Gerry

Hi, can you please share the thickness of the sakikasane?

I don't see any photos of a torokusho in this listing?

I was able to attend the Miyairi Yukihira sword exhibition at Takashimaya's Nihonbashi outlet yesterday just as it was wrapping up. There was a nice selection of tanto, wakizshi, and katana from Yukihira's students, as well as 2 thirds of the exhibits being swords by Yukihira himself. All the swords showed gorgeous Soshu hamon and jigane. I was lucky enough to have Yukihira's family present at the exhibit, and got to chat with him and his son, Yo. They are wonderfully nice people, and when they realized that I collect nihonto, they grabbed a katana I was admiring and let me observe it up close in my hands. Inami-san from Japan Sword Co. organized this exhibition, and was also very gracious in explaining more about the items. And to add a touch of serendipity, the Miyairi forge is actually in a city in Nagano that I visit often for work. I was so delighted by my meeting with Yukihira and his son that I'm now considering commissioning a katana with his son to mark a milestone birthday next year. I feel that it's about time to support the current swordsmiths, even though the katana would cost the same as a low level Juyo blade. These swordsmiths pour so much of their soul into the swords they make, and sacrifice so much to perpetuate this art that we all love and enjoy. Here's a photo of the exhibition, and one of me with Yukihira and Yo. Maybe other forum members who attended this exhibition can post more photos of the sword, because I was too distracted chatting and didn't take more close up sword photos.

Just came across this sword on Yahoo Japan, and I've never seen a shin gunto saya with a rattan exterior, as well as English numbers on a nakago. https://www.jauce.com/auction/h1207984988

All USPS shipments from Japan has been halted because of the US customs dept requirement of the outbound country collecting tariffs for the US before shipment. EMS Japan currently does not have this ability. The issue is severe enough that the UN is getting involved. Therefore, the only couriers available from Japan to the US will be companies that already have the ability to do this. I recently had a sword ship via UPS, and the UPS system collected tariffs on behalf of US Customs.

https://www.jauce.com/auction/t1202652460 This 3 ft long odachi went for a reasonable price, given the provenance, if it's really shoshin.

Thanks for your valuable input and insight as always, Jussi. The auction was ultimately cancelled since it didn't reach the seller's reserve price. I'm guessing that the stop on EMS shipments to the US has really softened the sword prices on Yahoo Japan recently.

Hi John, Hmmm, I'm not sure if an acid polished blade would pass TH with the NBTHK, such as is the case with this blade?

I always a little confused about when to call a blade a naginata naoshi....in this case, it doesn't have naginata-hi, nor is unokubi zukuri...so would it be considered just a shobu zukuri katana instead?

This large naginata just came up for auction today. It's rather unusual because it appears to have lots of core steel showing through the jihada, but the weight if still pretty substantial at over 1 kilogram. It's not really my cup of tea, but I'm wondering if anyone knows which school has such thin kawagane? I know Hizen swords usually have thin kawagane, but this naginata is, of course, not Hizen. https://www.jauce.com/auction/k1201414863?allow=1

The seller paid for the shipping, and it came over on UPS Saver Next Day.

It's a soden bizen blade with a nice jigane that wasn't evident from the photos on their website. It's pity that they don't entertain visits to their store to view their blades in person, but the owner is a stand-up guy to work with.

Though I must say that Tsuruginoya has by far the best packaging of all the sword dealers I've worked with in Japan. The sword arrived via UPS from Japan to the US in only 1 day. EMS would have taken a week.

It doesn't take a stretch of the imagination to guess.

Here's another tariff data point for swords shipping from Japan. So I've just received my first sword via UPS from Japan. All other times I've received swords from Japan though EMS. Apparently, with UPS, you are forced to pay customs/duties unlike with EMS when it's a crapshot. So my tariff bill came out to 15% of the sword price, which I fortunately managed to significantly minimize because of a suggestion from the dealer.

Congrats on finding a diamond in the rough on Yahoo Auctions Japan! This goes against the general consensus that all dealers on Yahoo Auctions Japan sell dubious swords. This particular dealer that you bought your sword from is very prolific in sales, and it'll be curious to know why he/she didn't send the blades for updated origami.

Hey, give me a Bizen Nagamitsu over a Kotetsu any day.

I think Rayhan is well intentioned and accurate in his advice, with the main implicit aim of value preservation upon resale. I'd even hasten to add a few other criteria to his point; such as, if its a katana, then the nagasa should be over 27 inches, be of as graceful a shape as possible (i.e. not kanbun shinto), and even to be from the more "popular" schools like Gassan/Soshu/etc. If there's no concern of recouping your cost when you sell, then you can buy any sword that tugs are your heartstrings.

https://www.jauce.com/auction/q1196384750 It's the first time I've seen a kai gunto in wakizashi koshirae. The seller says that it's not a reproduction koshirae, but couldn't provide a photo of the tsuba and seppa. I was almost interested in bidding, but the plain sarute didn't sit well with me, and the blade itself is pretty worthless, though it ended up not going for a high price at only 241,000 yen.

I've never seen a katana with this type of mune/blade shape before. The seller is calling it "hobori-otoshi technique". https://www.jauce.com/auction/p1195435273

Honestly, I wasn't even aware that there's a taboo against saving for a sword. I just buy whatever excites me, whenever a piece like that comes along. Hobbies don't need to be taken so seriously, even if you're spending 6 figures on an item.

I have always had my EMS sword shipments go through the Chicago USPS customs location without any issues. Fingers crossed that your sword arrives soon after all the duties are paid.

Just checking, did you receive the sword via EMS/USPS, or a courier service like FedEx/UPS? I haven't received a tariff request using EMS/USPS.

Just checking, did you receive the sword via EMS/USPS, or a courier service like FedEx/UPS? I haven't received a tariff request using EMS/USPS.

Unfortunately, this is a Chinese reproduction sword. It's evident from the supposed mei.