Sukaira

I think another example might be Wake Shigenori - seems to have at least 1 Juyo but I do not see him as rated in Sesko (maybe Fujishiro?) SHIGENORI (重則), Shōchū (正中, 1324-1326), Bizen – “Bizen no Kuni Wake-jūnin Shigenori” (備前国和気住人 重則), “Bizen no Kuni Wake no Shō-jū Shigenori” (備前国和気荘住人重則), it is said that he came from the Saburō Kunimume school (国宗) but lived in Bizen´s Wake fief (和気荘) which was located about ten km to the northeast of Osafune, gunome mixed with ko-chōji in nioi-deki, suguha-chō mixed with ko-chōji and ko-midare

really hard to make an assessment of the polish imo with such horrible photos...but a good hadori should act almost like a frame and backdrop for the hamon and its activity. There does seem to be some weird inconsistency though in that Chogi hadori. In some spots it's like it hugs the tempering closely, almost sashikomi style and then in other areas it takes a much more liberal coverage.

I also don't have any direct data on this, but would be interested if found. The leaflet saying the Shodai trained with Naminohira is not too hard to believe though, since they were a Satsuma institution since the Heian essentially. Maybe that little bit of info was documented in a Japanese text somewhere and that was simply the extent of it?

I see a Hirotsugu listed in Sesko's index as jo-saku HIROTSUGU (広次), 3rd gen., Bunmei (文明, 1469-1487), Sagami – “Sōshū-jū Hirotsugu” (相州住広次), “Hirotsugu” (広次), “Sōshū-jū Hirotsugu saku” (相州住広次作), real name Ichikawa Chōbei (市川長兵衛), it is said that he enjoyed a very long life and that he was still working in the Eishō era (永正, 1504-1521), ō-gunome-midare, gunome- chōji, some blades show horimono, jō-saku

No questions - just dropping some recently acquired Tadayoshi 3 eye candy.

That is true, which why I want to see it after the mukansa sashikomi polish in hand, in Japan before making any decision. It is a sick piece without a doubt. It is done in soshu style and filled to the brim with hataraki - kinsuji and inazuma in the hamon, chikei with a whitish ji-nie covering the entire blade plus a pretty vivid nioguchi. Also nice that Kondô Hôji took the time to create a nicely detailed oshigata for it. Personally I love the sugata and boshi/kissaki on this one. In any case, even if it doesn't get submitted to Juyo, you guys will see some finished pics in Feb!

Yeah, that is quite interesting...but I guess if you think of Juyo/TokuJu as more of a competition, then maybe the needle starts leaning away from preservation and more into "who has the most awesome thing here"

Sounds good, will reach out if needed - thanks!

Yeah, I am starting to wonder if there is some lost in translation thing going on with my communications with the seller

How does one go about doing such a thing?

I can definitely see the argument for suriage. I think in February when I am there to see the polish in person I will make a final decision...but either way I will be posting some polished pics here! - thanks all for input!

@Jussi Ekholm that is good to know! So was in contact with seller and NBTHK says this piece is machiokuri only. The bottom mekugi ana is indeed the original, however this was originally an uchigatana, then machiokuri by about 4cm. Registration paper labels as katana but TokuHo registers as wakizashi, nagasa 60cm, original nagasa about 64cm. I will say the chestnut shaped nakagojiri seems atypical for Kanenobu though. Seems machiokuri might have been done to change this from a one hander to a two hander.