Lareon

Hi all, I have a Kozuka here, Im struggling to read it. i think i have,, ? ? masa zui kao

2 of mine are in september but this one didn't quite make it in time

It's nearly been 5 years since i started this thread but i have the latest update. currently just received images from Japan of the polished sword ready to go to shinsa. Thought i'd share a few snippets with you guys here. one of the biggest concerns we had was the lack of visible boshi in its poor state. we can see now that boshi is intact, shallow but intact

oh how did i not see the roman numerals. and no it's not in gunto mounts, they're custom

looks like a turn in form of some kind on the saya. someone can step in and correct my translation but looks like Gifu prefecture Yamagata district. some kind of field number new or old (perhaps checking if modern or an older blade?) some damaged text that says maybe nendai? so maybe 製作年代 - period of manufacture? and i think that says estimated value ? 時價見積額 A lot of the writing is gone but thats what the sticker on the saya says i think oh the tsuka is the same label with the same information can see yamagata village too bit more on the owner maybe 中田 ? or 中四, I cant read the cursive on the valuation cell, maybe someone else can?

Here, I have a standard naval belt for you Bruce

no numbers but markings

I have a teruhide let me check the mune, from memory no numbers

Thanks John, this was my assesment too but wanted a sanity check, unsightly for sure

have a beautiful blade here by yokoyama sukenaga but theres quite a bit of damage under the habaki. it doesnt exceed the hamon but how fatal a flaw is it?

unfortunately not. I wouldn't seperate it from its koshirae and sword

sure thing, i'll grab the photos from my camera later and upload

i know i said it a couple of times but the habaki was extra heavy, i mean really heavy, i didn't weigh it but as with the sword itself it surprised me. I know that doesn't mean anything but it was clearly a choice to make it that heavy

"butchers blade" was the first thought i had when i picked up up, the weight of an odachi but not elegant.

no it's not easy to judge the sword by images but everything about this was odd. the weight was so heavy, the kasane was huge, half an inch or 1.27cm whichever system you want, the lack of sori. the whole thing was something I hadn't seen before. if i get more than a few minutes with it again I'll spend time documenting it more and taking better photos. almost 2kg felt like a pry bar in weight.

at some point i'll have the sword again and i'll take better photos in the studio setup but until then I just have these rough shots.

I do not have many photos of the koshirae, it was falling apart, agehacho kamon

the fact the habaki was very heavy (way heavier than normal) also made me think execution specific, ive seen before cases of lead/heavy tsuba being added to blades to aid in better cutting tests.

probably the best i can do with what i have.

perhaps these will help a little on the features of the blade.

unfortunately there is no try again, i dont have access to it and had no control over lighting or location so we've got a sword on white bed sheets in poor lighting.