cabowen

仕入れ物 shiiremono is defined as "goods from stock" or as "出来合いの品; 既製品"- "ready made goods". Perhaps there should be a distinction made between items from stock/ready made items, and those which are "mass produced". As far as swordsmiths are concerned, and I see no reason why it would differ for kinko, smiths often have blades available which were not made to fill a specific order or blades on hand from cancelled orders, kageuchi, etc.- inventory, if you will. These are generally not second class blades, simply "off the rack", so to speak. It isn't fitting to call these works "mass produced" with the obvious inference that they are inferior.

I would agree with Bizen no Kuni ju Sukemitsu....Search 備前国住助光 on Google and see how yours compares to valid examples.

The sayagaki attributes the blade to Ichimonji. Are you saying it has a new and different attribution to a saijo-saku Sagami smith from the Kamakura period?

The sword on the left is indeed older. Can't say with any accuracy just how old from the photos but at least Shinto I would think. The one on the right is a Showa-to (note stamp) made by Ido Hidetoshi. WWII vintage.

Thanks and that was my first thought when the UPS guy knocked today too!

Received this sword today. When I first unsheathed it, my heart sank as there was what appeared to be small chunks of corrosion all over the blade. I cleaned it with some acetone and the "corrosion" all disappeared, leaving a blade in about 99% polish! And what a good polish it is...One of the best I have seen on a war era blade. The blade really looks like a first rate Hizen-to- beautiful, tight, even, jigane with a gently undulating suguha which has a thick, ko-nie lined habuchi. Flawless. The habaki is two piece, done in silver. Also rare for war era work. The only disappointment is a tiny nick in the kissaki. Easily repairable, but there. There is an additional name at the bottom of the nakago to the right of the togi-shi's name: Kiuchi Katsumoto 木内勝本...Not sure at present what the significance is of that name...Perhaps the sayashi??? Very happy with this sword!

Niji mei Hizen-to are pretty rare I think....There was one in Ise in the later 1600's....From the Yamada Seki school. I would try him first.

Um, there were several swordsmiths with the name Ietsugu....It isn't the Shogun, trust me... Ietsugu IYE351 家次 1st Bingo Ōei (1394-1428) Ietsugu IYE355 家次 Bitchū Kenpō (1213-1219) Ko-Aoe Ietsugu IYE357 家次 Bitchū Hōji (1247-1249) Katayama Ichimonji Ietsugu IYE358 家次 1st Bitchū Teiji (1362-1368) ND Katayama Ichimonji Ietsugu IYE368 家次 Bizen Ōei (1394-1428) Yoshioka Ichimonji Ietsugu IYE379 家次 1st Kaga Ōei (1394-1428) Hashizume Ietsugu IYE382 家次 Kaga Chōkyō (1487-1489) Hashizume Ietsugu IYE385 家次 2nd Kaga Kyōroku (1528-1532) Hashizume 1

鉄収子昭光作之 Tesshushi Akimitsu Saku Kore Tesshushi Akimitsu Made This Real name: 五十嵐正治 Igarashi Masaharu From Niigata.... 鉄収子昭光は、本名を五十嵐正治、明治44年生まれ、村上藩御用鍛冶鉄心子照命の裔といい、栗原彦三郎の門 となり、昭和十七年に陸軍受命刀匠、戦後は新潟県三条市にて鍛刀しており、陸軍軍刀技術奨励会会長賞、新作 日本刀展金銀杯など数々の賞を取っています。

Search using whatever topic interests you- I searched using 日本刀 and 刀匠 for example.

It isn't signed with the name of a Shogun...It is signed Minamoto Ietsugu I believe...Not 100% on the tsugu, but the first two kanji I am sure of...

Here are some more available online with the search 刀匠 : 勤皇日本刀の研究 日本刀大観. 上巻 人と剣 日本刀大観. 下巻 後鳥羽天皇七百年式年祭水無瀬神宮隠岐神社奉納刀匠昭和の御番鍛冶作刀展 諸家秘説鑑刀集成. 続編 日本鐔刀工録 高田村誌 刀剣辞典 : 鑑定秘訣 日本刀 袖珍刀剣研究 剣話録. 刀剣鑑定秘訣. 古刀編　

I think the kanji in the mei is ryo 両 which means "both", so it would mean "both made"...

Haven't found the Meibo but the Nihonto oyobi Nihonshumi is there...Not available, unfortunately, on-line. But I have something in the works...

The one on the left is signed Ichihara Nagamitsu, who was a smith who worked during WWII. The one on the right is signed Hizen no Kuni ju Nin Tadayoshi. There was a long line of smiths who used this signature from around 1600 until around 1900. Many are well known with many fakes made. To determine whether or not yours is genuine would require better photos and probably in hand viewing of the sword by an expert familiar with this group of sword makers. On occasion, there are groups of experts brought to the US for sword appraisal. This is called "shinsa". There will be such groups coming to the US in both 2015 and 2016. Hope this is of some help.

I think spreading this around and uploading them to a central location so they can be downloaded in bulk is a great way to distribute the wealth. You are limited to downloading 20 "frames" at a time, which is 40 pages. Yes, a bit of a hassle, but a small price to pay... You must go to the "print" button, which then allows you to specify a range. Then hit the "pdf" button and it downloads as a pdf file. You do this sequence until you have the whole book downloaded. Excellent job James!

For sword related research, you can't beat the National Diet Library in Tokyo. As a university employee, I was able on many occasions to get access to their materials. For several years, they have been working to digitize many of their older and rarer holdings. From time to time I have checked their web site and I think it is time to bring this amazing resource to the attention of the NMB... The site has considerable English menus for navigating. Of course you still need to search in Japanese and understand the results, which are in Japanese. I got over 200 hits on downloadable books with Nihon-to as my search term 日本刀. You can only download 40 pages at a time which means it took me 26 downloads and 30 minutes to get the complete Fujishiro Shinto Hen and Koto Hen. I would advise anyone trying this to install Rikaichan or something similar with allow you to put the cursor on a kanji within a web site and get a popup translation. This will help explain the results. They also have a photocopy service which allows researchers to get hardcopy of sections of interests, for a fee, mailed to you after you register. The online items are all off copyright and thus available for download. There are roughly 600 additional items returned with the "nihon-to" search that can be obtained by photocopy as they are still under copyright. For anyone looking to do serious research, the availability of this information is unmatched anywhere else I am aware of...This is really wonderful.... http://www.ndl.go.jp/en/service/online_service.html#digital

I think you have a winner.....

Usually yakidashi means the first few inches or so of the hamon as it climbs the blade from the hamachi. If the hamon runs off the blade before the hamachi, that is usually called yaki-otoshi. Can you take a picture that shows perhaps the first half or so of the hamon? It is hard to get a feel from such a tight shot. Please have a look at Osaka, Edo, etc., yakidashi and see if yours fits...

I agree, the hamon looks atypical....

Satsuma more often than not is said to have, in addition to ara-nie, thick, long sunagashi, forming imozuru, the trademark of Satsuma work. Also, frequently, there is masame. Tama-yaki with a toran -like hamon are really not textbook Satsuma. Satsuma hamon often shows a Mino influence with some togari...Nakago shape is different as well. You might post pictures of the yakidashi as the Satsuma yakidashi is different than what is seen in Osaka and Tokyo blades. My bet is it will not look like those most often seen in Satsuma blades, which is more midare based. The large, uncontrolled nie, as I have said, show this smith was a rung or two lower than the top smiths previously mentioned. Look to the yakidashi for a hint. My bet is he was an Osaka or Osaka influenced/trained smith, down a few ranks from Kanesada and the like....Remember, the toran-ba became very popular and was emulated by many smiths in many different areas of Japan so you may never be able to pin it to anyone specific....

Appreciate the kind words but would rather not derail this thread so thanks to all and please let's return to the topic at hand....

Thanks...will take every one I can get...

Shhhhhhh!