DoTanuki yokai

Looks more shimada then masamune to me but i have not seen any videos or know anything, its just based on your "polished" pictures.

I think the unshortned one is late muromachi from mino and the shortned is shinto but i have no clue what school.

I think you are right with muromachi but i dont think that this flaw would really make the blade useless. As the dislamination appears to be connected i think they are just in the same area where the smith made a mistake but they are not connected throuth the steel.

I would also say that this are choji with the disconnected tobiyaki heads if the blade has seen some polishes ?

I like looking at blades much more then looking on nakago The first one is shortned. the 2nd looks to be Ubu (unshortned) with ugly looking rust but this could be only the light. If you want to get more information you also need to give more information and pictures. Best are pictures of the whole bare blade from a 90degree angle without the habaki so you can see the sori, (the curve of the blade) you dont need to see the hamon on this pictures. And pictures of the boshi (the hamon in the tip). This will help to estimate the time period they are made.

I think with a little uchiko and oil this could turn out nice. Even with the chip this could be a nice ubu bizen blade to enjoy. Im not sure but i think its more Tensho then taisho and the mei looks ok. After cleaning you will get at least 700$ on ebay for it so 300$ for a gamble How long Nagasa ? The habaki is solid gold ?

I would say it is a muromachi wakizashi, so a uchigatana or katate-uchi.

I dont think it is linked to komonjo, its far too good for komonjo. Actually its the same blade as in the link .

It is possible to estimate the period of a blade by its shape, but to know how long it is would be a help for that ?

I dont know about the yasurime on gunto but this looks chinese too me. Its just a flaw ingnored by chinese workers that dont care about nakago. Looking closer all of that looks chinese or my eyes getting bad ?

It’s minamoto Masao ?

Nah, its actually dirt but this is just my opinion.

It gives information how often a blade was shortned, so why change. I dont think there is a problem with weakening the nakago. The mekugiana is only preventing the blade from going in one direction but in a actuall combat nobody tries to pull your sword out. The tsuka has a tight fit that takes the forces of impacts as a whole and the same, fuchi-kashira and ito is preventing the wood from spliting apart. And how can someone know if they never used existing holes for new koshirae ? what would be a sign for that ? There was more reason for a new koshirae then only shortening.

Ok now I got it. Thank you.

Thank you very much Jussi. He also signed masanari i think. Because in the eBay description was written he also signed Masamori . Edit: masanari was his father 🤦‍♂️

https://www.ebay.de/itm/274647699951 It looks good is long and „papered“. But who is the smith I can’t find him anywhere. When I ask the seller he told me I could find him in Japanese books only. After asking in wich book he told me he don’t have it and don’t know wich one.

translation from his site "Imported from BladeShop from Tokyo Japan on October 2020 with NBTHK Hozon papers and NBTHK Tokubetsu Kicho papers." So aoiart price is not that old in this case. He use aoi description and only left the little negative tsuba part. Also saying he can provide better picture what i assume would be also from aoi. I check the nihonto he sold from time to time and thats not the first one but the first that rise like bitcoin in price. Ofc he always took a few thousand € what is ok, not selling them every day. His shop is sponsored at google always at first or second place when you search for something "katana" related, so he wont be suffering. Maybe someone without knowledge buying something for so much money wont suffer from it too. For some people that can not read english or Japanese and trust their friendly german seller its hard to find information. Even for the nihonto is an investment guys thats a bad thing. To increase the real price their must be a higher demand and you wont grow enthusiasm by taking advantage of the newbie knowledge. The people who think this is a hobby should think what other hobbys cost ? Not making profit is pretty normal for a hobby. Its hard to belive someone likes something if he wont accept to pay something for it. Driven by their next purchase.

Thank you all for your comments. I have learned that my parents made many things wrong while raising me.

If the price for 105 stays low you can buy it for me. :D I know near to nothing about tsuba but would pay you 150US$+shipping for it, i think its worth much more just from how it looks.

Dimensions of the blade could help estimate the time period it was made. The distance between the holes in the tang can help estimate how much a blade was shortned, looks for me like ~5-6cm. (sometimes the blade is so much shortned that the original first mekugiana (hole in tang) is also cut of but i dont think this is the case here.) Im also not sure how much the blade is tapering to the tip because of your photos angle. But from what i see actually it looks like an edo blade made in ~1660 with nice fittings.

https://www.schwertshop.de/antike-japanische-katana-kaufen-aus-Japan.html The blade is already sold. http://www.sword-auction.jp/en/content/as07431-刀：無銘藤原高田賀光-katana　mumei-fujiwara-takadayoshimitsu nice profit.

I would say its late kamakura. (1192-1333) The blade was shortned but the nakago (Tang) was shaped down on both sides evenly so there was no mei (Signature) left to save on this i think. I think this is a very old and valuable blade but wait what others have to say. (Johns advise sounds good) The dots that looked like kanji for you are just a typical decorative pattern on habaki

Looks like they meet all Japanese "standards" except for the mei. Im looking for a reason not to buy one. Seriuos i think there are enough reasons like the fact that you compare other blades with it looking for similaritys to find out who made it and never getting a real answer. Or because you support someone in bringing fake mei into circulation sometimes with national treasure names on it. I dont know if this swords are good for the nihonto community. And the story of starving smiths... could be true, but it could also be the case like you said JP " " that "komonjo" is also reading the Forums and tell the people what they want to hear. I want to see how they finished the end of the nakago because it is usually not seen in photos, someone could have been lazy and made it unclean.

JP, does your blade have much niku? And does it have a ubu ha ? And a picture of the nakakojiri if it’s not too much I ask for. Thanks 🙏

Just want to add this for the Mizukage "Some books say that mizukage is a proof of re-hardening. But it is not true. Such information has been confusing beginners. Mizukage means just a starting of hardening effect. It comes from the hardening work. It is very natural for original length blades." http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/utsuri.html#mizukage