kusunokimasahige

Let me explain my opinion.... the tigers are nice! the saya is hideous (personal opinion and taste) the blade i dont like at all since i find it too much like damasceners, even though of course it will be real... and i am happy for you you sold it! best wishes, KM

UPDATE: Hello all, well i got an e mail of him, and he wrote to me that he would take photos and send them. He also told me that he had a letter of the Army Museum here in the Netherlands stating it was this smith(still no guarantee) so I will keep all of you posted... I expect the sword is in dire need of a polish.... we'll see.. KM

I agree on the point that its better to date a sword by its alloy components... ie carbon dating but then metallurgic! since carbon dating on forged items is out of the question of course. anyway, koshirae(saya and hilt) could and should in my view be dated this way.. the smith's geographic location could maybe also be perceived by first setting up a system in which the various iron-ore locations in Japan are catalogued. a scientific study would need to be done on the economics/ trading and transporting of this ore throughout Japan... his name (signing) of course will mostly be dependable on other crafts like appreciation, thus guesswork in some instances... however, overall i like the scientific approach best! KM

Interesting thought.... but still if you want the NTBHK's opinion on who made it or its value you still are in the realm of appreciation, rather than science... I myself normally step into my time machine, visit ancient Japan, and go looking for the smith who apparently signed the sword.. when i find him i ask in my best classical Japanese wether he made it or not, and wether or not he wants to give me some proof in writing. Afterwards I travel to present day Japan, and go to the spot where the specific smith has left me his letter of appreciation, in a sealed container. I dig it up, or get it out of the cave or wherever we decided to hide it, and take the sword, and its papers to the NTBHK. That normally does it... and since there is no kiri sutei gomen anymore, a negative appreciation regularly has no consequences for the appraiser.... :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: would this story have anything to do with me being Dutch and living near Amsterdam? I wonder....... KM

interesting! I might just go to my local law enforcements lair and ask... however i dont like to wake sleeping........... etcetera KM

The vendor is a re-enactor of WWII 17th armour division and he just let someone else find out about the name, wether or not he knows the true value of the sword i dont know... however i have requested photos, and hope that when he sends them i can post them here... i am very happy with all the help you are providing at the moment! domo arigato gozaimasu! KM

i find it a hideous sword anyway......... :lol: KM

someone recently offered me a katana in shin-gunto mounting, and according to him the blade was forged between 1846 and 1851 by a smith named minamoto kiyomaro who was born in in 1813 in shinano. in 1846 he changed his name into minamoto masayuki which is the name on the tang...in 1851 he comitted suicide according to this person. does anyone on here know this smith at all? I dont have photos yet, I have requested close up photos of the blade and tang... any help is welcome! KM

eeh? KM

Ah! you read that lovely story of my last stand against the enemies of the one true emperor when there were two!.... Unfortunately we lost, and so set in motion the demise of the samurai as organised by a certain mister Meiji in 1876 after first cleverly deceiving Saigo Takamori and a lot of others!! Mr Meiji was not and never will be! the real decendant of Amaterasu Omikami for that matter.. (why i then choose the Ashikaga mon as my avatar i do not know........) hahaha so much for my humour.... about mastercard... the mastercard as issued by the POSTBANK, is not deemed valid payment if you use PayPal... due to the fact that in Japan they make a fuss about it... now wether that is because of the Japanese PayPal organisation or the POSTBANK itself i do not know... But it does help to speak Japanese when you deal with Japanese dealers, especially through the internet. KM

Hello, I would like to know what the differences are in sword laws in various countries and especially in the Netherlands, since i have read the weapons law (WWM) as it is called here but it is not at all clear on the owning of swords, let alone on how to import for instance a Nihon-to... so before i even dare to buy one abroad, i would like to know if there are any Dutch collectors on here, and about their and other peoples experiences. best wishes, KM

So...... if someone would truly like to use a real sword for iaido.... or even tameshigiri (i know everyone of you will get a stomach ache now having said this....) he would be better off with a gendaito or shinsakuto, than any of the rubbish fake swords made by chinese and european smiths these days... (shinken) Or am i wrong here? KM

Or they simply had to make so many blades (sengoku jidai) that they couldnt be bothered anymore with signing them, unless it was an especially commissioned item. KM

See my last posting. KM