Bruno

He is Chris B himself who told me these infos about Mizukoshi.

AFAIR Mizukoshi Hiromitsu made high end showa-to for Yasuhiro who signed them Ikkansai Kunimori.

Stephen, was he the smith who had a jointventure with one of the yasukuni smith, making blades for him? He was more than a decent smith anyway. Cheers

Thanks Brian and John. I don't remind having read many topics about flaws on WW2 gendai-to, hence my question.

Hi all, Are all star stamped gendai-to always garanteed 100% flawless regarding forging flaws, or it is possible to find kizu on them? If they can have kizu or kitae ware, can they be removed by a traditionally trained togishi? Finally, did you ever find forgind flaws on your star stamped gendai-to you own(ed)? Thank you

Yes probably not as fine as Mantetsu-to. Though they were considered made with superior quality steel. AFAIR, on Ohmura's website or elsewhere (not sure where) there is the results of a resistance test that show Gunsui-to won't break as easily as older blades.

Thanks Trystan. It is not too expensive I think though I would not buy from this seller. At a time, I too wanted a Gunsui to, they are scarce and contrary to the Mantetsu to, there is a wide range of quality level among them. Some are pretty crude wether others are very well made.

Out of curiosity, how much did it go for?

I agree with you Curran. Ebay is risky but there are still some interesting deals.

Seller just told me the winner of the auction was....SHOWA22. That makes it even harder to swallow! He will ruin the sword again with his acid polish and resell it.

JP and Chris, yes I thought that too, but have checked the conversion, it does not match at all. I am sure I did bid in $ and not Euro. And I bid two times whereas historic shows only one bid. Still strange...

Yes John, one is never too cautious on this website. Not sure what exactly happened in my case, wish I could know.

I agree Barry, Ebay is strange and opaque. I won't bother to write them as like in your case, they won't do anything. That's too bad as there are from time to time interesting deals there, when you know what to look for. The one I bid on was one of them... Hopefully it was a scam bidder and the seller will re-list the sword.

Hi, Yesterday I bid on a showa era blade from a well known seller. I bid twice on the very last seconds. My first bid was at $605 and the second at $630. I lost the auction. The strange part is on the Ebay bids historic. It says the best bidder (winner of the auction) put $950 and I am the second best bidder at....$940! What bothers me is that I have never bid $940, my max bid was $630. One more weird thing, is that none of my real $605 and $630 bids appear on the bids historic, only the fake $940 bid. Has this ever happen to anybody else here? Thanks NB : I am following this seller's sales for years, and I know pretty well at what price his swords used to go. And this one went for way more than usual considering its condition.

Hey Bruce, How many Mantetsu-to have you referenced so far?

Can't agree more Stephen. Also, there are also those special orders Mantestu-to with extra inscriptions or Konan Issei Mantetsu-to. They are holy grails too!

These Mantetstu-to with fresh nakago free of any sign of use, are really nice. Yasurime are much more visible so as the inscriptions. I wish mine would be like that.

Nakago is close to mint, very nice. Is it yours Stephen?

He is listed in Slough book if I am not wrong?

Hi David, I am no expert in polishes so won't bother you with your choice! 😜 May I ask you to post several close up photos of the nakago itself? I would like to see how good Teruhide used to finish them (crisp lines and geometry, yasurime). Thanks

As far as I know, nowadays Japanese sword smiths use "short cuts" when they make swords for martial arts. It is something done behind the curtains and it is almost impossible to tell the difference(s) between a blade made with "short cuts" and a blade fully traditionally made from A to Z. Both will be signed and dated. If you find one online that is already in iai koshirae then it might be made with short cuts, if found in shirasaya it has more chances to be a real shinsakuto.

Hi Peter, Do you have the link? Just wondering why I did not receive any Ebay alert for this one. Thanks