cabowen

Not sure how many Egyptologists we have here..... :lol:

There isn't a hamon at the bottom end and the attachment bracket is welded on. Does seem like a lot of extra work....I think the form is old and comes from agricultural implements.

This is a pretty easy one...Have you tried it yourself?

There are nata that are made similarly. It fits over the end of a shaft and can then be used to stab or chop. Seems like it would work well enough- what do you see as problem Ken?

Not much...the hamon looks liek something from Mino/Seki....

I understand. Thank you! His work seems very rare....

Wishing him a complete and speedy recovery....

Do you have any details about the blade available?

清麿の甥子。。。晩年作、、、

All organizations/bureaucracies go through change. Team members come and go along with their opinions and interpretations, admin changes bring new policy, etc. so there is a lot at play. As a consequence, continuity and consistency can be hard to achieve. This is a major reason why mining historical results to draw conclusions going forward is often times deceptive and a waste of time. The NBTHK has had a lot on its plate the last few years and perhaps it will take a while for them to reach a new equilibrium.

No Jon, as I have already experienced it with a Muromachi tachi with NBTHK shinsa, you get a Horyu paper and not a gimei result. Horyu meaning that, at the time being, shinsa with all its database is unable to certify if the mei is good or faked, just for the reasons you have listed. NTHK-NPO policy is the same: if they can't be certain either way, they give a "horyu" result. This happened several times at their last shinsa in Tampa.

Your papers were issued by the Yoshikawa NTHK. If you want to understand what "den" means in relation to your blade, you need to ask them. What other groups do is not relevant.

no worries at all as I wont sell it anyhow. Got it for free as token of friendship thank you, chris donny Please enjoy it then in the spirit it was given....If you have any other questions please ask....

Not sanbon sugi.... The signature on this blade is clearly fake.

Maybe Minamoto Masao but gimei.... Here is a genuine Masao signature:

Indeed, they are an invaluable asset and deserve to be treated with respect. We are very fortunate to have them here...

Why do you think it is frowned upon? By whom? The NBTHK keeps track of blades submitted by their registration number. If you submit a sword to them and it fails, and you resubmit with the same registration number, they will tell you to refrain from resubmitting the same sword as they have given their opinion. If you reimport the sword to Japan so it receives a new registration number, then they have no way to know if it was previously submitted and you might get a different result. The numbers for the NTHK-NPO are housekeeping... Most people resubmit things hoping obviously to get a better result. I know one collector who keeps resubmitting the same blade over and over every shinsa he attends. He told me he would keep doing so until the shinsa team "gets it right". I told him that logically, he should be resubmitting the blades that have passed as well because mistakes can be made in either direction....Apparently he knows better than the shinsa team...I think if you have submitted an item to 2 or 3 teams with a failing result you should accept the fact that it isn't what you want it to be.

I would disagree with that comment. I think to thoroughly understand at the deepest of levels, you need to know something about how the sword was used. You also need to know something about Japanese history, culture, religion, aesthetics, the language, the food, metallurgy, etc. The sword didn't develop or exist in a vacuum. The better you understand the context in which it was created, carried, used, made, etc., the deeper you will understand and appreciate it.

Forgetting the fact that it has been common practice to keep highly regarded swords from harm's way for many hundreds of years, and that frequently the best swords were owned by daimyo and the like who never used them, or owned by temples where they were donated, it would seem that you have indeed found the right sword for your purposes. They have been appreciated for not only their practical aspects but for their beauty as well for quite a long time.

Hida Takayama. Stay at the Sumiyoshi ryokan. You won't forget it....

I don't see anything in these photos to indicate the blade is traditionally made. Can you take some macro shots of the hada and hamon? Can you see any activity in the ji-ba? Can you see any nie?

I am not so sure they are being elitist, they are simply focused on art blades. There are many collectors who would not be interested in Kanebo, Takada, Sue Koto in general, waki-mono in particular, flashy Shinto and Shinshinto, and certainly nothing post Sekigahara. There are collectors who will have nothing to do with anything made during WWII or later. There are all kinds of collectors with all differing tastes and financial resources. Have a read of the Yamanaka Newsletters some time and you will see the traditional high brow Japanese approach wherein smiths like Sukehiro, Shinkai, Masahide, Naotane, etc., are poo-pooed as second rate or worse. Iai-to are not made to the same standards as "art swords" as I have said. To people who are into the art in "art sword" they are like other lowly rated, practical blades. For people into the practical aspects, they will find nothing wrong with them. I haven't met anyone who collects iai-to but there may be those that do. In the long view, they will take their place alongside the other practically made blades as mentioned above. They may never receive the respect and adulation of the finer art swords, but they will have their fans just the same.

I think you must clarify for yourself what it is you seek. If you want a practical sword that is traditionally made by a skilled smith with very good workmanship, one that can be used without fear of destroying or ruining something irreplaceable, you have it. If you want a full-on collectible art sword which displays excellent craftsmanship and would be a sin to use for fear of damage, you should buy something else. Do you want a new corvette you can drive daily, or a 1956 porsche you take to car shows on a trailer?

I have seen tameshigiri performed with Ichimonji, sandai Tadayoshi, Sa Yukihide, and a variety of mumei and gimei older blades, in addition to WWII and shinsakuto. Old blades, provided they aren't tired, seem to perform perfectly fine. Steel doesn't lose strength with time if kept corrosion and stress free. Yes, the people using the big dollar blades were very confident in their abilities.

Rarity is a big factor- they aren't supposed to be licensed but every now and then one slips through.