Purg

and one last close up.

Looking closer at the area not effected by when I taped the tang years ago, some file marks are evident

Well, I can answer the nut and bolt, that was me, from memory the original bamboo peg split when I knocked it out, from memory it was quite dark on the ends, but this was approx 15 years ago. What made me look closer is I own a couple of cheaper modern katanas, whilst both razor sharp like this particular sword, when playing around cutting some yellow tongue (plastic joiner used in flooring, also great for running wires) the cheaper ones chipped, cheapest close to the tsuba, better one nearer the kissaki, the older one, barely a mark closer the kissaki. It's definitely not alloy, and while I'm no scientist, I've been working with metals for over 20 years, and this was definitely not something made in my lifetime. Either way, have found it very interesting, who knows, could of just been someone's home project. Have attached pics of damage to cheaper blades for reference.

Many thanks, clears up a lot, especially your description on the mei. either way, it's been fun looking into it, makes for the few dollars I payed all those years ago seem worthwhile.

Thanks mate, can I ask, what's the main giveaway? very curious as it's been fascinating learning more.

Hello all, An obvious first post, I'm trying to find out more about a nihonto I've owned for about 15 years, bought as an impulse eBay purchase. From recollection, the seller had a lot of antiques, and two swords. I only recently translated the mei which is Takeda Heiji, from what I can tell, I'm not sure if it was applied later, as looking at the rust, I would expect it would look worse. While there is the obvious Takeda clan, and Heiji era, the only other reference to a Takeda Heiji I could find was a publisher of woodblock prints circa 1884 I'm trying to keep up with all the terms in regards to dimensions, but can obviously provide photos with a tape measure! trying to get lighting right to photo the hada, as I'm not sure if the blade has had a bad polish in its life. when I first purchased the sword, I wrapped the tang in tape to make it fit better on handle, little did I know that was a mistake! while no file marks evident on the face, they can be seen on the edge. Basic measurements are a blade of 68cm, and a curve of 2.5cm Tang approx 25.5cm Any help would be greatly appreciated