swordnoob

Thank you again for you assistance Piers. I've learned something new regarding readings. Although I may never know exactly what the inscription alludes to, it'll be interesting trying to figure it out

Thank you for the translation. I would've never figured out the ク. Would the inscription mean something along the lines of "hollowed out by Oota Kohaku" (assuming 太田子朴 is a name)?

Can anyone help translate what's written on this fuchi? I believe the right side says 太田子朴 but I'm not really certain of the third character. For the left side, the last two characters seem to be katakana ヌキ. I can't really tell what the first two are, but if they're also katakana then one or both might be リ? As for the translation and meaning, I'm completely lost. Any help would be greatly appreciated

Hmm, maybe it is just the language barrier, but still off-putting regardless. That said, it's good to know that they're not like e-bay scammers

Compare these: https://www.samuraishokai.jp/sword/21137.html https://www.e-sword.jp/katana/2210-1083.htm https://sword-auction.com/en/product/13851/as22359-刀：備前国住長船清光（五郎左衞門）特別保存-2/ The first two sites have full sugata images that look more blanched, but the second site offers more pictures further below. Aside from the picture of the sugata, the third site also has another that highlights different sections of the blade. Finally, I just noticed that in the image of the sword in the first site, there appears to be a small discoloured patch near the munemachi of the image with the edge facing left (although that could be my eyes playing tricks on me). I personally like having more pictures (and information) on an item before committing to a purchase, but that's just my preference

Private messages. You can view them by clicking on the mail icon on the top left. Can also send one by going to a person's profile then clicking message

Might want to take this to PMs

I just wanted to post my brief exchange with this seller as I haven't found much about them on this site or elsewhere TL;DR I wouldn't recommend buying from them Their reply after I sent a few questions via their order form: hello First of all, is it an order or a question? Payment in USD is OK >Do you have any additional pictures of the sword or koshirae at different angles and lighting? no additional images >Does the item come with tsunagi? yes >When the sword is mounted in the koshirae, how's the fit? Is anything loose? no problem Me: Hello, I was thinking about ordering once I found out more about the swords. What would be the total price in USD? Them: thank you for the order When shipping to _, the shipping company will be _ In the case of _, _JPY will be added for shipping and insurance. Total price will be _USD Charge _USD on Paypal Thank you **Two minutes afterwards, I was sent a PayPal request for money (I guess there was some miscommunication there)** Me: Hello, Before I place the order would it be possible to take more pictures? I can't tell if there are any issues due to the picture of it being too whitened, nor can I tell it's polish condition Them: there is no problem with the product Do not buy if you have questions **They cancelled their PayPal request a minute afterwards** I found it kind of alarming that the seller immediately told me to not buy if I had questions. For reference, this is what I was looking at https://www.samuraishokai.jp/sword/22101.html

What would you consider as per-requisite reading? Yumoto's The Samurai Sword and Nagayama's Connoisseur's?

Not related to collecting, but I do know someone with macular degeneration who's at the point where they can't see clearly more than a foot or two away. In good lighting conditions, you should still be able to view things fairly clearly at a really close distance. If you reach that stage of MD, when looking at a sword, I assume you would have issues viewing the full suguta or hamon, but should still be able to view parts of the blade at a time (and see the finer details like hada). That said, your case may not reach that point of severity that it impacts appreciation and evaluation. As a side note, at the aforementioned point of severity, you can can still read up close as long as you have a magnifier (albeit slowly), are not legally allowed to drive, can recognize people by voice faster than you can by sight, will need to watch your step in case you stumble on something, and will struggle with zippers.

The two swords that I currently own were shipped by FedEx back in April 2020 without any issue after EMS rejected the shipment (it may have been due to COVID restrictions at the time). That said, their rules to the UK may be different

Thank you Alex. Coincidentally, I bought an Owari-Seki wakizashi with hozon (along with a meikan-more katana) that should arrive hopefully this month or the next, so I have previously tried searching for more information. I think I may be taking the wrong approach by searching for Owari-Seki instead of the Owari and Seki schools separately

Is this the site http://www.ejapaneseswords.com/Shinsa_Info.html? I'm most likely not going to submit it to shinsa, especially if I have to be there in person as I wouldn't be able to make it. Also, thank you for the honestly. I didn't purchase the sword thinking it'd be the next greatest investment or anything so I don't mind. The purpose of this thread was only to learn more about the sword as there's only so much I can discern on my own (and even that seems to have been mostly incorrect)

Hi Jacques, thank you for clarifying. I think I understand what you mean now. You'd see the hamon continue further in the nakago whenever there's suriage as that's where it originally was prior to shortening (assuming there wasn't some heat treatment that happened during shortening). I guess the only counter example I can think of is if the hamon wasn't wider than the width of the hamachi (I'm not sure if any swords were made that way) Alex, David, and Kirill. Thank you for the shinsa suggestion. I assume you're referring to https://nthkamerica.com/?

Hi Alex, Thank you for the detailed responses. I'll definitely look into the school Jacques recommended as well other mino offshoots and owari-seki as you've recommended. Jacques, Thank you for your insight and the photo. Do you have any others photos of suriage blades with the hamon much closer to the ha (I wonder if shallower yakiba is the correct terminology in this case)? I'm just curious what the visual effect would be and where the hamon around the hamachi would end up In addition, I'll try learning more about the sword after I've gained a bit more knowledge from the books I have arriving soon

To be honest, I can't tell whether the hamon goes past the hamachi in that photo or whether that's some polish. Is it at the blue line or the red line?

Hi Alex, The hamon is sort of like this. Or were you referring to something else?

Ah, I just put it away, but length is approximately 67-69 cm. I'll take more exact measurements when I get a chance. When I first got it, I was told the measurements were 67.12 cm, 3.1 cm at the motohaba, and 2.2 cm at the sakihaba. I'm not sure how correct these measurements are. I believe the kicho and torokusho say that it's 2 shaku 2 sun 1 bu (66.9 cm)

Here's a picture of the hamon extending past the hamachi (I've circled it in red). I tried to take a pic of the other side but failed to get the lighting correct. It's also a lot less visible there but again, does extend past the hamachi Here's a picture of the boshi. Kaeri doesn't seem to be present. Again, I failed to get the proper lighting on the other side and couldn't take a pic. If I were to describe it, the hamon is less "flat" closer to the kissaki One thing I noticed was that the kissaki looks slightly curved back. Is there a term for that?

I just took a look and the hamon does not terminate at the hamachi, but goes a bit further. Regarding the boshi, you're right. I don't see any kaeri and it's most likely yakitsume. I'll try to take better photos of both

I've uploaded the videos of the hamon on youtube for easier viewing. I'll post more pictures closer to the yakidashi when I get a chance to as I don't think the hamon ends at the hamachi Apologies on the sound in the videos. I forgot to record without audio so now there's a lot of static noise in them

Thanks for all the replies. I've been trying to find images of swords made by later Kanemoto smiths without much luck. On another note, I was thinking more about yakidashi, and whether that made sense on a blade that had been shortened. In my search for answers, I came across the term "fumbari" at http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/kissaki.html#FUMBARI. It appears that the sword does has fumbari which could imply that the suriage was relatively short, and possibly only from the mekugi-ana filled in from lead. That could explain why we see yakidashi. If that were the case, I wonder what was the purpose of the mukugi-ana at the bottom....

Here's pictures of the nakago and the yakidashi. In addition, I've linked videos showing the hamon as they were too big to upload directly (apologies for the bit of shakiness in the videos). I was thinking more about the latter and I was wondering whether the sword was not cur down to where the mekugi-ana in the bottom was and the original was just where the second mekugi-ana that's been filled with lead. Otherwise, the transition to kyo-yakidashi? might be really long or that may have just been an irregularity in the hamon pattern. What're your thoughts on this? Videos showing hamon (two of each side) - I'm not sure if it's possible to embed the videos here https://streamable.com/uutvyl https://streamable.com/j9sr70 https://streamable.com/nsjvig https://streamable.com/fk9tvv

Thanks David. I learned a new term, yakidashi, and there appears to be a kyo-yakidashi. which may imply In regards to the hamon being togari-gunome, how pointy should the peaks be to qualify as togari? The hadori does make them a bit pointier than they actually are. I'll try to take a video later that shows the hamon under the polish

Hmm... could it possibly be Kanenaka (https://nihontoclub.com/smiths/KAN1706)? The hamon looks similar and in some of his works that I could find, so does the boshi and sugata (to my untrained eyes anyway). As far as I can tell, it also looks like https://collections.royalarmouries.org/object/rac-object-51241.html by mino kanemoto aside from the fact that the yakiba isn't as narrow...