SwordGuyJoe

Exactly! That is who sent me this photo. After posting for some help - much appreciated by the way - I did a google search on the name and quickly found out he is a con man (or woman). What would I do with out google?!?

I read Nobuyoshi, but I have been wrong (a lot) before. Can someone help me out by verifying and completing the first two and last kanji? Thanks.

Interesting thoughts, I wonder if anyone actually knows why. One attraction to this hobby is all of the questions to ask. The frustration is how many go unanswered.

All, I have some military blades that have the tsuba and seppa marked using English numbers - shin-guntos. I also have a couple Kai-guntos with Japanese markings. My question is why the difference? Is it based on time of production? Perhaps where the swords were made? The difference between kai and shin gunto? Not sure and I am having a hard time finding the answer online. Can you guys help?

I am not sure whether this should go to the auction page or the translation, so I'll post here and if it is necessary to move, then feel free to do so and thank you for your patience. I can only see "masa". Thanks in advance...

Thanks George, I appreciate it. It's tough to piece all of this together since I didn't find any other info on Akira.

Can anyone help me out?

I think it's more like you have forgotten more than I'll ever learn!

Also listed on Dr. Stein's undocumented swordsmith's page for Yoshiharu and Yoshitani http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/showa.htm

All, I recently purchased the Kai-Gunto listed earlier by Dr. Barrett (viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5613). It is signed Hirata Hidemitsu. I have been able to find a papered Hirata Hidemitsu for sale on WorldofSamura (http://www.worldofsamurai.com/catalog/d ... ame=Katana) although the site seems to be down. I found Fujimoto Akira listed on Dr. Stein's Gendai Toko Meikan page (http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/gtmindex.htm) and he is listed as (if I am reading it right) as signing Hidemitsu. Can anyone help with indentifying whether these people are one in the same? If it helps, I have uploaded some photos of the blade to my site: http://web.me.com/joseph.kraninger/Joes ... mitsu.html Thank you in advance.

Wow - that guy is lucky he still has two arms...

It sure wasn't me that took the leap, but the reason being is that I am not seeing the difference in the mei. That let's me know that I am not ready to buy this sword. Thanks for the help everyone.

Also is this Kaku-mune? Is that something atypical as well? Tough to tell from the photos. I have some questions in to the seller, I'll add that to the list. Did any Yasukuni forge Kaku-mune?

Tough to say on the gendaito front without pics. Slough's Gendai Tosho List lists a hidemitsu rated 1M yen, but when I check Hawley's (Listed as HID 86 and HID 89), it lists the mei as "Shinmei Nyudo (Fujiwara) Hidemitsu" and "Shinmei Nyudo Hidemitsu" respectively. I also checked "Swordsmiths of Japan 1926 - 1945," by Fuller and Gregory and he wasn't there either. Also, no joy on the Oshigata Website either. I did find one Hidemitsu in the list of Seki school smiths in Kapp and Yoshihara's "Modern Japanese Swords and Swordsmiths." May not be your guy, but looking at the hamon should be a good indicator as most seki smiths forged in roughly similar styles (opening myself up to criticism there). Maybe if you post some photos we can help point you to your guy, but honestly maybe not. A lot of smiths are undocumented and I am only looking in five places.

Nagasa: 63.4 cm Sori: 1.5 cm Moto-haba: 31 mm Saki-haba: 22 mm Moto-gasane: 7.5 mm Saki gasane: 5.5 mm Nagako: 19.3 cm Weight 709 g Does this fit?

Can someone take a look at these pics? I am looking to buy a Yasukuni blade and I love the "naganata style" (forgive me, I do not have my book) blade, but I have questions and maybe you guys could help. Does this look gimei? On a site I found, it shows a gimei Yasuhiro and it is DAMN close to looking right. I don't want to drop a few grand without knowing for sure - or as close to it as possible. Secondly, do you know of any Yasu's that forged this style while at Yasukuni? This would be the first I found. Thanks. Mei: Full Blade:

I have been watching this blade too. The Emura looks the part, but the hamon doesn't seem quite right.

Could be Ka? That said, I believe this is gimei. Can we see photos of the blade and fittings?

No enemies made here. We all collect what we like - I just happen to like WWII gendaito. I prefer the gunto mounts to most koshirae and can collect nice, but not as nice as some Nihonto (please read non-gendaito), blades at (in most cases) far less than high quality Nihonto. I can see my collection taking a different direction to more Nihonto once I can afford to drop up to $10K on a really nice blade. Thanks for the feedback all. It sounds like most people aren't entirely sure why an Emura can cost so much. So is it everyone's opinion that, right or wrong, in the current market an Emura would be worth (or at least cost) more than a Nagamitsu, all factors equal (quality, papered/not papered, mounts, etc.)?

All, I have been looking at buying an Emura as of late, but I have a question. Is Emura a better smith than Nagamitsu? Also, Emura blades can't be confirmed whether Emura actually forged them or not. I have a VERY nice Nagamitsu that I paid less than $3,000 for but most of the Emura's I have seen are at or above $3K. Did I get a great deal on my Nagamitsu or is Emura actually that much better than Nagamitsu? Both are said to make, "Medium to High-Grade Gendaito" in Slough's, but I would be very interested to know the thoughts of the group. Thanks.

Also, you'd think this gentleman was selling a shirasaya and habaki and throughing a sword in with the deal, with how many pictures he has of the two.

Answering a question with a question? I have only been collecting for a couple years and I don't ask what may be perceived as stupid questions, by people who have been collecting longer than I, to annoy or to imply I know more than they do. I ask them because I am new to this hobby and I am looking to learn. I am not implying that this is hand forged, nor did I make any mention of tamahagane used as the raw material. I asked so if I see a blade, there may be telltale signs I am not aware of, and if I know of them, I will be able to make a more informed observation and think to myself, that Nagamaki really helped me out. In my comparatively limited understanding, I have read of machine made blades that have had a hamon chemically induced, but that is typically suguha. This is not suguha and the hamon does not have the look of blades with chemically generated hamon - a dull uniform hamon, with little to no variation - and the time it would take to create a fake hamon of this shape would seem like a waste of time. I am anxious to hear about why you think that this is machine made. When you mean machine made, are you implying that it was partially machine made or completely made by a machine, as NCO katana are?

I have been sold for a while, but my Kanenami is in naval mounts. Not a lock tight conclusion, but another indication that Koichi was correct and I should know better than to ask, "Are you sure?"

What would make you think "machine made" rather than handmade, oil quenched?

There is a katana posted on eBay and the seller is stating that it is 250 years old or older. When I look at it the hamon tells me that it is a Seki blade and the nakago tells me that it is Showa era. Am I wrong? http://cgi.ebay.com/OLD-Japanese-SAMURA ... 0433325874