nagamaki - Franco

Actually it is not difficult to find channels to buy. The difficult part is defining buying objectives, and once they are established then the buyer can begin looking at and pointed in the right directions. Nihonto buying objectives should be established based upon Kantei principles, age, quality ( http://www.nihontocraft.com/Nihonto_Shinsa_Standards.html ), tradition, school, swordsmith?

With the objective of purchasing a Nambokucho period blade, suggest developing connections with reputable dealers and/or collectors taking your time until the 'right' sword comes along. On occassion you'll find [a sword in need of a new polish] already with [Hozon or] Tokubetsu Hozon level [origami] that deserves careful consideration.

In order to begin developing an eye for nihonto it is essential to begin ones training by looking at the best possible examples. A place to begin is newer blades, ones that have not been polished down and are virtualy new in their first polish along with the best, healthiest, examples of older blades. Then at least you have some frame of reference for comparison. Newbies are strongly encouraged to attend sword shows and join study groups before making their first purchase for this very reason, open their eyes so that they can begin to see the differences between levels of nihonto. Don't worry, don't fret, there will always be plenty of swords you should NOT BUY out there waiting.

How many thieves does it take to side a house? Six if you slice them real thin.

Shishi with tree peonies along with Chidori with waves are fairly common tosogu motif. It's unfortunate the patina has been removed and 'gold' worn off.

There in all likelihood would have been master drawings for these tsuba patterns, which would make it quite possible to have closely repeated work had someone had the ability and skill. The question then would be who would have had access. If you look carefully at the following two patterns, I'd say it was safe to say 2 different hands.

Food for thought; Sorry, do not believe there was ever a bo hi-soe bi, but more likely a futa suji hi, and we must begin by asking ourselves what is this sword meant to represent? My impression is a (boy days) copy of a Ko Bizen, and then work from there.

An excellent polisher (604-936-1198), plus a reasonably short turn around time by comparison for this quality of work. He uses Brian Tschernega for habaki, so no issues there. In Japan, before coming to BC Canada, he was polishing new swords for Yoshindo Yoshihara san. For a sword made by a rated swordsmith he should certainly be considered.

Ayanokoji is a pretty ambitious call, what is the evidence detective? It must first fit the correct shape where you may immediately run into the situation of "Houston I think we have a problem."

FYI, http://www.hizento.net/index.php?page=book

If not mistaken Oei is at the beginning of the Muromachi period is it not, and, if so, it might be advisable to go read the NBTHK guidelines for Tokubetsu Hozon and mumei Muromachi period swords before wasting time and money chasing after a better paper. And while Tanobe sensei's sayagaki provides much welcomed additional detail and insight here, is he really elevating the importance of this sword to the next level, hmm?

There are previous threads where the topic and methods of bringing back a rusted tsuba have been discussed, please take the time to thoroughly search. To help you get started ...... http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2494&hilit=red+rust

Why have you not addressed the rusting?

Am suggesting it was 'butchered' in order to be placed in D-guard mounts. I say this from having seen similar coming out of other D-guards. Rush to war perhaps, no time for fit and finish.

If I were a betting hombre, my bet would be this sword was [previously] mounted in D-guard mounts at some point.

Hello, if understanding what you're saying and seeing the same thing correctly, not sure what made these marks, but they don't belong. Neither do they appear as anything to fret over.

Pardon, don't know if this will be helpful, but here is the result after playing around with an image program. .jpg]

You are correct in the fact that there is a sulphide involved. All I'm told is that there is a natural sulphured water involved which stinks like rotten eggs, obviously sulphur. Which is not surprising on a volcanic island. What other chemicals or minerals are in this water naturally I do not know, only that the blue effect is the result. I've seen several solid silver habaki locally that were done a good number of years ago and they have maintained their blue hue. On occasion you'll spot one on the internet as well, the silvery blue is unmistakable. Moral of the story is gently clean, but don't go messing with the patina. Perhaps, Ford, after being amused by the peanut gallery would chime in with his thoughts.

John, what does a habaki being a replaceable part have to do with giving it a treated finish to protect it from tarnishing?

Silver pieces were or should have been originally treated to produce a long lasting patina like that beautiful blue hue you sometimes see on solid silver habaki that if not messed with would be just fine, that is until some uninformed nihonto owner comes along with the tarnish remover thinking the silver needs to be shiny, or the shibuichi or shakudo need to be copper looking, but no worries as the artisans that earn a living restoring a sword collector's blunders can always use the additional work. And if your silver is already tarnishing to something other than a nice patina chances are someone has already beat you to the tarnish remover previously.

Hello Ron, thank you for bringing attention to this swordsmith, as the works of Hizen Masahiro have always been a favorite.

How often? How many are you looking for Ron? http://www.sanmei.com/contents/en-us/p1707.html

Speak to a polisher if you're serious. There looks to be more than the corrosion going on here to ask the polisher about, so it will be important to identify all the problems in order to have an idea of what you'll end up with and at what cost. A serious foundation polish requires a truly good polisher, otherwise you'll be wasting your time and money.

Unless there is good reason to believe that the current results would change, perhaps, a part of the cost of resubmission might be better spent on kantei literature, something like Yamanaka's Newsletters revised or other good books. Although, once upon a time I too had a katana papered to Echizen Kanetane, where after many months of very careful study I became convinced the new amateur polish (early lack of experience), was hiding a much better sword, which a new Japanese polish proved to be correct. In this case the sword papered Tokuho to a Jo Saku Nambokucho period sword smith. I bring this up not to raise false hopes, but rather to encourage very careful and extensive study especially of ones own (mumei) sword. Submission of an item to shinsa should be a test of a collectors knowledge, rather than being more like buying a chance ticket at some prize wining contest without knowing what the prize might be.

Normal proceedure is to submit for hozon, then if it's good enough to also pass tokubetsu hozon they will let you know. Here is where the quality of polish may play a role, but only if the sword is good enough to begin with.