Yumso

Maybe 包守(Kanemori)?

Hello NMB members, Few days ago, I come to find an old news article written in 2006 sayingㅡ "우메다씨는 일본도 고도(固刀) 시기의 장인 쿠니히로가 1614년 게이쵸 시대에 만든 78㎝ 길이의 일본도 한 점도 부산박물관에 기증했다." which can be translated to "Mr. Umeda also donated a 78cm-long nihonto made in 1614(Keichō) by Kunihiro, a craftsman from the Koto period to the Busan Museum." According to the news, Mr. Umeda(Kōtetsu? Umeda) donated the blade at May, 2004 with about 400 copies of Korean translated <The Connoisseurs Book of Japanese Swords>. I assumed that it means one of Horikawa Kunihiro's blade is in Korea now(at least that is what the news argued so...), so I've done some research. The blade is covered with red rust, and nakago looks like suriage. Almost no sori. I assume 78cm means the whole length(including nakago) since the blade looks bit... short? There is 國廣 mei, but don't know where "made in 1614" came out. For better photos I've called the museum if I could get some but they told me that don't have any plans to take shots of the blade nearby. So, these two photos are all I can get right now. I'm no expert of Kunihiro, so I wanted to ask NMB members how everyone thinks about this blade. What do you think? Gimei?

Not sure if this is the best I can get but here Thanks, I'll try finding way to leave a comment. Is it the mei that is suspicious?

Yes, I'm aware this would go over 100,000 yen and that's why I'm being cautious. Looking at this piece my mind ran like: The seller seems to have been selling very nice tosogu with papers or some other kind of certification at least recently, and for this kozuka they even show the page about Hosono Sozaemon Masamori so I assume the seller knows what they are selling... but why not paper it and then sell? Though it could be just because they don't have time to paper it... Or is this the auction's pitfall of "Too good to be true?" But... but... but... Everything is unsure but one thing I think is: Yes, it is beautiful.

Hello everyone, https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/t1221335764 I'm deeply interested at this kozuka signed 細野惣左衛門政守(Hosono Sozaemon Masamori), and would like to get advice of it. That design just hold my heart so I was all ready to GO... until some suspicion arose in my mind. Although Masamori's mei had various shapes this kozuka's mei makes me unsure if it is really his work or modern made fake. Especially 惣 and kao here looks kinda... wrong? Also kozuka overall looks very new. Considering Masamori's year of activity his genuine works should be about 300 years old yet I'm not convinced with this one. Is this red flag? It would be great if you could share your opinions about this.

Maybe number? 六三十?

Hi Patrice, welcome to the forum. Can you show us the tang too? If you remove the mekugi(the small stick plugged in the handle) you will be able to easily remove the tsuka. Many other experienced members here would be able to give you more detailed information.

□弘作 First character I'm not sure, maybe 乞 or 之? Though I don't think these two kanji were commonly used as name.

I think it's 大和守則永作 https://nihontoclub.com/smiths/NOR224 https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/c1212387366

Rohan, Thanks for the knowledge. I have one more question: can nioiguchi also be restored by polishing? Or should the blade be reforged to make it?

Hello dear NMB members, Today I wanted to ask about what each hamon state tells about the blade's healthiness. Below are the 4 states of hamon that I've drew. From what I've read, it seems like #1 and #2's difference is only how the polisher polished the blade(something like "make-up" difference), so both are fine and in good condition. #3 and #4 are the ones that confuse me. For #3 I'm assuming the "erasing" occurs because micro scratches make the blade blurry, showing time has quite passed after polishing so it may be good time to get new polish for the blade. I assume that's not a critical flaw. Or maybe that's how blade's tiredness shows? For #4... where quite rough scratches(maybe because of cutting tests or amatur polishing attempts) seem to erase or disconnect hamon, I really have no clue about how I should evaluate the blade when I see them. Are these critical? Or would polishing fix them?

Here. I've once talked about this- to be short, 60cm ~ 60.5cm nagasa is somelike grayzone. Technically it would be wakizashi but what it was called and seen before is more important when it comes for labeling. Length classification that we use right now was artificially fixed in Edo period, so I think that's why those grayzones exist. Therefore I'd say that blade is a katana.

濃州住兼明作之 Noshu ju Kaneaki saku Kaneaki of Noshu made this.

They used it more like hitting rather than slashing or stabbing.