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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.

The nagasa (cutting edge) is 53.5cm making it a wakizashi. It's not worth $1600 you would be wasting your money. It has a few bad flaws in the ji and it's gimei.

It's a wakizashi and the mounts look like a modern put together job. The tsuka has definitely been re-wrapped recently. It looks like a gimei as well. You could do much better for a first sword. Update: Just saw the wak on ebay, it's already about $600 overpriced in my opinion. I've had a look at ebay and I reckon this wak is probably the most interesting at the moment: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=012&item=220015006668

http://www.japanesetex-style.co.uk/prod ... &code=O246 This wall hanging has your mon

Does anyone have any ideas what school this katana might be from? It's an o-suriage katana, judging from the shape it would have been at least 30" nagasa originally. It's Mino and appears to be late muromachi with quite a high shinogi. It's a well forged sword and has no flaws no open grain nothing. The hada is mokume with masame in the shinogi-ji. The hamon is in nioi with a thick nioiguchi. The hamon is very distinctive but I haven't been able to nail it in any of my books. I had thought it might be Kanemoto school? Anyone have any thoughts? Thanks, Peter

I'm sure there was a phoenix tsuba at seikeido a few months back, looks like it might have sold. Keep checking his page, never been disappointed with any tsuba I've had off him. http://www.nona.dti.ne.jp/~sword/tsuba.htm

Excellent work on the new forum! How about an Armour forum or maybe even a miscellaneous forum where we could discuss netsuke, woodblocks etc. Also can we get the UK sword ban forum back?