Opinions About A Sword?

[Krystian]

Hello, 

 

I purchased this blade and thought that It will be a good fit for tameshigiri. But there seem to be a lot of activity on the hamon so now I do not know what to do. Could you give me your opinions? Use It for tameshigiri or maybe invest and have it polished? 

 

Size: 

 

Blade: 60 cm 

Motohaba: 31,8 mm

Motokasane: 7,8 mm

Sakihaba: 21,3 mm

Sakikasane: 5,5 mm

Sori: 8mm

 

 

 

Thank you in advance for all comment. 

 

Best Regards, 

 

Krystian 

[Guest Rayhan]

Hmmm! Any shots on the Nakago? Closer on the sugata and better shots on the Jigane?

[Katsujinken]

How tall are you? 60 cm is quite short for a sword you would use for practice unless you are only about 5 feet tall...

[PNSSHOGUN]

60cm is very small for a Tameshi blade. My other thought is why are you buying Nihonto for Tameshi and not modern martial arts swords?

[Guest Rayhan]

They are right Krystian, but you asked before doing so, so its good. At least the questions raised have affirmed that it is a nihonto so any more pics would help

[Krystian]

Well I thought that this is a modern made nihonto with artificial patina on nakago. Based on size of motohaba I would also say that it was made for cutting? So exactly what you guys say I should get for tamishigiri...

 

But now I am not certain and that is why I ask members of this board who have much more knowledge than I do.  

 

I add few more pictures. I am sorry but this is the best my ability allow me to do:(

[Guest Rayhan]

Bro(can i say bro) , honestly its an old sword but nakago patina looks a bit modified. Or nakago is a bit modified lol, either way don't use it for cutting until you find out more

[Katsujinken]

Krystian,

 

There are a few good sources of good modern swords for tameshigiri.

 

What’s your budget? What style of swordsmanship are you studying, and where? How tall are you?

 

Answering these questions and more will help us help you. :-)

[Mark S.]

Most important question... what does your tameshigiri teacher recommend? No offense, but if you are not in a position to know what type of live blade you should be using, you shouldn’t be cutting with said blade without the direct supervision of someone who does know. THAT is the FIRST person you should be asking... and I say that giving all due respect to the members here...

[Krystian]

Thank you guys. As far as I understand you consider it to be a shinshinto blade but not good enough to be worth giving it a proper polish? 

[Katsujinken]

Most important question... what does your tameshigiri teacher recommend? No offense, but if you are not in a position to know what type of live blade you should be using, you shouldn’t be cutting with said blade without the direct supervision of someone who does know. THAT is the FIRST person you should be asking... and I say that giving all due respect to the members here...

Also this! Mark is absolutely correct.

 

And I’ll say again, unless you are 5 feet tall, a 60cm nagasa will not be appropriate for you. That’s technically a katana, but just barely.

 

Finally, any kind of art polish will be wasted on a cutting sword because of how much abuse they take.

[SwordGuyJoe]

Thank you guys. As far as I understand you consider it to be a shinshinto blade but not good enough to be worth giving it a proper polish?

It’s tough to say conclusively what era this is from the pictures. The sugata to me says shinto (perhaps Kanbun), but it could easily be shinshinto. To your question of cut or polish. I’m a collector and not practitioner, so as such, I’d say do not cut with it because you run the risk of damaging the blade. That said, I also realize it is your sword and you can do with it what you like.

 

I would propose a third option and a strong recommendation. Send it to shinsa before deciding on which of the two options to engage on. There are shinsa’s in The US nearly every year now, if you need a faster answer, you could send to Japan. You’ll be into the blade an extra few hundred dollars, but the polish is decent enough that an opinion of what it is, when it was forged, and the group and potentially the exact smith that made it should be able to be rendered.

 

With this, you will be able to know how financially viable a polish is and if it isn’t, the selling the sword should be “easier” as you can provide additional information that may help buyer decide to shell out the money. But again, I wouldn’t cut with it.

[SAS]

The state of polish seems to have been tampered with by an unskilled person, and some form of acid enhancement may have been applied to make the hamon more apparent.