eternal_newbie

Google Lens translation on a phone works reasonably well for Japanese labels. Some of the literal transitions can sound like gibberish but with commonsense mental replacements (e.g. "nie" for "boiling", "kinsuji" for "gold lines", "Nanbokucho" for "Northern and southern courts") the general gist can be gleaned.

Seems fine to me now, but I have noticed it a couple of times on newly listed pieces that then look crisp a few hours later. Maybe it's a bandwidth thing, or they accidentally uploaded thumbnails/placeholders and then rectified it later.

公益社団法人 (Public Interest Incorporated Association) So the full translation is: 段位記 Dan-rank record 公益社団法人日本空手協会 The Japan Karate Association (a Public Interest Incorporated Association) JKA English website: https://www.jka.or.jp/en/ More information on Public Interest Incorporated Associations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Public_Interest_Incorporated_Associations_(Japan)

平安住雲仙子貞秀作 Heian-jū Unzenshi Sadahide saku 文久三年八月日吉 Bunkyū san-nen hachigatsu (August 1863) Hiyoshi [cut off at this point]

That wasn't my opinion, just explaining what "20c Seki" meant. All I can say is you have a genuine nihonto in koshirae which at least doesn't seem to have any major flaws, so it's worth at least what you paid for it.

For that price I think you did pretty well unless there's a fatal flaw somewhere that we can't see.

Made in Seki in the 20th century (probably the first half)

It's referring to the claying techniques that result in steel that is うるおい (uruoi, also written 潤い) - it looks wet, or moist, due to the distribution of the ji-nie and hada catching the light and mimicking beads of water on a wet surface. It was, and is, a highly sought-after feature and kantei point for many high-class makers in Koto blades, and naturally something that more modern smiths worked hard to recreate.

I may be mistaken but I think the issue is their photography (or post-processing) rather than the polish. You can observe the same weird artifacting in some of the closeup photos of the Norishige they have listed, especially the second-to-last one: https://katanahanbai.com/en/katana/katana-norishige/

Small caveat - "hard steel" (and "soft steel") has a specific meaning for togishi. Whether this meaning is the same as the ones dealers and appraisers use is another matter.

Note the difference between mekugi, the wooden pin/dowel (usually smoked bamboo) that holds the blade in place, and menuki, the metal ornaments on the tsuka (brass in this case but often copper, shakudo or even gold). The mekugi is always what holds the sword and tsuka together; the menuki are typically for adornment only, except in rare cases.

Worthy candidate for the Sold Archive

Example where the nioiguchi is more than an entire kissaki-length outside the yokote: https://www.aoijapan.net/katana-mumei-tametsugu/

Nope, that's a *second* Ayanokoji Sadatoshi (Juyo). The first one (TokuHo) is still there and listed for 3.8mil: https://eirakudo.shop/token/tachikatana/detail/090291

Mine too.

You Someone put a video of it in youtube with more closeups (as well as the other swords in that category): https://youtu.be/VR4hTdhOk24?t=1098

https://web.archive.org/web/20240113073202/https://www.aoijapan.com/img/sword/2023/23761-2.jpg https://web.archive.org/web/20240113073202/https://www.aoijapan.com/img/sword/2023/23761-3.jpg https://web.archive.org/web/20240113062400/https://www.aoijapan.com/img/sword/2023/23761-4.jpg https://web.archive.org/web/20240113062400/https://www.aoijapan.com/img/sword/2023/23761paper-1.jpg https://web.archive.org/web/20240113062401/https://www.aoijapan.com/img/sword/2023/23761sayagaki.jpg

Now I remember why I stopped posting here years ago. All I was trying to do was wish a fellow traveler good luck and approve of their taste. Guess I'll see if people have become less defensive and unpleasant in another 5-10 years.

Correct! I made a guess, which turned out wrong (Soden Bizen instead of Yamato Shizu).

I'm suggesting that buyers buy things which they will like regardless of what other people say. That way they won't be disappointed and feel like they've wasted their money when the experts change their mind or there turns out to have been a mistranslation of what the experts originally said. OP seems to be doing just that, so I wish them well.

Just a few reasons why this might be the case: Wakizashi in general are less popular than daito or tanto Papers are often out of date even when legit (a Tametsugu Hozon blade may have gotten downgraded to TH Ko-Uda, so the seller conveniently "lost" those papers and sold it as Tametsugu) Condition issues (tired, hagire, ware) that aren't listed ("please check the photos for the condition of the sword") From the above two items, a blade might be unlikely to go any higher than the papers it already has Relatives of a deceased collector consigning items to be sold as quick as possible to sort out financial issues And in general, eBay is much harder to sell nihonto on now unless you're a reputable seller, because the market is flooded with so many fakes, scams, Chinese shinken etc - far more so than it used to be 10, 20 years ago.

And when it comes to mumei blades, that's ultimately true of NBTHK and NTHK attributions too, unless the provenance of the sword is known (and sometimes even then it gets "downgraded"). Buy blades that you like, and if the shinsa groups agree with you that's a bonus.

That's a great attitude. In the end what matters is that you like the sword, and this one, whether it's Kaneuji or one of his students in Yamato Shizu or Naoe Shizu, is certainly a sword anyone would be proud to have. Good luck with your purchase!

That would be #2 on Darcy's tier list - Yamato Shizu Kaneuji. So I guess "not quite a Masamune, with solid Yamato influence in evidence." Although that assumes the NTHK have a similar mentality and criteria as the NBTHK when it comes to attributions (I don't have much experience with the NTHK so I can't comment on that).

Soden Bizen? Looks superficially like some Osafune Kanemitsu blades I've seen.