eternal_newbie

Looking forward to it!

The Kashima sisters have some thoughts about tekkotsu on their website: http://www.ksky.ne.jp./~sumie99/tekkotsu.html http://www.ksky.ne.jp./~sumie99/makingtekkotsu.html

I believe he's asking about a cushion that goes between the top of the tsuba and the lid. Not all tsuba boxes come with these. You can see an example of a purple one here: https://www.yamatobudogu.com/products/deluxe-tsuba-kiribako

@Nazar there is another Echizen Rai sword up for sale:

They go with a photograph for mumei nakago to properly document all the dents, bumps and other identifying features, but in the case of a mei they will often use a rubbing/oshigata because it can be hard to photograph in a way that displays it well.

And to give you an idea of just how many smiths from different eras, schools and provinces used the name "Kanemitsu": https://nihontoclub.com/view/smiths/meisearch?type=All&mei_op=contains&mei=kanemitsu (and there are plenty more that aren't documented there, including some contemporary ones)

Likely a typo by Tsuruta-san or Soren, T and R are right next to each other. Here are some prior discussions on NMB about Soten school tsuba: https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/1745-really-genuine-soten-tsuba/ https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/6737-soten-school-aesthetics/

I've seen some people refer to that design of a triangle with two semicircles as "insect eyes":

Good luck Mike, we could definitely use some options Down Under even if they're just for low-to-mid level blades. Looking forward to seeing some examples of your work!

Also folks who go in with a relatively low bid, knowing they can probably resell at enough of a premium to make the profit worthwhile on any items they win by default. The kinds of folk who show up on eBay/Yahoo with a bunch of eclectic blades with very different photography styles.

Unfortunately dodgy polishers aren't just something you find outside Japan; I've been watching some blades on auction sites in Japan in which a "polisher" has absolutely butchered the blade by 'painting' on a hamon/jigane matching the kantei points for famous smiths which the blade is then attributed to.

Slightly off-topic but that guy had something else that might be of interest to the various polearm data gatherers in here: https://www.facebook.com/raymond.yan.950241/posts/pfbid0UicaokdPan3LXQAGrdZnFEmmb5cWgaqdmBc6JJubhLxHwdFp33VxudWtyuQWt2gBl It's a sankaku-yari (sold now, sadly) in which the entire blade, aside from a small section near the base, is hardened (more pictures in the link).

Saka-choji (逆丁子) is the correct reading, yes. I don't believe the pronounciation changes to gyaku depending on the direction they slant (happy for someone with more knowledge to correct me). That said, I've only ever seen saka-choji that slants towards the kissaki on non-Japanese katana, so maybe it simply isn't done and therefore an alternate name isn't needed. Sesko's kantei blog simply refers to it as saka-choji: https://markussesko.com/2015/06/04/kantei-3-hamon-boshi-1-2/ As do the Kashima sisters: http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/hamonpatterns.html Those links both have a pretty good visual glossary so if it's not actually saka-choji you're thinking of, there's a good chance you'll spot whatever pattern you had in mind.

Not at all, this was regularly done as part of the routine maintenance process for Japanese swords. Just don't be too rough.

"The requested page could not be found". Looks like it's the same as the old link, did you copy and paste it correctly?