Jim P

Nice work

Hi Darcy, Thanks for taking the time to reply, I did look at the one on your site before posting and there is some similarity in the hamon and the ji-gane looks bizen ( what I can see of it ) The sword is a bit more tired than the one on your site so some of the things you mention may be because of that so will try and get someone to look at it and in the meantime see if I can get some more detailed pics the chances are its not by him but still a interesting blade

Hi Paul, At least you had an idea that it was probably Shin-Shinto. I would be surprised if this one ended up Shin-Shinto but as you know I am not great at kantei . Hi Jean, Thanks for your thoughts, I decided to have a second look as I saw that someone thought enough of the blade to put a gold habaki on it. also in its past someone also thought enough of it to get a bohi cut after it was shortened

Hi Paul, I think there must be a few of them (sayagaki claiming its Kanemitsu) Now if that blade can get by you then the rest of us do not have much chance. I think that its old and bizen from what I saw but as you say it may well be shin-shinto or even gendaito I will take some better Pics if I can and see if that helps

Hi Hamfish, The sword is out of polish that's why the pics are not good even if he takes some more time (40m) it would not help much its not my sword but was asked to look at it so trying to work out if the sword is worth a window being done. Now *how could even the most educated person comment.) Well I think we can comment on shape, period, does it look like a bizen blade ? hamon, well what we see of it. Hi Jean, I am not saying that's its by Kanemitsu, I don't know who the smith is, that's why I said If ? and as for sayagaki I also don't know if its reliable ? but it has a good chance that its bizen and that is a good starting point. My thoughts so far are its a mid 1500s sword but it could be a bit older ? But I will try to get some better pics of what I can

Hi Guys, This sword is out of polish and O-suriage but you can see bits of gonome-midare and choji-midare in the hamon the sayagaki says Bishu Osafune ju Kanemitsu so if its a bizen Kanemitsu, which one ? thoughts ? also remember reading that if the gonome-midare hamon straitens out in the top part of the blade its a later smith ?

Hard to hold but a late bizen blade and fittings by myochin ? http://www.nipponto.co.jp/swords3/KT324760.htm

Hi Darcy, I had a look at a few Yoshimichi most of the ones I looked at did not have sudareba about 60% and looking at this blade it has some of the form that makes up sudareba so maybe a mix ? or just the polish ? we will see when the polish is finished .I enjoy doing a bit of kantei right or wrong it helps improve our skills Hi Jacques, Saw that the atari was pointing the wrong way and looked off is that what you are pointing to ? it should be pointing down when this was first posted I had a look at a few and some characters vary a bit but the only one that had it in this place was yamato no kami yoshimich but the rest of the mei does not match look at pic For those that want a good article on the kyoto yoshimich's mei have a look at TOKEN TO REKISHI Issue 614 IMHO if you take all of the info together it has a good chance at shoshin,

Thanks Darcy, I also had a tinge of doubt when I first looked a the pics but put it down to the polish not being finished ? thanks Sylvain for posting it

I agree with Jean that's sudareba let us know if you submit for papers and what the result is

James,Hirokane.

Brian is right as usual, (Everyone wants a Koto) that why the better ones cost a lot more, old does not imply better and at the lower end of the koto market kazu-uchimono, tired, and blades with flaws abound. I would prefer a good shinto than a bad koto. John, I think I remember someone saying that NBTHK had never heard of Kobayashi Yukinobu being on their shinsa panel, ?

Darius, If this is the sword, http://www.ebay.com/itm/Papered-Mutsu-No-Kami-Kaneyasu-Katana-Nagasa-65-9-cm-25-94-inch-U-88-/221946884613?rmvSB=true I would ask for a close up of the boshi and mei, Its interesting they took pics, but no close ups of the mei or boshi and no close ups of the blade ? The papers by JTK (Juho Token Kenkyukai) I would be wary of and do my homework

Hi Sylvain, IMHO I am surprised the polisher would say that, yes there is variation in the way a smith signed but they did not have bad days and your mei has some differences that I had a ? about for example Hawley lists 3 generations so have put up some shoshin mei from Aoi art what do you think ? the Yasurime looks ok but the mei has some ? I would be interested to find out who signed it if its shoshin

Hi Sylvain, IMHO. I think you should get it to shinsa , I had a look at a few references and had no luck matching it to Osaka or Kyoto has the polisher given a opinion on the mei ? As you say ( I can guess the sudare ba design of the hamon within the rust, ) are you 100% its sudare ba ?

Ben,The only Ieyoshi I could find does not look good

Hi Ben,We do have a group of Melbourne collectors that get together a few times a year if you show an interest we are always there to help, just message me Ben Its good to look at the sa school but IMHO that would be a long shot as its probably gimei as Sa Yasuyoshi would be a target for gimei

Hi Ben, If it is Yasuyosh,as its not a clear enough pic but IMHO Sa Yasuyoshi does not match from the mei I looked at. So,, later gen ? or one of the other Yasuyoshi and there are a few or gimei ? ( Dr. Honma Junji in Nihon Koto Shi said that There is a possibility that there is another Yasuyoshi, who belongs to the Sa school, inferring from the extant tanto with the mei of Yasuyoshi in a different style) but it does not look like sa school work from the Pics I don't have mei of this Yasuyoshi but IMHO this is a mid to late muromachi period blade/ my 2 cents worth it may be gimei ? some info on the school http://www.nihonto.com/abtartchikuzensa.html eg.one kantei point look at the boshi.The Sa boshi will be almost pointed, look at https://markussesko.com/2015/06/10/kantei-3-hamon-boshi-3/ taore-bōshi (倒れ帽子)

Hi Kam, IMHO. Your observations are correct, I think part of the problem is some don't know enough to pick the difference between passable and excellent work. I know I am still learning but know enough to do my homework

Hi, Sword Dance's have been posted before ONIKENBAI

HI Bruno, Hirotoki (広辰・廣辰) Mino, 1st generation, Kan´ei (寛永, 1624-1644) from the Shinto Meikan

Hi Gustaf, IMHO this is late Late-Muromachi, Sue Mihara is a good call also have a look at Settsu Masaie as i think he is a good chance have a look at a few of the Masaie,s from Hawley that should get you started Masaiye Yamato Daijo Fujiwara Masaiye Harima 1615 15 MAS0251 1st generation Shinto. Mokume, gonome-midare, suguba. Masaiye Fujiwara Masaiye Harima 1572 15 MAS0250 1st generation Koto. Mokume, masame, suguba, gonome-midare. Masaiye Banshu Himeji ju Yamato Daijo Fujiwara Masaiye Harima 1615 15 MAS0251 1st generation Shinto Mokume, gonome-midare, suguba. Masaiye Yamato no Kami Fujiwara Masaiye Harima 1615 15 MAS0251 1st generation Shinto. Mokume, gonome-midare, suguba. Masaiye Masaiye Settsu 1573 15 MAS0258 2 character signature. Masaiye (Bishu) Mihara ju Masaiye Bingo 1532 15 MAS0244 Mokume, masame, suguba. Masaiye (Bishu) Mihara ju Masaiye Bingo 1573 80 MAS0245 Suguba, gonome-midare.

Hi Jean, It had me thinking maybe Kyushu and Chikuzen Kongobyoe but then Uda is a not a bad bet

Hi Gordon, A quick look at a few tadayoshi I think you are right to think ? but need pictures of the blade to get a better idea

Hi Brian, I had the chance to see a shinshinto blade just finished by Andew Ickeringill he was able to bring out the grain on a Mujitetsu blade so you could see the detail that was invisible before and IMHO he is way ahead. I have seen a few done by Bob, good work but in IMHO even some of the Japanese don’t match his work. This is a quote from our conversation about that blade, (The jigane came up well , as you say it's not mujitetsu, but it is very fine and tight. I spent a lot of time bringing it out and I think most polisher's wouldn't have bothered and just said it's shinshinto so should be muji... but it shouldn't be, under natural and fluro light it shows up very nice and even has quite a bit of chikei.) The boshi was not far off Ichimai and they are sometimes a bit hard to get right but it was very well presented and IMHO I think in time he will be one of the leading lights outside of Japan. PS. It was not my blade