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Just added a nice HUGE Nobuie Utsushi. Fantastic iron with lump tekkotsu on the mimi and ji. 9.1 x 8.5cm. SD 3.5mm and 7.5-8.1mm at the mimi. Thing is a brick.

Matt lovely piece - coincidence as I just won one on auction but I have no idea what I will find under the dirt and rust! Do you think Nobuie was a "Nutter for Nata"?

Hi Dave, Your sword looks interesting; someone knowledgeable and honest needs to see it in hand in order for you to learn much more. In the mean time, other than a light coat of machine oil on the area of the blade that would be polished (all but the tang) don't try to fix anything; well meaning amateurs often do serious damage. If you took your pictures on a dark background, not white, we could see more of the detail. There is a friend of mine in Toledo who could take a look at the sword. If you'd like to be connected with him send me an email: gdoffin at gmail.com Grey

More photos

Hi George, looking at the motif, size and pins, it may be a KANAMONO for a tobacco or money pouch.

Your contribution is amazing! This should help a lot. Yes, the research is not only specialized but also difficult without access to records in Japan (I know some folks use JACAR, however I don't speak Japanese). I have a working theory about some smiths and their location so I'm working backwards, if you will, by trying to find the location of forges -> then trying to find lists of smiths for those forges -> then looking for specific smiths on those lists. I assume it really won't be possible to do that but it keeps me off the streets, as we say. Thank you again for your time and contribution, Hiro. John C.

This is a great place to start, welcome to the forum! A library will be absolutely required, and a good book to start with is this one: The other thing that I would suggest, is look in the Nihonto info section at the top of this page here under the forum banner, there is a glossary there and I would suggest trying to learn the various terms used in relation to nihonto, at least try and learn as many as you can, they can easily be cross referenced with the above book. this will make the subject a bit more accessible and easier to understand, as there is a whole vocabulary of terms that are used when talking about Japanese blades. Perhaps try and learn a few different terms each day. Have fun with this absolutely fascinating hobby!