waljamada

Thank you everyone for helping me learn about this blade, both its good and its bad and its inherent "qualities". This one feels a bit like an poor orphan sword to me that im taking under my wing warts and all. I will one day have it polished and the sumo wrestling toads will stay as.....I just like it. Also, I finally upped and purchased two books as a start so that I may upgrade my knowledge and ability to contribute. Shout out to Paul Martin.

George, wow and thank you. Sumo wrestling toads...I'm a fan now. John, here is the best I can do with a cellphone that fights against close shots, an old polish and choji oil (i think i use too much). The boshi is hardest to capture but is visible in perfect angles as the kissaki has taken the most brunt of time, but here's what I've got.

Ha, Vonnegut left us a quote for almost everything. The quote I use the most is from a novel of his called "Timequake" which is one of my favorites. It goes simply, "you were asleep but now you're awake and you've got a job to do." I tend to use it when someone learns something new and then has to do it. Can be used quite effectively and very smarmy like. Also "If there is one thing I know, damnit child, you've got to be kind".

Michael, Thanks for that. Thats good to know actually. *hops on soap box* I understand and respect the notion of quality over quantity. It not easy in this bracket but for the health of the hobby and to absorb the wider variety of blades that do require care and inherent value it is important to acknowledge the middle road. The ideal path is rarely traveled and most go off on side trails that potentially lead to beautiful views and new expanses. Yes, you may also hit a dead end or find yourself looking or falling down a little cliff. You can recoup a wiser individual. But the wary yet adventurous traveler arrives at the destination with unique insights. Like that Kurt Vonnegut quote, "I want to stay as close on the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center." However the knowledge of the ideal path is important to share and the pitfalls mapped and marked for those that follow. I appreciate those that share it. George....would have preferred a kappa but ill take wrestling toads.

Valric, thank you for the feedback and advice. I also appreciate what you shared on Kanemoto. The way you worded it added some cool on the ground level that many rewrite ups lack. Gives it some humanity rather than pure academics. The tsuba I had assumed was more like a $150 tops tsuba so your, French and Pier's answers validates that. It depends on your definition of hoarding and circus freak blades. I have 8 swords, two papered, four guntos (all type 98 two being early), a 1500's Kanekado with 2 ato-bori horimono and one Ko type 32. Ive sold four swords including a second Ko 32, a 1930's ww2 era blade with bohi, horse themed early edo sword, and a muromachi blade with leather gunto saya and made a bit of money on all of them. Now I also have this wakizashi that all in cost me $680. For a blade with these bohi that I really like, an interesting hamon, some real age, full koshirae and an old imperfect polish and probable old gimei that im ok with. I actually think I've done very well with what I have and what I've spent which by the way is an actual challenge. I lived 8 years in Tokyo, Japan, graduated from Jochi/Sophia University, worked for a Japanese International film festival for many years and tend to visit once every four years. Sadly didn't have an interest in swords during that time but have seen many in museums there. My relationship with this hobby currently is just that I refuse to spend say $3,000 on a single sword. I can tell that I'm in a bracket that this forum isn't quite for and can wear ones welcome down quickly if you actively stick around in a pre-well learned "lower bracket" blade phase. I understand that as it can sometimes be like a child interjecting themselves at the adults table. I feel safe amongst the gunto guys though. I do strive to be better. Will continue learning and upgrading my collection and for now I buy in a price range that I will never lose money as I do it.

My thoughts are it is an older blade as is the polish. Maybe muromachi but the nakago looks like the shape of shinto katana of mine but the color/patina of a koto. Im not very familiar with wazikashi tangs. The hamon has aspects of crab claw choji midare and has a few tobi-yaki hamon that seems misplaced for a Kanemoto blade and the mei is just off. It resembles the first four generations but the moto kanji just looks a bit different as does the top and bottom of kane. Not sure if this is the right term but the "ten ten uu" or lines at the bottom of the Kane kanji are reversed from the other mei ive seen. The fat end is on the wrong end. So for now I'm going with gimei that was done a very long time ago. Fitings are possibly edo and of meh quality but still nice. The menuki are some kind of reptile or mythological creature. Japan didn't have alligators or crocodiles but China did...maybe a kappa...might have seen a komodo dragon from Indonesia...giant salamander...frog/toad?

Looking for some insight, I purchased a gamble wazikashi from a seller with some conflicting information in listing. Finally have the sword in hand and hoping a more experienced eye can shed some light. Seller had it listed as koto wazikashi, muromachi/eiroku era (1558-1570) and also mentioned the kane period (1716-1736) in the same description. The Kanemoto line is long and deep so matching the mei has been difficult and could even be gimei for all I know. The tsuba was listed as signed Shaomi. Sword is a 21.5" nagasa in a wood laquered saya and I can't tell exactly what creature the menuki represents. It does have some age but how much im finding difficult and its in old polish...so here you go! *seller had also claimed the tsuba was a $500 tsuba...any truth?

Bruce, Cool learning all this so thank you for sharing. I think the seller originally thought the sword was from a "master surgeon". I just looked up the sword to see if it has sold (still available) and noticed he's added a bunch of updated photos and you can tell what questions people were asking him. I had originally asked if he saw any other stamps and he said no but I see he looked a bit further and found a seki stamp on the nakago. I had a baseless assumption that a special nakago design would infer a likely gendaito...wrong...some seki smiths just had flair.

Piers, meant Kanemoto, sorry. Misstype. I learned very quickly that there was no Kanamoto as listed in the sellers original description. Spent my recent bits of free time looking up Kanemoto signatures/mei and found out how many different ones there are amongst all the generations and also the variations each individual Kanemoto used. It's just a larger pool than I've ever found myself in up to this point. The Kanemoto pool is a very busy and ancient one...

Man o man...I've since learned the rabbithole that is Kanamoto meis....I had no idea what I was getting into.... *meant Kanemoto. Thanks Piers.

I'm in honest to gosh darn love with that rising sun fuji blade....

Found this amazing graphic of the generations and partial line of Kanemoto. Not all use that 90 degree angle so maaaybe?

John, yeah it kind of seems that way at this point. Im not finding a match to this Kanemoto mei. I don't have the sword in hand yet but I paid in the $600's for it so that doesnt break my heart. Hoping that the sword is still a quality blade and hopefully the fittings also have something to them.

Piers, It's in and as light as the air. I'm giving the description as much weight as a guess so attempting to figure out how accurate or not it is. The seller has sold a handful of swords before and in his messages its apparent he isn't a native English speaker.

Well this forum was really topical and perfectly interesting on Kanemoto. Still somewhat stumped on matching it as the last Kanji in the examples im seeing have that 90 degree angle like in my photo and the top of kane is strange. Will keep digging...but could just be gimei. The hamon isn't the one that Kanemoto (any gen) are most famous for.

Thank you John for confirming that. I will now dive into Kanemoto meis and see if I can find a match.

Greetings and thank you in advance for any help. So the description of this sword has it as Kanamoto....however I can't find a single reference about a smith by that name. I'm believing that its actually kanemoto however my eye doesn't quite match the mei to that either but I can kind of see it. If it is then id also wonder which kanemoto this would be...? Also, how accurate is the description do you think to the actual sword? Also any opinions on the tsuba and the shaomi attribution?

So the spots in the example o-kissaki sword are also a mixture of kitae-ware rather than all jizukare (thanks Guido for teaching me this term) and exposed shingane due to over polishing. For some reason I always had the image of kitae-ware being larger and the obvious fact they can come in smaller pockets didn't click when I saw it. I made some pics of the tang (which do look older to me) but I needed to photoshop them to make a single image. I couldnt download the pics and the images were too big to screenshot the entire tang so had to do it in pieces. Those pics are below. I think alot of it is also Jizukare 地疲れ. with small kitae-wares. I don't really see any hada but that could be photo quality but the o-kissaki photo is pretty clear and it seems featureless. In the quest to connect with other Nihinto enthusiasts I've reached out to quite a few people and places within a 3 hour radius to no avail. I could be a little more diligent and creative with the effort but as of now the only actual swords I can see are the ones I buy. Will be at the next Chicago Sword Show though and anyone in what I call the "Midwest triangle" (Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago) send me a message!

Stephen, sorry just saw your listing request. The link to the ebay listing is: https://www.ebay.com/itm/353241689804 He sent me some additional photos of the Masayuki of some rust spots, one looks like spider rust but it is a cool blade. Still can't tell if its gendaito but if its from 1943 (thanks Peter Bleed) and its not stamped then...maybe?

Same guy has another blade with a w stamp for sale in mixed fittings.

Bruce, Interesting, so perhaps tells a story of either the Japanese soldier climbing the ranks or the us soldier piecing it together to take it home. Stephen, didn't purchase it, just came across it and hadn't seen a nakago like that one. Found it interesting and knew I'd be able to learn about it here. The price is higher than I'd want to pay even though i think its really neat and I think its a showato blade. I have to constantly hold myself back from spending anything while new house hunting and refinancing a rental property. But once that's all done I shall reward with a sword!

Stephen, Here's what is up and sadly the pics are found wanting.

This is a gunto sword and a blade that doesnt appear to have any stamp but it has a unique nakago as far as I know. Thought I'd put it up on here and see what the scoop is. Perhaps the maker did this like a hot stamp?

Paul and John, Thank you very much for your responses. So it seems that there is a sliding scale for shintetsu and some schools in which its can almost be a feature due to them using a thinner skin layers etc... It also seems logical to be more forgiving of it on koto blades for example. Also makes sense that for some a single flaw is too many and on the other end someone can love a dinged up out of polish blade. So that broadly covers the academic end and the collector spectrum. The resale/market value part and also the scale of shintetsu im still not too sure of. Like in that example blade, is the amount of shintetsu visible there considered a lot or a little? Or is that also kind of subjective? Markets are usually subjective with an underpinning of objective, so I can either see it being a powerful negative or an acceptable flaw. But in general I would assume it would detract from value in the majority of cases unless historically protected by known maker/school...and to what degree/significance...totaaaally depends.

I'm wondering with any of the collectors, preservationists, hobbyist perspectives on how much shintetsu is held against a blade (in a koto blade is it more forgiven or equally negative across all age boards?). Obviously its a tell towards a tired blade at the end of its polishing life, but does it kill the value both appreciation wise and monetarily to a very large degree? Im posting an example blade that I think is really a cool sword. I've watched it for many months and it still hasn't sold so its either priced too high or the shintetsu is just too heinous for the blade to be adored by a wisened collector. Wondering on your thoughts towards this specific flaw. Also a more expert eye to help me gauge the level of shintetsu on this blade and if it would be considered lots or not so lots =|:^)