Polishing Options in Canada for Muramachi Period Tanto (Masashige, Possible Muramasa School)

[Manchurian]

Hello everyone,
 

I have a Muramachi period tanto that has been appraised as Masashige, possibly from the Muramasa school. It will be arriving in Canada soon, and I am looking into proper polishing options.
 

So far, I have contacted Takeo Seki in Vancouver and am currently waiting for his reply. I also reached out to David Hofhine, but he let me know that he is no longer accepting international orders (including Canada) and is now focusing only on U.S. customers.

Does anyone here know of other polishers currently working in Canada, or have recommendations on trusted options that Canadian collectors usually go with? Any advice or experience would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

[Lewis B]

Assuming you purchased it in Japan, and it's still there, why not use a Japanese togishi? You will have far more options. btw welcome and it looks like you have a very interesting tanto. Does it have NBTHK papers?

[Rivkin]

The blade is in polish. It might be not the best, but its a relatively recent job. Hada is opening, as on many Muromachi pieces, and is rather unsightly. Otherwise, it is Soshu, with very long muneyaki and relatively quiet hamon, which could be lesser senjo or something like Masahiro lineage. The nakago's rather sharp tapering would lean towards the former, but there is a weird outline "jump" when it starts to narrow down, might be nothing, might be it has been reworked from a more broad version...

 

I would get papers first. It is a big question if another polish will substantially improve anything and there is one place where hamon runs very close to the edge, if not passes it. Still, it is late Muromachi Soshu, quite possibly Masahiro or Senjo school.

[Bugyotsuji]

勢州住 is living in Seishu (Ise), and the date given in the sayagaki is 天正 Tensho period.

[Robert S]

I believe that David Hofhine will work on it if you can ship from and to an address in the US - depends on how close you are to the border and a US postal address service.  In Vancouver they're in Point Roberts :-).  But he has at least a 2 year waiting list, or did last time I checked.

[Manchurian]

On 9/23/2025 at 11:07 PM, Lewis B said:

Assuming you purchased it in Japan, and it's still there, why not use a Japanese togishi? You will have far more options. btw welcome and it looks like you have a very interesting tanto. Does it have NBTHK papers?

This is my first real Nihonto, I can’t wait to get my hands on it!

 

I assumed most Japanese Togishi got very long waitlist.

[Manchurian]

On 9/23/2025 at 11:07 PM, Lewis B said:

Assuming you purchased it in Japan, and it's still there, why not use a Japanese togishi? You will have far more options. btw welcome and it looks like you have a very interesting tanto. Does it have NBTHK papers?

And unfortunately it doesn’t have any papers

[Lewis B]

48 minutes ago, Manchurian said:

 

 

I assumed most Japanese Togishi got very long waitlist.

Not necessarily. A lot will depend on the togishi, how interested he is (some will bump other obligations if the blade is particularly exciting to them). I've heard of 6-12 months is possible for some top level Japanese polishers. Talk to Paul Kremers. https://tsuba.info/