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Ji-nie, that’s very exciting, thank you! Its been gratifying to admire and study

Oops, my mistake! I love the look of the long nakago nonetheless. My beginner is showing thank you for the correction

Reviving my thread from the dead (for the last time I promise!) Questions for the more experienced: Have I captured the Boshi in these images? Or am I just seeing signs of the hada in the kissaki? Also, is the red circled area an example of Nie and Chikei? Cheers! -Sam

Looks amazing Jon, congratulations! I love the long ubu nakago, and the hamon looks more interesting in your photos than the pervious pictures I saw Can’t wait to get my own first papered blade. Cheers!

I’m a beginner on a budget too. I’ve purchased from this seller on eBay - and peruse his inventory often. He’s on FB too. Great beginner pieces in there, and good descriptions https://www.ebay.com/str/uzunihonto ebay is always a bit scary though. I try to stick to sellers I’m familiar with or have been recommended

Congratulations Jon, it looks really nice! I imagine you can’t wait to see it in-person Looking forward to seeing more photos

That's a bummer, sorry you missed out on these. Despite my previous comment, I was crossing my fingers that you would get these at a good price. It would have been great to see them disassembled with better photos Best of luck, -Sam

I'm no help when it comes to evaluation, but I am looking forward to seeing this collection in SF Thanks for sharing this sneak peak -Sam

Hand carved or chiseled stone is a good comparison. Certainly a bold looking habiki! It definitely caught my eye Cheers!

I’ve interacted with Teddy on Reddit several times. He’s always been forthcoming and helpful to me and other posters. He’s generally just committed to learning about tosogu, and what better way than to try it For what it’s worth - A lot of folks on the Reddit forums focus on modern production katanas. Nihonto don’t show up as often, and there’s only about 70 members in the tosogu subreddit. I think it’s a pretty cool prospect to some people to add some home-made flair to their new production swords. Welcome to the forum Teddy! Personally I look forward to seeing your work

Great thread! My recent purchase with very strange one piece habiki that seems to mimic the bo-hi with soe-bi.

I'd recommend posting in the "wanted to buy" section and detail what you want and hope to learn from your next sword purchase. I bet people on this board would be happy to help, and some have incredible collections and/or recommendations about sellers Those three swords look alright to me, as a fellow beginner, but like has been mentioned - I think you could find something even better I currently have two out-of-polish nihonto's and I also collect some fittings. I still dream of having a papered Nihonto in full polish. I fear if you spend money on swords like this, you will be in a similar situation I enjoy collecting so much, that collecting gets in the way of my collecting

I did not even consider this as a possibility. That’s a good idea too. Thank you! It will be a fun thing to hunt for. I’ll be at the SF Nihonto show in August, maybe I’ll find one there Thanks again everyone, as always y’all are a big help. Cheers, -Sam

Thanks to both of you for your replies. That’s great to hear and know. It will be fun to look for a matching tsuba that fits Chris, now THATS a beautiful tsuba. Basically exactly what I’m looking for. The nanako is amazing

Hello all, I have a wakisashi that I really like the koshirae. I was curious about the ethical implications of replacing the Tsuba? Also, is it a simple task of matching motohaba and kissane measurements, and maybe adding or removing a seppa? I'm thinking of replacing this fukurin tsuba thats worse-for-ware, and finding a Shakudo Kiri-mon Tsuba to match the fuchi and kashira. I know that might not be an easy thing to find, but it would be fun project to be on the lookout. Is this something that's way over my head; that I should forget about, and leave for an expert? Is it a taboo to change a part of the koshirae? Thanks for reading! -Sam

Hi Jon, Fellow novice and new member here. Any updates on this auction? Were you able to purchase this sword for a reasonable price or did you decide against it? From what I can see, it looks like Shobu Zukuri Wakizashi. Would be especially cool to me if it's a Naginata Naoshi. Some nice, albeit worse-for-ware fittings. Personally I wouldn't try to restore them, and fondly call their condition "the unforgiving nature of time" The conditions looks like the hada and boshi would be hidden no matter how hard you looked. Which, as a fellow novice, would be the biggest bummer to me. Maybe a wipe down with non-abraisive cloth and 99% isoproyl alcohol, and a light coating of choji-oil/mineral oil would reveal it's hamon Not sure what else you could learn from it other than: proper care/storage/assembly, measurements, and identifying geometry features. That being said, learning those things with a sword in-hand has been valuable to me. If it were me, I would likely pass on this particular sword unless it went for the prices you mentioned; and maybe wait for one with more areas I could study. But what speaks to you speaks to you, and that's part of what's fun about this hobby to me; and at the end of the day its your $ Best of luck Cheers, -Sam

Truly a once in a lifetime find (for me) - I will probably be chasing this high for years, haha Guntos are indeed demanding high prices these days. I've been keeping my eyes out for an affordable type 98 or Type 3 (although I should probably be saving that money for a polish instead) Thanks for the input Cheers, -Sam

Hi JT, Thank you! - reservations understood; I am also a very amateur member Thank you for the time, effort, and care you put into this response. I appreciate it a ton, and this is exactly the kind of information and discussion that helps my notes and propels my studies Soe-Bi / Koshi-Bi with Soe-Bi. Thank you for that identification, thats perfect for my notes, and now I can refer to these features properly. And thanks for confirming that you also see Itame Hada; I was worried my eyes were misidentifying that Very exciting that you believe it to be late Muromachi. After these discussions, and further study, I also believe it to be o-suriage. I believe I can see the hamon run into the nakago. And thanks for the kind words about my sword, I just wish that Kissaki were in better shape Im glad it appears to be OLD / pre-shinto. I plan to learn everything I can from this sword. As a novice, it's been an invaluable study tool, and has taught me a lot already. I hope to learn even more from it! As far as a polish goes. I would LOVE to have it polished / assessed by a togishi. That will likely be my next step with this particular blade. I've never sent a sword in for polish, so that alone would be a learning opportunity for me BOOKS! I love books. I've been pouring over "The Connoissur's Book Of Japanese Swords", "Markus Seskos encyclopedia" , and "Kanzan Satos The Japanese Sword" for a couple years now. They have been awesome resources. Although, I'm now starting to see the biggest progress in my studies from seeing swords in-person and discussions. Next on my reading list / shopping cart are the Kentai 1 & 2 supplements from Markus Sesko Thanks for chatting this sword with me! I appreciate it a lot, and you've given me some great information to look into Cheers, -Sam

Piers is on the money, that it's phlox To complicate things a little more, and for the sake of discussion, theres a 5 pedal flower called "Dianthus Japonicus" " that is native to Japan and China, and looks very similar to the photo of the cherry blossom OP shared. It's a carnation variety

Thank you! I'm happy to have found it I think you're right on the money about the Tsuba. Other than a tiny hint of gold, it doesn't match the rest of the koshirae that well. I didn't even think about the slots for kozuka and kogai, but that makes even more sense now Maybe it had a matching kiri-mon tsuba that someone sold individually. Fun to imagine what it could have been. I enjoy it and it's fukurin nonetheless!

Hi Dale, thanks for that info about the saya, that's interesting and great to know There is 1 seppa above the tsuba and under the habiki. The one in the photos below seems to fit properly, whereas the two underneath are several millimeters larger than they need to be; almost like they belong to a sword with a larger motohaba. not sure if that's normal or not

since I accidentally bumped my thread. here's a recent attempt to capture more activity