Babu

Just seen your reply Bruno. In that case it may well be Genchin or Gimei.

If mototaka He was the founder of the Mito school Sekijoken line. One of the four main division of Mito in Hitachi province. The son of Taizan motonori,a pupil of the Yakoya school. Lived during the last part of the 18th century and long lived. Records indicate he was a skilful copyist of the style of Nara artists, Joi, Shozui, Yasuchika Toshinaga etc. Also a teacher of great ability. His studio was crowded with pupils amongst them Takase Yeiju aka Hisanaga. Artists of this school first followed the yokoya style then turned to nara school style.

Then maybe permission would be easier as it would help achieve their objectives.?

I thought all books and publications were somebody's intellectual property. I'm not sure though, if it's permitted to scan and allow others to reference only, but not download ...but even in this I think you need permission from the authors or publishers. It might be different outside the UK but I doubt it. As with all printed material, there will be an implied copyright if it's not expressly written. My experience is from my own legal cases.

It's also exactly the same kanji for Genchin I've seen the same mei on tsuba. The real trick here is which one as both were Furukawa school. I've never had a mei that could be read more than one way. I'll look into it tomorrow. Thank you for the steering. MODS CAN YOU PLEASE MOVE THIS INTO TOSOGU? THANK YOU ADAM

OP hasn't been on since 27th July. I PM'd as have daisho set available to me. I think wait until he or she revisits the NMB. Adam

That's interesting Steve. Such complexity in a language. Thank you Adam

In double sword fighting techniques at least one if not both swords would be better served as wakizashi. It would still be a formidable weapon in a master's hands. Indoor urban fighting also suits a shorter blade such as a wakizashi or O Tanto. Up close and personal and your going for a nice tanto. The double bo hi shows less depth and has endured a polish whereas the Horimono is much more recent or was really really deeply cut. Hard to tell which. Some beautiful tachi or katana are now at wakizashi size due to changes in acceptable length over time. I have a wakizashi that's as light as a wand with single hi and small kissaki. It's a scalpel as opposed to a cleaver.

I picked this up the other day sold as Hotei by MotoYoshi. I think this may be wrong as I read the mei as Motochin 元珍 or even Genchin. Furukawa Genchin was an artist of the Edo period who signed with these characters. Also I don't think this is Hotei. I believe it is Jizo, Jizo has a sort of double role. To protect children, also to protect the souls of children who passed away and unborn babies. In the Japanese belief, it is thought that the soul of children who died before their parents, have not built up enough good deeds so are not able to cross the river to the afterlife. They remain on the side of the river, having to pile stones as an act of penance. Devils come to try to destroy these stone towers, and this is when O-Jizo-san appears and saves them by hiding them from the evil spirits in his clothing. He then looks after them as as guardian in replacement of their parents eventually smuggling them across the river in his robes. 2nd Jizo also protects travelers, which is why you will often find Jizo statues on the side of the roads. This tradition is derived from the ancient belief of Dosojin. Dosojin is a deity who protects travelers. The deity statue was placed on mountain pathways, crossroads, and at the borders of villages. The statues were generally in the shape of a couple. Within time, Jizo has taken over their role. Jizo also protects firefighters and saves the souls suffering in the afterlife. So looking at the tsuba, we have Jizo the child protector. With Japanese culture promoting the idea of saving face and having strong Hara, are we to assume that this was only way for this samurai or person to actually grieve?

Listen for whatever reason ,greed ,the belief in a personal affront or whatever some people who would normally be quite genuine have decided to play the less than genuine card. I've noticed this myself, but for some reason I'm rarely believed like Cassandra in mythology. Circumstances will always alter cases and people are getting so desperate they are ignoring the correct protocol when dealing from afar and distance sales.Had he kept the deposit it would have been a major challenge to recover your money if not protected in some way. I always pay for things with my credit card to ensure I get a level of protection commensurate to the value of the risk. Of course this doesn't work if you used a trade element in the deal as I've found out the hard way. Still like Cassandra everyone sided with the other party and I was Billy no mates. I would imagine as money gets tighter more underhand practices will be experienced. Fortunately I've only been burned once recently and I'll learn from it.

If I'm correct the extended kissaki was introduced to allow for kissaki reshaping after tip damage, to be more effective. It would have been phased in with no clearly short transition as many damaged tip blades were only occasionally salvaged. It was an evolution of blade shape born out of necessity.

Seppa come in many different thicknesses for precisely this situation. You might be better off looking for a set of nominally thicker seppa or just the one. This often happens as the habaki can indent into the seppa.

Friend of mine has a Daisho set of kinai. If your still interested.

The horimono appears a much later addition but the double bohi are closer to contemporary. My concern would be how well that Horimono was executed and what it's hiding. It would be good to see images that held good resolution when zoomed into though . These sadly do not. The tsuba is modern. It's a bit of a mishmash of fittings but it's still might be worthwhile. I gather this is your research before purchase?

The brothel that became the Chicken Ranch opened in La Grange, Texas, in 1844. Run by a widow known as "Mrs. Swine".It's also a great track written by Billy gibbons of ZZ Top.

I'm not sure but I think Kenji might have a window, it's always worth asking, but your right the wait would be long,even indeed IF, he considers it worthy , but as you say that's a cost that may not reap further reward other than an excellent polish. This will play on someone on an emotional level and it's a long expensive road, but some like this form of gambling.It scratches an itch in another way. I'm personally not a gambler anymore I am not after that hidden juyo. I just buy what I like as that's where I get my pleasure.If in my own way I'm lucky enough when I come to sell it on ,to be able to recover some, all or perhaps more than I originally paid then this is Good. However I appreciate this is just my position and others would consider it a bit dull. 😊 I guess the real question here ......is it worth £16,000 $21,000 for what your getting without the juyo potential?

A business is a buisness and stock is plentiful.Maximisation of profit is what Aoi strive for. This is that road we often go down where we try to justify our lack of common sense . For me if an expert sword dealer has that "in hand" and has not decided to Polish and submit it.He has a wealth of resources for second and third opinions.... Speaks volumes to me. No offence meant to anyone.

Strangely of I click on that link for me just comes back to this post. Its like a loop.

I think this is in the style of the Gotō schools. I've seen similar designs papered, but I cannot say it is mainline. I wouldn't be dissatisfied if I owned it, but I'm not seeing a masters works either. Remember condition might affect a view and that this is just my view and I might be considered critical of Gotō. We see some truly excellent works on here from time to time ishiguro, nara, hamano etc, but people's appreciation is always going to be subjective based on their taste. I like it though.

Excellent thanks. I'll try to work out what that means. Regards Adam

Brilliant thanks Steve. Can you hazard a guess at what the gourd shaped seal is only I'm leaning towards this all being a more recent copy. The writings not as neat and the gourd is different. Thank you Adam

Thank you Steve. One more if I may, another painting. Regards Adam

Ah apologies then.

I have a koto sword that has been cut down so many times the Nakago is all ex blade material and still possess four mekugi-ana. It's a bit shiny looking although it's got a version of yasureme albeit not very tidy. I wondered if it was perfectly acceptable for a sword so adapted in the past that it's nakago was still quite "shiny." I don't want to repatinate it but I'm wondering what's the norm when faced with this type of Nakago. Thank you Adam

Perhaps then your story of grandfather taking the sword from a fatally wounded Japanese warrior related to the gunto sword ,not the civilian sword.