books (sections) to read. Thanks in advance.

Mike, can I ask what size those prints are? I keep hovering my finger over the purchase button at Fine Art America, but then I get lost in the sizes, lol.

Just to add to the experiences. I purchased a blade from him a year or two ago that I then returned. While probably not fatal, it had flaws that were not pictured and/or were very hard to see in his pictures. Also, there was some concern mentioned here about the overall geometry of the blade (see John's post above as he mentions the same). He didn't give me any hassle about returning and was easy enough to deal with, but definitely proceed with an overabundance of caution with his products.

Are the fuchi/kashira Geese? Or is that supposed to be Cranes? Either way very cool.

Very nice!

Can I just pop in to say the blade is beautiful? Sorry, wish I had something more meaningful to contribute. Carry on!

Thank you so much, Steve!

Could that have more to do with the time during which cut tests were “popular” and the existing trends on Sori of the time?

Seems counter-intuitive to me...in fact I thought the "original" wider sori was supposed to aid in a fast draw...

Hi folks. Hope I'm posting this in the correct section. I'm wondering if I can get a translation of the Sayagaki on this Wakizashi. It is listed for sale on the Sanmei (Tokugawa-Arts) site. I'm considering it and would like to have as much info as possible before making a decision. I've emailed them asking for a translation, but haven't received a response and honestly, I have more faith in the translation ability on this site. Thanks in advance for any help. -Jason

Ahhh, thank you Jussi! I can see I'm going to struggle on some of this. I can't seem to get a translated version of that page that is anything near accurate. Seems to be an article about a sword...looks like a typical sales post on most sites, but I don't see anything like a price and it seems more like a news site. Jean notes they are sold blades, so I'm guessing either way they are sold. The Nipponto page blade (Masataka) has something odd in the description too. Everything seems to say October, 1974 elsewhere, but then they say: "This sword is a 63-year-old masterpiece of Masataka swordsmith who is famous as Yasukuni swordsmith" Guessing maybe that's just a bad translation from Japanese...