Tensho

Its always best to tread carefully with these sellers. For instance the seller you bought from, claims to be a member of NBTHK but I haven't heard of anyone who knows him, list 95% of his blades as pre koto even ones that are glaringly not and hardly ever has any with new origami.

Im betting the blade is showato just based off the WWII period made habaki. I've only owned a few gunto, and the prices are rising. By the time you get done dumping money into it, you could have spent the money on one in decent polish with everything there. From what I can see you need: Chuso $75-100 Menuki $50 Sarute(not needed) $75 Ito/wrap +/- $300 You are already at $1k(with sword if it sells for its original bid) and you haven't even got to the blade condition issues. I have owned enough to know that you will get sick of looking at a blade in rough shape thinking I should've just coughed up the extra $$ on something better and be happy.

That's my picture in the original post, they do not have pictures with measurements(maybe they should start) It is a nice naginata and I do have that going for it. We were negotiating on price for a while on it. After all that time and finally getting it to see its 10cm shorter is definitely a bummer. Measurement with curvature is just shy of 39cm.

I'm sure we're all familiar with the ebay seller. I've bought several things from them. My last experience was a Rollercoaster to say they least. I bought several things from her and made sure I asked about combined shipping before purchasing. Long story short she tried charging me an additional $115. Alot of back and forth bickering occured before she agreed she told me she would offer free shipping on those items(they all shipped in the same box) Fast forward over a month I got the items, the main one being a Naginata. Something sure seemed off about it. Well, when I bought it, it was listed as 47.3cm nagasa. It is in fact 37cm. This is equivalent to buying a Katana and being sent a Wakizashi. Obviously nothing I can do about it. Emails haven't been responded to. This is mainly for the new guys out there. Keep your head on a swivel and study the pictures carefully and ask questions. I normally do, and when I let my guard down this is what happens.

Maybe these are better.

Understandable on the photos.. Hmm, I don't think its core steel. Looks like clusters of nie to me when looking at it in hand.

Arrows pointing in red at what I'm curious about. Blade has Muneyaki(yubashiri?) And not sure if it has anything do do with what I'm seeing.

As far as the seller goes, he is no better than any of the other shady Japanese sellers. Had a blade listed that was described as having "typical dark staining from age" i asked for close up pictures of the "dark staining" the reply I got is, he doesn't take extra photos for people or waste his time because they end up not buying it(hmmm, I wonder why?) I told him if he guarantees this "staining" isn't rust that pitted the blade I'll buy it. Next day I received pictures of a pitted blade that had the surface rust sanded off.

This is the nakago without direct sunlight. I can see why the photos in sun are making it look weird. I did clean the mei area with ivory as it had a lot of active rust. I bought it as mumei . And for the heck of it,, what it looks like without direct sunlight.

The kusabi-hi isn't that unusual. I have only seen a few yari that have it though. Mei is very badly corroded. Looks to have been a 5 character mei at one point.

Couple more.

I'm fighting a losing battle with a junk phone camera and a setting sun. Anyone want to try and take a shot on what you think of this yari? I was thinking kanabo school, but partial mei doesn't add up to that.

No, blade had patches of surface rust on it, but hadn't been sanded. I'm assuming some good quality uchiko would've made a hamon pop out. Now its a sanded mess. As far as getting it polished, good luck! I don't know of any Togishi that want to deal with Yari anymore, let alone a Jumonji. Better off finding one in polish with Shirasaya.

Selling ebay item 285127708726. Item was sold previously for $400. Seller clearly sanded the blade And when it was first listed.

Tosogu prices never made sense to me. Only thing I can compare them too is paintings. Guess what painting sold closer to $200 million below.

Thanks for all the replies! I came across the Sanada clan when I originally started looking. As far as the origin, the torokusho states it was registered in Saitama prefecture which fits with other similar kamon. I doubt I'll be able to pin-point it, but I'll definitely be searching.

Trying to find out which clan these go with? Saya is covered in them, but they're almost impossible to see without cleaning the old laquer off.

In all seriousness, I have one that just made it to ISC chicago. Hoping I have as much luck as you.

Doesn't this style date back to the Nara and Heian period?

I don't collect Yanone, but if I had to guess, a presentation Yanone. It has a mekugi-ana though, so?? Regardless, very interesting! Jeez, after looking at this more I have his big brother! One of my Yari. Excuse the poor photos.

For what its worth, I sent a few blades with small appraisal fee to Bob Benson to have him give me his opinion on whether or not they were worth a polish. He was straight up with me and brutally honest. Wrote down what he attributed them too and if they were worth the trouble or not. These were mumei, not in great shape either. It was well worth it.

Looks like spider rust to me. This is one of my Yari. OPs photos look black and white so won't show "orange" Is there any "natural" light photos of the blade?

I have seen this posted several times on here. I was wondering what happened to them. All I have ever seen is the old B&W photos. Would be nice to see them in Higher resolution pictures.

As Piers said, I always assumed these were for hanging banners off of. Hanging a wood saya off an Ebu would destroy it in any form of conflict. I think its safe to assume leather or cloth Saya were used. I have seen multiples of them for Naginata and Yari.

Saw this on ebay. Not liking the looks of the fuchi..