francois2605

Excellent, thanks for sharing this beauty Marco I have a similar tachi by Seto Yoshihiro forged in 1995, this swordsmith is really talented. The picture below has been heavily edited to see through the hadori.

I personally don't really care about papers but I believe they may increase your chances for reselling as some buyers will only buy papered items and others will find it reassuring to have a paper confirming that a piece is genuine. I sometimes buy from Aoi Arts and I asked them twice to submit a sword to shinsa for me. The cost is modest (around 250 EUR) and since the item is already in Japan, you don't have the hassle of shipping the item overseas, paying an agent for the paperwork. The downside is that you usually need to wait several weeks or months but I'm fine with that.

No idea, Dave, the sword is mumei

Here's a very regular sambonsugi for comparison with visible steel layers.

Congrats Colin and thanks for sharing your story. Will you share some pics ?

3 of the pictures shown in this thread come from this Yakiba's page: https://yakiba.com/kanehide-nakata/. If you look at the Yakiba's sword description, you'll see that the sword comes with a shirasaya, not a koshirae. I'm a bit confused. Are those 6 pictures from the same sword ? I'd say no. Even the paint on the nakago is different:

Have you read this yet ? Exporting a weapon out of Japan is a long and tedious process Buyee doesn't want to be involved in hence the restrictions you're encountering. The usual solution is to use a local agent who will do the paperwork for you but this has a cost (around 20% of the item if memory serves me).

@rematron Have you checked the link to this Google photos album ?

Actually I have another tsuba with a horse, I love the details on this one

You need to use a macro lens (with a minimal focus distance which is key), mine is a 100mm. You can also use tubes like these ones to boost the magnification factor.

Brano, those pictures are gorgeous. You really nailed it

I don't have many kozuka but this one (that I bought from an NMB member) is my favorite

The seller must be in dire straits to sell a katana his grandfather reportedly took from a Japanese soldier. I can't think of any other reason why someone would sell such heirloom. That or the story is fake.

From Swordsmiths of Japan A-Z: Another match for "Fujiwara Nobuie":

FYI Aoi Arts just shipped a katana with EMS without asking me to pay extra shipping fees.

For me, the key to take good pictures of a sword is to avoid any direct source of light and rely on the ambiant light (to prevent reflections). You'll be able to see things you can't see with your own eyes. Those are pictures I shot with a tripod and a macro (100 mm) lens. Ikkansai Shigemasa Minamoto Moritaka Fujiwara Kanefusa 25th Tsukamoto Okimasa

Very nice pictures, Jonathan. Thanks for sharing

Your sword comes with green papers which aren't considered reliable and therefore worthless today. Search "green papers" on the forum and you'll find plenty of discussions about them and why they're no longer trusted. Here's one such instance from January: Another thread where papers are discussed and why green ones are no longer trusted: Your sword was initially sold by showa22, regulars on the forum can immediately tell just by looking at the pictures without even clicking on the eBay link. Likewise, search his name on the forum where you'll be able to read opinions about this seller.

I had a similar issue with a gunto and after thinking about it realized that the seppa had not been put back by the previous owner in the correct order. Swapping the seppa fixed the issue for me

Steve, since you're into gendaito, have you considered buying "An Oshigata Book of Modern Swordsmiths 1868-1945" by Slough ? This book would probably answer a lot of your questions, is out of print but there's one currently on sale on the forum: This is the entry for KANEMASA Redirecting to those 2 pages

I think you're confusing shingane with umegane It's the repeated polishing of the kawagane which eventually exposes the shingane

In the Buyee interface, you get to choose how to describe the package via a drop down list. There's an entry "Antique" in the list. If I remember correctly, you can do it upon choosing the shipping method

The picture of the jihada really has the komonjo feel and doesn't look like a typical Japanese sword hada. If the sword is supposed to be from Nakata Kanehide (2 million yen and high to superior-grade gendaito), the mei doesn't match. The 2 pages from John Slough's book about Kanehide for reference. 2 other Nakata Kanehide online at the moment: * https://japanesesword.com/archived-pages/2017/9/14/star-stamp-gendaito-by-nakata-kanehide * https://yakiba.com/kanehide-nakata/

I'm not an expert but... Probably hira-zōgan, searching "inlay" in Markus Sesko's Encyclopedia of Japanese Swords returns the following definition.

It will probably be a lot of hassle to do the paperwork yourself. From what I remember, the process can take up to a month that's why people usually pay local agents to do it for them but will this still be worth money-wise ?