SwordGuyJoe

Thanks. I know I’m the seller, so obviously, I’m biased. But hopefully, even with the bias, people here know me well enough to know that I am well informed about two things: Knowing the gendai market and Shigetsugu blades. First, this is a phenomenal price! Second, shigetsugu blades - specifically Keisho mei blades - are getting increasingly hard to find. That and this tanto is well above his “average” work. Healthy, excellent hamon, nice jigane, papered, plus koshirae.

Still available

From Markus’ index - btw, anyone who doesn’t own this book needs to!

Ujifusa (氏房), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – „Ujifusa“ (氏房), civilian name „Shinoda Hiroshi“ (篠田寛), born May 20th 1912, student of Watanabe Kanenaga (渡辺兼永) and Katō Jumyō (加藤寿命), he worked as guntō smith

**da Ujifusa. There was a Seki Smith Shinoda Ujifusa. That’s more than likely your guy, as your blade is Seki stamped.

books not available, wasn't this a yasukuni smith or am i mixing him up?

I think that you’re thinking of Kunimori (one of Miyaguchi Ikkansai Toshihiro/Yasuhiro’s mei).

There is a stamp on the mune. Couldn’t tell you what it is, as this sword is long gone.

Here is an example of a nakago by nakata kanehide. It is star stamped, small seki stamp, with kanji assembly marks. Dated a day in October, 1944.

Yeah. That was my sword and when I saw this, I knew that I knew it but couldn’t remember. That was back in my younger/dumber days. I’m not as young anymore...

Kanenami (兼波)

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/4282-i-thought-kanetoshi-am-i-wrong/

And that was the last time I doubted Koichi San.

Can we see pics of the blade please?

Contact Chris. I’m not sure when he’ll be done slotting times, but he is the guy to ask

David is right - most star stamped blades that I have seen also bear a small armory stamp on the nakago mune. These are gendaito. For those that have a Seki stamp are showato. There are levels of non-traditional, but non-traditional is what they are.

Very common.

Via Paul - About a 6 months when we agreed to do the work. Of course this is depending on work being done by other craftsmen.  I am getting another botan-yujo double gold-foil habaki with Miyashita-sensei (mukansa habaki-shi) for all of my blades and he is pretty stacked up, so I may have a 1-2 year wait.  

I actually have a few blades with Abe sensei.  Looking forward to the results!

Good luck bud!

It’s genuine though the habaki is a bit off putting. The sword is by yasumoto norimitsu. He made one of the most impressive swords I ever owned. It wound up on yakiba.com (Ed Marshall’s site). Take a look, I’m sure you’ll find it. Any pics of the blade itself?

Thanks Stephen. It doesn’t get any better than this. Keisho mei Shigetsugu are incredibly difficult to find and this is an exceptional example.

Okay - last chance, last discount. $5,000.

Yup. Nice tanto. You don’t see many early tanto from Horii Toshihide/Hideaki/Kaneaki.

Does the spine of the nakago have a very distinct diagonal file mark towards the Mune machi? If so, then the blade is almost surely shoshin, as this is a kantei point for the Horii group.

LOL - Thanks Jean.

Thanks Brian. It is a really nice blade, historically significant, by one of the most important gendai smiths, papered, with nice aikuchi koshirae. What’s not to like? Is it cheap? No. Nothing by this Smith is cheap. By price vs. value is more than there. List price on Seiyudo was 700,000. While, full disclosure, I didn’t pay full fare, I certainly didn’t get a $1,500 discount. Also compare to a recent tanto sold on Aoi for over $8k. Granted it had horimono and a th rated aikuchi koshirae that drove the cost, but also illustrares that I’m not asking a bonkers price here (for those of you that don’t follow the market as closely as I do - which, why would you ).

$5,500, plus pp, plus shipping. Deal ends Sunday. If it doesn’t go by that time, I’ll put it back in the safe. Don’t miss this chance for a keisho mei blade.

Here is your guy. From Markus’ index:

Kanehisa (兼久), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – „Kanehisa“ (兼久), civilian name „Ōsawa Kan´ichi“ (大沢勘一), born am January 2nd

1915, student of Kojima Kanemichi (小島兼道), he worked as guntō smith and died on July 7th 1945