Jim Manley

i have been attracted to blades made during this period, My thinking being that with such limited demand each blade would have to be the absolute best the smith was capable of making. i have works by Nobuhide, Taneyoshi, Kanenori, Kajihei, Saburo Akihide and Gassan from this time period. Shigetsugu too was reportedly actively making blades but my tanto is from Showa 12. I would suppose there were more than 7 smiths but who knows.

Do not give up hope. i was in exactly the same situation last year and made very much the same post as yours. My blade was not as prestigious as yours, a Kajihei forgery of Naotane but special to me for that reason. My blade fell off the radar in May and finally resurfaced at Japan Customs in October. While some blades are indeed stolen, many more are simply mishandled. I always use Air Tags now and find they work very well. fingers crossed for you

Another interesting dragon habaki. Looks Aztec.

Habaki by Goto Seii. Blade 1'st Gen Chounsei Tsunatoshi

Okan, a bit snarky. It was exactly as I said. A friend acquired it, I shot a single photo and asked for any info that could be provided. i didn’t buy it, don’t own it and am not selling it.

A buddy recently acquired this tsuba. I took this one photo and would much appreciate any insights members could offer. thanks much Jim manley

Kajihei on top. Papered TH Naotane Wakizashi below

Finally got a chance to sit with the Kajihei-Naotane yesterday. I selected this Naotane Wakizashi for comparison. The proportions look good, the hamon on the Kajihei has more activity. The hada on the Naotane is a bit less pronounced.

Solid Gold habaki from Nambokucho, Yasuyuki.

I was the buyer. As a Naotane collector it was a “must have” . The blade, shipped in April was lost in the mail only re-emerging in Japan October 3. It was immediately turned around and only reached my eager hands October 9. The workmanship is wonderful and I’ve barely had time to study it. At first glance the workmanship appears more similar to Naokatsu. Even more interesting, at least for me, was that Tonobe Sensei recognized its unique importance and applied sayagaki attesting to it as a recognized Kajihei forgery.

Yoshitane dragons on a Naotane. Both signed. The shinsa papers address both Naotane and Yoshitane’s signatures .

Sorry for the delay. The sword was shipped registered mail from Japan. It was mistakenly shipped to my PO Box in Jackson, WY I had a hold mail request in place as I was going to be away for 6 weeks. The tracking no. Showed the delivery to Jackson. I made dozens of calls to the post office none of which were answered. In spite of the hold mail order the post office sent the blade back to Japan two days before I returned. It went missing in Salt Lake. I initiated a missing parcel search and met with the Jackson post master on several occasions. In summary the post office is at best indifferent. I have not given up hope that it was placed in the wrong container or ?. But it has been nearly 3 months. The tracking number has not been scanned in the interim. Theft appears the most likely scenario. If the package were somewhere in the USPS system the tracking no.would reappear. ‘I’ll have flyers in San Fran and will answer any questions I can. I tremendously appreciate that so many took time to respond. Who knows, maybe I’ll get lucky.

A few dragons. no. 1 Kunihide / Masahide joint work Wakizashi no. 2&3 Yoshitane horimono on Naotane blades No. 4 Sukashi horimono on a Naokatsu katana

Sadly I must report another stolen sword during shipment by the US Postal Service. This katana went missing from the Salt Lake City USPS distribution Center in early May. It is possibly still in this area or along the West Coast. The blade is a signed Naotane, in shira saya. Additionally there is Saya gaki by Tonobe Sensei stating the blade is Gimei and the work of notorious forger Kajihei. As I collect this smith & school the piece was of particular interest to me. I will gladly reimburse any fellow collector plus a generous reward for its recovery. Feel free to PM me with any information you might have.