waljamada

Steve M, Thanks for that! So we have one for Den Taira Takada and a Sue Mihara, which both also give a general muroumachi era date probably edging towards late muroumachi. Rivkin, From what I saw the sellers prices in Chicago were actually higher/stronger than last/previous years. In my opinion there was an edge towards a general seller power position in the pricing or the general quality of blades were just higher than previous years. Probably a bit of both; so I kinda read it all that the market must have strengthened this last year. I'm really glad this blade was there to give him something in a state that I think will enthuse him to continue learning about and collecting nihonto

Rivkin, Would be nice if both papers do match and add a bit of weight to them as older papers in my opinion. It was a real challenge finding potential buys in his price range to be honest. I couldn't help but notice prices have definitely gone up in general so his options to find something that doesn't need a lot of work was really quite tough and most of his options were blades in very rough shape. Must say it's hard for a young collector just starting out with college age means. Then again it makes sense dealers bring their good stuff to a show like this so it's not really geared toward the beginners. The seller of this blade helped him out and gave him a $200 discount so he could afford it. This blade isn't perfect though, it does have a small area of kizu and most critically the boshi looks to just about run off just as it gets to the tip on one side. I shared all this with him, what it all means and his other options were so rough, didn't have any papers, were also almost always mumei so he went with this one. I feel like at worst he could get his money back if he ever needed to sell this blade and it has some cool features to enjoy in a pretty solid polish. Franco, Thank you for that resource! I am putting together some links for him and I will add that link to his homework.

Here are the papers

Just got back from this year's Chicago Sword Show and it was chock full of blades, tsuba, menuki, koshirae and everything one could want! The range of items was so much fun to go through. I was there more just to peruse but also to help a new collector find a blade with a limited budget of $1K and I'm here to share the blade he picked. The blade has a 26" nagasa, naginata-hi and a small o-kissaki. It is a mumei blade with two old papers, one from the nthk and one from the nbthk. One is papered to Sue Mihara and the other says Masaki Takata? Looking for any insight and opinions I can share with this new collector on his blade and maybe understand the papers a bit more. I believe this to be a muroumachi era blade but beyond that I'm unsure.

I watched this one too. Couldn't help it. The aoi mon did look really well done but the quality of both horimono seemed lacking to me. I didn't have enough faith to go that strong on it and honestly thought it might end at the 431k yen price. Checked back earlier today and just thought if I did decide to go for it I would have been blown out the water.

Really neat blade and you got it for a good price! Great shape, cool double bohi and looks to have some good size to it. Early 1900s blade so still has arund 100 years of age to it. Esthetically it's the kind of blade I love! Congrats! Side note but kind of proud of myself because when looking it over, the mei, nakago etc...I thought it was maybe late late 1800s to early 1900s and then Google Taisho era and discover my eye was right-ish.

A seller with 0 feedback selling swords always sends my spidey sense off.

My favorite kind of blade. It just creates dimension and class to a blade but still has an imposing aesthetic. A naginata-hi especially on a katana length blade is just cool imo. Nice pick up! I would also agree it looks shin-shinto to me.

Hi Robin, he is open to any ww2 mounted katana in relatively good condition. I gave him a little nihonto tour to show him examples and point stuff out but in terms of purchasing his first blade he really doesn't have a preference on the details. I feel that it would be smarter in his budget to buy a better condition showato than a really rough gendaito for example. So I'm trying to help see what may be out there for him in a treacherous budget range. I also asked him just to text me any sword he finds that tempt him to buy. Also suggested he keep saving and go to the Chicago Sword Show with the money. So we'll see what happens and what he decides in the meantime.

I think with the shipping it will total $100 donation to the new guy. =|:^)

Hey All, Met this gentleman who starting working the front desk at my office. His sister worked here before him and mentioned to him how I'm into swords. So a week or so ago he brought up how he just bought a mall ninja katana but would love to get a real piece to care for/display and just get into the hobby. So I would like to help guide him with his first purchase and figured I should at least see if someone here has an option for him. His budget is around $850 (I would pay $50 myself to bring his budget to $900 and pay for his shipping etc...to help out a bit) and wanted to see if someone here may have a gunto without too many issues for this new young collector start his nihonto journey. He'd be fine with any gunto type but did mention he loved the look of the type 98s. See picture below of Jacob a.ka. the new collector. I also invited him to go to the Chicago Sword Show with me and brought him a bunch of my swords to check out. I feel partially responsible for him now...

One starter is join some nihonto groups on Facebook. You are gonna have to watch what comes up and keep your eye out and in the meantime look at swords/discussions that are posted and study them a bit. Someone here may have something that could work so post on the "Wanted to Buy" section on this website, give a general description of things such as "a blade with some age", stay open minded and give a budget. The answer to your budget question is more personal and its what you can afford or are willing to spend. I do suggest as a general rule to never go into bad debt to purchase a sword. Lastly you can get a wakizashi which is a shorter blade (say under 24" cutting edge) for cheaper than a katana length. So I would say that a better condition wakizashi would be preferable than a rough shape katana at the same price. Also in general I do suggest it is worth it to spend a bit more to get something in better condition so you can really see what it's all about and take a deeper note of things to appreciate. Nothing like a solid example in had to study/learn/inspire. My first blade had issues but also had enough nice things about it to get me excited, then curious...then hooked.

Hi and welcome, the blade you have is not a Japanese blade or classified as nihonto. It is a manufactured Chinese made blade that often have those number stamps on the habaki, that same steel pattern and koshirae which is all the pieces together besides the blade such as the guard, handle and scabbard etc..

@Bruce Pennington You're work received a shout out! Check out this video at about the 17 minute mark.

Neil, I also pieced together a sound system of an old record player, amp, receiver and speakers to play vinyl....plus cat. My speaker placement isn't any good but overall it's actually quite a good sounding system.

Peter, Yeah, this blade is honestly a beautiful piece. It stands out from others I have in my collection and seen through my little window into nihonto. It's also my only blade that has what I'd consider a very skillful art polish. For me it was great to get because it let me see what a blade with no flaws, skillful smithing execution across the board, dense hada and an expert polish really look like in hand.

Matt, Thank you, I hadn't seen that sword! It's really great seeing what seems a sister sword to mine in sashikomi polish so I can see the hamon details. So far the smith is 2 for 2 on reaching toku hozon. Little different arrangement of mei kanji on that one since he looks like he ran out of room at the end of his mei on mine.

Resurrecting this to see if anyone has any information on this smith? I have been completely unable to find any additional information on him. I also haven't been able to find other blades by this smith. Have two different names for the smith Ive gotten: Bitchu no Kuni Matsuyama ju Akamatsu Kotobuki Minamoto Ujisada Saku 備中國松山住赤松壽源氏貞 bitchu kuni matsuyama ju akamatsu jugen ujisada

The best thing I've found is actually this Japanese hammer and leverage device thingy tool (sorry forgot the proper name) that they sell to remove tight tsukas etc...it works just as well on habaki. I believe Grey had some for sale at some point. It's useful to have around for many reasons.

Even in situations where NBTHK (or NTHK) papers don't "increase the value" they at minimum help get fair market value when time to sell. They make blades easier to sell as buyers like authentication on what they are buying and it adds security. Same goes in most collectibles markets of such things. So essentially having papers even when they may not make increase value in some cases they still help lock in a fair market value that the same blade with no papers may not achieve. For one example, in situations like heavily forged signatures/smiths etc...the papers increase value. Overall papers are nearly always beneficial. It is possible to get katana hozon blades between the 1-2k ranges and hozon you'd be lucky for a full size katana in the 3k range. Juyo can easily be 5 digits...these prices are all on the low ends so that alone says quite a bit.

A Fuji and moon hamon is a cool feature. Always wanted one of those and does add to the package for sure. For sure a relic/war display type piece category.

It's a great way to make something for short transport or when taking a blade to shinsa as (at least the one time i did it in Chicago) they ask you to bring the bare blade. A temporary solution for a temporary need for those shirasaya-less blades out there. Also for those who have shared some shirasaya reglue knowledge I have now cleaned the old shirasaya just using warm water to remove all the old rice glue and after I let it fully dry over the next few days I will reglue it. Purchased some padded clamps and rice glue. I have noticed through that there will be a small gap at the top of the shirasaya since it looks like a sliver of wood was broken off at some point. Not quite sure what to do with that...perhaps just tape over the gap in a way that the sticky side of the tape doesn't actually touch the shirasaya itself or just leave the small gap and store it all in a katana bag.

Alex and Mark, So I did go and buy rice glue online and when I work up the courage and do a bit more study I'll go ahead with the gluing it back together. I am a detailed guy, good artistic skills and just precise enough to actually do a good job. Just have to make sure I have a firm grasp on the task and some safe clamps. Plus rice glue is pretty easily reversible which makes me feel better about it. I'm also going to go the re-glue route because other than the glue failing the shirasaya looks in great shape. The inside of the shirasaya does look like it's been cleaned out but any advice for doing anything to the inside before I reglue it? Not sure if to sand it down a bit but then worry about it leaving micro debris...or if there's a better something or other I should do instead. I used that video to make a paper shirasaya for some blades I took to the Chicago Sword Show for shinsa. Got pretty good at it. I cant help but think that paper storage style long term wouldn't be good. I just see the paper absorbing all the oils and just causing trouble. Don't trust it. I think the bare blade storage/display style I am doing now is safe until i get a new shirasaya made and it's behind glass. I keep it extra well oiled which seems the right thing. Also Mark, drink up and enjoy!

Just discovered this smith's blades are considered wazamono. Kinda cool to go through this list of smiths: https://en.m.wikiped...iki/List_of_Wazamono

I will say the smith seemed, from the few examples online, to prefer a sanbonsugi/gunome-esque hamons but seemed to also dabble with a variety of other hamon styles. There are some with a slight choji/midare flair but I haven't found a duplicate of this blade's hamon by the smith. I'm still early in my research. To me the shape and what its original length appears would fit into his "typical" style/lengths from the available photos/blades I could find online. I read this smith was very active during his 80 year life but I still wasnt able to find that many examples online. For now I am doing what the previous owner did and keeping it well oiled as a bare blade inside a glass display cabinet until I send it to have a new shirasaya made. The split shirasaya could also still work in an emergency. Tempted to reglue it back together but I'm not knowledgeable enough or have the proper rice glue to do it at this time so I will leave all as-is.