Veli

My guess: Morihide 守秀 Veli

When buying a Hadori polished blade on-line, I prefer dealers who supply picture sets like this: http://taiseido.biz/cn11/cn22/pg523.html Veli

Hadori is problematic when buying on-line or when explaining a blade's features to a person not familiar with Nihonto. Hadori is also often exaggerated, changing the appearance of the blade too much. I am a Sashikomi man, whenever possible. Veli

Chris, The pronounciation is roughly: ゆわすくら So start packing Veli

Some pics of the small exhibition we organised... http://www.nihontofinland.com/22 Veli

On their sales page you can find comments like: "It has been recently polished by B&K Firearms (who are also consigning it on their website for sale). Its fold count was determined through an MRI test. " Well, you certainly do not analyze carbon steel lamination by MRI... And what kind of quality items are sold by B&K firearms: http://bandkdivingsystems.com/firearmspage33.htm Veli

NMB for sale or trade section often has nice deals, which can be useful when estimating what is a good quality-to-price ratio for example this one: http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=16065 Veli

Thank you all, especially Kunitaro san, for the excellent links and great comments! I did not realize unaltered sengoku jidai tsuba were that rare! Veli

First of all, I confess I am an ignorant barbarian! Secondly, I confess I find it hard to recognize the quality and aesthetic value of this excellent old tsuba: http://www.aoijapan.com/tsuba-mumei-unsigned-ko-tosho If I would see that in a flea market in Yokohama with 10,000 Yen asking price, I would pass it without a second glance, and that worries me. I wonder if one of the NMB's knowledgeable tosogu experts could elaborate on the workmanship and aesthetics of this specific tsuba (or a similar one) so that we uneducated would see the light... Veli

Thank you Piers and Martin, and thank you Brian for the grayscaling of the pic. If I assume that the second to last kanji is 包 and the second kanji is田, then the only match I find is: 粟田口藤原包綱 Awataguchi Fujiwara Kanetsuna... a Shinto smith Not impossible but not convincing either... Veli

Yup, I checked that possibility (Takada) too, but I could not find Takada smiths with Mei resembling the last two kanji... The second to last kanji looks a lot like 厄 but that does not make sense as a Mei... BR, Veli

Thanks Gilles and Martin, I was thinking along the lines of MitsuX and Kanenaga myself, but I do not feel comfortable with those guesses... By the way, it seems that there have been around seven or eight kanji in the mei, and the second kanji is very probably 田. I wonder if it could be Dotanuki or Shimada BR, Veli

Hi Gilles, Sorry, the Mei is just as corroded and hard to read as the picture shows... The last two kanji are somewhat readable, however. BR, Veli

Hello Gentlemen! Here's a signature of an Omi Yari owned by my friend. I haven't been able to translate it (the mei is quite corroded), so I thought to ask some expert help... BR, Veli

Sounds like an excellent idea! I have found myself leafing through the Koto and Shinto&Shinshinto volumes quite often, sometimes wishing there were more of these great examples. If I may ask for the impossible, some kind of illustrated Hada type annex would be great... BR, Veli

I am disappointed that the OP has so far been unwilling or unable to bring this discussion to a happy conclusion by providing proof of his claims. I would have been so excited (as well as surprised) to learn that this blade was Shoshin despite all the obvious differences with other Inoue Shinkai works... This is just my personal opinion, but I shall consider this blade to be Gimei until I see a picture of a reliable certificate. Veli

Dear Jeremy, The mei of your wakizashi is clearly different - both in terms of placement as well as in style of handwriting - from the other examples available on-line or in reference books. Thus it would be very useful for the Nihonto community if you could post pictures of the paper, so that this case could be used as a reference when examining the authenticity of Inoue Shinkai mei. BR, Veli

Maybe Yoshichika...吉近 Please, no Nihonto/Gunto photography on a garbage bin... Veli

To make it a bit easier, here's my guess in graphic format only. In this way you'll get the pleasure of finding the actual translation yourself :D : BR, Veli

Wow, this board is being invaded by Finnish Nihonto enthusiasts Welcome Kimmo! - and John, too! Veli

Hmm... someone bought that painting at the price of one thousand Juyo and Tokubetsu Juyo blades... Or how about buying this: at the price of 20 Tokubetsu Juyo blades? In terms of artistic and historical value, nihonto offers incredible value for money (if I just had enough...) Veli

If you happen to be in Finland in early July, why not visit the Nihonto collector meeting in Jyväskylä on July 6th - July 7th? There will be tens of Nihonto on display, some for sale, kabuto and yoroi, tosogu, art... PM me for detailed info if interested! BR, Veli

For the sake of completeness, I'd like to point out that there is still one more variant of the "Suke" kanji to be considered: 佐 BR, Veli

Welcome indeed! Veli

Kai Masasuke ...貝正佐? Hawley MAS943 (Bishu Mihara ju) Kai Masasuke (saku) Veli