Gerry

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.

Damn you'd have to be a crazy huge Himura Kenshin fan to dump 1.25M yen on this. I wonder how the smith compensates for the curve that appears during the yaki ire process? https://www.samuraishokai.jp/sword/25142.html

Just came across this odd looking nakago on a nagamichi katana. Does anyone have any idea why they would weld on an extra piece of nakago to original one? It's like the opposite of a suriage nakago.

I've never seen a gunto with a leather covered saya with fittings: https://www.jauce.com/auction/e1192352718?allow=1 It seems like the leather shrank over the year, and split from the kojiri at the tip.

He usually has those suspicious Hon'ami papers with the blades. Every once in a while he'll have legit looking NTHK papers. He sold a realistic looking signed fukuoka ichimonji blade last year with NTHK papers for only 1.3M yen.

And he has excellent feedback, but suspiciously, many of the feedback for his swords have the exact same text. Here are some pictures of the other swords he's recently sold... A masamune: https://auctions-yahoo-co-jp.translate.goog/jp/auction/m1190204643?_x_tr_sl=ja&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=ja&_x_tr_pto=wapp&_x_tr_hist=true A bizen nagamitsu: https://auctions-yahoo-co-jp.translate.goog/jp/auction/p1188449281?_x_tr_sl=ja&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=ja&_x_tr_pto=wapp&_x_tr_hist=true A sanjo munechika: https://auctions-yahoo-co-jp.translate.goog/jp/auction/t1187516715?_x_tr_sl=ja&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=ja&_x_tr_pto=wapp&_x_tr_hist=true

The swords being listed by this seller are rather perplexing. He's able to consistently list a large number of swords that are either "masamunes" or "sanjo munechikas", etc. The thing is, the swords are actually rather nice, with lots of koto looking activity in the hamon, and sometimes even having koto jitetsu. But many of the swords are extremely healthy with ubu nakago, long nadasa, thick kasane and prominent hamachi, so it leads me to believe that they're shinshinto copies. But they're really good quality shinshinto blades. And he's able to get some pretty good prices. Does anyone here think that these blades are indeed koto? Or if not, how the hell is he able to get his hands on so many high quality shinshinto blades? Here's his current live listing, a "Rai Kunimitsu": https://www.jauce.com/auction/f1191102591

It's crazy that he paid 1.4M yen for this sword, and with the Jauce fees on top of that. I wouldn't think he'll recoup his $11K back on eBay. It'll be interesting to see how much it goes for. He already relisted it this morning.

If there was ever a case of humble bragging... Just kidding! Sounds like an impressive collection though, and in Singapore too, where owning swords isn't very well looked upon by the government.

Sure, Lex. The seller didn't take good pictures ,but here are a few where you can kinda make out the jigane.

Ah, thank you for sharing, Jussi!

I know of ko, sue, and chu Mihara attributions, but can anyone read the attribution of this NBTHK origami?

Here's another odd hamon...a chicken pox gunome?

Nah, I have no intention of purchasing this sword...just thought I'd share this unusual looking hamon. And for what it's worth, the sword is actually in Japan with a torokusho, so it's not a Chinese fake.

I came across this sword with a peculiar hamon. Does anyone know what this type of hamon is called? It kind of looks like a reverse saka choj.

Sure, I used Nosyudo in Gifu.

For what it's worth, katana prices (I don't pay attention to tanto or wakizashi prices) at Aoi Art and other online dealers who have a Western clientele have been trending up in the last year. This is probably due to the increase in international demand caused by the weaker Yen. A TH katana with koshirae from a regular smith listed on Aoi 2 or more years ago went for somewhere between 700,000 to 950,000 yen, whereas they're being listed for about 1,200,000 yen recently. I was still even able to buy a few TH katana in shirasaya as recently as in early 2024 for 600,000 yen each. However, prices on Yahoo Japan have been fairly consistent because they mostly cater to their domestic collectors.

Aoi Art is definitely pairing up koshirae with blades to make them more appealing to Western collectors. In fact, I had previously purchased a daisho from them with a gorgeous set of Edo period mounts, only to find out that the blades in them were not original to the koshirae, and didn't fit exactly. In the case of daishos, they find blades to make the daisho koshirae more appealing. I was in their shop recently deciding on whether to purchase a particular katana in shirasaya, and discussed options about having an antique koshirae for it. They walked me through the process of finding suitable koshirae parts, and the hardest step in the process was finding a suitable existing saya. I ultimately decided to send the sword off to have a custom koshirae made in Gifu.