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The "Bishu" vs " Bizen ( no ) kuni ju " mei talk comes up every so often. This is probably the most extreme example I ve seen to never associate mei format with quality for sue bizen https://www.aoijapan.com/katana：katana-in-shirasaya-with-koshirae-28th-juyo-token-signature-bishu-osafune-sukesada-hikobei-no-jo-sukesada-a-day-in-february-eisho-6-1509-28th-juyo-token/

@Shugyosha It s certainly a head scratcher and I guess we ll never know why someone would fake a Tensho Sukesada. Perhaps any sengoku Sukesada was seen was worthwile at that point and time

Hi @CNS_44 You are right about the "Ju" character and this is most certainly gimei. On top of that, the sugata does not fit sue bizen at all. Shinto Sukesada smiths signed with the " Ju " after "Osafune" and this was likely a shinto forgery attempt that overlooked this

Im in the US but I get mine from Robert Benson in hawaii. I would think they can ship it worldwide. bushidoswd@aol.com. Mr Bensons wife Rita handles orders and emails. She can ask her son Nicholas to make one. I just ordered one last week and it was made and shipped the following day

Thank you @Scogg ! That is a very helpful read

Looks like there is fumbari in the pic but the nakago angle does look a bit odd for sue bizen. The mei also looks a bit crude which is also uncharacteristic of sue bizen. And I dont think any of the Norimitsu smiths did crab claw like this It does look old however so I personally would lean towards a gimei Sukesada thats been faked

I was never really get a clear grasp between the 2 over the years but is there a clear distinction netween halikake and kaen ? Not that it s terribly important but this boshi was originally noted as hakikake by the dealer but I feel like it s closer to kaen

Hi @Lewis B Not sure what the asking price is since they dont list them for high value items unfortunately. Im a big fan of o-kissaki myself so this listing really stuck with me

@Harlekin2xs I know this will be way over budget but it was the 1st item that popped in my mind when you listed your preference https://www.nipponto.co.jp/swords12/JT327820.htm But yea 1.6M yen will get you something very nice indeed Best of luck and I ll post here if I see anything

Agree with Alex Probably one of 3 dealers I ll ever buy from. Definitely a dealer you have to know what you are looking at and buying but he ll never claim a blade to be something it isnt. Their photos are also one of if not the best. Seen way more sketchy listings from ppl on the forum honestly

It s often hard to tell on old high quality swords as even the core steel often had beautiful forging as well. I can definitely see clear hada in the above pictures so I personaly would lean towards it being part of the hada. Maybe patches of O Hada

If this is a Rai sword, there is a lot of debate about it as it s pretty much a feature of Rai hada

Thank you @Jussi Ekholm as always for your encyclopedic knowledge 🙏🙏🙏 With that said , I really like this blade. I would be bidding away if I had the funds 😭

Im not sure if it s Aoi s english wording but is this sword attributed to Sue-Sa AND O-Sa. The certificate seems to have both as well but wouldnt these be very different atteibutions ??? Granted it s still within the same school. https://www.aoijapan.com/katana-mumei-sue　sa-o-sa-schoolnbthk-tokubetsu-hozon-token/

He lists things very cheap and gets bought instantly. Mostly unpapered but there are occasional hozon and toku ho. If u look closely, most items will have some form of kizu but you cant really complain with how cheap they are listed. It s always good to remember that cheap unpapered blades are cheap bc they most likely cant paper OR they arent worth the shinsa money. Like a lot of the mumei shinshinto tanto and wak

Unpapered komonjo blades are almost always gimei but it s a nice looking blade regardless. Im not a shinto person but I always recall kinimichi kiku mon being very intricately and beautifully done. The one on this one looks a bit strange. If im not mistaked, faking a mon was a serious offense punishable by death

@Sukaira I am a huge lover of unpoular schools at the moment lol Mainly Kongo Hyoe and Naminohira. Still on the lookout for a signed Ubu Moritaka but it s gonna take some time I think. I find that koto period Naminohira is extremely hard to collect. Esp Ko Naminohira. They tend to be very tierd and thin/slender and the decent ones all tend to go exponentially more or juyo. I never had any interest in shinshinto but Motohira blades do turn my head every now and then. This one on AOI right now is just splendid https://www.aoijapan.com/katanaoku-yamato-ason-motohiranbthk-tokubetsu-hozon-token/

@Sukaira What an stunning work you have by Gorozaemon. The finest one I ve ever seen. 🙏🙏🙏🙏 I started out as a Kiyomitsu collector and have always prefered their calmer more subdued atmosphere compared to Sukesada. That sword is very unique that it has an original Futasuji-hi resulting in the mei being down the center. Im still contemplating on selling or holding on to my one Kiyomitsu blade since I ve shifted to collecting Kyushu schools. I know I wont come across another one like it if/when I sell it but seeing that Gorozaemon you posted def makes part of me want to dive back into sue bizen

@anguilla1980 Adding koshirae to a blade by dealers isnt really malpractice nor is Aoi bad for doing this. It s simply part of the general nihonto market. It s not that difficult to find a saya that fits if you match the sori. But you dont know how well it s been maintained if at all. Even a custom shirasaya can damage the polish with foreign particle build up with poor maintanace When you spend enough time in the hobby looking at blades every chance you get, you ll sometime come across a blade you ve seen appear at a different dealer or being sold by an individual seller and the koshirae can sometimes be added, removed, or a different one all together. Now for the 2 mekugi ana. There is no way to know for sure but the 2nd one was most likely made simply to accomodate a different handle. Could have been a new handle , old handle we ll never know for sure but these things were done all the time. And someone with more specific knowledge could add to this but the ana was punched during koto times and at some point during the edo/shinto period , they were drilled. I cant quite tell but they both look punched on yours with the bottom one being original. So the 2nd one might have been made a long time ago as well. I ve looked at a lot of sue bizen blades and that top ana looks unusually high to be the original.

@anguilla1980 As much as we like to romanticize the koshirae of a blade. You will find out yourself eventually that it is next to impossible to theorize when or how many times a blade has been remounted. It could have seen several dozens of remounting for all we know Furthermore, koshirae are put together and thrown on a blade by dealers to boost appeal ALL the time. AOI is esp good at this. And I am far from being considred knowledgable when it comes to fittings but at a glance, it looks like the ito and samegawa are relatively new. The ito in particular was not done by a skilled tsuka maker and this can be seen by the unevenness of the diamonds. We also dont know about the origin of the saya and personally , I would never recommend puting a blade into a dealer saya. A proper saya is always custom made to a specific blade and we dont know how or where it s contacting the blade. My Kiyomitsu came with a Koshirae and I would never in a million years attempt to mount it on the blade. https://eirakudo.shop/token/wakizashi/detail/319916

The import process is fairly streamlined now but yea it was a bit messy in the beginning. AOI uses UPS and they will let you know via email if they need additional info and any import duties once it enters customs

Yea for sure. I ve looked at works from shinto sukesada here and there and they were definitely not this extreme

Looks like a good amount of buffing and or polishing compound. It s a shame bc it lookslike it might have an interesting hamon. Good news is that the foundation doesnt look severely compromised and can most likely be brought back to it s proper state of polish. Seen swords in far worse state being restored by a good togishi. But the reality is that it s probably far from being financially worth unless the blade has special meaning to you

Unfortunately they remove both now but I did download the image Cant post full res due to image aize restriction tho. I believe it went for well north of $100,000.00 USD

You ll see a lot of Sukesada blades come up. The quality after Eisho ( 1521 ) will be all over the scale. Many with poorly made loose hada. Some decent ones and a few nice Tokubetsu Hozon blades every now and then. The crown jewel of Sukesada blade was actually just on sale at AOI about a month ago. An insane work by the shodai Yosozaemon Sukesada