kkeeps

Thanks Kirill, I was pushed more towards Mino with the yahazu and masame in the shinogi, but it seems to have strong Soshu elements. I observed a large loop style hamon also seen in a Seki Kanefusa blade. https://www.sanmei.c...4912_S2682_PUP1.html

Am I totally off base with this blade? I was looking at Shibata Katsuie's naginata and Hiraoka Yorisuke's katana https://nihonto.com/4-1-23-2/ and noticed similarities with my sword . It is signed "Waka" on the suriage nakago and has remnants of katte sagari yasurimei. The hamon seems to be midare and widens as it approaches the monouchi. Kissaki is chu and boshi is yaki ga fukai (almost ichimai) with slight kaen and hakkikake with a strong kaeri. It has a tight nioiguchi in nie deki. hada is itame. Has yo, tobiyaki, sunagashi, yahazu, hotsure, and tall reaching loops. Would this be way off base?

I I believe this is an example on a Mino blade.

There is a shinsa in Florida next year at the Orlando sword show. https://nthkamerica.com/ Cost with should be about $450 if you send it off and it receives papers. That will be your cheapest option, the cost and work to send it off to Japan goes up from there.

23rd generation Kanefusa? I would see no reason to doubt the signature considering the nakago condition, chisel strokes and yasurimei. https://www.Japanese...dex.com/kanefusa.htm

It has a shallow midare in an old polish that definitely doesn't emphasize the hamon, but the major rises in the hamon are an ogiba shown below (it is very hard to photograph but if you follow to the left of the light source in the gif maybe it is visible?) and a forward leaning spike on one side and a house shape similar to the Ogaki-Masamune oshigata. One side of the blade has a chogi pattern in the monouchi ji and the other side doesn't it seems. It has an utsuri towards the monouchi and towards the base has nie-utsuri.

I kinda thought Aoe as well, but the chikei and nie seems to push me away from that direction .

I posted my sword because I noticed the similarities in the chikei, here are the areas I'm comparing to. Also included are the original photo and oshigata (maybe someone has a higher resolution?) My first photo is a pic of ji-nie? I imagine a true Masamune blade would have more obvious nie than this. I have been bouncing around between Yamato, Yamashiro, and Soden. Of course kantei from photos is a poor substitute to blade in hand. I do plan on sending this one to Ted Tenold when finances shake out. Just thought it was an interesting pattern to see in a random sword.

Year's almost over and I took my turn. My blade has a bohi, a shorter chu-kissaki, 2 mekugi-ana and a shallow kuri-jiri so I'm shooting way too high.

Speaking of comparing the Honjo oshigata to a blade, I wonder if everyone else can see the patterns I'm seeing in this comparison, especially the rectangular shape next to the elf shoe shape. It might help to zoom in and out to get a feel for the shapes.

Its just a slight variation of the patina on mine, no stamp

Welcome to the Kunimori Klub! Yours is in better polish than mine, its only ubu-ha once, I would spend extra time thinking about having it polished if not rusty.

This one made it to Switzerland? http://nihonto-museum.com/collection/exhibit/juyo-bijutsuhin-hiromitsu-tachi

The blade I have is out of polish, but I circled the Ogiba on the Ogaki-Masamune to show the area I am coparing. It is a fan shape hamon with hitatsura (grouped tobiyaki). Although on the Ogaki it looks rather flat.

Thanks Stephen. I focused on the Ogaki because a sword I have replicates the pattern I highlighted. I'm sure its not a Masamune (I'm not that lucky) and was looking for leads on other smiths who may have copied the pattern. I have a gif that shows the ogiba just to the left of the light source and it also has the thin spike and mountain shape on the other side of the blade. I asked about the blade last year in the thread below and shows an overall picture of the blade.

I see. I am trying to find similar oshigata to the Ogaki, but this is the only one I've come up with so far. Thanks Michael!

Are these patterns found on other smiths' work? This is a picture of the Ogaki-Masamune. I have a close up of the mountain shaped element on one side and the ogiba and hangetsu elements on the other.

I see. It looks like the blade does have an itame/mokume mix. I would like to get a vid of the midare/choji usturi, but my phone camera is lame.

Ok, thanks. Step by step I'm getting to know this blade

Wondering if this is considered chikei in the hada?

Thanks for the feedback. Here is another pic. No Sageo

This koshirae consists of a plain iron tsuba, decent copper fuchi and menuki, and horn kashira. Has one copper seppa on the fuchi side of the tsuba that seems to match the fuchi and an aluminum? German silver? seppa on the habaki side. Habaki is a gold washed copper. Is this a civilian mount? Older? Newer? Thanks for any answers or leads.

I'm still piecing parts and pieces together on this katana as I learn more about terms and things to look for. I am seeing utsuri with roundish peaks and valleys towards the kissaki end, possibly with a dark line underneath? I captured this with my ancient cell phone camera, hopefully it turns up so it can be zoomed in on to demonstrate what I'm talking about. Thanks for any leads.

That's how I have been measuring sori in the original post. I've been trying to imagine the original shape of this o-suriage blade, but can only compare it to other o-suriage blades I dig up in pics on the internet.