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Thank you to all! Reaching out to Crimson Mist now, and appreciate the help, Julien Doug - I agree, and am hoping to just find one that is close so the koshirae fits more snugly.

Good morning - can anyone recommend a source for spare kaigunto koshirae pieces? A koshirae I acquired recently is missing one of its seppa. A couple photographs for those of you who may have extras. Thanks, John

Thanks Robert. If I run into future issues I'll be quicker to jump to this as a solution. I've had chargebacks make the situation worse as TOS with services like this typically leave the buyer in a very weak position. Good to know this might save frustration. Ultimately logic prevailed in this case and Buyee decided items weren't prohibited. They did hit me with storage, and won't refund, but I'm going to just roll with it a $1/day. With your description I could see some of your holds potentially being related to a 3rd party (eg. customs). Were the holds always a Buyee policy situation, where the "help" needed was just them pulling their head from the sand - or have you needed to motivate them to help with 3rd parties? Best, John

Sansei - when you win an auction item through Buyee, you own it. Options are muddle through or dispose of the item you've paid for.

Hi Ray - surprisingly, it's not the kogatana they're concerned with, it's the wooden insert

Has anyone had a situation similar to the one I'm in below? They've found a reason to sequester my koshirae because it has a wooden sword insert inside it. I don't know whether to laugh, cry or shout - but I'm definitely surprised by this!! Best, John

Sharing a few gunto koshirae, including some wakizashi-sized, I purchased a few months ago. I've not seen some of these exact fitments on Ohmura or the book I purchased on WW2 gunto. Has anyone encountered these before? Best, John

Sure, and actually not mine. Just one at auction where the koshirae caught my eye so I picked as an example to see what I could learn about it. To my eye, it looks like someone polished in a non traditional manner and obscured the hamon. I'm using this to better educate myself, so much appreciate any observations - good, bad, ugly! https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/120144308_japanese-antique-samurai-sword-signed-w-stand

Thanks John! Deciphering these is quite the puzzle. Did you know to look to Hidari simply from experience?

That's very interesting - did not know that about Da Vinci, either! Another question for those more talented at this than I. The signature reads kaneyasu: I only see two smiths who signed kaneyasu with two characters, and neither look like this one: These smiths signed in that character form, but with more characters according to the database. Is the next step in this process to research other kaneyasu swords which are known to be one of these 4, and compare the lines for identifying marks? Best, John Does this

Oh great! Did they do this for a reason? Seems like muscle memory would favor a nicer, more legible signature made the conventional way. Perhaps the samurai equivalent of the hook shot!

Yasu! Thanks for the point

I've been through the kanji tables 3 times now, and can't find any that look like they've got a check mark off to the right. For the time being I've dubbed this one the "greek pi with a hat to the left, check mark with swoosh to the right" kanji!

The saya is missing a stunning row of bedazzler rhinestones to be absolutely perfect Happy to loan him my daughters to make this one complete