Leaderboard

As a regular resident of the Tosogu section I just purchased my first blade (about 2-3 hours ago at time of writing this post) and wanted to share with the forum! The blade is a hozon certified kinnoto (imperial royalist sword) from the Gassan school dated August 1863 by Unzenshi Sadahide. It is a very large katana with a 75cm blade and 27cm nakago. The blade has a lot of weight and thickness to it, I'd say about twice as heavy as an average katana. Aside from the size and heritage of the sword, I really like the lengthy kissaki as well. The blade should make for a fun koshirae project in the future! Let me know your thoughts, I am still a novice when it comes to blades! Here are a few photos:

Hi, I can help. The Mikazuki Kanemitsu sold for over 1.5M$, with the final amount unknown. It was purchased by the wonderful Nagoya Museum "Token World". Not bad, given that it was found in a restaurant in Florida as a wall-hanger. In general, swords of this calibre do not make it to the open market. In the private market, however, such transactions (and above) are not uncommon. Best, Hoshi

... and a video of this Tanto https://eu.zonerama.com/Nihonto/Photo/14112229/575663890

於昭和五十一年度新作名刀展出品 – Presented work at the competition of modern Japanese swords in fiscal year 1976 写江雪左文(字)上位入選作 – Replica of Kosetsu Samonji, higher winning work (The character *字” should be there. And original Kosetsu Samonji is a tachi.) 摂津八尾住 – Living in Settsu Yao, 平安城沖芝源信昭作之 – Heianjo Okishiba Minamoto Nobuaki made this. I saw the listing of the tanto on some auctions. The tanto does not match the writing on the box.

宗與 – Soyo (Yokoya school) Ref. The Yokoya school in Edo

Dear Brandon. Just to get the ball rolling, your tsuba is in copper with a specific technique known as katakiribori describing the engraving. The first two characters of the signature read Soten, the third is a kao or personal monogram. If you do some research then you will quickly see that the Soten school has a particular style that became very popular but is very different to your tsuba. Others with more knowledge of the school will be able to tell us if this is genuine or if the signature is fake. Either way this is a pleasant tsuba and it will probably have started you down the rabbit hole. Enjoy! All the best Geraint.

平安住雲仙子貞秀作 Heian-jū Unzenshi Sadahide saku 文久三年八月日吉 Bunkyū san-nen hachigatsu (August 1863) Hiyoshi [cut off at this point]

From Seskos book: SADAHIDE (貞秀), Ansei (安政, 1854-1860), Settsu – “Settsu no Kuni Sadahide” (摂津国貞秀), “Sesshū Amagasaki-jū Sugimoto Hironoshin Sadahide” (摂州尼ケ崎杉本広之進貞秀), real name Sugimoto Hironoshin (椙本広之進), he also signed the character for “Sugi” (椙) in the variant (杉), he used the gō Unsenshi (雲仙子) and it is said that he was the son of a certain Kido Yoshizō Unsen (城戸吉蔵雲仙), he came originally from Dewa province where he signed according to tradition with “Ushū Kidō Sadahide” (羽州城戸貞秀), later he moved to Kyōto and became a student of Gassan Sadayoshi (月山貞吉) in Ōsaka, he worked mostly in the style of his master, chūjō-saku would be interesting to have the full translation of the signature

I was visiting with a friend and fellow collector this weekend, and while discussing one of my swords we discovered very subtle kanji amongst the nagashi. An exciting revelation! I then contacted @Ray Singer who helped me identify it as a togi-mei. He then helped me translate both sides. It was exceptionally hard to photograph, so kudos to Ray for not only his ability, but his patience with my many photo attempts. One column: 君山研廣 = Kimiyama Kenhiro Two columns: 越後住 = Echigo ju = made in Echigo province 昭和三十一年 = Showa 31 = 1956 Link with old similar discussion and with other examples: https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/9744-polishers-marks/ I thought this was something worth sharing, and to me, is a really interesting window into this swords more recent past. Thanks for looking, -Sam

Yes, that's right. It becomes perfectly clear when you see it in person. You can tell by the sharp, straight contour lines. Sometimes you can even see the incisor mark (about 50-100 microns thick) When a coating is applied, the contour becomes slightly blurred, and under magnification, you can see the difference in thickness.

Mail sent, cheers Andy

As a program specifically designed for layout (magazines, books, menus, flyers, etc) this is where it shines. Also, It's cloud-based so you can access from anywhere. PM me if you want more information or have any questions. John C.

WAY OFF TOPIC ALERT!! Sam: Are you using Adobe in-design (ID) for this project? I use it for all of my book covers and New Employee Orientation booklets I write. It can't be beat for what you are doing. You can get it by the month for just 35 bucks per. Okay...sorry for the digression. Back to type 95s.... John C.

Thank you for the correction Moriyama san. That, of course, makes much more sense. All the best. Geraint

Hi Brandon, If you have a seppa (washer) or, if not, cut a piece of paper to the proper size, place it on the tsuba as it would be if this were mounted on a sword, and ask yourself if you like the tsuba and its design as much as you did before. Grey

Dear G. Well so far this is not a military sword but rather a katana in samurai mounts. At the top of the page is a link to image resizing software that might help with adding more images but from what we have the scabbard or saya is covered with lacquered same, a type of ray skin. The soft metal fittings on the hilt ar probably shakudo, a Japanese alloy that is usually patinated to a blue=black colour though someone has had a go with the metal polish and ruined that. You need to take the sword apart, a routine process for Japanese swords but this one might be a tad awkward if it has been in storage for a long time. Some research will tell you how to do this but basically there is a single tapered bamboo peg through the hilt or tsuka, push or tap this from the smaller end and when it is out you should be able to remove the tsuka, keep a note of the order in which the parts come off. There may be a signature, there may not but don't do more than a gentle wipe with a cloth and send us the photographs. Looking forward to seeing what emerges. All the best. Geraint

Imposing and beautiful blade. Congratulations enjoy!

Trying to add a couple more photos.

I guess that such an order was made at the birth of orderer's granddaughter in most cases.

I guess Piers meant to be Socratic, but since he didn't reply for a few days here's my quick opinion: no, it doesn't look authentic. It does not look much older than the 30 years you mention.

Yes, the other side of my side lock also shows this same flaw. Tom

Interesting! I had not seen that one before but I now see it on Bruce’s example and on the one that I used as an example (shown below). Thank you! Another little detail that I will note

@Scogg I thought you were maybe talking about this other casting flaw which Stegel points out in this Warrelics thread: Japanese nco nagoya sword

Let's add an example related to the topic. In this case, there is no inlay, only a gold coating.

Sam, here’s pictures of my sidelock #134600 and the casting flaw is obvious. I never noticed this before so thank you for your insight. Tom

HI Jack, I am a novice too, just sharing my observations. It seems like the work you attached also utilized 象嵌. Below is another example.

I do that because true handmade swords can also be discussed in the Nihonto section since they do belong there too. As do military swords with older blades. It's worked ok for many years, I think we're good leaving it as is, and leaving the mods to make the call if something should be moved.

iroe (色絵) – The term iroe, lit. “color(ed) picture,” is sometimes wrongly applied to different techniques of coloring by gilding or silvering, but should be used to describe any coloring of a motif, regardless of the technique used. [From Encyclopedia of Japanese Swords by Markus Sesko]

I finished examining the Saka and Star stamped files On the two questions: 1. Was there a pattern of hamon changes over time - Not that I could see. Yes, toward the end of the war, the hamon was harder to see, but I believe it was still there. Why the late war blades tended to be in worse condition making it harder to see, I can not say. 2. The "standard" steel, light tan saya - They don't seem to have shown up until 1943. The RJT seem to adopted their own version - a medium tan, steel saya with 2 buttons in Feb 1943, and then really took off in 1944-1945. RS in general, are seen as early as May 1942 with RJT blades, custom fittings, 2 buttons. So the quality RS fittings are actually seen a year earlier that the cheaper, no frills RS called for in the original design concept! Black RS saya started showing up in 1943. I documented a couple that even were in late war quality fittings, but there were more than I noted (exhaustion has set in, sorry), two with only one button. Saka Stamped Blades [Note: Not charting when saya not shown] 1944 No Date Nagamitsu Not Shown Custom, 2 button Medium Brown N.D. Nagamitsu Wavy Custom, 2 button Medium Brown N.D. Nagamitsu Wavy Custom, 2 button Dark Brown N.D. Nagamitsu Wavy Custom, 2 button Black N.D. Nagamitsu Wavy Custom, 2 button Dark Brown N.D. Nagamitsu Suguha Custom, 2 button Black N.D. Nagamitsu Wavy Custom, 2 button Black Star Stamped Blades [Note: Not charting when saya not shown] [“Standard” denotes steel saya and Tan color] 1941 NONE 1942 May Akiyoshi Wavy Custom, 2 button Medium Brown Oct Akiyoshi Wavy Custom, 2 button Medium Brown Dec Nobutake Not Shown Custom, N.S. Dark Brown 1943 Jan Akihisa Suguha Custom, 2 button Medium Brown Jan Kaneyoshi Wavy Custom, 2 button Black Feb Chikafusa Suguha Custom, ? button Medium Brown Feb Tsugukiyo Wavy Custom, 2 button Black Feb Tsugunobu Not shown Standard, 2 button Medium Tan Mar Kiyokatsu Wavy Custom, 2 button Lt Brown Mar Nagamitsu Suguha? Custom, 2 button Black Mar Tsuguhiro Wavy Custom, 2 button Medium Brown Spring Sukenobu Suguha Custom, 2 button Dark Brown Apr Kanehisa Suguha Custom, 2 button Medium Brown Apr Mitsuhiro Suguha Custom, 2 button Medium Brown May Nobutake Suguha Custom, 2 button Medium Brown May Sadakiyo Wavy Custom, 2 button Black Jun Chikafusa Wavy Custom, 2 button Medium Brown Jun Hirotoshi Wavy Custom, ? Medium Brown Jun Nagatoshi Not Shown Custom, 2 button Black Jun Nobutake Wavy Custom, 2 button Dark Brown Jun Sadakatsu Not shown Custom, ? Black Jul Munetoshi Wavy Custom, 2 button Black Aug Akimitsu Wavy Custom, ? Medium Brown Aug Akinori Wavy Custom, 2 button Medium Brown Aug Kanehide Wavy Custom, 2 button Medium Brown Aug Zuiho Wavy Custom, 2 button Dark Brown Aug Zuiho Wavy Custom, 2 button Black Autumn Katsukiyo Wavy Custom, 2 button Dark Brown Sep Masanaga Suguha Custom, 2 button Dark Brown 1943 Zuiho Suguha Custom, 2 button Black 1944 Jan Akiyuki Wavy Custom, ? Dark Brown Feb Kaneoto Suguha Custom, 2 button Black Feb Sadaroku Wavy Custom, 1 button Black Feb Sukenobu Wavy Custom?, 2 button Black, late war Feb Zuiho Suguha Custom, ? Black Mar Kaneoto Suguha Custom, 2 button Black Mar Kazunori Wavy Standard, 2 button Medium Tan Mar Masanaga Wavy Custom, 2 button Black Mar Masashige Suguha Custom, 2 button Dark Brown May Kiyokane Suguha Standard, 2 button Medium Tan May Masatomo Wavy Custom, 2 button Black May Masatsugu Wavy Custom, 1 button Black Late war May Masayoshi Wavy Custom, 2 button Black Jun Kanehide Wavy Custom, 2 button Black Jun Kanetoshi Wavy Custom, 2 button Black Jun Masakuni Wavy Custom, 2 button Black Jul Kaneshige Wavy Standard, 2 button Medium Tan Jul Kanetoshi Wavy Standard, 2 button Medium Tan Jul Tomonari Suguha Custom, 2 button Medium Brown Aug Hidemine Suguha Custom, 2 button Dark Brown Aug Kanehide Suguha Standard, ? Black Aug Kanemitsu Wavy Standard, 2 button Medium Tan Aug Kanemoto Suguha Custom, 2 button Black Aug Kanemoto Suguha Custom, ? Black Aug Masamichi Suguha Standard, 2 button Dark Tan Aug Sadashige Not shown Custom, 2 button Black Sep Mitsunobu Wavy Standard, 2 button Medium Tan Sep Sukenobu Wavy Standard, 2 button Medium Tan Oct Kanefuji Suguha Standard, 2 button Medium Tan Oct Masaharu Not shown Custom, 2 button Light Brown Oct Masayoshi Wavy Custom, 2 button Dark Brown Oct Sadashige Suguha Custom, ? Black Dec Mitsunobu Suguha Standard, 2 button Medium Tan 1944 Kanemitsu Wavy Standard, 2 button Medium Tan 1944 Masashige Suguha Custom, ? Black 1945 Jan Akitomi Wavy Custom, 2 button Black Jan Kanetomo Suguha Standard, 2 button Medium Tan Feb Kanehisa Wavy Standard, 2 button Medium Tan Feb Kanetomo Suguha Standard, 2 button Medium Tan Feb Kanetoshi Suguha Standard, 2 button Medium Tan Feb Mitsunobu Wavy Custiom 1 button Black Mid Spring Kanetomo Suguha Standard, 2 button Medium Tan

Nobody has mentioned attempting to ensure that the 'new' owners employ careful stewardship and care for these historical and culturally important objects. Perhaps in this community that goes without saying. Personally I'd rather take a monetary loss, knowing that they will be properly cared for, than realize a large profit dispersing them to a hack...And I'd like to think that my heirs are of the same opinion. just my 2 cents... Dan K

Just a question for you guys out there. Really could use a bit of an income boost here, and with Paypal preventing raffles etc, the easiest way is to increase the Gold Memberships here: https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/subscriptions/ My question to you guys...both current Gold members, and non members is, what features would you like to see offered in Gold membership that would either convince you to renew your membership, or those that aren't, convince you to take up a membership? We currently offer a bunch of advantages such as increased pm limits, editing time, daily posts, reduced search delay time, posting size limits, commercial signature link (gonna have to crack down on that one) and other features. Are there other features that would sway you? Are the current limits enough or would you like any of those increased? A section available only to Gold members? Maybe with shoshin signatures or a private chat area? Or anything else that the software is capable of? The upcoming software update will have a lot more features, and there will also be exclusive Gold member themes/color schemes and other things. There are a ton of features we don't use. I don't want to lock non-Gold members out of any useful downloads, or resources we have currently. Would like to remain limit free on sales listings. But would really help all of these if we can come up with some way to increase interest in Gold. Let's hear your ideas, if they are possible and don't take a huge amount of admin time, I'll consider them.

I think it is totally understandable that there are several different forums and closed groups floating around various places. In my ideal world there would be just 1 huge meeting place where everyone would get together and share info freely. Of course real life doesn't work like that... People are people and not everyone will get along, and there are probably studies on why certain groups will form etc. Just checked that my membership here at NMB is closing in 18 years, and to be honest this is one of my favorite places online and has been for a long time. I hope to be a member in here as long as the forum is up. I have met so many amazing people through this forum online and some I have even met in person in various places. I admit that I am too grown into the forum that I feel quite puzzled how people are not joining in for gold membership at such cheap overall price. For me it is about the community in here, maybe the difficult thing is getting the new folks feeling welcome in the community.

Phew, a lot to unpack here, so I'll do it in several bursts as I get time. Ok....so let's start There is always the Paypal option to contribute at any time. That link is above in the DONATIONS section, and you can do it via Paypal, direct credit card (best to pm me so I can send a payment request as the processor link isn't always reliable) or even WISE now. So Gold is useful, but we do get contributions that way by a handful when they sell something else, and it comes in very handy for bills. I'll set up a monthly Gold membership for anyone who wants to do that. It is via Paypal subscription, so would likely be $5 a month, and would automatically renew monthly until someone cancels their subscription with Paypal. Thanks for the advice. Not sure what the takeup would be, or how much the fees would eat it up, but let's see. I do lose about 6% for every donation to Paypal fees. Have banned many Gold members. Contributing doesn't buy you any favours. I work on the basis that if you find the forum useful and want to contribute, go for it. But don't expect leeway if you act out. Being useful in the NMB community or having serious knowledge or having good contacts in Japan may sometimes get you some little leeway. But few know what happens behind the scenes and who gets warnings, bans etc. Most of you have no idea what happens behind the scenes. But no...contributions don't buy leeway. Never have. For me, FB is instant gratification, drowned out by a flood of incorrect info. If it wasn't for people like @Ray Singer etc giving translations and advice, it would die fast. And it is terrible at looking things up. The info posted today is gone tomorrow and searching for it is next to impossible. You can get instant answers, but if you want to research something, you come here and search 19 years of info from people who are quickly corrected if they give wrong info. I never feel like FB is a threat. The type of people that post there are not usually the ones that study much, just want to be spoon fed. It has its place. But I don't support a platform that will ban you if you post a sword for sale on Marketplace because you are some danger to society, and which hates edged weapons collectors. Translations will always be free, just maybe we need some limits or control. But it's the main advantage here. My main regret is that we don't get in enough to compensate those that freely give of their time assisting with that. I would LOVE to reward them in some way and it's always a plan. I won't mention names because I am sure to forget someone and don't want to offend, Not a bad idea. I'll look at a New Members section where we can archive useful posts, advice and maybe moderate that section stricter so that there is a gentler approach. You guys know that I work on the "blunt is best" principle when it comes to replies, and that people need to have a thick skin and if they stick around they will be fine. But maybe a section with no negative stuff and only the gentle approach would be a decent idea. Translations to be done only in that section, but basic advice for novices to be posted there and then they can be moved elsewhere if/when necessary. I'll look into that, and we would need members willing to help there that are like minded. Always considered that, and it is possible. Being in South Africa makes it a bit more difficult, and especially with all the countries present here, but it's something I have always considered. Simply because you can get free and accurate advice, in a very short space of time. Nowadays we are living in a world where every time you almost get decent info, you hit a paywall and are asked to pay for the "report" or something else. You can ask on forums, but unless those people have been there for years, how do you know if the person giving you advice has been studying for 3 weeks or 10 years? At least here you can see the person answering you has 10,000 posts and been around for years, so his advice is probably more reliable. Just watch FB, where a person posts a sword, and 5 people say "Genuine military sword" when it's obviously a fake, and the 2 or 3 people calling it out are drowned out by useless opinions from people whose exposure to swords comes from anime. Same with dealers. You search the forum, you are going to get decent accurate feedback about a dealer. And if he's a member, you know he isn't going to ghost you or con you. If that isn't worth paying $5 a month for...then I don't know. Agree with you on most of the above. Unfortunately no real report I can dig up on who posts where, but it's a fact that some will only post in one section and ignore everywhere else. Another thing that most don't know about is how many amateur dealers spend their days reaching out to novices who post, buying up their swords. I obviously don't have access to pm's, but have been made aware of how often and regularly it happens. Some build an amateur business out of doing that. Banner ads are likely going to happen. There isn't any reason not to try and use it to generate income. The question is how many dealers (both members and others out there even if they aren't members) would be willing to pay for some extra exposure. It's easy to say "Japanese dealers don't care" or "larger US/European dealers don't think it's worth it" but these comments ignore exactly how many people browse this site and aren't members. A dealer who wants to ignore several thousand weekly views and thinks it's not important really don't need the money. I have access to the figures, and us posting here are a tiny part of the people browsing, from over 32 countries. If dealers want to try clickable ads at a very fair price (still need to decide how much) then it may very well pay off for them. Another question is....do I make ads visible to everyone, or make not seeing them a perk of Gold membership? On one hand, not seeing them would be a good incentive for Gold membership. But on the other hand, advertisers would probably not want them hidden from anyone. Hmmmm

These books are not related to my own online Gokaden series, they are translations of Tanobe Sensei's books on the same topic, as Brano pointed out. Bizen I (Osafune School) has been translated by me and submitted, and I think the publisher Me no Me has it scheduled for spring of 2026. I am meeting with them in Japan in two months and discuss the future volumes, based on the way Tanobe Sensei is comfortable with continuing writing them (and has made progress so far).

As a newcomer to nihonto and tosogu collecting I have found this forum to be invaluable in so many ways. We are in an enviable situation now with plethora of sources of information from books to societies like the NBTHK-AB and EB, as well as local organisations within our jurisdictions. These society interactions no matter how important, are, by their nature, sporadic. The NMB is always there, with members who are often very willing to share the knowledge they've acquired over many decades of diligent research. This is how a field of study grows by participating and sharing. I have found many friends on NMB in the course of the last 18 months, since starting my journey, people I might not otherwise have met. I know for a fact I wouldn't be where I am today without NMB and its participating members. I would not have had the confidence to take a chance on a forgotten blade, one that might have been lost to history in its current state, if its fate had not been secured. Just as I saw something in that blade so we must all decide how much this forum has contributed to our own growth and enjoyment. By subscribing we are doing something small to preserve the knowledge and experience for future collectors, especially those outside Japan. Losing Darcy and his Yuhindo website was a massive loss and it would be a crime if something similar happened to the NMB. By subscribing we ensure this wealth of knowledge, a lot of it only found here, is preserved. As Brian says it's a bargain in the grand scheme of things. Someone made an interesting comment recently which really struck a cord with me. Why are there no grassroots Japanese nihonto forums? You would think this would be the obvious place for such a community to grow and thrive. Is the collecting culture so different in Japan that there is a reluctance to share knowledge and ideas? That really brought home how lucky we are to have this community and one that shouldn't be taken for granted. I will be subscribing as soon as my replacement credit card arrives from the US. As for other ideas to increase revenue? I don't see any problem in charging a small fee to list items in the Classifieds and/or make this a perk for subscribers. Perhaps a third level of membership eg $5 for a month if people want to list items for sale on an occasional basis. Many forums operate such a business model, the VW California Club, Home Barista and Kitchen Knife Forum (for new members or those with low post counts), 3 forums that I also frequent on a daily basis.

Same with me, to be honest the incentives on the membership plan i don't even think about. I only subscribe to support the forum which has been invaluable to me over the years, one of my daily websites

Title says it all. A fun thread in between the more serious ones. What school do you think is overrated for reasons which may or may not be justified? I'll start: Rai school. Why? To me they were the Louis Vuitton of Kyoto. They put awataguchi out of business by skimming on materials to cut on production costs (leading to the infamous 'Rai Hada') and churning out the production of a luxury product at an industrial scale. Heck, they even had secret artisan codes embedded into their Mei for quality insurance. Rai isn't art, it was the astute, large scale copy of Art from Awataguchi, orchestrated on a large scale with production methods which were very advanced for the time. They made cheap, it looked good, it carried the brand. Let's not even talk about Niji Kunitoshi and his change of name to the more brandable Rai. It means 'to come' as in the newest thing in town. Kunitoshi himself produced more preserved blades to his name than the whole of Awataguchi. That's an astounding output. He must have been running a sweatshop in Kyoto. There is no experimentation in Rai which is not about cost reduction. Zero. Soshu experimented with radically new materials and forging technics. Bizen experimented with wild hamons. Rai just took the bling from the awataguchi style, made it worst, and cut down on production costs. Even today, the fact that Rai Hada is considered aesthetically okay is the ultimate Kamakura hustle. "oh that Shigane? that's called Rai Hada. It's something special and a kantei point for Rai school, you uneducated Jabroni. A true connoisseur appreciates Rai hada" I hate Rai school. Change my mind or post your own unpopular opinion.

I think I am in same boat as Michael that I see your options 2 and 3 being the most important ones in that list. Lots of signed swords have gone through some form of shortening and alteration but I still think they are very important reference pieces. Sometimes I find it funny how the remaining few last cm's of nakago that bear the two character signature mean the world to me. Rarity depends so much about the smith/school. Like above Kunitoshi, smiths like Nagamitsu, Nobukuni etc. have still lots of signed works as references where as some schools/smiths have only few remaining signed pieces. On that occasion even though for example by artistic merits a signed Nagamitsu tachi would be more valued than signed tachi by Bungo Tomoyuki, I think due to rarity factor I'd value the Tomoyuki over just another Jūyō Nagamitsu. I just picked Nagamitsu as the example as so far I have listed 63 signed tachi by him and I know the number will still go up a lot. And for comparison I yet know only 1 signed & dated tachi by Bungo Tomoyuki. For Norishige I would value signed tachi a lot as they are rare by him but he has many signed tanto so the rarity factor on those goes down. And I agree that Norishige style work is easier to identify compared to Yamato differences and mumei swords that have strong characteristics of that (Norishige) style have lot smaller "bin" of possible schools & smiths. As we are talking about Yamato, one thing I've noticed as I'm going through Nado Zufus is that NBTHK loves Taima. The amount of mumei Taima passing Jūyō and Tokubetsu Jūyō is big considering how rare Taima swords are in general. I think for suriage mumei swords Taima and Hoshō (Just a personal observation) are considered as the top tier Yamato attributions and both are rare. My own general favorite in Yamato is Senjuin, and their signed swords have great value by Japanese authorities but when it comes to suriage mumei their range is broad. Yes there are many mumei Senjuin that are Jūyō but there are also lot below that. A favorable attribution for mumei sword is Ryūmon Nobuyoshi as that attribution for mumei sword points it towards Jūyō. For Tegai there is Kanenaga, and for Shikkake there is Norinaga but in general I think Tegai & Shikkake are being the "weaker" Yamato attributions. Of course swords should be judged as one of a kind items but the above is just general trend that seems to be (or at least it was as I've been focusing on older attributions) popular by NBTHK. We should also be aware that NBTHK is also changing all the time, and as with mumei swords they are just opinions (although perhaps the best one). What they thought in the 1960's-70's-80's might be different as we are approaching 2020. Another mumei bunch that grinds my gears is Yamato Shizu - Shizu - Naoe Shizu... I'll need to learn to really understand mumei swords but it is a slow process.

It has been really nice to read differing opinions. As we are discussing the artistic side of things the can be a lot of difference in opinions yet nobody will be totally wrong. I can just present a numerical fact about preserved blades in my current data amount, still have mountain of stuff to go through before I'll be satisfied. The fact that this data is extremely skewed towards top end should not be a problem considering it is Awataguchi vs. Kunitoshi Awataguchi - 94 swords - 69 signed Kunitoshi (Niji & Rai) - 106 swords - 67 signed My own unpopular opinion is not towards specific school but high/very high class mumei blades in general. Yes I know that lot of them are simply amazing but I still don't totally get it even though I somewhat understand basics behind attributions and valuations. In my own personal opinion signed swords in worse condition should be appreciated more than mumei swords in better condition, yes there is a cut off point where mumei sword is simply just very important piece of history and reference of worksmanship and in such state it will override poor quality swords with mei. I think in general one thing that makes me like Bizen so much is because they have so many signed & dated swords remaining, and same thing is making my head blow as in Sōshū after Shintogo finding a signed sword from Yukimitsu, Masamune, Sadamune is a rare occurance. Then you get to Hiromitsu and Akihiro from whom lots of signed and dated swords are still remaining. So you can get quite accurate information from signed and dated Shintogo swords as well as from Hiromitsu and Akihiro but there is just a huge gap when allegedly "the best" swordsmith in history of Japan worked. So far only signed above tanto length sword from this trio I've found is the Meitō wakizashi Torii Masamune. I'd be more than happy to find signed tachi by any of this trio so please point me towards one if you happen to know one.

I'm eating in the wrong restaurants.