LastSamurai

That's very sad thing that you are saying... Maybe try to sell it elsewhere?

Usually, but not always, if a seller does not want people sharing opinion about his listing, it is a bad sign. At least I see it that way. Not everyone here is as knowledgeable as others, thus I believe it is always important to clarify. And not on private, because a public clarification may help others as well to better understand the Japanese sword. Good luck with the sale, it is indeed a beautiful one IMO.

Well Adam, IMHO, you did a wonderful job of restoring the sword to a working condition! It surely looks very nice now and given the fact pre-1953 gendaito were made for war, thus were very sturdy, it should be a well-suited choice for all kinds of tameshigiri. I would suggest adding mihaba and kasane info, also omosa (weight of the bare blade). I think that might help the sale. Also, few close-ups of ura and omote boshi (yet to see it), also some close-ups of the hamon and ji. Thanks in advance and good luck!

Without myself having any bias into this, I would say that @2devnul has some serious evidence supporting his claim, while @djcollection has AI-generated descriptions and responses. That alone should mean something. What's realistic and what's not for a given price should depend on seller's description, not buyer's guessing. I do not agree about selling something and later saying: "you should've not expected much for this price", if every flaw was not deliberately disclosed in advance in the listing and/or in private messages. Just my 2 cents, nothing against @djcollection or anyone else here, for that matter. That said, I had a sword by Amatsu Masakiyo before (I am still a bit sorry for letting it go) and it was a beast. The pictures in the other listing more or less summarize what Masakiyo stands for and it looks really nice, preserved and in good polish, even for a gendaito. If it was inside EU, I would've considered it, although I genuinely prefer gendaito in koshirae.

I really hate when people do this kind of thing! It happens on nihonto as well - recently one relatively known re-seller in the USA had stripped a sukashi ryu tsuba from authentic ryu koshirae built around, it just to sell it somewhere else... for a bit of a side profit. I understand that modern world revolves around money and samurai values are long gone, but still I believe we can agree that some things have to be appreciated the way they are. I don't mean my post as an insult to anybody, just stating the obvious.

Hi Brian, Such wonderful swords! As far as I understand, the Kinmichi was not made (entirely) from tamahagane, right? If the owner is up to it, I would love to see some measurements of both swords, even if just for educational purposes. They are very interesting pieces, especially to me as a relative newbie in this hobby.

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.