Mark Green

Hi Gang, I don't think any of the items. swords,tsuba,fittings,armor, that I have recieved from over seas (mostly Japan) has ever been opened. I get blades/stuff, from Japan in 3-5 days EMS. Never opened at any end. They better have a good reason if they did open it! When I read the crazy horror stories from Europe, I feel you guys need to start an underground railroad, for collectors. I guess if you have plenty of money, and are buying big ticket items, that is likely the case already. 19% vat+cust. geeze! That is just crazy bs tax!!! I bet our friendly sword seller in poland, would volunteer to help. get out and vote! Mark G

HI Roland, Shinki was one of the best sword smiths Of the Shinto times. He worked in the late 1600's Because of this fame, in later years, and likely in his own times, there were many swords not made by him, that had his signiture carved into them, to bring a better price. There seems to be very few smiths that are gimeied, as much as Inouye Shinki. He was that good! And his mei is not that complex. Good pics of your sword. Mark G

That would make it Likely Sadayuki 1st gen. Shinto. Or the late Koto-early Shinto guy that is ref. in Tk264. Both are very good. Great get. Can't wait for better pics. Mark G

You see very few Wakizashi made from the Shinshinto time on. You likely see a lot more being made today then in the later Shinshinto years. I feel that most of those made durring later Samurai times were likely made as a pair, for something special. You find very few dating from the 1800's. There were likely so many million of them around at that time, that the sword makers wanted to use there steel for Katana, and the reasons stated by Ian. The smiths were no longer mass producing swords for war. Many were being made to order. And the best of the schools were working to revive to old Koto methods. So you find lots of very long swords, and some nice looking Tanto, but very few Wak. From the Wakizashi I have seen, the most powerful (that is, wak. I would take into a real fight) are from the mid-1600's-early-1700's. And of course, the best are from Bungo As pure art sword, I would have to say Nambokucho. But they will cut you fine too :D You see very few as old as Nambokucho though, unless they were once a Tachi/katana. You see more through the 1400's and many in the 1500's-early 1700's. I read somewhere once that many thousands were made for export to China, and beyond, in the 1500's Mark G

Hi Super808, Funny name! Anyway, it looks like you mei reads ' Inouye Sada ? ' A full pic of the Nakago (tang) would help. It looks as though there was laquer painted on the Tang?? A full sword pic would help too. You should be able to downsize your pics with your computer, before posting them to the board.

There were many Bungo Sadayuki. 4+ in Koto times, 4+ in Shinto times. The Shinto guys made a pile of swords. Get a good pic of the mei, I will look in the Bungo To. There are many Oshigata in there of Sadayuki. All were good smiths. Mark G

Ok I get your point. :lol:

Hiya, Is the Mune 'flat', or is there just a bit of curve to it? If flat, that is very interesting. I think that is more a chu-Kissaki. Shallow Koshi-zori, Flat mune, All interesting points. Great looking Tsuba! It would be great if you could get the Habaki off. It looks to be silver foil. So be careful, it is easy to damage the foil. What is the thickness, Kasane? Taken at the Munemachi, and at the Sakikasane, Yokote. All these things may help give us a clue to the origins of you sword. Later, Mark G

Hi Seanh, Some of you pics do worry me about your Hamon. Does it run off the swords edge anywhere? Can you get the Habaki off? How long is the sword? I would like to see a pic of that Tsuba as well. Nice old sword, Check out your Hamon well. Mark G

Hey Brian, Got that Yari yet? Waiting for some good pics. Mark G

Hey thanks Guido. Thats what I get for trying to write when I'm half awake Ya, I ment to say, The Nakago Yasurime. My bad, was in a rush. 'Suriaged' is just a 'WORD' used to describe a new sword (Shinto, or newer) that has been made Suriage, and polished down many times to make some people think it is an old Koto sword. It seems to be very common. Maybe there should be a word for it. My word is 'Suriaged' Do you think the Chikei like formations in this steel are real chikei??? Yes chikei is nie. Sometimes dark, sometimes not. But, from these pics, I would say this is not Nei. But I'm not holding the sword. And of course swords were shortened for many reasons. To me, this one just didn't look like some koto swords shortened for Uchigatana use. To me it looked like a sword shortened to fool someone, or maybe go into a ww2 "D'handle mount. I know all the reasons for Hadori. I still hate it! It masks so much sometimes. That unless you are holding a sword (like I'm not doing with this one) you sometimes can't see squat! I like my girls without makeup too. I was actually quite impressed with how crisp this ugly hadori is. If it does follow the Yakiba then he had some great talent. If I was way off what you were thinking Reinhard, Sorry Bro Like allways, these observations were made from pics. And are just my opinion. Guido, Do you feel this is a Koto Bizen Sword? Mark G

Hi Jimi. and gang, Suriaged, is a word told to me by a Tsuba sensi. It means just like Reinhard and I said. A newer sword, made to look Koto by cutting of a bit of the Nakago, helping the patina on the nakago and polishing it down to a thickness that may make some think Old Koto Bizen. I have owned, and seen many of these in the past few years. This sword is a great canidate for this because of the great Chikei like structure of the hada. The chikei in you sword is not nie clusters, like you would see in old Masamune swords. It is shiny and hard looking and squiggles all around, even in the Ha. Likely some other steel, mixed with the normal Tamahagane. This is what I have been told. I do not know this to be a sure thing. I noticed the nakago-Yasurime can be seen, making me say Why? was this sword shortened. Unless it was to go in some ww2 mounts, or damage of some kind? It looks to have been shortened only a couple inches?? Hard one to call. The backdrop you used make very bad reflections on your sword, making most of the pics look straight black and white. It is very hard to see the true color of the steel. I'm not sure about the retemper part. As I have not seen enough of this to be any judge. But, this hadori seems to hide so much that I just say Hummmm? One of the reasons I hate Hadori period! I had a sword once that looked very much like this one, for years we called it the mystery sword. Wonderful hada, great shinny chikei, sweet chogi with long ashi, Sold as Koto-Bizen, and it was pinked as shinshinto/meji suriaged! So, of corse there is no way to tell much from pics, but that is about all I can tell you. It just doesn't look right to me. Very pretty in it's own way though. And like always, I could be way off. I'm not on the NTHK shinsa team. Just something you may want to question. Cheers, Mark G

Hi Jimi, It is hard to tell form these pics, but my guess would be Suriaged. That is my word for a newer sword made to look like an older sword. It looks nice though. Were these pics from the dealer/seller. or do you have a way to take some close ups of the kissaki, and nakago, hada, and all. Many or these pics are just the same thing over and over. I'll explain more later. I could be totally off on this, but something just doesn't seem right. Mark G

Sweet!!!

I would say that there are so many points that it would take to long to write up. The spacing for one, depth, and angles of cuts, on and on. But there is a bit of restriction to doing a mei on a yari Nakago. I have see a few others Sword/yari from the same smith that looked very different. However, that is why I was thinking it was the other guy. Anyone got a yari pic from the famous Yari maker? Mark Found this on Loui's site, not very close either. Maybe his papers say 'who' Hisayuki it is. Found this on the old sword board. From Andreas in Grm. I wonder if he is still a member? This one look kinda close

Henry, I'll give Matt a buz and see if he still has this sword. Mark

Well yah! How many gimei yari have you seen?

Hi Steve, Thanks for the look, yes it is an interesting Tsuba. Here are the sizes: 8.1/3 4/8 long, 7.6/ 3" wide, na- 3cmx1cm x3.5 mm s-d 2.2 cm mimi, 4.5 mm I got out the mag glass today, and scraped a bit with my thumb nail, and it has has some lacquer or thick wax on it. there seems to be a very small amount of active rust. I have some old piniao keys that I have used on other tsuba. Should I try this on the rust and the old Lacquer? Not sure about any folding. see pics. The damage, at close inspection, does look like it could have been a very hard hit, or two. I have done pics, as good as I could holding the Tsuba in one hand and the cam in the other. Or it could have just been a forging flaw, but I would think it would have been scraped. Hard to say. I will clean it up some, and we shall see some more. Mark G

Wow, Brian, That would be great, to have a yari from that guy, for that price! Mark

Looks very much like this one, that is now owned by board member Matt. This one has the best sword I have ever seen in a cane. Some old Samurai wasn't going to give up his sword after the ban. Mark G

You right Steve.

Oops, My bad, I looked too quick. I believe Grey is right. What was I thinking, The Bungo guys almost never used that Yuki. That changes things, to the Sagami, or Musashi guys. All late Edo. One of the Sagami guys was known for making yari. But, your Mei lines up perfect with the Musashi guy Lived in Edo, Hawley's 10pt, His 198 Signed ' Fujiwara Hisayuki suku kore' Just like yours. Sorry for the mix up, I'm surly loosing my mind. That was the main reason I quit looking to buy it from ebay. Darn I'm doing too many tasks at once. Sorry Bro. Thanks Grey, for catching that Mark G

Thanks Rich, From all the research I did last week on your Tsuba, that was what I was thinking as well. Thanks Mark G

Hi Gang, Here is a new one I picked up for a project. The rim is a bit more beat up than you could see in the dealers pics, but I still like it. Any ideas would be great. Looks like silver in the sukashi. Thanks in advance. mark G

I thought I had seen that before. I'm glad I didn't snipe you. I wasn't too sure about the Hamon. From the pics, I couldn't say if it was whole. Could be a nice little yari though. Good luck, let me know when you get it. Mark G