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Hello: Thank you very much. Descending from the shinogi seems extremely weird and I don't recall ever seeing that before. Arnold F.

Hello: Do you see it now Jason? To my eyes the removed mark to the left is the strongest of the two and there are some gouges at the nakago end that one might wonder about. To add it is clear that the machi have been moved for some reason, perhaps part of the possible deception. I believe I am with you on the issue of it quite possibly being water tempered. I can only stress again how important it is to study the nakago as an entire piece. The older a blade gets the more important it is to also study the kissaki/boshi with great care. There are only a few Ko Bizen and in that group a surprising number with missing or modified boshi and they can be accepted to a degree, so that shows that nothing is absolute and age is a balm for many things with old swords, but for 20th century swords our judgment ought to be much tougher. By all means contact Aoi and let us know what they say. Arnold F.

Hello: I am getting into this rather late and am usually very reluctant to criticize anything for sale, but there are limits. My Tsuruta or his staff describes it as "Gunto", so perhaps an indication of something there or a red flag, however his oshigata clearly shows a well defined hamon and that wouldn't fit with oil tempered if it is true to what is seen. I think there might be another stamp that had been on it to the left of Brian's indication and at the same level. The biggest caution must be taken from the different yasuremi on the ura if carried as an uchigata-katana as it seems, curiously, to have been intended for. It is so deep and so different from the other side. For those just starting collecting I cannot stress strongly enough the importance of the nakago, not just the mei, but all of the proportions and the yasuremi must fit the period of manufacture, and correct yasuremi tends to vary little in any characteristic side to side. What might have been there? A shocking proportion of the value of any blade, ubu or suriage, is found in the nakago! I would not condemn any blade entirely without seeing it in hand, but I am very suspicious. Arnold F.

Hello: From the seppa-dai and kebori it appears to be a late Kyo-sukashi. Arnold F.

Hello: You might try putting a block of wood against the tsuka at the habaki juncture and hammering it smartly, being careful to avoid hitting the blade or habaki. You stand a good chance of the blade moving out of the tsuka. Arnold F.

Hello: Gold adds little than its market value and its use does not necessarily spell aesthetic quality. The tsuba on the other hands looks like a nice tachikanaguchi example, a little abuse not withstanding. Arnold F.

Hello: Ray is certainly correct in pointing out that all late koto Bizen incorporating "Bishu" in the mei are not necessarily kazuuchimono, far from it, but by the same token Jacques' warning about the danger of internet kantei is equally weighty. People literally travel thousands of miles, for example to the last Tampa show for the primary purpose of on hands study with the possibility of purchasing anything a distinct second. Some of those who attended the excellent NBTHK, AB display of Hizen were in that boat and all blades shown had explanatory information provided. At first glance the blade in question seemed to have a rather atypical hamon and a great deal of large nie - neither are damning but they need to be put in the broader context of blade weight, sugata, steel color, etc., all next to impossible to be seen carefully out of hand. Arnold F.

Hello: I have a nice koshirae with the tsuka which was originally a light tan suffering from too much handling with other than dirt and oil free hands. Does anyone know of cleaning method other than soap and water which would not endanger the same? Arnold

Hi Ray: Now I am confused! We talked about the eighth and I didn't scrutinize the nakago itself. Arnold F.

Hi Curran: Well that tanto by Kanenori is quite special and I considered it too. The through and through ken sukashi is most unusual, but really the most noteworthy thing is that Kanenori is perhaps the only smith who worked continuously from shinshinto when the tanto was made and dated, to Taisho and at the highest level of execution. Arnold F.

Hello Curran: Yes the fellow with the 6 for 6 did have some nice stuff including a nice tanto by Miyamoto Kanenori who would later become a pre-war Living National Treasure (there were only two, Kanenori and Sadakazu), and he got a 8th Gen. Tadayoshi papered, that smith being much elevated in appreciation in recent years and considered on the same footing as some of the early shinto era Hizen. Arnold F.

Hello: No Raynor, there were two paper types, salmon color for failed and plain white for passed and those papers gave quite a lot of information. I have been to many shinsa and in the old days we were commandered into doing the oshigata of the nakago. The point averages in Tampa were low, closer to the old days of Yoshikawa Koen, but if you got a paper you can be pretty sure it is right if signed and in the ballpark if mu mei, Arnold F.

Hello: I should have specified that my friend got six for six passes, hence the talk about interest. Arnold F.

Hello: Having just gotten home from Tampa and having had a couple of hours to observe the shinsa process in action, particularly the returning stage I can say for sure that the pass rate reflected sincere opinions and careful study by the team. Failure papers are salmon in color and there were a fair number of them coming through. A friend of mine got six for six and that is probably the only multi blade perfect score. A lot of care was taken with everything and the points awarded were on average quite low reflecting little extra reach to make anyone happy. Arnold F.

Hello: Just as your post says Peter, they are not all in Japan and even in Japan old swords are being newly registered every day. Arnold F.

Hello: The question was directed to "...good data or good guesses...", whereas the ensuing discussion has not risen above the undergraduate favorite of guess how many angels can stand on the head of a pin, or such like. I suspect that question cannot be answered without a huge plus or minus variation and a great dealod careful specification before that. Arnold F.

Hi: That is one terrific tsuba Richard! Arnold F.

Hello: You will want to go to the Southeast Shows and Auction brochure for the Tampa show Feb., 2015 wherein Bob Benson deals with Tanobe sayagaki in depth as they evolved and with illustrations. Arnold F.

Hello: "Underrated smiths"? There are several ways to define what is spoken of, individuals as in much of the foregoing, or groups. For the latter I would suggest looking into the "Ekiyo Bizen" group, running roughly from the start of Ekiyo, 1429 to the end of Kansho, 1466. that group has been furthered by the NBTHK in recent years, particularly Tanobe sensei. They transcend theOei blades which tend to reflect a rather peaceful time while at the same time the Ekiyo group tends to maintain nice utsuri which is often lost in later Sue Bizen. There also will be tachi thus catching the early transition to the mandatory uchigatana and wakizashi pairing. Well known smiths are Norimitsu, Sukemitsu, Toshimitsu, Tsuneie, etc. Moreover I suggest it is not helpful for the new collector to have Saijo this , Jo Jo that thrown around as if it were the map, after adjustment, to elevating one smith relative to another. For newer collectors the essential task is to figure out which blade in a pile is better than the next one down. That does not come from collecting Fujishiro or other rankings as the actual variance, particularly given the effects of time and care and use of any blade. There are some really impressive Chu (no) Jo blades out there and many Jo Jo which are shadows of their original selves. That differentiating knowledge can only come from hands on study. Arnold F

Hello: As long as you asked from the first view of it I tend to think Marius is on the right track, but with a deviation. One must consider it starting life as an old plate, battered and damaged with the ji-sukashi added at some point. Arnold F.

Hello: Muneaki but not found in Chapplear. Arnold F.

Hello: I think you are lucky to have, in the shinsa team's opinion, one of the better Ekiyo Bizen smiths who worked just between Oei and Sue Bizen. The blade appears to have been shortened prior to Keicho. The NBTHK has been trying to harden and differentiate that desigination in the last few years.

Hello: Having known Herman Wallinga well and sharing his interest in Minatogawa, and having contributed a thing or two to his now scarce publicat- ion, I can assure all that the Kikusui mon are individually cut, however variation should not be substantial. They are wonderful "treasures" to own. Arnold F.

Hello: I believe you are asking about the functional qualities of the sword qua sword and not its aesthetic assessment characteristics for surely beauty is always in the eye of the beholder and that varies from person. Much useful can be gleane d from the writings found in Facts and Fundamentals, many observations found in the older issues of Token to Rekishi, particularly from the days of the late Yoshikawa Koen, and from someoff hand observations of Alber Yamanaka who was to write in his Nihonto News-Letter, Vol.II, No. 4 (April, 1969), p. 31: "Today, we often hear reference to the Nihonto as an 'art sword'and this is quite correct since the sword has lost its primary function. (The) Japanese sword was made to kill and cut one's opponent with and its primary function was that and that alone. During the Tokugawa Period, the Samurai, not having much opportunity to use these swords in combat, the swords started to be called the 'soul of the Samurai',however, the primary function of the sword should not be forgotten. We are certain that no sword smith made or forged swords with the intention of turning out a great work of 'art'. though he certainly tried his best to turn out a very 'keen' blade. Such being the case, the cutting ability of the sword was a quality very much sought after." History is replete with blades that appear 'beautiful' but which might be functionally limited. The Mongol invasions showed that verticality in the yakiba, 'beautiful' as they were would tend to break when used against the against the invaders armor and what was needed was the eventual restriction to less wide yakiba and minimized vertical height. By the same token shinto swords with wide hard nie hamon combined with tight ji-gane were prone to breakage, hence the enthusiasm for cutting tests. Masahide initially thought that going back to koto models was the answer but in his later years he focused on suguba. Those swords that cut well will tend to have fairly narrow yakiba, sometimes rather indistinct nioi-guchi and masame running close to the yakiba. Beautiful ?, perhaps, functional yes. Arnold F. Please excuse the poor editing above as I can't get it to behave, however the drift should be clear.

Hello: "Enshin" one of the most respected Meiji and Taisho smiths will get you started. Arnold F.