Opinions wanted

[nickm]

So a friend of mine just purchased this on eBay.  Ofcourse I told him eBay is a frightening place and best to steer clear but so it goes. He sent me some pictures of the listing and was wondering what u guys think of it.. He paid 1100 for it before I knew he bought it.. I have referred him to the for sale section here for future purchases. It is 60 cm so not sure if it would be an uchigatana or an o-wakizashi.  It doesn't seem like the worst buy but eBay is just such a scary place

[Stephen]

I think he did ok, the small pics really dont tell us all that may be wrong or right.

[Shugyosha]

Hi Nick, 

I don’t think that’s terrible for 1,100 bucks - he might have paid less on here but I paid more and got less with my first blade.
 

It’s genuine blade, signed and in polish: hada can be seen and the hamon is interesting. Looks to be shinto, might be slightly machi okuri but other than that nothing to dislike as far as I can see from the photos. Hopefully he’ll have some fun trying to identify the smith. 

[DRDave]

Looks like 忠光 Tadamitsu https://nihontoclub.com/view/smiths/list?id_op=%3D&id=&name_op=starts&name=tadamitsu&kanji_op=%3D&kanji=&province=All&start_era=All&school_nid=All

[ChrisW]

Depends on its age. If it is older, then it would have been mounted as an uchigatana. But if its a younger blade, then it is simply an o-wakizashi made in the style of older blades. I see at least one of the holes is drifted, which may mean it is older.

Regardless, it looks like a healthy blade with some nice activity!

[RichardP]

Any pics of the boshi?  (Dunno if wakizashi from this smith/school were characteristically signed katana-mei, but hopefully we’re not looking at a katana that’s been shortened from the wrong end.)

[Alex A]

Looks to be a Katate-Uchigatana, Muromachi

 

Find many good Bizen examples dated to Eisho

 

Punched ana and slightly shortened in this manner is the norm

 

Look into work by this line of smiths and no doubt you will find matches to your sword, Tobiyaki  etc

 

Lots on the forum for these type of swords too

 

Some info in here