DoTanuki yokai

Not fatal means not Hagire. It would be Hagire if the split would go through the whole hardened area. It would be Hagire if your Hamon is at that place only 0.7mm high. And your picture is very confusing at least for me but how close is this ?

Mhh hard to tell from the pictures maybe Nioi-Kuzure, one would need to see the Nioi-Guchi at that place but i assume you are right.

I regularly check what this seller offers but his swords look worse then komonjos in my opinion and i would say that no signature on his blades is genuine. And some of this blades look really strange. I would say they are not made in Japan.

For your question about Hada I can tell you that you are right. Masame in the Shinogi is a Shinto trait but the Momoyama Sukesada blades i have seen already have many of the Shinto traits. For the Hamon would not say Notare it is more Midare with some changes for me. I think Torizori is right but I have also seen Momoyama Sukesada with koshizori. In the case of Bizen I would call the Hada Mokume instead of Itame. This is just my opinion and I’m no expert.

If you want a better guess about the age you should post a picture of the complete blade without the habaki and everyhting else so we can see the sugata. I think the "hole" in the Ken Horimono is just an old damage that was cleaned from rust. (This and everything else i could imagine is speculation) From what i see now i would say this blade is not older then late muromachi.

Wow you have found out that names are not unique? I know of more then 3 Christian here and I don’t think the ppl think we are the same person or that we have a connection in some way. Maybe i still can’t get your point but I think someone with a province in his mei worked at that place when he made the sword.

Ofc the blade looks good for cutting but It will be more likely to get damaged in hira zukuri shape. The main problem here is that there is no koshirae ?

I know there is some kind of fear that someone buys it when you ask for opinions here before you purchase but if you have concerns its better to not get the deal then. I wish you luck for the next deal and maybe someday you have the money to waste on a professional polish for this blade or you can sell it without too much loss.

I will update the post after polymerization and im fully aware of the uglyness of the black layer and think the answer why they use red could be this easy ?

And then people start to wonder why their "lowball" offer was accepted and they have to pay.

Mhh im confused, I thought if you heat Urushi over 65celsius it will start to destroy the enzymes that are needed to harden. I have also lacquered many metal surfaces with lead free modern red Urushi and it definitely feels like red has no problems to stick to metal. I have also lacquered the bohi of my Iaito that was polished and the Urushi was easy to apply. Urushi with different colors react different because the color itself interacts with the Urushi. I will try other colors on polished surface to find out what’s going on

Mhh it looks like an acid amateur polish or what do you think ?

http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/effectofyakiire.html

For me it looks like the blade was purchased from the eBay dealer komonjo who sells lots of gimei with names of mukansa and national treasure. I would ask your friend if what he paid felt like the price for a So Tsutomu blade and he will know if it is worth shinsa, This is just my opinion. For reference https://www.shoubudou.co.jp/products/detail.php?product_id=69 Edit: maybe I’m a little too annoyed by the komonjo gimei blades. I think your blade looks better then a „komonjo“ one but the signature does not share much with authenticated examples in my opinion.

I would call myself a Tosogu noob but i bought an old Tsuka with damage on ebay in Germany for only 60€. I dont have a picture of the whole Tsuka but the Ito was damaged and i dissasambled it. It is really nothing special but i like the workmanship and it was my only Tosogu acquisition this year. I used the old Same of the Tsuka for a new knife i made. I just dont felt comfortable with throwing it away

I had no idea and looked up a few things but Inoue Shinkai would have also been my best guess but with this Jigane i was sure i would be wrong. I would have loved to had the time to do more research but im sure now, knowing the answer i wouldnt be successfully. Thanks for showing this interesting blade.

I think he just dosnt know that only a traditionally forged blade using Tamahagane and quenched in water is actually called a Gendaito. (in a timeframe from the meji to the liquid shinsakuto period ) So when someone here says the blade is a Gendaito, this means that the blade is (in his opinion) fully traditional made using the old methods and Tamahagane as material. This blade is a Gendaito, in my opinion.

In my opinion the blade is gimei. http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/emura.htm and some stuff i have found, one of them is also only signed with E.

Maybe this is all reflected in the price. With condition i mean about possible flaws like what is seen in the Bohi at the Kissaki (only visible on the scan). It could be removed rust spots or ware or whatever and the overall condition of the Polish is not really appealing to me. This is just my opinion and is only based on the pictures.

I would say it is not random but the Moon over the Sea. Just some more about it that i found: I like the blade and the style but dont know of pricing. The condition is not perfect and i think i have seen better executed blades by sukenaga in the same style. This is just what i can add and is maybe only my personal preference.

Today i have read about Katakiri-bori engraving on Tsuba, a technique where a wide and angled chisel is used to create a line of varying thickness that emulates the appearance of brushed ink on paper. It becomes popular in the beginning of the eighteenth century and i think your first tsuba is made with this technique.(?)

Im not really educated on Tosogu but 2nd looks like what is called Nagoya Mono but i think the first one looks really well made Maybe the Tosogu section of this forum is a better place for your questions and someone could move it there.

"In 1832, Doi Toshitsura, the feudal lord of what is now Ibaraki Prefecture, publicly released his findings of 20 years of researching snow flakes and crystals."

From the link that grey posted " Most problems caused by contact can be solved by using interleaves" In my Impression dry wood does not really react much with the air and the blade in the dansu should be fine in its shirasaya no matter what wood your dansu is made of. Ph is the potential of hydrogen and dry wood will not have much hydrogen left in my opinion. Just take something that is not full of resin and looks good. If im wrong i would love to learn something EDIT: I think cleaning the room where your nihonto are with something (cleanser) else then water is much more dangerous.

I dont think this is a legit signature. The placement of the signature the finish of the nakago and the signature itself dont match with what i have seen but im no expert. From the blade i would not say it cant be made by sadakazu after he was known for his ability to make blades in every style but with this signature it is very unlikely. http://www.nihontocraft.com/Gasan_Sadakazu_Tanto.htm only 4 years later then your example http://www.sanmei.com/Pictures/Sword/T302101_T8620_PUP1.jpg In my Opinion your Tanto seems to be older.