Mark

smiths name looks like Katsunori, maybe you can use that to find the personal name

I listed a wakizashi on eBay. It is nothing special and I did not want to offer a mediocre item to members. Check it out, at least it is a "real" Japanese sword http://www.ebay.com/itm/221267970692?ss ... 1555.l2649 thanks

if you like military swords buy the navy sword, it looks to be in decent condition

it is upside down. I can hold my laptop upside down but it gets tiring. It says Bizen Osafune Ju Sukesada. no yokote because someone sanded it (and other lines etc) off. It is real Japanese but not worth much.

I read Ishihara Yoshisada Saku

Markus, Thanks! I appreciate the translation, it is always interesting to see what Mr Tanobe says and I may be able to work out the technical parts (attribution length etc) but not being a fluent in Japanese the meaning of his thoughts is beyond my grasp Mark

Just received a sword back from Japan. It is attributed to Ko-Mihara. I think the sayagaki says O-suriage Mumei and then maybe nabukcho jidai and then maybe Joji (1362) but I may be wrong and the rest I am lost. Any help appreciated! Thanks Mark

it is a waste of money to have it restored unless you do not care about cost, when done it might be worth around $1500 so you would lose. Hard to say exact value without seeing the sword in hand, also the market and how long you want to take to find a buyer makes a difference

in my area they sell in the $600-900 range

it is not the correct saya. It belongs on a civilian katana. I have heard from vets that at times there would be a pile of swords and a separate pile of saya and you picked a sword then went to find a saya that fit. Seems a strange thing to separate them but I have heard it from vets more than once.

Notlaw (is that your name?) how about a link or scan or the consignment agreement, is there a link to the item listed for sale? Do you have copies of emails form when you sent it and follow up correspondence? If you are posting here asking for assistance we would need to see the facts of the matter. If it is theft I would think you would contact the police department and file a complaint, they will tell you whose jurisdiction it is. I think there would be a lot of information you could post.

not sure I understand. I see one mark on the tang that someone might think is ICHI so may assume Ichimonji but I do not know if the nakago is ubu, do not know length etc. Maybe someone is more experienced than me but I would not try and kantei a sword based on this nakago alone.

Chris and John Thanks! I will have to see if I can find a maker who matches this info, guess it could also just be made up. interesting anyway

I have a kozuka that is a bit hard for me to translate as I am more familiar with swords than fittings. I think the maker might be Munehisa but I looked up this make and did not find anything that seemed to match the other parts of his mei ( I think it is a personal name). Any help appreciated Thanks Mark

I already bought his set, it is great. I will commit to buy 2 sets to support this project

Sad news indeed. I always enjoyed seeing John at the Shinsas and shows in New York and NJ.

Bizen Osafune Ju Kagemitsu that is what it says, I am not saying that is who made it

Kunitaro san thank you! I will see if I can find any information on this person, I doubt I will but it is enjoyable to research history mark

I have a sword and under the habaki there are some kanji. My guess is they were etched by the last polisher? Maybe a polishers name, or maybe the owners name? any help appreciated thanks mark

I see this maker used many varieties for his me as mentioned above. I also notice this smith sometimes used "grass script" for the dates but other times wrote them in normal kanji. It does not seem to be related to time as both types appear at the same time. Is there any thoughts as to why he did this? Is there some meaning to the choice of how he wrote the date? mark

NBTHK recently had an article on Tadakuni and had examples of his mei as it changed giving dates with examples. I noticed it as I was interested in Tadakuni, they probably have more info on other Hizen smiths.

Simion, The swords look "real", we do not know lengths etc. Not sure what you paid but they have value, hard to be exact without seeing them but at least a few thousand (without papers) and several thousand (or more) depending on the signatures being shoshin or gimei. It would be hard to say if the signatures are genuine or not, you would need to submit they to shinsa but the mounts look to be decent quality and original. I am sure others will comment and give opinions. There have been threads in the past explaining shinsa procedure and costs, check them out. mark

thank you very much. I did not want to dispose of them without knowing. I appreciate the help mark

I bought a grouping of items brought from Japan in the 1940's. included were some papers with large kanji. Can anyone give me an idea what they are? They seem well written thanks mark

I have a 82+cm 32+" katana dated 1866 and a 34" katana dated 1864, both are custom ordered. I like longer swords, I have several that are 29-30"