Harlekin2xs

Thanks for the link. I´ll see what the future brings Still searching and reading.

Hello again, The search continues 😅 even though chances are someone else might snatch them, i thought i’d share what i found over the weekend. This has an awesome looking hamon under light, it also states the pricing is because of polishing needs. Has no papers, which i’m not sure about. Any experience with the seller? Polishing it would be in budget i guess, any recommendations in Japan? Should i ask the seller? If polished might as well see if it gets any papers 🤷‍♂️ https://shop.nihontou.jp/products/detail/31634#gallery-1 Or this one, just no good pictures with light.. https://www.token-net.com/token/202509-46.html As you see i’m not looking for names or schools or regions in particular. Also some modern ones, they just lack the history part of things, otherwise are what i’m looking for more or less. https://world-seiyudo.com/product/ka-080325/ and this one, which looks great 👍 https://katanahanbai.com/en/katana/katana-higonokuni-akamatsutaro-kanehiro/ Thanks for opinions! Christopher

Thanks for these, the 2 aoi i had seen on my hunt. The shinto at least for the pictures for me was less interestinf than the fuyuhiro. The shinshinto is nice, probably did filter it out because of the period 🤷‍♂️

Lovely item - i don’t even dare to ask them for a price 😅

Totally my taste - well aware it most likely is at least double my budget or even more 🙈

Just to give you some examples fo visual things that i get attracted to: https://www.giapponeserie.com/nihonto5.htm This one ticks a lot of boxes. Just not the period and it doesn´t come with papers. Plus, i see something that looks like a crack starting at the mune machi, a silver line visible on both sides. So i believe that might be why it is not papered... again i might be completely wrong. https://www.nipponto.co.jp/swords2/KT221833.htm the pictures that show it under light, the blade itself faint and in need of a polish. but i might be wrong with that. https://www.nipponto.co.jp/swords11/NT334721.htm Hamon under light looks pale, but jihada and the hamon line itself looks nice..

Thanks for all the statements and opinions, that was exactly what i was looking for. Do you have any suggestions on "search terms" or keywords when siftig through the several vendors? Unfortunately this year i´m already away for the https://www.japanartfair.com/ So nothing i can take a look in person currently. I have to say unique Japan offers the best pictures and descriptions of any vendor that i´ve seen, would love to get something like those more often. @anguilla1980 i understand you in regards of utsuri and and hamon. for me its also not so much the line, but from the blades i´ve seen the types of hamon i mentioned usually have the most going on in the utsuri with ashi and such.

Thanks everybody for the reply and the feedback. Especially for the eirakudo listing. I was sceptical on the information given, I´m not able to read or translate the nbthk paper nor the sayagaki myself, but i asked several AI to do so, and it seems to not match what they described in the listing. And @atm @Rivkin pointed out correctly, is very misleading and not strenghtening the trust in buying this. Aoi on the other hand offered sayagaki from Mr. Tanobe sensei at a little extra cost, and they seemed more honest with the information given. I thought this would make that blade a little more interesting. They said their attribution to fuyuhiro (1st gen) is from their experience and not from the nbthk paper when i asked, and they trust that Mr Tanobe sensei would agree with their estimate. As for budget, i was looking at blades between 0 and 1600000 yen. So there will be something left for import taxes, shipping and vat. which adds up quickly. Wish would be early edo period and below (muromachi, nanbokucho..). This probably already limits the amount of nihonto available, even more so if you look at my "wishlist" of specs. If it came with a nice shirasaya and a well made sayagaki i´d be very happy. I´m aware that there are modern smiths too which make very nice blades, sometimes with soshu influence. Those would be the nicest probably because of their overall condition and less polishing and scratches and such over the decades. Still i like having a piece with history in hand, just to imagine what it might have seen over the hundreds of years it was appreciated by other individuals. Anyway, in november last year i was in Japan for the first time, so i went to every place that had swords on display that i could find. Saw a lot of nice blades, held none made tons of pictures and videos, but quickly realized that the blades who i would desire most, are likely out of budget. I found out that my taste in anything quickly turns up with the more expensive items... I´ve been collecting knives for years and oh you can get very pricey with them as well depending on materials and craftsmenship and so on. Until now, i have a tanto without papers from aoi, and a yari (also no papers) from touken komachi which is in the process of getting a koshirae made. I´m trying to get familiar with all the terms of nihonto through reading: The connoisseur´s book of Japanese swords and so on. https://archive.org/details/connoisseursbook0000naga/page/n11/mode/1up Anyway, just by looking at blades i quickly realized that i like: Kissaki: chu-kissaki and better o-kissaki Jihada: mokume-hada or itame-hada Hamon: Hitatsura, Midare, choji and variations of those Lenght: 66cm plus (just a personal preference) I guess i´m looking at the usual suspects online. I´ve also checked in with unique japans mailing list, but missed 3 blades already, because the seem to sell within hours or even minutes after release, or are simply out of budget. Probably because of my limited budget and desired specs, nihonto like that don´t show up that often online, and if they do they sell quickly. Hence i started looking at other nihonto that tick some boxes and are as close to what i desire as they get. Thanks again for reading and your education.

Hello Everyone! I´m new to the board and on the hunt for my first nihonto. Currently i think about these 2: https://eirakudo.shop/521344 https://www.aoijapan.com/katana-fuyuhiro-the-first-gennbthk-tokubetsu-hozon-token-consignment-sale/ What do you think about these? I know i´m drawn to soshu style blades and bigger kissaki, nice jihada, chaotic hamons with a lot going on. Just from a collector perspective which one would you pick and why? Thanks in advance, be gentle with a newbie Chris