eternal_newbie

Better, but still requires clicking on the item, waiting for the next page to load, clicking "Visit seller website" and then going back to the search page to look at other items. Previously we were able to open the listing without navigating away from the search results by right clicking on a found sword and "Open link in new tab" - now the only part of a result tile that allows this is the information about the smith/school. Having this option would probably reduce traffic/hosting costs on your end, as we now have to reload the search results every time we want to look at a result in detail.

Well that'll teach me for venturing an opinion where the real experts can see it... won't happen again, I promise

There are some scholars who think that the story of Go dying young was essentially a marketing ploy to make his works seem rarer and more desirable (personally, I don't think there's enough evidence to back this theory... yet). It's also worth noting that an attribution of Go doesn't necessarily mean the NBTHK believes the blade to be made by Go – just that it's the best answer they have, given the information at hand. This is especially the case for this smith since there are no (authenticated) signed works. I do believe it's likely that some of the works attributed to him are superlative works by Tametsugu, or Norishige working in a slightly different style than his norm (and vice versa).

Even with high-res photography, it's amazing how much detail gets missed with the standard flat profile format usually seen in museum catalogs. For example, here's a video of a Go that Darcy Brockbank once remarked "of the various Go I have had the luck to encounter in my life, this one is the best. It exhibits all of the features of this smith and has no weaknesses." I tried to find a proper link to it on Youtube/the Wayback Machine but was unable to, so I'm uploading my own archived copy here. I did find some other photographs and another video (headphone warning) of the same sword on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/473437089877345/posts/717706858783699/ go-yoshihiro-yuhindo.mp4

In addition to yours: Norishige - the most interesting hada in the business; having a very high resolution photograph of the various activities in the ji and ha would be great study material. Hankei - famous as being one of the post-Koto smiths who got closest to Norishige, while also simultaneously falling short and ending up with his own unique style of hada instead. Comparing and contrasting this high res photo with the previous one of Norishige would be quite a fun little exercise. Kotetsu - most of the Kotetsus we see on the open market are somewhat uninspiring, because the really good ones stay in Japan, often with secretive owners and selling in closed, private negotiations. A high-res photo of a top-class Kotetsu (or more) would help Westerners understand the hype that leads him to being one of the four highest-priced makers in Japan.

Update: Yamanaka Newsletters Volume 5 Issue #4 available: Yamanaka V5 NL04

Perhaps you got confused by the saying "the king is dead, long live the king" (which actually means "the old king is dead, long live the new king")? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_king_is_dead,_long_live_the_king!

That Ko-Senjuin is a beauty. Is it the same one that was featured on Andy Quirt's site (note the illegible niji-mei)? http://www.nihonto.us/KO SENJUEN.htm

Worth noting that with sufficient documentation (the scans/copies above and the sword description) the NBTHK will reissue Juyo papers for a previously papered sword, but I believe they will only do this once and, as always, there is a fee attached.

While I echo everyone else's good wishes and support, I would also add that pass or fail, this is a very valuable thread as documentation of how a new blade/mei for an important smith would be discovered, restored and researched, as well as how the process for convincing the NBTHK to sign off on it would take place. I believe this will be an important resource for collectors in the future, especially in the English-speaking world.

Also a fantastic book, and even better, contains several English excerpts of various sources that also appear in the Soshu Den Meisaku Shu.

Indeed it is! I had quite a journey trying to find one for my iai several years ago (Muso Shinden Ryu prefers longer blades and I'm above average height). I ended up having to commission one from a modern smith, at a significant premium over a pre-made (and furnished) sword.

What a mighty nagasa and sugata. Just out of curiosity, what's the sori like? Just curious since some iai/batto styles prefer certain amounts of curvature.

This one, perhaps? https://www.samuraishokai.jp/sword/26306.html

This is one of the areas where AI models and machine learning can be genuinely useful as a tool for sharing and preserving information; I believe several independent projects are working on algorithms/models that will read in stitched/distorted scans and clean them up to approximate the appearance of the original media.

To anyone else reading, this is a good idea when receiving any sword for the first time. Bits of dirt and wood shavings/splinters can and will get knocked free during transit.

Yep, closer to double that nowadays (and another 50%-ish premium for those of us in the middle of nowhere, i.e. Australia).

Yes, when he likes a sword enough to write a wall of text he usually writes the commentary on one side and the sword's details (dimensions, distinguishing features, workmanship) on the other, along with his kao. Exceptions include cases where the saya already has writing on one side from another appraiser (typically Kunzan, Kanzan or one of the Hon'nami).

It is indeed quite rare, only 1500 editions having been printed. In addition to the scarcity, it is also quite large — far larger than the typical consumer scanners — and rather tightly bound, so the only way to properly digitize it would be to unbind it and scan each page loose. As the book itself is somewhat of a collector's item and rather expensive, nobody who owns a copy is particularly keen to do so. I have, however, created an English index for it which can be found at the Downloads page:

And honestly, this remains true even through entry-level Juyo pieces (2.5 million yen+). A sword which has no tradeoffs and is just excellent all around will be high-level Juyo (6 million yen+) and entering "contender for Tokubetsu Juyo" territory.

Nice work, always good to see different ways of considering rankings other than the usual Fujishiro/Taikan/Hawley trinity. Reminded me of this article, which attempts to do something similar but also for schools rather than just individual smiths: https://web.archive.org/web/20210123052432/https://blog.yuhindo.com/pass-factor/

Congratulations and celebrations! A truly remarkable achievement and — having seen some of his work — a well deserved one.

On a slight tangent, I'm not sure I'd respect the opinion of AI on what constitutes art...

Something to keep in mind here is that this smith is so often faked that he has his own rule of thumb among the collecting community, to wit: "For every ten Kotetsus you see on the market, eleven will be fakes." The people who reflexively reply that what you have is very likely fake aren't being elitist or downers; they're simply repeating a reliable piece of common wisdom in the field.

One other thing to add along these lines - this isn't the first time this blade has been listed at Aoi in recent history, so at least one other person wasn't happy with what they got. Your mileage, obviously, may vary.