nulldevice

I've convinced a friend to attend with me for the antique gun aspect. He's got an affinity for old Colt Single Action Army revolvers and I'm going for the Nihonto mainly and also to look at the old guns. We'll be 2 of the young guys there

That's what I'm beginning to understand regarding the mounts. So say you have one of those transition-era blades. Its the proper length where it could really be a tachi or katana (disregarding the side the mei in on). If the owner mounted it in tachi-koshirae its now a tachi and if its in katana-koshirae, it's now a katana. And as I've been learning more and more, almost no original mounts seem to exist from the 1400-1500s and most koshirae for blades these days seem to be modern make or edo period mounts. I'd imagine if a wealthy swordsman of the time asked a swordsmith to sign a blade on "the other side" for whatever reason, they'd probably do it. We're all human after all and history is full of outliers even though I've started to become fascinated by the attributions that the experts in nihonto can make because the Japanese did seem to standardize quite a bit making this whole system of grading and attribution to smiths/eras/schools/etc. possible. It's all becoming more and more fascinating to me the more I learn. If I saw that Sunnobi Tanto you posted without any classification, I'd say its a wak but again, I know very very little (and even less and less about tanto). I've gotten through Nagayama's book briefly and still, 99% of the stuff probably hasn't stuck but I'll be attending the Las Vegas show with book in hand and hopefully some swords in hand with some people who can educate me in person!

I just re-read that section and it seems that katana vs tachi was mainly in what side the smith chose to inscribe their signature. katana-mei = katana and tachi-mei = tachi. However, Nagayama also notes that there is historical evidence these longer swords during this time being worn as both katana and tachi depending on preference. The uchigatana seems to be shorter than the long katana and tachi of this era and was meant for 1 handed use and a shorter ~60cm blade and eventually became the "popular" style of katana by the end of the Muromachi period. I hope I understood all of that correctly!

I'm excited to hopefully meet some of you in person and see some amazing blades.

Thanks everyone for the replies and information. Eric's shop seems like it's top notch and I'm keeping my eye on various swords he has listed. Hoping to hold off my first purchase until after the Las Vegas show to see some blades in person first and keep learning as much as I can.

So just to answer my question, is this not a tachi?

ericowazamono is the account? I don't know the dealers too well yet as I've only been actively looking for the past month or so. There's a good chance 99% of what I think is still 100% wrong!

I'm new here so mind my ignorance but.... I stumbled across a sword on eBay being sold as an 1800s' Edo period katana. However, the pictures make this seem to be a tachi based on the Kanji on the NBTHK paper as well as the mei on the outward side of the nakago would put this blade facing edge down. Just looking for some confirmation here to make sure at least some of the stuff I'm reading about is sticking! I can't yet decipher the rest of the NBTHK paper besides noticing the 2 characters for tachi (太刀) and the place where the signature is. I'm looking up the rest in my Connoisseur's Guidebook. Thanks for helping out!

Looking at the site. Is there a pass cost for entry if you don't want a table? I'm planning on coming down with a friend and looking at my first nihonto in person.

This is exactly what I would want to do. I've got a budget set aside for a good (not masterpiece quality blade). And I'm thinking I'd like a papered koto-era katana (koshirae would be nice but not necessary as the blade is the main attraction). But even with those criteria you get blades ranging from rusted junk to national treasures in museums so for my budget, I'd like to go and handle different katana and see the differences in styles between schools, periods, and as much as my entry-level knowledge will let me appreciate and maybe lead me towards making my first purchase. Or at least let me see with my own eyes the differences between blades from different eras I'm reading about in my book and seeing online.

Hello all, Long time lurker. Still very much a novice in nihonto. I've always been fascinated with the idea of owning a "samurai sword" as 10 year old me would've said many years ago. I've been reading here to try and get some basic knowledge and am currently reading through The Connoisseur's Book of Japanese Swords to try and expand my understanding of the terminology. The problem here in Utah is that I don't know of any collector, organization, or group that has any sort of nihonto collection to see in person. I'd love to see and appreciate a few blades and talk to people before making my first purchase. I'm debating going to the Las Vegas show here next month as a complete novice to see what I can learn and maybe handle a few blades. Looking forwards to asking lots of questions!