Jim P

Hi Arnold,You raise some very good points and I think you have to do your homework or you may find it’s not what you wanted and not happy with the outcome. Henk-Jan, You have to be careful when you recommend someone you have not had work done by him. All we have is a few photos and we don't know at which level they are plus the cost may be a lot different when you take in shipping, registration and customs and the level of polish. anyway each his own, Peter, Besides the price you have lost me (natural finish grindstone) ?

Hi Henk-Jan,Have you had work done by him ?

Hi Steve,Yes you are right if you know what you are doing in this case it should have been a ? why, as it was coming out of Japan for less than $800 we see this stuff all the time and how can the guys understand what they are buying if we just say great and don't point the way. B. Moore do a google for Sanetada from the Bizen school.and let us know what you come up with.You still did OK but look at it as a mumei blade and forget the paper

Hi B. Moore, You are going to find that a very hard task you need to get some books did you not think it strange yours was the only bid .

Hi, B. Moore, For a (16th Century Certificated Sanetada Signed Sword Japanese Muromachi Antique *1763:) you did well But the (usually, the Japanese swords has not polished perfectly for safety.) is a bit of a worry

Hi Markus, Thank you for the reply, I have also pondered on those issues from time to time and it does make you wonder. I think maybe you are right certain "trends" in descriptions maybe at play or sometimes descriptions lose something in translation I wonder if the Japanese version expresses it in the same way ? and is it perceived differently due to the description ? All kunishige’s work has uniform quality and as you say that would be the goal and all the traits are there, it’s hard to follow at times. Well in the end it reinforces to me that temperature control is critical, and how differences are perceived, and lastly how little I know about Kantei.

Hi Paul, I was trying understand his reasoning. The only thing I could see that was not on other examples was the big dip at the machi but again he could have done it deliberately so you are back to what is individual interpretation. So I am in agreement (I think I would question anyone’s ability to determine whether some slight variation was meant to be there or an accident.) when I first looked at this I thought that you can see what he is seeing if you break it down but again as happens a lot in Nihonto its subject to interpretation . I also follow the ongoing debates as to whether Utsuri is deliberate or accidental or whether mune-yaki was intentional or just the result of clay falling off, I always thought if you make something with a set formula and you know the result it is intentional. I was speaking with a friend last week about a hitasura blade and I was looking at mune-yaki (as I could not see it on the blade) as one of the things to try and work out age. Papers had thought shinshinto, I thought rightly or wrongly that the shinshinto hitasura examples did seem to have a more controlled feel and hataraki was profuse eg. sunagashi, so I sided with shinshinto not koto as the look of the blade suggested and most of my friends thought, so again I would have to side with intentional as I look at how temperature is a big decider of what you get (control is critical)

Hi Paul/Geraint, I was asking how did they come to the conclusion that the hamon was not what was intended when the Yakiire was done. If you look at the work of kunishige most of the features are common in his work. I thought maybe it was because the hamon suddenly goes inward at the machi and that’s how they can tell it was meant to be suguha and with Yasutsugu the boshi is close to the one in the link so I am trying to understand what they are seeing that make them think it is not right. I think most of us would not pick them as all that different and just a variation from their normal work. If they were mumei probably most would just use Den in the description and not pick up on the change ? it's amazing the level of skill of the commentator .

Hi Guys, It’s been a bit slow so I thought I would ask a question I was reading some old copy’s of Token Bijutsu the other day and thought it interesting that they could tell that a sword was different from what was intended. So how do you conclude that the original suguha has changed ? on the Kunishige is it because of the shima-ba and hotsure or because the hamon suddenly goes inward at the machi ? when I looked at the few shintogo kunishige I could find on the web it did not help much. I see that Hasebe Kuninobu http://www.nihonto.com/11.6.14.htmlalso has a shallow notare, and hotsure Fred states the Hasebe School, generally tempered a hamon that is essentially ko-notare. So one more, Echizen Yasutsugu Katana this time it’s the boshi. http://nihonto.com/abtartyasutsugu.html Thoughts

When this was posted I had a look and thought Sue Koto Bizen why ? I had seen a Sukesada that looked like this blade it was on Adrian"s samuraiantiques not that long ago. Some of the oz members may remember it, the one with the yellow saya. But its not on the site now.

Hi John, You said , (Don't put too much faith in the "online kantei" process you see occurring here often. Notice how when these little "online kantei" sessions pop up here on NMB, everybody avoids words that indicate a tone of certainty in their comments) Because we are looking at photos so have to err on the side of caution but you will find most of the time you will get a lot more insight but this is not shinsa also some do not like what they hear so dismiss the thoughts and process (The mei looks like it has aged evenly with the rest of the patina on the Nakago.) A lot of Bungo Takada swords were made into gimei hizen blades at that time so maybe start there ("Most blades were signed tachi mei until Muromachi." (I'm referencing the NCJSC's site on that) The tachi mei nature of your blade does not prevent it from being Hizen.) But a lot more unlikely Suguha-hamon and konuka-hada were a main stay of the Hizen school.have a look at some Tadahiro blades, http://www.aoijapan.com/img/sword/2015/15218-2.jpg http://www.aoijapan.com/img/sword/2014/14857-2.jpg http://www.aoijapan.com/img/sword/2010/10142-2.jpg and my Hizen Tadakuni (First generation) for a close up of konuka-hada then a gimei one for comparison http://www.nihonto.com.au/html/tadahiro_katana.html John, it lacks the qualities of the smith have a good look at tadahiro, But you never know only shinsa will tell

Hi Peter,Age of this blade?if it is Sukesada school, looks like late Muromachi period http://samuraiantiques.com/new-page-10.htm

Hi Jean, That's a excellent Buy

Hi John, Mekugi-ana holes don’t mean much, and IMHO the pointers don’t point to nanbokucho. So try having a look a Yosozaemon Sukesada like these 2 from Darcy’s site and a lot more on the web. http://www.nihonto.ca/yosozaemon-sukesada-2/ http://www.nihonto.ca/yosozaemon-sukesada-3/ also have a look at the Nakago and tell me what you see ? I can think of 3 things that I have a ? about

Hi John, IMHO.The description is a long stretch, I don’t think its nanbokucho era or Yosozaemon Sukesada the only part IMHO that is a good bet is Late Muromachi or later and no close up of the Nakago which in this case needs a closer look. Hamish I am with you

Hi Chad,Can not find much on this smith fujishiro's ,

Hi YZed426, The sword is (WWII era). It looks a like oil temper (Showato) with a showa stamp its non-traditionally made. You said (I'm hoping its not worth much) your hope has been fulfilled Have a look at ebay for a idea of prices the surrender tag still is attached and it has a sword tassel, that helps :)one of the other guys will give you a Translation of the mei. Also can you give us a name to call you besides YZed426

Hi Bazza, 37 years now that's perseverance ! When I had a look at this sword in hand a few weeks ago, I was thinking nice sword! but looking at Andrew's photos its a lot better than nice I don't know about some of the other guys but my eyes are not what they used to be and sometimes I need photos so I can really see, this was one of those times Congratulations to you and Andrew, I think Brian and RichT said it all and things can only get better

Thanks Markus, Great work! and also thanks for the kantei work we all benefit from your generosity

Darcy, I am with you,, I also miss the 1 step cut and paste. Brian now I understand why the ( Regular right click and paste is deliberately excluded from most forum software now-days due to some security issues it can present.)

Hi Chris, Do you think you could give us a hand with the order form and we can try to order some of the products ? Derek if you get a email back can you let us know as there is a few of us wanting to get products from them. Thank you order form.pdf

Hi Derek,I had been looking for Uchiko Powder and some Fujishiro oil for a long time and tracked down what I think is Fujishiros site but I am not 100% as I can not read Japanese and Google was not much help http://www.nihontou.net/hanbai.htm But the order form is in Japanese so we need Chris or one of the Japanese speakers to see if they ship outside Japan and how to order. Hope this helps PS I have tried the link (not working) but when I cut and paste it works but not if you click the link ? (link fixed - Admin)

Hi Pablo, Yes you need to take some better photos like what was asked in http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/16047-refinish-and-polish-or-not and some of the rust spots so we can get an idea how bad they are.

Hi Richard, You need to take some better photos to get help as it’s not possible at the moment. Take one of the Mei, the Kissaki, and the Hamachi/Munemachi with the habaki off so we can see the kasane (thickness) at that spot. But franco may be right (high heat) as no hamon can be seen and that would be bad, but that’s based on the photos you have put up. It does look late muromachi / Shinto but Grey has given you the best advice( the polisher will tell you what you need to know.)

Hi Jason ,IMHO,For the sake of clarity Yakuza" papers do not have much to do with what we were speaking of on the other board. Yakuza" papers by definition were suspect attributions on a very small number of high end sword papers that were given by some small branches a long time ago so I don’t know why it slipped into the conversation on Tokubetsu Kicho papers, as was stated most of us have nothing to worry about. So we can sleep easy in our beds, Barry’s post is good advice( Does the paper agree with your attribution of the piece?) If you know that attribution Before you dive in there is a lot less chance of drowning PS Jason, It’s much better to have the picture on site than offsite as if it’s on the board it will stay with the post I have seen old posts that no longer have the photo linked