pcfarrar

I don't recall seeing any pictures of turtle shell used in koshirae but they must exist. You find quite a few netsuke from turtle shell: http://www.netsuke.com/netsuke/Contempo ... atoshi.htm

The Aoi Art handling fee is very cheap. It was less than $100 on the last sword I had polished by them.

The sword belonged to my brother. Had to sell it to fund the purchase of a new gendaito katana. The fittings were very nice, the fuchi was signed with a big name, I forget who but we always assumed it was gimei. The tsuba was also very nice, I wish I'd kept it. The saya was a bit flashy, but its unique :lol:

I can't belive someone is bidding 200,000 yen for a gimei showato :lol: I have noticed Aoi Auctions seems to be a dumping ground to offload all the "bad" stuff. Still at least they are truthful....

I just noticed Aoi are selling a machine made WW2 showato Surely this sort of sword is illegal in Japan?? https://www.aoi-art.com/auction/en/auct ... 1141534367

I heard a rumour that he went back to Korea? His website is gone. You can still get on certain bits (without pictures unfortunately) using the following link: http://www.archive.org/index.php

Muromachi nio school wakizashi signed Kiyotsugu in a set of tiger themed koshirae. In David Hofhine polish, very nice blade! Starting on ebay tonight at 8pm GMT from £1. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=270028530529

It was the boshi really that made me think retempered, it just seemed a bit healthy compared to the rest of the sword. Just a gut feeling really as you can't be certain from the pictures.

Very interesting, thank you very much koichi san.

Out of interest can anyone translate what it says next to the date on this Shigetsugu katana at aoi art. http://www.aoi-art.com/sword/katana/06215.html Thanks, Peter

Some interesting items. I thought the mino kaneiwa was ok, but generally if the price is low and its coming from Japan its for a good reason. This one was interesting. Retempered? The buy it now price was the same as the current bid, which kind of implies the blade has a problem. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Japanese-sword-Ko ... 0026617307

Thanks again Rich! Do you have any idea of the approximate age of this tsuba? Peter

Interesting sword, but you do realise you've probably cut the value in half by cleaning the nakago? You'll have to get someone over here to repatinate it for you.

Thanks Rich, the guy I got it from said it was a Masahiro tsuba. So I just assumed that was what the mei read oops. What does the very top kanji mean if the bottom 2 are shoami? Thanks, Peter

Hi, Can anyone help with the mei on this tsuba? It came on a wakizashi I got recently. I think it could be Masahiro? Thanks, Peter

Nice result! Worth getting the gimei removed. BOKUDEN BANDÔTARÔ [ENPÔ 1673 HITACHI] SHINTÔ JÔSAKU He is of the Omura Kaboku Mon, is called Kawamura Chôbei, and in the beginning he signed as MUSASHI NO KAMI YOSHIKADO. In Kanbun Jûnen 1672, he, along with his older brother Echizen no Kami Yoshikado, became swordsmiths exclusively to Mito Yoshimatsu. From around Enpô Yonen (1676) he changed his name to BANDOTARÔ BAKUSHÔ NYÛDÔ BOKUDEN. He passed away on Jôkyô Gonen (Genroku Gannen) Shichigatsu Yôka. Many of the blades he made have a majestic form, hamon is ô-midare, notare midare, nie kuzure. (Ryôwazamono)

Hi Quang that sounds interesting, what was the mei and who did they think it really was? Peter

The colour is only like that on Microsoft Internet Explorer. It is much better on Firefox and easier to see.

A friend of mine has a Yasakuni blade in gunto mounts and the fittings are by "Suya Sho Ten". See this page: http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/logo/logo.htm

It's a con don't waste your money.

I bought the NHK Musashi Taiga series and it came with English subtitles. I've watched the first 7 episodes and it's pretty good very true to the Eiji Yoshikawa book. The actor that plays Matahachi is excellent! I found a guy in the UK who can provide all the NHK Taiga dramas, if anyone on the board is interested contact me via email and I'll provide his details.

We don't have anyone at the same level as Moses Beccera in the UK. The only polisher I've ever used in the UK is John Bolton so I can't really comment on the others. If you have a good blade here people generally ship them to Japan for polish.

Thanks everyone! I will try and get the Taiga Shinsengumi series next. I recently watched "Hidden Blade" and that was an excellent movie. Better than "Twilight Samurai" I thought.

Hi, Anyone in Japan seen this is it worth getting? Thanks, Peter

Not really anything on ebay at the moment. You just missed a cheap koto yamato katana on nihonto.us it was $1650 and looked ok for the price.