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Mine arrived safe and sound. Decided to apply some felt foots to them. For those still on the fence about these they really look great! Easy and quick seller, well packaged,... What's not to like? Yes I admit, those are IKEA Billy!

"Oh how I love thee, let me count the ways" My newest addition, thanks to a trade with @Stegel who snagged this amazing piece from the Lloyds auction recently. It's from the Barnes collection, and featured in Fuller's book, pages 124-125. Dawson states that there was a tremendous amount of variants produced between 1873 and 1883. Army styled kyugunto, but with Navy anchor on the backstrap and drag. I'm puzzled by the Army company grade tassel. It's wrapped tightly, and wear indicates it has been there for a long time. The leather is form fitted too tightly to get it off in order to see the rest of the anchor on the drag. Mumei, maybe zoheito? @BANGBANGSAN @Kiipu?

Dear Simon. As has been said it is a Japanese tanto, the saya is nice and the rest of the mounts are OK. As long as it's not being sold with an eye to the big name and it's cheap enough then why not? As has been said the mei is probably more of a tribute than anything, I have a Shinshinto tanto that is signed Ryokai and clearly has nothing to do with that school. We don't know how much you are thinking of paying which might change a lot of things. If you are thinking of starting to collect then, if nothing else, you can use it as a marker for how your knowledge is progressing. Let us know what you decide. All the best.

Looks like ___ ju Hattori Masahiro to my eye. The first kanji is hard to make out. Nice rayskin saya!

In the spirit of sharing and furthering understanding of this complex smith, Masamune does have some blades that “look Nanbokucho”, but also very often when one reads the setsumei of the Juyo certificate, it says “high-end Soshu work but more likely student work” or something like that. Some examples are below (translations courtesy of Markus Sesko). Note that the blades below are all Juyo and all have den Masamune on the front of the certificate. The important detail, however, is the setsumei. Again, in the spirit of fairness, there are a handful which are not questioned to be by Masamune and have the extended kissaki and wider mihaba than usual, eg a Naruse Masamune and the meibutsu Ikeda Masamune. Example 1. “….although the interpretation of the jiba does show prominently the characteristic features of first-class early Sōshū works, we would not go as far as to attribute the blade straightforward to Masamune as this excellent work attributes at first glance rather to Sadamune (貞宗)” Example 2. “….therefore we are in agreement that we are facing here a work from the Masamune School. The interpretation lacks some calmness, which rather suggests the hand of one of Masamune’s students. Throughout the Edo period, however, the blade was regarded as a work of Masamune himself…” Example 3. “….Masamune’s blades usually feature a mihaba and kissaki of normal dimensions. Thus, there remains some doubt if blades in such a shape are indeed works of Masamune or not. Also, the hamon [of this blade] is a more flamboyant and varied midareba, or in other words, of a more sophisticated approach than usually seen with Masamune, which adds the question whether from the point of view of interpretation, the ha can be aligned within Masamune’s known workmanships or not. However, the jiba is nie-laden and the chikei and kinsuji very beautiful and the blade is undoubtedly a Sōshū work of the highest rank….”

The snaps have English company lettering:

A souvenir sword made by Takeyasu. Somewhat rare Japanese Naval Kai Gunto signed Takayasu

I found yet another "last ditch" or as the Australians say, a "Pattern 9". Late War Japanese Sword @Stegel & @Shamsy

Hi Bob, Kōfu (may be read also Efu) means just Edo, so Kōfu jū and Edo jū are equivalent.

It doesn't look Japanese or Chinese to me. (南？)民國省

Seki ju, Ishihara Yoshisada saku. Seki smith can be seen in F & G #131

Thanks for the pics, always nice to see what went on. Btw, you can upload plenty of pics in a post. Nothing stopping you except for file size or image size..otherwise you're good to go.

Maybe should raise the price rather than lowering it which I may do

I added this show to the calendar. Wife and I plan to attend. Look forward to seeing those I know, and meeting those I do not know. Dan

It looks like older Mumei blade instead of Zoheito to me.

Look for the thread on "Shachi" and information on "Toryu-mon", I think you will be pleasantly surprised... -t

Indeed Thomas! I was able to inspect the sword yesterday in hand. As I saw the hamon, I immediately called it “Mino/Seki” until I removed the tsuka…😮 Clearly gimei 😁

Hi Bruce, Over the decades I have seen one or two of his work in hand, which were also seki/showa stamped... I can't remember ever seeing a gendaito by him though. Keep up your much appreciated work Bruce, you are a 'goldmine'. Geo.

So based on very little evidence, and considering Nanbokucho begins at 1330 AD, a blade you mention at 1328 AD...it's safe to say that perhaps Norishige and Masamune worked and taught during the period. A period (Nanbokucho) that saw many of the Soshu blades destroyed in battle at the time.

You want a cinnabar lacquered wood carving? You got it!

Jan Thank you VERY MUCH for help with the translation Bruce Thank you for the positive feedback. . . .The Hamon drew me to this purchase. Very pleased Also, there is a story , ,The is always a story. .This was a WWII bring back Katana by a US Marine stationed in Nagasaki after the surrender. .This is a picture of his unit and a framed blueprint of some of the tunnels under Nagasaki.. Not the best quality of upload I must admit VR Ed

兼道作 = Kanemichi saku 紀元二千六百一年 = Year 2601 of the imperial reckoning (i.e., 1941 CE)

I believe it should be “kusa no tsuyu”, no? 草の露 Note the printed hiragana in the image: くさのつゆ

Shoda Masafusa WWII gendai smith from Gifu.

Shoami school tsuba

here you go Dale, another new one The seller, true to form, is calling this one Higo Jingo (as he says about almost every one of his tsuba). Looks more like an interesting hybrid between Echizen Kinai, Jakushi, and a touch of Heianjo... Regardless of who made it, it's a very cool looking shachi Love how the dragon's "moustache" weaves over then behind the crashing waves.

The hotel is beautiful - very classy

Attendees would have seen a few Muramasa blades! Definitely go next year if you were considering it but decided not to go this year

Someone got an excellent deal on this Koto Naginata (Shimada)

He's probably cutting the steel from something antique that he has access to. Then hammering and shaping. Maybe. Maybe he's cutting up old armour.

I've been looking at the posts from this particular seller, and I've come to the conclusion that either he or a friend of his is making these one-off utsushi tsuba that are always reminiscent of the older pre-Edo period Tosho and Katchushi style tsuba. They are definitely done by hand, and some of them show evidence of having been folded rather than being cut out from a sheet of mono-steel. They all have the same colour and lack of rust, and he almost always uses that same piece of fabric as his backdrop. So if you want to buy a newly made, yet hand hammered and chiseled utsushi, keep that in mind when you place your bid. He can make some really nice looking tsuba.

Modern. Best, rkg (Richard George)

Sorry this is sorta off subject, but the apparent nanako patterns in the first photos really had me wondering. I’d never seen swirling nanako before. The updated photos I guess show the progress in digital technology.

I'm surprised that no one mentioned shinai (wrinkles) that form when a bent blade is straightened. I always check to see if a blade is bent and our had been straightened.

hilarious @Spartancrest

Thickness sounds about right for that style of guard. What worries me is these large tosho or katchushi guards turn up week after week and when you check the sellers other items there is usually a string of others - Why? Either the seller has a 'huge' collection he is selling off or he has an endless supply of modern made replicas. It is a gamble but if the price is right maybe the gamble will pay off? https://www.jauce.com/user/dj2hmyuc

Strongly suspect its shinshinto or showa and a gimei. Dense featureless hada, bright nioi-guchi which is however seen at once everywhere, completely flat hamon, deeply carved signature.

Looks like a genuine antique Japanese tantō in a lovely ribbed scabbard. The signature says 備州長船（住人）則光作 Bishū Osafune jūnin Norimitsu saku Made by Norimitsu, resident of Osafune in Bishū province. The two characters in the middle are obliterated by the peg hole, but we can guess what they are from the context. Note there were a lot of smiths named "Norimitsu". Also, while the item itself is a genuine antique, I don't know if the signature is genuine or not. In general, it looks like a nice ensemble. Normally you would also want to see full photos of the blade, and more close-ups, in order to verify there aren't any fatal flaws. Most of the value will be in the blade, so I always get slightly suspicious when there are more pictures of the scabbard than there are of the blade. But you also have to be realistic about what the item is, the price, and your own motivations for buying. If you are just looking for an genuine samurai antique, you can be forgiving of a lot of things.

Yes I would say its the same one. It almost looks as if a signature has been filed off. Great example of the sudare (bamboo shades) and hollyhock theme that we were talking about in another thread.

This looks more like a mix of fake and real parts. The blade is certainly not Japanese.

I want to post these two from a discussion on the Translation Forum, to consolidate the items to this topic. One is a souvenir for sale on fleabay (mislabeled as a Navy kaigunto - seller notified) and the other posted by @MacTheWhopper HERE. They are interesting because both blades were made by Toyosuke, a Toyokawa Navy blade in Type 98 fittings, and the other in souvenir fittings. Toyosuke in Type 98 fittings: Toyosuke in Souvenir: So, either this smith was actively making swords both before and after the war, or as a minimum, there were surplus blades of his to use by Tenshozan after the war. Still doesn't prove either case, but I found it fascinating to see blades of the same smith in both wartime and post-war fittings.

Wanted to post this one, found on THIS GUNS.RU THREAD. It has an undated blade with mei: Takayama To Masahiro made this; with small Toyokawa anchor. From the shadowing of the kasaki, it appears to have the fat tip of the Takayama styled blade. So the question is - did Masahiro continue to work for the Tenzoshan factory making blades for the souvenir operation, or was this a surplus blade? It is the first Takayama-to I've found in one of these. The growing variety of smiths and blades I'm finding in them seems to support the idea that at least some of the over 8,000 souvenirs they sold had surplus blades.