Surfson

Yes, the old insurance claim does have a magical effect. I once had a sword delivered to the wrong person. When I looked him up, he showed up on a list of felons! Anyway, I put in an insurance claim and the USPS actually sent somebody to the guys house to get the sword back. It was that or pay off a $3000 claim!

Imagine, after making my post above, I just pulled a Kamakura period (ko-kissaki, original length about 33cm) signed Bizen Kuni Osafune XX. It does look like it has something resembling a sansaku hamon. So for now, I will dream that maybe I found a sansaku in the weeds as hoped! (Kagemitsu, Kanemitsu...?) I will eventually post some photos, but don't want to dream to end too soon.....

Steve Waszak wrote a nice review of this whole question. You might ask him to send it. It is big and might require dropbox.

I haven't given it a lot of thought, but off the top of my head, and being relatively new to collecting koto, here is a list. Oh, and by the way, I would like to find them all in pawn shops and rescue them.... Koto One of the Sansaku - Nagamitsu, Kagemitsu or O-Kanemitsu A big, early, beautiful Soshu masterpiece, maybe Sadamune A fantastic Kaneuji A nice soden Bizen A very early Heian blade that is actually beautiful Sanjo or Gojo Hasebe Shinto/Shinshinto A nice Suishinshi Masahide with first rate horimono A Umetada Myoju of similar ilk A Kiyomaro like the Masayuki that our new friend Georg found Inoue Shinkai Horikawa Kunihiro with horimono Sorry, that's 12, so I guess I better stop!

I think the hamon is there to be seen. Wait until it is dark outside and just put on one incandescent light across the room. Point the sword at the light and slightly adjust it until the light bounces off the hamon. You should be able to see it I would think. You want to look for a nioiguchi (temper line) that is uninterrupted and goes the length of the sword.

Just to reiterate my advice, Georg; I would submit it to shinsa and get a professional opinion before deciding what to do with it. If the negativity of some on this board about the blade has put you off on this, please PM me if you would like to sell it.

I would submit it for papers first Georg, as I think that the hada and hamon are very clear and you can get an expert opinion about era and school. If you like what they come back with, then you can decide whether to polish it or not.

Sorry to hear that Bill, RIP Frankie. I never met him, but own a Shimada tanto in ebisaya mounts that was once owned by him. Small coincidence, I lived in Chico for a time. I hope you are safe from any of the fires.

Georg, I'm afraid to say that you may be hooked into collecting Japanese swords. I know it wasn't your original intention. But finding a Kiyomaro/Masayuki as your first sword and finding this one, that I think may be Kamakura now based on the ko-kissaki and the mokume in the shinogi-ji, you have certainly had some major positive reinforcement!

I agree with Ken. I don't throw out papers. I have had a sword with three different attributions by three different groups. I leave it up to the next owner to choose the preferred papers or toss the green papers.

I just realized that you are the same Georg that found what is probably a Kiyomaro. You are getting a great start in finding excellent blades!

With those new photos, it looks like there is mokume in the shinogi ji, making me wonder whether it is in fact a much older blade. It is definitely worth studying further and I still think that it's a very nice find, especially if it turns out to be osuriage.

Looks like an exciting find. My inclination is that it is ubu nakago though slightly machiokuri possibly. The lowest hole on the nakago may be from when it was once mounted with two nakago ana, as is sometimes seen on longer military swords. At 20cm, the nakago is not particularly long, but with the end of the nakago being shaped, it may well be original. The largest hole may be the initial one. I agree with some of the early shinto calls, though suppose there is a slim chance that it was once enormous and is osuriage.

Maybe it was struck by the propeller of a helicopter. Makes a good story though, doesn't it! Or it could have been run over by a lawn mower if it were concealed in grass. The marks are only on one side, correct? It's as if the blade only struck it on one side.

Yes, Brian, looks like Kanenaga to me too. Definitely worth studying.

They tend to have very slender blades and are different in shape from, say, a wakizashi.

The polisher is Woody, I believe.

Have you received the sword yet Geoff? I'm channeling for you that it is something good.

Ray, what era would you place it in? Is "Sue" mid muromachi or earlier? And, by the way, does the term differ in meaning for various makers and schools? e.g. is Sue Sa roughly the same period as Sue Bizen? Or does it just have the generic meaning of "later"? I had a blade that papered Ko-Mihara by Miyano san and the NBTHK papered it as Sue Bizen.

I doubt that it has been shortened much due to the placement of the nakago ana, and it may well have always been mumei. I concur that masame in the shinogi ji is more often associated with shinto swords. I tend to agree that it is either late muromachi or early shinto, maybe keicho. You didn't tell us the price, which influences the process a bit. Solid silver habaki sounds good, as does a mon on the shin gunto koshirae. It appears to be in a good state of polish with a nice hada, if a little monotonous hamon. it's pretty short at 25".....

Well said Brian, and an important point to make. Even though I can afford some nicer pieces now, for a couple decades I had exactly zero budget for swords. So the meager collection that I built was all on sweat equity. I ran ads in papers, dropped everything and went to see swords when I got calls, bought all the books I could afford (especially reference books to tell if signatures are authentic) and learned as much as I could. As my friend Dale says, the harder you work, the luckier you get. If you work hard enough in this hobby, you can develop at least essential knowledge and find some very nice pieces that are not very expensive. Of course, back in the day when I had no discretionary funds, I would have to sell those good swords that I found cheap and use the proceeds to be able to continue to buy other good ones when I found them. There are still many bargains to be had on ebay, at sword shows, at local auctions etc. Learning to find the diamonds in the rough is the most fun for me. Fred Geyer picked up a tanto for a couple thousand bucks on ebay a couple years ago and it went juyo. There are many other examples of exciting finds and there will be many more. It is not essential to be a hard core student of swords or to hustle to build a collection in order to enjoy Japanese swords. We just congratulated a new collector and member of the NMB who bought a Jumyo blade for three hundred bucks and it was a pleasure to share his honest joy about finding it. In the period of corona virus, we have taken up bickering and swaggering a bit too much and I humbly hope that we can put that to rest.

That's a handsome blade Mike. I especially like the sunagashi and kinsuji in the hamon and the nakago is finished wonderfully well.

I agree with Grey, study it but don't invest further in it. Jumyo is a very common mei and there were many of them over the centuries. There's no reason to think that it is not a genuine mei, though once you get the talcum powder out of it you can look to see if it was cut hundreds of years ago or more recently (in part by looking for recent rust in the signature). Congratulations on breaking the ice with a decent inexpensive starter sword.

Good plan, and good luck!

It seems a good hypothesis Adam. It is koshizori and has been shortened one or two times.