Rayhan

Ah Aoe...my love ❤️ There is no middle ground with Aoe, you get very good or very meh. Always adhere to the availability for Aoe, you get better Aoe.

Not all watches are mass produced, this is a topic for the izakaya I think

This board is for nihonto but on the topic of watches I will say Rolex (i do love them) are not exactly what I would describe as national treasures but Patek Philippe are more this level. Rolex are watches for everyday use.

Dear All I hope this finds everyone doing well? 48 hours ago I was greeted with the wondaful news that the NBTHK Japan has given us permission to share the English Versions of the NBTHK magazines from series #1 to #58 (ONLY) here on the NMB for educational purposes. Conditions are: - The Magazines cannot be sold to the public or board members. They must remain as free educational material. No profiting under any circumstances. - There must be a stable record of how many members are downloading the magazines (we already track the download numbers) - These are for the English magazines from the late 1970's and only numbers 1 - 58. - The NBTHK Japan must be acknowledged as the original publishers. This has been weeks in the making with 2 close contacts in Japan lobbying on our behalf and they really have come through for us so I have a lot of making up to do for them when I am next in Japan. I shall send everything to @Brian and allow him to upload them when he has time. Thank you for your patience everyone and I hope that the materials will help your education and collecting journey as much as it has helped so many in the past.

I've seen an Okubo Kazuhira forged like this. Interesting itame mokume mix very distinguished Soshu style. Okubo Kazuhira Sayagaki.pdf

@Rawa what is the sword you will possibly trade, does yours have papers? On this sword I cannot tell much, sugata is off for Nanbokucho the suriage looks strange too, forced and mekugi ana look intentionally placed to make the appearance of koto. From the hamon, I am very 😕 is it a Oei Bizen style or Dotanuki I can see areas trying or pretending to be Kani Tsume Ba with Midare but I could just be trying to stay optimistic 😉 Cannot see the jigane The koshirae is a bit of a home made project looks Chinese but who knows Why go for this even as a trade when it's so far from good Nanbokucho for study. So what are you going to give this guy from your collection?

Are you asking for purchasing purposes? What's the price?

Then say nothing, please

@Jacques so to put this childish nuance to bed. The polisher be it Mishina or anyone else is not an AI based robot that operates on software based calibration like a Mazak cnc machine, you do live in reality @Jacques? Each sword polisher will approach the polishing of each sword individually and over many weeks. Different pressures, stones, temperamental emotions (ie being human), etc will apply so you will not get a uniform result no matter how good the polisher is. You can give them the exact same sword 2 time to polish and without fail you will get 2 different results. Also the approach to polishing will change depending on the results that gradually form over weeks and months of work. @Jacques it really is annoying that someone who perceives themselves to be intelligent comes across with misinformed statements just to make a statement. I do feel for you. If you have nothing constructive to add to a thread please stop. It's ok to not say anything sometimes.

@Jacques every time a sword is polished its geometry changes, argue all you want , facts are facts

I think your mind is already made up but you're looking for some kind of validation. If you're buying this for a cheap price (please let us know your purchasing price) then go ahead and do it if it's a deal you've made with a friend. From the perspective of a collector I think we would all like to see better images and clear images of the self made certificate. Personally if you have been waiting a long time to buy an authentic sword then why go this route?

I see the variables are similar to most antique or artworks but I am not sure why we are now focusing on price. I can price a sword at any number, it will sell only at a price that a buyer sees fit to remove their wallet from their perception and desire. Please let's focus on the Juyo and what has passed and why. Even amongst say 200 Awataguchi in the same room you will get 200 different prices, it's pointless to look at pricing to gauge intrinsic value against market value at the time. 9 times out of 10 the people complaining about pricing aren't buying anyway and the ones buying are silent as midnight. Here you have a list of all Juyo sessions what is important is what passed and at what rates and ultimately why, what motivated the pass. This motivation changes as it is based on human factor as well as intrinsic variables associated with each sword / item.

If you polish this Ha down by a mm the geometry will change like it or not. Good polisher or bad it's at the requests of the owner so what a good polisher will do is refuse to remove the steel any further if they feel it's unacceptable to change the geometry. Now what most collectors will do @Jacques that is frustrating, is go from polisher to polisher till they find one that says yes to the job, unfortunately. I am in your court when you say that seeing in hand is always the best path forward to avoid these issues, but we cannot always be there, again, unfortunately.

Yes exactly, I think its very important to see how many of each smith passed and then look at why, why in the good sense and the sceptical sense.

Typically these small indents could be because the polisher didn't want to polish down the hamon any further so left them as is to maintain the geometry of the sword. If you want them removed the next polisher will have to change the geometry and polish the hamon down and that will be costly. You will then need a new shirasaya too. The other reason it happens is because someone accidentally made contact with a hard surface (not in ancient times, I mean recently) and they damaged the sword. Personal opinion, return this and get a refund. If you can live with the damage then just enjoy as it is.

I think you can put any price you want on a sword and some will sell because people don't want to delve deeper and some will not because people will check at length before spending so much. But yes, I think sessions matter and I think judges and their motivation at the time matters greatly.

Part 2: After the sword successfully passed THozon i was elated and my wife more so, so then I thought, Juyo next maybe? I asked Paul what he thought " No comments on Juyo, you want to try then I will submit but I make no comments" this was the professional thing to do, every sword enters at its own merit and on top of that it was a Muromachi sword. 8 years ago passing Muromachi was slim at best. We submitted and the sword failed, oh no! Ultimately I was having a conversation with Darcy and mentioned the failure to which he asked to see the images of the blade. That night at 2AM ( Darcy and I shared the fact we never sleep much) he sent me a message saying that the sword should be polished by Saito sensei in sashikomi style and try for Juyo one more time. I agreed and Paul sent the sword in with Saito sensei (the polish was in 5k USD range) The sword was submitted again and passed! And is now my wifes' sword.

I am in the airport grabbing a flight so I will post from my cell phone, please forgive the compressed images. A story of taking a sword to Juyo follows, part 1: Around 8 years ago my wife and I were travelling Japan and had hit Osaka for a few days. I knew of a sword dealer there that I had wanted to meet for a while. We stopped in for a brief look at some swords and sitting in full display quietly at the end of the shop was a Muromachi Hirotsugu sword. It looked off for Hirotsugu because of the polish but was clearly Hitatsura. See attached the pictures of the sword before and the papers before. I decided to ask that awkward question and my wife said "only if you gift it to me" I said "ok". I put down a deposit and held the sword there for a few weeks and told the dealer I would pay in full as soon as possible. Getting back to Tokyo I asked Paul Martin if he was passing by Osaka at any point would he be willing to consult on the sword after I had paid for it, he agreed as he was filming in the area and took time from his schedule to help me on a detailed consultation. His consensus was that the sword was good 👍. I asked if he would take the sword back with him for further work and maybe help with Shinsa. He agreed and the sword made its way back to Tokyo. Having the sword in its' current polish i asked Paul Martin to assist with a submission to Tokubetsu Hozon shinsa and we had the sword through in one sitting Hozon to THozon. See attached.

100% @Hoshi, analytics play the most valuble rule, as we go along the list we see the entry period of foreign buyers and popularity vs quality and exclusive swords and items. I am sorry for not going deeper but the discussions to come should shed light. I hope

Hello All I am opening up a topic that older collectors will no doubt roll their eyes at because it has been discussed to death in the past. Full disclaimers: 1) This is for newer collectors 2) I owned a blade from Juyo 22 so I am also in the shite there when this concept is brought up. Needless to say money was lost on a sale. 3) Knowledge is power and I am just repeating the wisdom of the past. Ok! So, when we see the Juyo blades listed on dealers sites and catalogues we also see that the Juyo session is mentioned more often than not. This is a very valuable piece of information that goes under the radar in many cases. There is also a price parity associated with some Juyo sessions and for good reason. Attached you will find analytical information on each and every sword and item that has passed Juyo over some 70 sessions, all thanks to @Jussi Ekholm and his amazing skills in collating this data. Thank you Jussi, I hope everyone understands what a gift this information is in time. I would like to draw attention to how many swords and items pass in each consecutive session. Readers will notice that in sessions from 20 to around 26 there are an unusually high number of swords that passed Juyo, not a good sign. It is an accepted fact that we see inferior swords in these sessions that have passed Juyo and as collectors you must apply great scrutiny to swords from these sessions before thinking of a purchase. I myself, owned a sword from Juyo 22 but it was purchased in hand and after the translated Zufu was given consideration. The swords from sessions where we see high passes are usually not held in high regard and so they are priced accordingly. The other way this list is so invaluable is to see what passes and at what rates. How many Hizen Tadahiro for example or how many Naotane, is Soshu the high flying segment or is it Bizen? Rarity, availability in the market and in private. If you go after a sword at Hozon how can you determine the chance at Juyo? So much can be gained from this list. Please download it and give it an analytical overview. Thank you @Jussi Ekholm Juyo Index 70p.pdf

You're closer to Japan, send them there if they are high value items (5k USD or above). Otherwise I'm sure members here can guide you to local craftsmen in AUS.

Accuracy is still far for many languages though

I'm going to go out on a limb here and state that Bizen Kagemitsu is the greatest of the tanto makers. Followed by Shintogo Kunimitsu. (OK ready for firing squad)

I dare not comment on who is the best horimono artist, I haven't seen them all side by side. I can only state that my preference from what I have seen is Sadakazu for Horimono and Sadakatsu for his steel. Modern perspective is Sadatoshi (I'm biased because i own one but no horimono just Ayasugi) but his Horimono work is also amazing.

If I had the chance today and wanted a Daisho it would be from the Gassan school/kaji. With storyboard horimono from katana leading to the wakizashi and certified together on the same paper. Or older daisho but also on the same NBTHK paper. Gassan horimono is still the best modern horimono in my personal opinion (just me).