Lewis B

I think everyone was smitten by at least one blade in the show (probably several). For me the highlight was the Sa Kunihiro tanto, unfortunately sold prior to the show. Its koshirae was equally as impressive. Quality of the polish was next level. The Tametsugu was also a nice example of his work. However it was a little short at 66cm and the gawdy gold urushi tachi koshirae was not to my preference.

Another great event and certainly exceeded last years, both in terms of number of dealers (several new faces in the booths from Japan and Australia) and range of blades, with a little more emphasis on Koto. Many Juyo papered blades were available for sale too. There was a booth demonstrating urushi polishing and a separate room featuring the work of a calligrapher. Yes, I would agree a few more lectures covering a wider variety of Japanese culture would encourage greater attendance by the lay person. Maybe a tea ceremony demo would be a nice idea. Its a shame the event is poorly attended by the NBTHK-EB members. The more support it gets the more likely it is to continue. Europe sorely needs the Japan Art Fair. Congrats to Henk and Daisuke san for organizing this annual 3 day expo which seems to grow in strength with increasing years. I plan to be there next year too. Did anyone get their blade(s) shinsa'ed on the Sunday? How did that go?

Thanks for the heads up Thomas. I checked the emailed event details when I purchased the tickets a couple of months ago and it definitely states 4pm start on Friday. Changes must have been made to the program since then. Good to know. I will be there for 1pm.

Me too, for the past 10 days Currently in Reims, then onto Ghent, Antwerp and finally Utrecht for a midday Friday arrival.

One suggestion is to meet before the event starts like 2.30 or 3pm. The hotel has some beautiful gardens with tables and chairs in the grounds and Friday's weather forecast looks promising.

It appears there have been at least 4 mountings in its history with the mekugi ana in very close proximity each time. Metal had to be added to create a viable hole for the mekugi. Probably done for the last mount. I get the impression it could be a lead/copper alloy, easy to work but more durable than lead alone.

Do not ship EMS/USPS. International shipments are getting stuck in the system and receiving your blade in a timely manner is going to be a crap shoot. I've read of numerous issues on other forums like KitchenKnifeForum and I've had personally experience shipping a bike wheel to my brother from Germany to San Diego CA. Its been sitting at the local distribution center, according to the tracking info, since April 7th. USPS have been absolutely useless with attempts to investigate and get things moving.

Yes I found it too. Not the most reliable vendor but certainly not the sketchiest. Price paid was fair for a decent antique nihonto in koshirae. I've seen a lot less bought for a lot more.

Well more convincing than this disaster on the usual suspects site. https://www.supeinnihonto.com/product/nihonto-katana-osafune-ju-kagemitsu/

While the characteristics of Mei can and did change, especially if the smith had a long career, there are some elements in swordmaking style that remained consistent for many makers. The boshi style is quoted as being a kantei feature suggesting it changed little over time. Study the fine details in the blade, compare with others (especially anything dated around the same time) and then ask yourself, could this smith have made this.

As Brian says, nice blade. Although I have issues with the attribution and mei. Depending what you paid, I assume it wasn't priced as an authentic Kagamitsu, you did well for a first blade. Here is an example of Bizen Kagemitsu's tachi mei. Your's is signed katana mei. The boshi is not typical for Kagemitsu or his father Nagemitsu, whom he emulated. You can read more in depth info about this smith here: https://nihonto.com/bizen-osafune-kagemitsu-備前長船景光/

What a weird looking blade. The position of the yokote is unusual. I would say this was a much longer blade and repurposed with added mei

Need to see more of the blade. Sugata and nakago shape might provide an answer.

Doesn't look like Shintetsu to me. That said some smiths did use higher quality, folded and forged steel for the shingane, and this may be what you're seeing.

Georg, any pictures of your Masayuki on display at the Berlin Samurai Museum?

Thats doesn't look like genuine ray skin.

@Brian Thanks, thats it. Hit 10 downloads limit.

@Brian I was trying to download these interesting publications but after several downloads I got the message: Sorry, you aren't permitted to download this file. Do you know why?

Not nihonto related but I shipped a rear bicycle wheel from Germany to San Diego at the beginning of April. Its been sitting in the SD distribution center since April 17th. Many others are having similar USPS headaches it seems reading threads on other forums such as Kitchen Knife Forum. Sadly your experience is not unique re USPS. I would only ship anything of value (commercial and sentimental) via UPS or Fedex for the foreseeable future.

Could it be Satsuma Soshu utsushi?

Looks gimei to me. Ichi is lightly chiseled and it's not usually just a straight line. Probably the easiest Mei to fake.......

Does this suggest tastes are changing at the mother ship?

Plenty of Rai grandmasters (Kuniyuki, Kunitoshi and Kunimitsu). I was able to study 4 long blades by these makers at length last weekend. What an absolute honour that was.

Lots of Kotetsu, a fair number of Masamune and surprisingly few Ichimonji, of all branches and eras. Not a single Go Yoshihiro.

With such a short nagasa of only ~11cm and it being apparently double edged the blade could be an oversized bashin that's been mounted in some fancy clothes for sale as something more than it is. The angle of the blade in the tsuka looks odd and the poor horimono carving supports this suspicion. Of course I could be wrong but thats my immediate impression.