Kanenaga...Worth a polish?

[johnb]

Hi,

Attached are pics of a katana signed Kanenaga.

Nagasa 637mm

Sori 20mm

width at Machi 27 mm down to 20mm at the yokote

It has a high shinogi and a very obvious Jizo boshi.

 

Any help identifying the school is much appreciated.

 

I'm going to Japan at Christmas and wondered whether it is worth taking for a polish?

 

JohnB

[johnb]

One more pic

 

Johnb

[cabowen]

How long are you going to be in Japan? Are you familiar the import and licensing process? You might want to look into to that to see if you will have enough time, language skills, and patience to complete the process.

 

Blade looks interesting a potentially worth a polish....

[johnb]

I'll be there two weeks and am already taking one sword. The polisher has sent me two documents...one in Japanese for the police at the airport and one letter of attorney so that he can register the sword.

I hope this won"t take days....my wife will kill me! hahahaha.

 

Johnb

[Clive Sinclaire]

John

I would earnestly caution you about taking the sword to Japan yourself as you may find it very difficult to gain entry for it. If I were you I would send it in advance addressed to an agent or your polisher familiar with the torokusho shinsa system. I think the Tokyo registration is the first Tuesday of each month. If you do take it yourself I would beinterested to see how you fare, so good luck!

Regards

Clive Sinclaire

[Aloof Pegasus]

John

 

Not to contradict what Clive just said because he may have more recent experience than me, but last year on 2 diff occasions I hand-carried swords into J.

 

At Kansai I hit a snag with the airport police officer and had to leave it for the duration of my stay. A few weeks later the airport police brought the sword to me at the EgyptAir counter, had me sign for it's return, then I packed it into my suitcase. No harm done. No scratches, dings, hagire or any other damage.

 

Same sword some weeks later at Narita, as before zero paperwork of any kind other than a receipt from Ed Marshall/Yakiba detailing age etc I went through with nothing untoward other than the following amusing incident.

 

Despite having completed the customs declaration and ticking the box with the 'Do you have any firearms swords or explosives etc, still the customs officer barely glanced at the bag with the swords and insisted on inspected my other bag altho' I told him several times (in English) 'mate there's nothing in that one, the swords are in the big one... pointing at the customs form.

 

But he waved me through anyway and you know for a moment I actually thought about it, then common sense took over (for once). I opened up to show him the wak and a tanto and a few weak smiles later I was in a back room waiting for the Narita airport police and this one made me no problems. I had a six month visa and he made a note on my departure date, told me the sword had to leave when I did, end of story.

 

As I say that was a year ago so now things maybe different.

[Lee Bray]

A friend and I took six swords into Japan from Hong Kong via Narita airport in June.

The process is not difficult providing you have organised with your dealer/polisher that you will be arriving. Customs will check with the dealer to verify you are taking the swords to him. We had a letter from our dealer stating this, including his contacts and address in Japanese.

 

We checked the swords in at HK, ticked the box for swords on the customs declaration form in Japan (much to the surprise of the immigration counter lady), collected our two sword flightcases from the oversize baggage, handed them to customs and were escorted to an area where the registration process took place. This took a while, approximately an hour and a half, as the official measured each blade and noted the signatures. Include tissue and oil in your case as the official handles the blade. You are responsible for repacking.

After this process we were given the registration papers and the swords and we went on our merry way.

[loui]

You could contact Usagiya if you want to arrange polishing, very honest and they will have the right people for the sword.

 

Highly trusted in Japan.

 

Regards,

 

Louis

[johnb]

Thanks for all the advice guys...it's all a little daunting. It's Kenji Mishina that is doing the polishing (assuming the sword is worth it). He he has furnished me with the required documents. Nonetheless, I might see whether it would be easier to use a courier.

By the way, the sword for polishing isn't the sword pictured above. I just though that if I was going to carry one sword...it might be worth taking two.

 

So any help on the one pictured above would still be appreciated.

 

Johnb