Naval - Koto Blade?

[A6jock]

Represented as:

 

Mumei

Koto

Ko-Itame

Suguha

Nagasa: 26 5/16", Nakago: 7 3/8", Mihaba: 1 1/16", Sakihaba: 23/32", Kasane: 7/32", Sori: 3/8"

 

Comments on the blade are welcome. Temper issues? Re-forged? Why is the blade so dark?

 

Keeper or pass ?

[Brian]

Nakago patina - ends too abruptly and looks odd

Mekugi ana - Odd placement. I don't believe all of those were actually used to mount the sword..that lower one is oddly placed too.

Hamon - Dunno..can't see it. Only the hadori line. Can't see boshi either.

Sugata - Odd. Way off for a Koto. Doesn't look Kanbun Shinto either to me...very straight either way.

 

It's a risk.

 

Brian

[Jean]

yes Brian, same interrogations, sori...too straight

 

Boshi seems to run off the kissaki...

 

Sorry difficult to go further with pictures on an out of polish blade

[drbvac]

Even the hadori looks like the hamon was "made" with a couple of passes with steel wool - just scratched, whitened steel - would surely surprise me if it was anything worth while - IMHO of course.

[Nihonto Chicken]

Hi! Your blade looks to be Kanbun Shinto in shape, shortened from the original length and new mekugi ana added. The tip has been broken and crudely reshaped, but luckily, IMO, not a lot was broken off and there's a good chance it can be properly reshaped and look decent (but would need to see the boshi to be sure, and it isn't currently visible in your pics). There are polisher's blinds visible at the mune machi, which would indicate the blade had a professional polish and is not a mill steel (non-traditional) sword. There doesn't seem to be any rust to speak of, which is good, nor does the sword appear to be badly sanded, other than at the tip. My recommendation is for you to get a good uchiko ball and do a "power uchiko" job on your blade. That is, perform a few hours of uchiko work on it and see what appears out of the murk (particularly the boshi). Here are some links re "power uchiko":

 

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7396&p=59299&hilit=power+uchiko#p59299

 

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6374&p=50357&hilit=power+uchiko#p50357

 

Since your kissaki needs reshaping and you want the boshi to appear, you don't have to worry about erasing the yokote with the uchiko, so go whole hog, just don't slip and cut yourself. Good luck on your Easter egg hunt!

 

NC

 

Edit: Upon re-read it appears that you haven't as yet bought this blade. I would recommend a "pass" - if you can't see anything, you can't see anything. My bet is that it's a decent Kanbun Shinto blade, maybe no great shakes, but a good garden variety sample. But I wouldn't bet a lot of money on that. JMHO.