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Ron, I figured that you, piers or Ian would recognize what this was....in fact the only way I knew was from Piers picture, thats what I like about this forum...I just thought it was funny that I would see one right after reading Piers description.

I am sure that someone here can identify this object.

Here is one for sale which is supposed to be real. http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... /tanto.htm

plain mineral oil...not baby oil..unscented

If you dont mind telling how you came about finding this sword I am sure everyone would like to hear the story!!!

Damien, people on the forum would be happy to see you pick up the correct names for all the various parts of your sword. 1500s if the date and signature were not added later in an attempt to fool someone...the mei on your sword can be compared to known examples to see if it looks the same, also the style of your sword can be compared to the style of the era it was supposed to have been made in to see it matches or if it is more modern. You have a lot of work left.

Damien, here is a link to a sword glossary, it will help with communicating the proper words for the parts of your sword to whoever you are talking with. http://members.shaw.ca/nihontonut/glossary.html

...There is always a link to better pictures on Daimyou's ebay offers... But of course you have to examine the images carefully. I bought a (<200$) wakizashi last year and I was surprised, that it was mechanically grinded which I could not detect from the images (but it needs a polish anyway). I do not know why he/she or who else does this damage to the blades - to make them more shiny for the ebay photo shooting? Recently I asked him why these blades are so badly grinded. He didn't anwer my question (language problems?) but the gist of what he wrote was, the cheaper blades are so cheap because nobody would buy them for higher prices... -> so they are obviously "LOW-end" blades and no hidden treasures (but still cheaper than Paul Chen :-)) Here you can see the strange grinding (noted on more than only once) on a "blade" offered currently: http://daimyou54jp.web.infoseek.co.jp/D4-135/IMG_2073.JPG A new rust removal method?

Andrew, how wide is the back edge of the blade at its widest area...where the habaki was covering the blade. Is it over 1/4 inch.

Jason, if an item of Daimyou is labled as Edo period, high grade etc then it probably is ....but remember that the Edo period can mean from the 1600s to the 1860s... he usually does not state the condition of an item and asks you to rely on the close up pictures he provides which covers him for the most part. If you are able to risk a few hundred dollars without harming your finances then the worst that can happen is that you end up with a not so great Edo period sword. He sells a huge amount of items and a negative feedback will not hurt him at all.

Tony, most knowledgeable people will not buy an EXPENSIVE item from Daimyou without being absolutely certain of what they are buying and a lot of people will not buy ANYTHING from him no matter what, this is because of his habit of mixing authentic antiques with replica and vintage items and not CLEARLY labeling his items despite seemingly knowing the true nature of what he sells. Because of this sometimes his best (and most expensive) items remain unsold for quite a while until someone gets lured in or the price drops enough to take the risk. If you are interested in swords you can find a lot better sellers here on forum, people here will be more than happy to direct you to reputable collectors and dealers, if on the other hand you are interested in seeing Japanese items or samurai items in general then Daimyou's site is good to watch as you can see a lot of interesting things being sold there and you can sometimes get a good buy if you are willing to take a risk

Andrew, I am not an expert but it looks quite old......can you remove the habaki, this might reveal some more info that will help the more knowledgeable people here.

George, sorry to have side tracked your topic, the whole tang stamp discussion is rather hard to get a grasp on, so many different opinions and so much conflicting information.

Ian, that makes a lot of sense, no one wants to become obsolete...then or now.

Thanks Peter and David, this sword has been stored for awhile and other than taking pictures I never really took the time to look at it carefully. The problem I have is that I have not seen a good source with pictures as well as descriptions of what to look for and to tell you the truth I see blades all the time being called gendai which from a picture do not look much better, so as Peter said ..that without seeing more examples in hand it is quite hard to be sure of what to look for. I have a couple of seki stamped blades were there is no doubt at all that they are not traditional made and I have some high quality non stamped traditional blades which are easy to see.......but when it comes to the low quality traditional and the high quality non traditional its not as easy...for me at least. I will have to take them all out and do some side by side comparing, Thanks for the help!

Ian, what I was thinking about was the period before the introduction of European firearms. Is there any evidence that the Japanese used or made the types of pole and hand cannons pictured here or did they only take notice of firearms when introduced to the European types prior to the Edo period. Giving up the Gun sounds interesting, I will put it on my ever growing list.

David is right its probably oil tempered. The nioiguchi is the give away. I am sure this subject has been brought up before but can you elaborate a bit more on how the nioiguchi looks on an oil quenched blade compared to a water quenched one?

By the Edo period the Japanese seemed to have gone crazy over guns. Is there any evidence that the Japanese used the types of firearms pictured here before the European style of guns appeared. Its hard to believe they just ignored guns until right before the Edo period.

I agree completely, John...any more pictures hidden away?

David, can you let me know what you see that makes you think this is an oil temper? Thanks.

George, here is an example of a showa stamped katana which looks traditional, should I assume the it is made with something other than tamahagane but still made in a traditional manner? I am still trying to understand this. Thanks for the info. It is supposed to be signed "Ikami Sadahiro"

John, were did you get these pictures, they are great.

I think there are more pictures and info on Japanese, Chinese etc firearms here then any were else on the internet, someone could write a book on whats here. One more>>

John, great picture. I have seen some of the weapons shown in the lower left corner and did not know what they were.

Mr Jones, there is a video of a new replica being fired online but thus one is much better. Even if fired using a more traditional method (I am assuming that the method used was not available until more recently) it would have been an awesome weapon to have come up against.