DoTanuki yokai

I dont get why someone see Shinto in this blade ? Suguha Boshi ? It look Hakikake/Kaen to me. Masame in the Shinogi ? Looks like Mokume to me. I can not say where the shape points i think it is Suriage. And forget the shape of the Nakago, for me it looks clearly modified. This could be because its Suriage what my opinion is. I would place it somewhere in Muromachi.

https://nihontou.jp/choice03/toukenkobugu/wakizashi/672/00.html

I want to say that i love what i see of the blade but what i dont like is the Mei. (just if it was unclear in my last post) Could be made for an event but i have never seen this style of signature, maybe someone with a better library then me or the NBTHK can tell.

It should be Sukenaga i think, isnt the other side signed ? Hamon looks promising to be shoshin and they made some long swords. The Kikumon and bishu osafune junin looks suspicuos to me but it could be special. (I dont like it but still a nice find )

Hoki Kami Taira Ason Masayuki

I try my luck with Satsuma Masakiyo.

More pictures could help, try to take off the habaki. I think I can see Fumbari ?

But for the first time the Uchiko opinion got some reasonable arguments from an expert. To be honest in most of the threads on microfiber and Uchiko I felt alone with my Opinion without any information to support it. But now this shows that Uchiko still got a place in the modern Nihonto world and is not only used on old polish.

David, I mentioned in my first post that this blade got no papers and I don’t want to influence study with wrong information. Every identification thread is some kind of Kantei thread but by going this route I can sort out the influence of a possibly fake signature. Also even the NBTHK is sometimes wrong.

Alex Nailed it with Sukesada but everyone were also close. Maybe i should have hidden the Nakago This blade does not have papers and maybe im a little biased because i own it so what are your opinions on the Signature ?

There is very much that i would want to say about the "poor quality" of Japanese steel or their armor but i will only stick to the Japanese sword polishing. A Japanese polisher will not remove more metal then neseccary and will do his best to remain the original shape. The polisher also must be an expert in the identification of the swords manufacturer, only if he knows who made the sword he can chose the right stones and process for the polish. Professionally polished blades will not just have a flat polished surface but will have a microstructure with higher and deeper parts that result from polishing stones that are softer or harder then different parts of the blade. Most polishing pastes for metal use corundum (aluminum oxide), this stuff is harder then any steel and will make a nice flat mirror polish that is not what we want for a Nihonto. The place where you can enjoy the Patina is the Nakago (tang) of the sword as this part isnt oiled or gets polished. The blades shape look for me Kanbun Shinto style with not much curvature and the tangs patina could fit to this i think. (Mid 17th century) But i dont put that much weight in my opinion of the patina because this is the part that can be easiest influenced by many factors like how it was preserved or if someone tried to make it look older with different methods. Also the color of the Nakago patina can be very different on photos and light conditions. I cant really say more about the blade because the condition of the polish does not allow to see more. If you want to learn more and dont want to spend on books yet you can find many informations here http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/information.html & http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/terms.html. I would start with http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/treatment.html and http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/appreciate.html.

The appreciation of Japanese blade did not begin with „wow this looks cool“, what we see today as good quality is what made this swords good weapons. I think that numbers and statistics do not change quality neither can I see the value of this approach.

Just another opinion on microfiber vs uchiko http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/uchiko.html

Yes it is Urushi and it’s kind of nasty, like painting with maple syrup But the actual painting is the easiest part, most of the time you clean brushes and prepare the urushi before you spend hours sanding if your humidity and temperature did not ruined the colors while curing.