LastSamurai

Thanks, Marcin! I will definitely check that source. In the meantime, some more pictures of that Ishido Teruhide. It was cloudy and I was unable to catch direct sunlight, which helps a bit in these situations. I was also not prepared to make a proper photo session, so I did not take a katana-kake with me. It also rained a lot, thus for now I am not able to share pictures of the koshirae and of the whole nihonto. But will do eventually. To me, nagasa looks even better in person, and the koshirae is very tight and well-made, pristine I would think. For the glory of Japan, as they say. Blade is signed "Ishido Teruhide saku", which according to this article: https://japaneseswordindex.com/teruhide.htm is the mei Ishido Teruhide used when creating blades of tamahagane in the traditional way.

What I got is an Ishido Teruhide blade, made in 1940, sitting in a fresh Japanese polish. Has an original gunto koshirae with junior officer's tassel. Everything is in pristine condition, in fact I have rarely seen, let alone held such a preserved gunto. Huge thanks to the person who made the purchase possible! I have yet to take some proper photos, in order to provide the admiration this nihonto requires. But I will now share two quick close-up pictures which try to capture the beauty of the blade in polish. I believe it has a very tight ko-itame hada, at least in person it looks like ko-itame to me (in the proper light). What do you guys think? I will definitely share more photos once I find the time to take them, probably in a week or so. But I am a very, very happy person right now.

Once I receive and inspect it, I would definitely drop in some pictures here for you. Thanks everyone for the interest!

No longer looking - a great person from this forum (I can share who he is if he so decides) helped me with the purchase of a wonderful gunto. Thanks and good luck to everyone!

Thanks for the support! Yes, with everything I've learned so far, I do believe it is the work of the first Kanetomo and the blade was made in the early 16th century, maybe around year 1510. It is a wonderful blade IMO, to my untrained eyes. I wish to thank everyone who helped me and shared their opinion and knowledge on the matter! You guys are great!

Maybe a bit, yes. As I don't have formal training in Japanese martial arts and I'm relatively more used to European swords, most nihonto feel light to me, especially bare blade wakizashi. But yes, it seems thick and a bit tip heavy, as it wants to cut deep into something when in motion. By the way, this is one of the sharpest antique swords I've had the opportunity to hold and admire. Very sharp.

Of course. I have digital calipers, so the measurements should be rather precise. Motogasane: 0.655 cm Sakigasane: 0.415 cm Motohaba: 2.85 cm Sakihaba: 2.05 cm Omosa: 547 grams

Marcin, such an interesting thing you mentioned! I was of the impression that this is just mokume hada, as I've read in the sources provided above by the other contributors that such appearance is somewhat typical of Kanetomo's work. And even to my limited knowledge, as far as I can tell, in person it looks like mokume, but it very well might be shintetsu. Very curious to hear other opinions. Worth mentioning is that the whole nagasa has practically no visible (to me) kizu, at least as delamination is concerned. I once did own a Koto era nihonto in pristine Japanese polish that exhibited a lot of kizu, obviously its lamination did not stand the test of time.

Here you go, Marcin! This is as close as my phone allows me to shoot.

Thanks, Piers D! If it were for you to guess, would you consider the said blade to be Koto or Edo era? Others loosely suggested Koto, but I have a bit of doubt and would appreciate more opinions.

I wish to cincerely thank everyone who helped with the mei and Hozon translation thus far! If, by chance, someone has the will to translate the whole Hozon, I would greatly appreciate the service! This will probably help me with my research about Noshu Seki ju Kanetomo saku and possibly to define the exact place and era the blade was made. As I wrote above, it is hard for me to trust ChatGPT, cause it already seriously mislead me once about the topic. P.S. I do have pictures of sugata and up-close of the nagasa and boshi that I uploaded, if this could help with defining the age or give more information about which specific Kanetomo it is attributed to. Sorry if this is not the place for this, I am rather new to NMB, not been very active here, thus please forgive me in advance if I should ask elsewhere.

Thanks everyone, you've been very helpful! Late Muromachi would make it even older than I expected, if so. To be honest, that blade (even to my untrained eyes) looked a bit older than the middle Edo period I thought it was made...

Thank you, Moriyama Koichi! Do you, by chance, know/learned anything about the smith or the period he was active? Any bit of information will be indeed very helpful.

Hello guys, Is it possible for someone to help translate the mei of my (shinto?) wakizashi, along with its Hozon origami? I tried using ChatGPT for the purpose, but the result was far from satisfying, in fact, it actually made things worse. I would really appreciate the assitance! I have uploaded a high-res version of the image here: https://ibb.co/Jj5VTQZf Sadly, the previous owner of the sword did not have any meaningful information to share about it, other than he bought it in Japan himself just in urge to acquire a nihonto while visiting there, so am also not able to share much... If something else is needed as far as images go, I will promptly provide. Thanks in advance!

Aaron, it is a wondeful nihonto that you have there... I envy a bit its future keeper. Can I humbly ask - after that tsuba replacement, currently how tight is the overall fit? Assuming it was (almost) perfect tight fit coming from Japan in its modern koshirae... Adam, btw, this is a gorgeous wakizashi there...

Thanks for the suggestion, Rayhan! Yes, shinsakuto is fine, but at the present moment I do not feel like ordering a sword straight from Japan. And then there is the price to be considered as well - usually a shinsakuto tends to be more expensive than a papered gendaito, at least from what I've seen. I'm certain I will find what I'm looking for in my listed price range, eventually. Already had received some offers... Certainly no hurry on my part. When I see the sword, I will know that's the one.

As I asked above, let us please stay on topic and not dilute it. I am sure there are other, more suitable places in the forum to comment and share opinions on whether or not one would use a nihonto for practice, the value and meaning of NBTHK and all that. Thank you everyone!

Thanks for expressing your opinion on the matter, Sam! Frankly, I have my own opinion which differs from yours, so please do not impose on me, as I do not feel obliged to follow. Whether or not I use an antique for any reason whatsoever is my business alone. Regarding the NBTHK or NTHK origami - I am aware what they are and what the different levels of appraisal mean. There is plenty of useful information on the topic here at the NMB. I suppose I could get a mint Hozon nihonto, either a uchigatana or gunto, in my current price range - it had happened before. hence this listing. I humbly ask not to discuss my intentions further. I have given an insight just to be more precise about the sword I am looking to buy and not because I want to hold a public discussion about that. If anything, feel free to PM me if you have such a nihonto for sale. If not, well, no need to do it then. Let this listing remain strickly for its purpose. Best wishes to everyone!

Yes, why not? I would occasionally practice kata with it. To each his own. And I do wish for the nihonto to be papered as an appraisal of a respectable organization, such as NBTHK or NTHK.

Sorry, missed that. Thanks for the assistance!

Hi folks, Due to a recent turnaround, I am looking to acquire a papered nihonto katana from inside the EU, gendaito or older era, with mint to pristine condition blade, and with mint to pristine functional koshirae, suitable for practice as it is, without interventions. My budget tops at around 3K euro - I know it is not much, but I've seen such examples sold here in the forum for more or less similar sums, so why not ask. I might be interested in a gunto with the same criteria described above. If you find my listing interesting and you have something as described to offer, feel free to send me a message. Thank you in advance!

Hi Winchester, I didn't know that Ray Singer has a website. Good thing is to know that, maybe for the next time. Could you please provide me with the link? Either here for someone who might not know (like me), or in private if you prefer. Yesterday I bought a gendaito from Peter. He is a very nice and patient person. This topic is now obsolete and might be closed/locked, if that's the practice.

I am also interested in gunto, if kept in pristine condition both blade and koshirae, and has all the bells and whistles (locks, tassels, etc.)

Just to let everyone know, for the sake of transparency. As I am currently still considering my options for a rather budget oriented, but otherwise mint condition nihonto inside EU, I wrote this seller a PM some 5 days ago, asking few questions regarding the sword he is selling. The system notifies me that he had seen my message. Still, no reply whatsoever. In case @juleslesquet somehow missed my message, please do get in touch. Thanks!

Hello, recently I parted with my antique nihonto mostly due to financial reasons. As much as I (and everyone around me) loved admiring that sword over the years, I could not force myself to risk doing even a kata with it, as the blade was more than 450 years old... Thus it was only a decoration for my home, albeit a great one. Although I already used a good half of what I received from the sale for pressing non-sword expenses, I could probably utilize the remaining funds to acquire a mint condition gendaito/shinsakuto. One that I can admire, but also use for at mostly kata practice. My budget tops (and I mean tops) at around 3500 Euro, shipped to me inside EU. I will only consider buying from within the Union, cause I don't have the nerves to deal with all the hassle of imports. I know that might be a rather limited budget for the sword I'm looking for, but here in the forum I've seen some very nice swords sell for around the price, so you never know. No shirasaya-only. I am interested solely in a blade with koshirae that does not exhibit any flaws or damage, even if amended. If you have anything to offer in that aspect, please contact me via PM. Thanks!