waljamada

Sunny, yeah, I almost left it alone too until I had a conversation with the seller and him having no reviews didn't help anything either. Ebay buyer protections emboldened me and wasn't convinced it was all legitimate until I got it in hand and took it out of shirasaya. I got a different story on how he acquired it so potentially Egbert got it at the auction and then sold it to him or it was just talk. Either way I'm happy with it and the price I paid as I really don't seem to run into signed katana length blades like this very often at all. I see more wakizashi with lacquer bohi which also don't seem that common and most lacquered bohi blades I've seen are Edo period. Wont lie, I'm a sucker for them and now have 2 katana and 1 wakizashi (wak has the exact same bohi designs as this katana). Dream acquisition would be a signed o-kissaki red lacquered naginata-hi katana with 27/28" nagasa. The double edged sword of these are it's a niche blade type and many collectors may be hesitant to buy one due to potential hidden flaws/aesthetics etc..

I'm a huge fan of the urushi lacquered bohi on blades even in the face of the thought that they are sometimes done to hide defects. The potential shinto and religious/cultural aspect of doing it adds another dimension to a blade. The philosophy behind battle/war and even life/death/killing is another road of thought and interpretation in nihonto that is very interesting for me to learn/think about. I see a shimmer of philosophy in that urushi. So even if it was simply done to hide a flaw, for me, it still helps to inspire some other thoughts surrounding our hobby. Plus I just think they look real cool =|:^) Also hoping the mei looks authentic and from the one other comparative blade I've seen there is a shot. I attached the other papered blades mei below.

Geraint, Thank you, short of emailing Egbert I tried to pull it up on the site but was unsuccessful. Adam

Purchased this blade to match a wakizashi I have with the same red urushi bohis for a personal daisho side quest. Only history I was given from the previous owner about this sword was purchased from Egbert Menzinga of The Hague many years ago (maybe a known collector?) And the sword info he shared on the blade was from Japan sword art. I'll post the information below I was given on the blade itself which has no papers so authenticity is unverified and I'd love any opinions. Kunitsugu 1st generation Bunmei period 1469 to 1486 ca 1470 Mino province yamada seki group Teacher:Norizane Nagasa 65 cm Sori 2.05 Motohaba 2.84 Sakihaba 1.81 Kasane .81 Nakago 15.2 More details in photos below. Please let me know if any additional photos would be helpful.

I know I'd pay a premium for a daisho even if not paired from their birth. Sourcing blades that fit (both size & mekugi wise/ aesthetically/historically etc..) with antique matching/paired koshirae is difficult and daisho koshirae also seem pretty rare. I'm putting together a pair of urushi red lacquered bohi blades but they would only be very loosely daisho....same bohi designs and red lacquer...one katana length one wakizashi...that's about it. Over time I will find suitable existing antique daisho koshirae (tall order) or have made (using antique fittings I will have to purchase) matching or a paired theme koshirae for them. They will be my personal daisho, nothing more. If someone did all that work for me I would have paid a premium. Also from what I've seen both dealers (Japanese & others) and collectors in the vast majority use the term daisho to include simply two blades in matching/paired koshirae. So it's very liberal meaning seems well and broadly used but still a "true daisho" is the epitome.

The dream would be also do Hozon/Toku hozon where most blades/fittings will find themselves. Perhaps in a digital archive, along with their published materials, that they charge a subscription fee to access. I'd pay. Imagine having access to every papered "insert smith name/generation here" example. You could further peruse by age/school/hamon variations etc...would see accepted variations for a smith, entire papered body of work, more accurate idea of existing surviving works etc... Gets me excited just thinking about it....

I totally understand why this doesn't happen, but I do very much wish they provided photos of the blades/signatures etc...as they pass through nbthk and nbthk for blades that pass shinsa. It would open up such a breadth of data and available knowledge of existing blades and so much more. They are the organizations best positioned to be able to do such a thing.

I was tempted with this one and it went for a really affordable price. Should be a happy buyer.

You are going to need to share more photos for people to properly assist you. Show details on the aspects of the blades and show the third blade out of its handle/sheath etc...if you need instructions on how to take the blade out there are tutorials.

Mark, I definetly see what you mean. I think this sword just confuses me a bit which is why I want to ask about it. Something about it....

Had him bring the sword over and I still just see a heavy hadori polish, glimpses of hamon activity but no real detail. I did manage to get some pictures but I didn't have long to do so thus below is what I managed to get. Photographing the sword was giving me some trouble but afterwards I took a little flashlight to it and looked at it from every angle. I still couldnt find any hamon details elsewhere on the blade that match the area of the hamon visible down by the habaki. Also he uses way too much oil so told him to wipe it down a bit when he gets home. I uploaded all the photos onto the album linked below. I was again a bit impressed with how nice the tosogu were. See photo album link below: https://ibb.co/album/hXFx4D To summarize, I'm convinced this was done probably by a US polisher unrefined in hadori. The only way to "repair" is to have republished. I am still not sure of the age of the blade and the hada is hard to see as well. Hoping to also gleam some opinions on age etc..I don't think we can tell a school from what I shared and I am still quite skeptical on koto and fall mostly on late shinto if not even later: on the plus the blade really is quite healthy (minus the polish) and meaty. I am being soft on focusing too heavily on flaws with him but not shying away from pointing them out. A good chance for learning but want him to have more to study from the sword that excites him. Happy to hear any opinions/thoughts/observations and will pass then along! Want to find a carrot for him to follow on his own research path...also told him about this forum.

I'll ask him to either bring the sword over or send me some more photos. See if we can get some vision on this hamon using some angles and lights.

I got pictures from my friend, who is now the second person that went to ebay and made a purchase after I showed them my swords and gave a romantic spiel on my collection. I honestly don't know what to think of his blade and if I should feel some guilt. I remember it was hard to see hada, could barely make out what I think could be the boshi and of course there is the obscured hamon. The blade has a 27" nagasa and is quite beefy. I tried to put all the photos he sent me into some kind of order. I zoomed in on the area that shows the visible wavy hamon portion and then all the rest, on both sides, I just see the hadori polish. He told me he spent $1400 on it and it was advertised as possibly a koto blade but there was a tag on it that said shinto. I couldn't shake the feeling it's newer than shinto, maybe shin shinto, but the nakago is a dark black and does have a much lower second mekugi-ana. The koshirae package seems quite nice, the gold is real, except the saya is a plain black laquer saya that is edo period. Nothing is signed and the blade is mumei. So do others also see a heavy handed hadori polish here? Any other observations I should share with him? He seems happy with it which is something.

John, I will tactfully ask if he can send me photos of the blade to show. There is visible hamon for an inch at most by the habaki on one side. The rest is a hadori glob looking line with some hills and valleys.

The reason I found this bobbing around in my head is I saw a blade this week that a polisher seemed to have used way too much of the hadori whitening component. The polisher essentially covered the entire hamon except a short segment near the habaki and the rest was totally obfuscated by the hadori. Doesn't matter what angle or what light you try....you can't peer through it. So I have a question on this....scientifically does this compound change the surface of the blade to whiten while polished in with a stone? Is it more a kind of a compound adhering on top of the blade? Is the only recourse to a blade like that to have a togishi polish off the hadori layer? I think I'm a sashikomi guy.

I'll try and answer it from my perspective which is also a new collector's with a tiny bit under his belt. $1500 and under: every book you'll need. Decent showato gunto, older blade/gendaito guntos with obvious problems, possibly NTHK papered mumei wakizashi/yari, non-papered (or maybe green/white papers) mumei katanas in koshirae or signed katanas in old polish with flaws that are cool to own and present pretty well, but are not art pieces but more historical pieces. $3000 is in the realm of NBTHK Hozon katanas and wakizashis. Not going to get top tier smiths/schools but can get a papered blade in good+ polish with koshirae or shirasaya and both if lucky. Gendaito guntos by some of the more notable ww2 era smiths. A good+ polished Naginata. Got my Tokubetsu Hozon katana for under this price within the last 6 months (not all toku hozons are created equal of course). At this bracket it can be longer/harder to resell them if needed. Or not, depends on your buy/blade. Again, probably not "art pieces" but some solid examples. $5000 run and ask for help from wiser individuals. More "art" and more 'historical" than the previous bracket. At this bracket it can be longer/harder to resell them if needed. Or not, depends on your buy/blade. Repeat the previous answer for every price above this. =|:^)

John, I really like the mumei mihara. Never done an aoi auction before but if it stays in the 400k yen that's not too shabby a price. I'll look into this and auction but assume starting prices don't tend to stay as the closing prices. If an o-kissaki crosses anyone's path feel free to drop a link here =|:^)

Bazza, thank you for your comment. I shall fix the tsuba post haste! It is an iron tsuba I believe and th4 koshirae came with a Kogai and no kozuka. It's definetly an incomplete package.

Ken and Thomas, Thank you for your kind words and sage advice. I have been spending my nihonto time recently reading books and looking at papered swords for examples to reinforce what I'm getting from the books. I have yet to have much of a narrowing/focusing of interest or style that most appeal to me. I think I'm going to end up as a "controlled scattered" (more in line with purchasing examples of each "category" that appeals to me ie: 1 o-kissaki, 1 naginatanaoshi, 1 sword with a purposeful design in the hamon etc..) type collector and probably find one smith to be my "spirit smith" that I will try and collect. I will also always have a draw to laquered bohi. I aim to frame my purchases by having a quality barrier, within those categories, that I will not go outside of. Thomas, I actually truly appreciate the feedback and that example/walkthrough you shared! Even if I may regret it temporarily doesn't mean it was truly the correct purchase for me and I'll take an intelligent over an emotional purchase everytime. Thanks to the people who have helped me (and all those like me) while navigating the nihonto path!

My smallest blade did not fit it sadly, but th4 blade does already have a koshirae. I think this one will just be used for display. It's a great size for that and can be placed on a bookshelf with some elegence.

Ken, Ken, No, I passed on it and do regret it a bit. Got "neat but doesn't seem great" feedback overall and I am now at the tail end of buying a new house currently. Could have pulled off the purchase but not completely painlessly and chose to play it safe. It sold immediately the same day after I told the dealer I decided against purchasing it (I told him I needed a day to think beforehand). I hope I don't regret it for years down the line and my o-kussaki quest for under $3k continues! =|:^(

I'll just leave this totally authentic "Emura" mei here....

Edward, same I'm a young gun in the hobby and sometimes shoot from the hip. Chris W., I really agree. The experience of owning, holding, staring into the details, looking at the parts, how it all goes together, learning how to handle it, how to care for it, comparing nakagos and even rust colors...all of it...no reading does the visual and tactile knowledge gained that way and it's integral to the spark that grabs hold of someone or throws wood on the interest fire to keep it burning. Then to have multiple blades to compare makes the difference of features so much more evident...same with having blades of different quality as your collection evolves. Also, on the life advice front, I would never suggest a young man building a life toss 8k at a sword unless they truly can afford it. Like any hobby I also wouldn't ever suggest using large debt to pursue this hobby. Buying comfortably within your means is important, and for beginners pieces don't need to be perfect to enjoy and just try and get the best you can with what you can afford. There's honor in the hunt/quest even with lower end pieces. They still have a history. One can always trade up later when you're tastes/interests evolve and have more "fun" money.

Edward, yeah I know what you mean. I at least aim to be in the middle of the two. I can fully admit that (just for examples sake) if I spent 20k total on a collection over time I'd rather have say 8 swords/examples over 1 20k blade.

John, yeah not totally spaced correctly with different sizes on the tsuka ito "diamonds". Noticed it more thoroughly after you pointing it out. Thanks! Mark, this would be my first sword purchased from a dealer. I've always found, as these things go, that dealer prices are almost always at the top of the market value for a sword. The mentality I've fallen into is at minimum I would want to buy a blade that I should be able to make my money back (+-$500) if selling which honestly knocks many dealer blades out as potentials. Also, I of course only know the little slice of things that I see so I keep an open mind that my impressions aren't correct likely as a whole and I play in the lower levels of the nihonto market. I know a blade on ebay now that an original seller offered me at 2.8k. A dealer bought it and sold it to its current owner in the 5k range. Now current owner is trying to sell it because he needs the funds; went all the way down to 4k for a time and still couldn't move it. I only share this to typify what I really want to avoid. Also this really isn't me dealer bashing as gooddealers offer curated options to purchase backed by knowledge and expertise and have to sell for more than they paid so a premium is to be expected/respected. Also when consigning they aim to get the best price for a seller the current market sustains. All fair game. The sub 4k market is the least risky for me to operate in with it getting less and less risky the cheaper you buy a good piece. I've still never spent over 3k on a katana and have a toku hozon, one hozon I paid 2.6k for and two hozon blades that were at 2k or less. So what I'm really getting at is the market, if I'm being honest, should make one very cautious because I see what things sell for outside the dealer market and inside and there can be a 20 to even 40% difference. Hence the "buy what you love" because you have to be ok perhaps losing a bit to own an item you love for a time if you ever need to sell. Also I agree it can be worth paying a premium to get an item you love as most likely if it sells your chance at it is gone forever. I do feel like the o-kissaki blade I posted above is a a "safe" 2.5k to 3k sale on the top end in my opinion. So $3,800 is a bit high but I have honestly struggled to find an o-kissaki blade in the 3k+ and under range in polish (doesn't have to be perfect) that has some age and a kantei...so maybe it's not a bit high...I go back and forth on it. When it comes to sending a blade for togishi and shinsa I can only see it when you find something special and hopefully bought very cheaply to have a chance and covering expenses. A somewhat diamond in the rough situation which does happen. I've still never even come across a nihonto for sale "in the wild" so my real life treasure hunting opportunities are essentially 0. Online I'm too scared to fully gamble a purchase with the goal of polishing/shinsa etc...plus there's already smarter people than me doing it. In the end I did decide to pass on the blade mostly because I'm buying a house now and the old fashioned decision to be more patient. An o-kissaki blade is one of the last things on my "I really want to own one" list. Furthermore if I buy one more blade I will need another katana kake as I have the exact amount of blades as kake spaces currently....so thats my kakes telling me to stand firm with what I've got.