Babu

No ko itame mostly with tiny bit of masame

Thanks Big.Ive seen that one. It needs to read Yamashiro. Or you will get different smiths and variations. Regards Adam

Got this the other day. Gunto wakizashi.old signed blade Norisada. Mid 1600's? I found a rusty nakago on the net almost identical mei but couldn't get further info. I would gather if two exist with exactly the same mei then it might be shoshin. The leather is shrunk over a wood saya of black from what I can see. It's hanger is leather,it has a popper that passes through the tsuba to lock the blade into the saya. No decorative seppa, just civilian ones. Thank s was potentially a blade fitted out when the request for swords was sent out. Any ideas? Thank you

That's somes consensus others are in Shinto period. I'm not sure sadly I'm rubbish at kantei. I think a decent Japanese polish will ignite the hamon it's out of polish and lying a bit flat.

I have a wakizashi signed Yamashiro kuni ju Fujiwara Norisada. It looks like a strong signature and I've found one on the net that is very close but no further details. Do you have any oshigata of the two generations signing this way? NOR272 1624-44 1st Yamashiro NOR723 1684-88 2nd Yamashiro. Any oshigata you have would be perfect. Thank you

11.5mm it's got to fit into. Length can be 12-14cm that goes into the slot . I can put a bare kogatana in slot. Blade however is too wide at base if kogatana.

Some images of the blade.

Jacques it's Munemitsu mei. The only information I got was that it was in an old collection. ishido was mentioned. Think that up to the last foot or so this is a form of pointy hamon with lots of rounded dots above the hamon. I will try again to get more detail but it's hard with just a phone.

It was worth a punt but unfortunately I think that the seller may have backed out as it wasn't sitting high enough price wise at this stage and offers tend to put sellers on their guard. You think you make a fair offer and they think they can get a lot more. If many are interested you can have a closed auction outside of eBay. Play one bidder against another...... Even if that ”other" is totally fictitious.

I bought a sword that has a nasty modern kogai and need to find a real one. Thank you

I just buy what I like. I'm not inclined to become a great expert on this subject. Life is too short to get too deeply into the reasons why we like what we like. I mean I like my wife, but I don't doubt many would prefer brunette or redheads but that doesn't mean that they couldn't appreciate blondes as well. I buy what inspires me Paul and that's where I am. I do not buy to please or gain praise from others especially. It's nice if like minded people enjoy what I do but it's not a prerequisite. Enjoy what you can whilst you can we are only here a while. Once I get a few more koshirae completed I'll be stopping my purchases and concentrating on study of what I have. I like my fittings most but I want a few blades. Tachi or katana, wakizashi and a koto tanto. Just the three and the requirements are flawless and highly decorative hamon. I have more swords and yari but I'll move these on when the time is right.

Kirill. Thank you. if you look at the wakizashi on this link it certainly looks a similar style but appreciate its in new polish and my blade is a fair bit out of polish. It is not unusual for the 2nd or 3rd gen to sign this way with six kanji and produce this style of work. https://www.aoijapan.net/wakizashi-bisyu-osafune-munemitsu/ The mei looks very old on mine and if it is gimei then it's a very old tachi mei gimei. The Orekaeshi happened when the blade was adapted to a katana hundreds of years ago. You can see no seams or joins its that well done. Anyway I've asked both markus Sesko for his opinion and Paul Martin to run it past Tanobe Sensei as he wrote the sayagaki for the Aoi art blade. If they think there's a good chance I'll send this one to shinsa. I'm still interested in opinions.

Yes hira zogan is rather thoroughly lost . Do you think this by intent perhaps?

Ive got an old Tachi mei sword that's had its mei folded over. So now it's katana mei. It's now 70.25cm with a 19cm nakago. I'm guessing for the mei to be in roughly the right place 33cm of original sword has been removed.so is missing 14cm. So in total the cutting edge was 84cm approx. Can anyone kantei the sugata to a period? It's a very clear omaru boshi. It's in an old Japanese sashikomi polish I think. I'm not sure what to call the hamon. It's thick at 6mm at Mune with the nakago at 7mm at the widest point midway. I'm thinking of its prospects for shinsa.

Is it too easy To say hieanjo ? Anyone know the motifs? Snowflakes? It's thin at 4mm Regards Adam

The reason I asked was because after 1830 it was prohibited to use pure gold on sword fittings but some still required it's presence even if hidden. Many makers are known to have disguised gold under many different finishes to look like anything but gold. I believe that, if this was documented (which it was)then at some point we must discover just such a set of fittings or tsuba with elements of pure gold that are ”hidden” from us on first inspection.

Is the insert gold under the Shakudo?

Well done ! The burs I think are the ha machi and mune machi and if right then they are intentionally done. The file marks on Habaki are also by design. Now you have the blade stripped down. It's a nice looking sugata.

Does anyone have access to photographic examples from 2nd gen through to 6th gen they could share with me of the above smith signing in just this way? I only have Hawleys references. Thank you Adam by

As the title suggests has anyone come across a mei that was folded over and inserted into the new Nakago that was not by the Smith it portrayed itself to be? I appreciate that many Gifts might have been taken at face value as shoshin but may not have been genuine. The owner might then pass the blade down as his understanding of authentic was based on what he was told by the giver or indeed seller. Thank you Adam

I'm pretty sure even that process has to be done on heated metal that is not Martensite any longer ,but becomes once again Austenite then perhaps Pearlite as martensite could shatter relatively easily. Interested in knowing how you can perform Machi Okuri without affecting the rest if the ha near the Machi. If we have Osuriage then a much larger area must be reheated or you will struggle to reshape and file the new nakago. Interesting.