Wakizashi from Shinto period

[jeremy]

I am thinking about purchasing this wakizashi, so I am asking the more experienced members of this forum what their opinion is of this blade. Any opinions of the mei, the condition of the blade, the price etc is what Im asking mainly. I am aware that it is no national treasure, but if it is worth the cash ($840USD), then I may seriously consider buying it. If anyone here can also give me questions that i can ask the seller, that would be of help also. Thanks in advance.

 

http://www.genuine-antique-swords.com/s ... dayuki.htm

 

Kind regards,

 

 

Jeremy Hagop

[David Flynn]

The mountings are lower quality and the blade looks tired.

[Gunome]

Hello,

If anyone here can also give me questions that i can ask the seller, that would be of help also.

 

You could ask seller if this blade suffer from kizu and which one. Does it has hagire, fukure, ...

The state of polish and does it has enought niku for a further polish ?

 

Sebastien

[jeremy]

Thanks for your help guys. The description of the blade is below:

 

Whole length 74.5cm.Blade length 54cm.Motohaba 3.1cm.

Sakihaba 1.9cm.Sori 4 bu.Motokasane 0.9cm.

Hamon (Temper) Gunome-choji

Kitae Tight Koitame.One forging mark observed.

Era Manji(1658-1660)era

Fitting Solid Wakizashi Koshirae.Kozuka missing.Good tight binding.

Well made quality of Fuchi and Kashira,Menuki.

Signature Fujiwara no Sadayuki

Description There is small chip on Monouchi.This blade been used in some reason and must be polished by professionaly long time ago.Someone cleaned up well after ww2 period sometime and good clean condition but not fully polished by Japanese Togishi.

 

 

I will give the seller a call, if I get positive answers from more people on this forum.

 

Kind regards,

 

Jeremy Hagop

[Stephen]

Well the fittings are not the best but all this for under 900? dont know where your going to find one for less, ask for a return if your not happy with it. If hes a good dealer he'll stand by the offer.

[Jean]

Undoubtedly, the blade is tired, some kizu, perhaps shingane showing ...

 

Perhaps it will polish well but some kizu shall remain...The tsuka : same, F/K, menuki are low quality... but for 850$ you cannot expect much, it is worth its price

[jeremy]

Does the blade appear to be genuinely from the shinto period and what do you guys think of the mei?

 

Kind regards,

 

Jeremy Hagop

[Gunome]

Hello,

 

Be aware that if you would polish this blade, you would spend a least $1000.

[sanjuro]

General opinion only....... For a fully mounted sword and the money being asked, I would ask why?.... if this were a good blade, gimei or not, it would be worth more. Polishing this blade would be a risk and it would be more than the sword is presently worth.

 

IMHO, Better to save more money or commit more money to the purchase of a better quality sword.

[Surfson]

At the price, it's an ok starter sword I think. I wouldn't invest in a polish - enjoy it, study it, and when you're ready to move up, you shouldn't have a problem selling it at that price on ebay. It looks like it is tired, has kizus and the chip in the monouchi would eventually grate. I didn't study the mei.

[Grey Doffin]

Jeremy,

While the sword may be worth what is being asked I would recommend against buying it. I don't think there will be much to be learned from owning it, other than that you should have bought a better sword to study. Shortly after receiving it you'll be wanting something different.

Save this money about 3 or 4 times and you'll have enough to buy a Shinto wakizashi by a good smith, in polish and even with papers. You might even get nice koshirae at that price. If you do your homework in the meantime and shop wisely, when the time comes to move on from the sword you buy, you'll get your full investment and maybe even more back.

Grey

[jeremy]

Thanks to everyone who replied to this thread. I will contact the seller and ask him if i can get a full refund of my money if I am not happy with this purchase, if I do indeed go ahead and buy it. He seems to have some other nicer, but more pricier wakizashi on his website, that I may save up for.

 

Kind regards,

 

Jeremy Hagop

[Jean]

I agree with Grey and what has been said against this sword.

 

I would like to add something :

 

NO ONE CAN LEARN/STUDY ANYTHING FROM AN OUT OF POLISH BLADE

[Stephen]

Grey, Jean, yes right , but not all want to be a Nihontophile grand Pooba, they just want a bit Samurai lore. I think we need to get over our self's in trying to make each and every newbie a scholar of Nihonto.

[jeremy]

Hi Stephen,

 

I understand where Jean and Grey are coming from. Its fine. As you said though, im only after something genuine that a Samurai would have carried back in the day, and I definitely will not be spending any money on polishing a blade in that condition anyway, especially without papers. I just wanted to know if the sword I was looking at buying was worth the money and if it is genuinely from the 17th century. I emailed the seller and asked him to give me a list of all the flaws the blade has, and also asked the seller if i can get a refund if I am unhappy with the purchase. I am awaiting his reply email for now.

 

Kind regards,

 

Jeremy Hagop

[estcrh]

Very good advise from everyone and Jeremy will have to decide what level of sword collecting he desires to reach....The sword is an acceptable example of a Japanese sword as a weapon...if he eventually decides to learn more about the subject he can sell it for some were near what he paid and perhaps for now the urge to just own a sword..any sword ...will be satisfied and he can do some studying and increase his knowledge to the point that if he ever purchases another sword it will be one everyone here will approve of. Or he might just decide to wait and save a little more money up and see if someone here can recommend a sword with better characteristics. At least he has asked for advice instead of buying first and asking later.

[Jamie]

Jeremy,

 

As others have said, it probably is worth the given price. However I tend to agree that you'll be happier if you can actually see the activities in the blade. If you don't intend to polish this(it may or may not even take a polish, or be worth polishing.) Then I wonder why you'd purchase it. I'd buy a blade out of polish-but only if my intention was to get it polished. As jean points out there won't be much to look at. I would at least look at some blades in polish and make sure you'd be happy with one out of polish. If you don't want to save more money-consider purchasing a tanto that's in polish. You'd be able to find a nice tanto for just a bit more than this purchase price. Unless the premise is just to own a piece of samurai lore-then this might be a good choice.

I'll tell you this-if you have something that is poished nicely, you will pull it out over and over and notice new subtleties practically every time you look at it. In my opinion, that is nihonto.

 

Jamie

[Jean]

Jeremy,

 

If it is your goal, it is oK