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I agree with "候". 出来宜敷候 * Deki yoroshiku soro.

Dear fellow sword enthusiasts, We would like to let you know that the Dutch Token Society will be present at the Japan Art Fair in Utrecht this weekend. If you are visiting the fair, please feel free to stop by our stand, have a chat, and share our passion for Japanese swords. We look forward to meeting you there! Kind regards, On behalf of the Dutch Token Society, Leen van Ochten Chairman

Eg……this blemish would not exist on a genuine Nanako front plate.

The Japanese won't issue (legally) a torokusho for a sword that isn't genuine and traditionally made. By the fact that it has one, that already gives you the indemnity you need for customs.

Thank you Piers and Dale. A second league guy in the Ishiguro tradition I guess.

For the first tsuba, this part is not asked. But the reading is incorrect. 竪木瓜形 * Tate-mokkō-gata

The translation is totally wrong. 令和6年11月13日交付 – Issued on Reiwa 6th year (2024) 11th month 13th day. It is the date when the registration paper was issued.

A Nanako-Shi from the Masatsune line is shown here, c. Ansei, Tōnan, 9 from right.

1st one is 面白元作之珍重　　 Interesting and original (design) 2nd one is 出来宜敷囗 deki yoroshiku I'm actually a bit stumped by the final character of the second line. I have a few Kanzan hakogaki with this same construction, and I have kind of lazily skipped over it, thinking it was part of 宜敷, or maybe it was 宜敷く, or some variation of く (perhaps hentaigana). But looking at this fresh I don't like any of those options, and am wondering what it is exactly. Edit: Looking again, I guess the last character is 候 (in kuzushiji)

I think I have seen these before? I have an image of one with the rim removed. A common theme but each seems unique?

This is the official school. From Ishiguro no sekai.

I visited the exhibition second time this morning, as I will head out to other parts of Japan. Some additional thoughts. Unfortunately that is wrong Norishige Lewis. That is displayed as it has been donated by Nara Iwao to the museum recently. It is Jūyō Bijutsuhin and nice sword. However in my personal opinion the one passing Tokubetsu Jūyō is far better tantō, just a personal judgement. Nara Iwao donated spectacular items to NBTHK. In my personal opinion the hira-zukuri wakizashi by Yosōzaemon Sukesada he donated was every bit as good as TJ swords on display. Also I really liked the Fujiwara Nagasada katana that was dated 1868 that he donated. In my eyes it was very good sword, now it would never be "high ranked" but I dont care about that at all. *edit* forgot to add that the Tsunahiro wakizashi he donated was amazing. The Yasumitsu is one of my favorite items on the display. Even though it is slim and slender in form while I usually prefer the big monster swords. I am not sure if there will be photos of it as photography isnt allowed for TJ items. It is very recent Jūyō, passing in 71, so when they release the book there will be bit more info on the sword. I really don't like the extreme closeups as to me they are not something I personally see when looking at item, and I am not one seeking extremely fine details. Of course I understand that some people love these extreme details. I saw few Japanese with big cameras shooting closeup shots of the few reference items that were allowed to photography. When I am at home next month I should be able to match the majority of the swords to Jūyō level sessions. For the few mumei items I might need to wait until TJ book is released so I can match the item side by side. *edit* While I understand the multiple tier process I am not a fan of it. All of the items that passed the TJ shinsa are incredible items and display characteristic traits and experts would most likely identify them easily. If you would see any of these items with Hozon papers for example you wouldn't think about the paper level but how incredible the actual item is. I think it can be sometimes bit misleading as we talk a lot about these tier levels while I think the actual item would be more important focus point.

Hello Nazar, Good picture.....this 'string binding' of sayas has been mentioned before, maybe on the leather combat cover thread? I believe many of those seen are period, in fact I have a copper 95 with the tell tale makings of old (long gone) string binding. Of course, both metal and wooden sayas had leather covers in the combat environment but what happened if you were transferred without the benefit of a leather cover or yours simply rotted off in the tropics.....string? My belief is that it may have been done to both camouflage and also, possibly more importantly, to reduce any noise occurring from the steel saya hitting the many other metal military objects carried. Sound carries! Rob

Usually that not-so-refined tsuba get a Shōami attribution (sadly).

Mumei Taira Takada Katana in Koshirae NBTHK Hozon Late-Muromachi period. Specifications Taira Takada Katana Mumei Type: Katana Nakago: O-suriage Mumei Period: Late Muromachi period (16th century AD) Papers: NBTHK Hozon Habaki: Gold foiled Koshirae: Mounted in a late Edo period koshirae. The saya features a rare shuro-nuri finish, made by mixing fibers from the surface of the windmill palm (shuro) into transparent brown urushi lacquer and polishing it to a smooth finish. There are some previous repairs visible. Specifications: Nagasa (Cutting-edge length): Approx 69.5cm (2 Shaku 3 sun) Sori (Curvature): approx 1.5cm Shinogi-zukuri Description: Attributed to Taira Takada by NBTHK Hozon papers in 2002. Taira Takada is the last stage of the koto Takada school, originally starting in the late Kamakura period. This Katana has a slight notare-hamon. The Jihada Itame hada, which are nicely visible and very enjoyable. This katana has the overall typical late Muromachi sugata. The sword has some light scratches, which are negligible. The sword is in older polish, but still very nice enjoyable condition. The koshirae is a beautiful addition to the sword, especially the saya. (Disclaimer: The overview image has its background removed, which can create some slight artefacting around the cutting edge. There is no damage to the cutting edge or kissaki.) PRICE: €2600 (EURO) Free shipping within the EU International shipping available (extra charge: €20–40) Express insured shipping (FedEx, UPS, DHL Express, etc.) Located in the Netherlands – Pickup available Payment Methods: Various payment methods are accepted, with bank transfer preferred. Please contact via PM to discuss payment options. Returns accepted Any questions are welcome. Feel free to contact me anytime.

Fumei Uda Wakizashi in Koshirae and Shirasaya NBTHK Hozon Muromachi period Specifications Type: Wakizashi Nakago: Mumei Period: Around the middle Muromachi period 1450-1500AD Papers: NBTHK Hozon and old Kanteisho of a Nihonto study group, attributing the wakizashi to Kozori. Horimono: Bohi Habaki: Silver foiled Koshirae: Yes, Wakizashi koshirae, late edo period. Hira-zukuri Nagasa (Cutting-edge length): 35,7cm (1 shaku 1 sun 7 bu) Sori (Curvature): Very little. Description: Attributed to Uda by the NBTHK Hozon papers in 2025, sent to shinsa by me personally. This wakizashi has a suguha hamon with overall nice activity in the nioiguchi. The jhada consists mostly of ko-itame hada combined with some masame hada. The wakizashi has more of a tanto feeling, being quite slender. The sword has the remains of a signature visible, but the NBTHK judged the signature to be illegible. The sword is in enjoyable condition with only a few foraging flaws, but is in older polish. Overall, a nice wakizashi in koshirae for any collection. The koshirae is a nice wakizashi koshirae from the late Edo period. Extra images will be uploaded later of the Koshirae. Please judge the images to get an idea of the overall condition. PRICE: €1500 (EURO) Free shipping within the EU International shipping available (extra charge: €20–40) Express insured shipping (FedEx, UPS, DHL Express, etc.) Located in the Netherlands – Pickup available Payment Methods: Various payment methods are accepted, with bank transfer preferred. Please contact via PM to discuss payment options. Returns accepted Any questions are welcome. Feel free to contact me anytime.

Mumei Takada Muneyuki Katana in shirasaya NBTHK Hozon Specifications Type: Katana Nakago: Mumei suriage Period: Azuchi-Momoyama to Keicho period. (Late 16th century to early 17th century) Papers: NBTHK Hozon Habaki: Gold foiled Shirasaya Shinogi-zukuri Nagasa (Cutting-edge length): 68,18cm (2 shaku 2 sun 5 bu) Sori (Curvature): approx 1.8cm Sword description: Attributed to Takada Muneyuki, from the Takada school, founded in the late Kamakura period. This Katana has a gunome-midare hamon with stunning overall quality. The Jihada consists mostly of itame hada, which can be nicely enjoyed as seen on the images. This katana has the overall typical early Edo period shape, but with 5 mekugi-ana, which gives the sword more of a late Muromachi Taira Takada feeling. The sword is in beautiful, enjoyable condition with nearly no kitae-ware. Overall quality can be seen on the images; there is some damage to the cutting edge under the habaki, as you can see on the NBTHK Kanteisho as well. The sword comes in shirasaya, with a sword bag included. (Disclaimer: The overview image has its background removed, which can create some slight artefacting around the cutting edge. There is no alarming damage to the cutting edge or kissaki.) PRICE: €2500 (EURO) Free shipping within the EU International shipping available (extra charge: €20–40) Express insured shipping (FedEx, UPS, DHL Express, etc.) Located in the Netherlands – Pickup available Payment Methods: Various payment methods are accepted, with bank transfer preferred. Please contact via PM to discuss payment options. Returns accepted Any questions are welcome. Feel free to contact me anytime.

That eagle is very much a traditional Japanese depiction. Don't read too much into it.

I have heard that there would be 'recognized themes' produced over and over, very close to each other. I found out asking about a few 'close but different' fuchi with a weasel or badger with a bird in it's mouth. There was one at auction and another with different feathers on the bird on a website front page. Not the same, but so very close.

https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/u1224612069 Comparing the two: very, very close but not identical as far as I can tell. The reverse side is markedly different with the striation marks all over the place on Bruno's

HGK2 尾張透 ＊ Owari sukashi 四方花形文 鐔 ＊ shihō hanagata-mon tsuba 撫角形 鉄地 四方透 ＊ nadekaku-gata tetsu-ji shihō sukashi 無銘 尾張透 ＊ mumei Owari sukashi 時代 室町時代 ＊ jidai Muromachi jidai 出来宜矣板★ ＊ dekī yoroshi ?? 昭和庚戌年晩秋 ＊ Shōwa kanoe-inu-nen banshū [1970, late autumn] 寒山誌 ＊ Kanzan shirusu (kaō) Here, I am a bit perplexed by the repetition of the word jidai in the third column. I would also appreciate any confirmation of my transcription of the fourth column, as the last kanji still eludes me.

I don't really know on this piece, (I know I don't like it.) But for the sake of debate, I'll take the opposite tack, and ask what makes one suppose it's not old? Now, before we continue, I'd like to put forward that the link claims this item is Meiji period, which means it might have been made to what the Japanese at the time believed European/American tastes were, and it was made for export. (assuming it isn't fake to start with.) The thing that stands out the most is that the people in the boats on the left side of the composition look ... like posts with heads, and the people on the right side look like people. That's a very strange artistic choice. On the other hand the dot pattern looks pretty good, so it seems likely at a minimum a real Tsuba was used to make this, wouldn't it? I also recently say in an auction a sword stand from the Meiji period that looked like it had a Japanese idea of an American Bald Eagle, (again perhaps for export?) https://www.hermann-historica.de/en/auctions/lot/id/1577041 Sold for 950 Euros. Add about 25-30% to that for commission.

Hi Adrian, welcome in NMB. I suppose you already know that document is a tōrokusho and is not intended to be exported from Japan with the blade (at least if the Japanese law is respected). Anyway the paper relates to a katana, nagasa (lenght) 63.4 cm, and the document was issued in Reiwa 6 (2024), november 13.

Agreed. The arrows in particular are awfully depicted as is the bow of the ship. I find it hard to believe a Japanese artisan would come up with imagery like this.

Quick Look…..something seems very wrong with this one. Artistically it’s horrible. Looks flashy but….

some more

The Musashi Masamune has strong points and weak areas. It is not all exceptional. Having said that, I liked it more when I saw it in April versus a few years ago when I was rather unimpressed with it.

It is a wakizashi. It took me a while to understand the significance of length in value. Jimmy plans on evaluating it at the San Fransisco sword show. As with any sword I look to see if it is "good enough" to warrant an exceptional polish. I've also come to find that mumei swords are usually of lesser pedigree than zaimei ones. Then there's mumei, suriage or o-suriage ones. And, ultimately taste is a factor as well.

That sounds hilarious! It's always fun to see unexpected similarities in art and modern design. Thanks for sharing the laugh about the tsuba's "game-losing" expression!

Hi again! I'm sorry if my first reply seemed impolite. I only compared your sword to other more easily accessible online sources, like Osaka Shinto Zufu, then came to my initial response. I should have explained my guess with more concrete evidence. Here are some examples from my copy of Shinkai Daikan. I'm not sure if this is against NMB's policy on intellectual property, and I would remove these if so : ( Notice that none of these signatures has this kind of chisel strokes sticking out on the top of the 井 character, a Tekuse (手癖, an act of habit, in this case, when chiseling signatures), no doubt, by the counterfeiter. It's always just two lines from top to bottom in the 井 character with genuine Shinkai's work. So yes, I would agree this is not a Gimei (fake signature) of maximum effort, unfortunately. (The wavy shinogi line and off-looking patina are also telltale signs, as said above.) Edits: Anyway, let's not get hung up on this Mei (signature). This still could be a nice sword in many other aspects. To tell the quality of the work, however, requires much better photos of the sword. I think there are many guidelines on how to take pictures of a Japanese sword on this forum, it's just I can't find any now orz

Constructive criticism or comments are always welcome, no offense it taken. Just to address a few points above. Way back when we moved to this hosting, we already had well over 250K attachments. Now that number is likely far more than double. No mean feat to try and move hosting. It's not something you can quickly FTP across. I also want to host here in South Africa, so when I have an issue I can pick up a phone and actually call someone. Don't want to be tens of thousands of miles away speaking to a bot. Also, the cost of hosting overseas is more than we can bear, given the funds that come in. This attach has been inconvenient, but we will get through it, and things will get back to normal. If they don't, I'll look at other options. But again, everything comes down to money. The site is well known. Everywhere. Just type into any AI chat "What is the largest Japanese sword forum in the world" The problem is that many collectors are not young anymore. They prefer to collect in person, and many are old school. Even in Japan, it is hard to change that mindset. We would love more interaction, but people prefer what they know. The younger generation prefers Facebook...instant gratification even if the data is disposable and far less reliable. We have a good membership here, that ebbs and flows, but there is still more info stored here than anywhere else. I prefer to keep this mostly on topic. I don't want to cross over to the martial arts much. There are places for that, and they deal with it better than we can. We are about the study and preservation, not so much the use. Image uploading is more than sufficient. Really it is. We can't be expected to accommodate everyone who wants to take a 50MP photo on their phone and upload it directly. We don't need billboard size photos and people need to learn to crop and edit before they upload. Currently regular members can upload 3 megs per post. Since pics can easily be brought down to under 500kb, you are able to upload enough provided you aren't trying to upload pics that are several megs each. PLUS you can then reply and do more pics, with the same limit in that thread, adding more pics. If people want more per post then they can upgrade to Gold membership. There you are allowed 7.5MB per post. More than enough. Pic max sizing is ample to view only. We don't need to scroll several pages across to see everything. I think the post limits are more than enough if people learn free image resizing and learn a little about DPI and what is sufficient. As for the customizable feed, see my post above. This is easy and worth playing with. We will be going to new software by the end of the year and there will be many more features and changes, and I think everyone will benefit.

I'll admit that I was confused by your original post and reply too, as so much ground was covered historically and geographically that it was not easy for me to formulate any kind of consistent reply. At the propect of all or nothing, I kind of gave up. By the same token, this was a subject that I had not really thought about. Some self-defense requires use of the pommel, and it was also pushed with the left (armo(u)red) hand on occasion. It makes sense that the kashira pommel in particular would have taken repeated knocks when either worn, in action or in transit, and anything truly artistic could have been spoiled or ruined. Horn and iron would show less damage at first glance than soft, delicate (precious) metals, and scratched or chipped horn could be rounded off and buffed out.

It was me. Your original topic was an interesting one…..perceived shortage of kashira….possible reasons…..different types of kashira (or Kabuto gane) and their place in history etc but you lost me when you started talking about and imaging non Japanese scabbards, wood vs metal scabbards etc…..which were irrelevant to the topic (imo) , but that’s just me, no offence intended. Also worth remembering that there are very few pre Edo koshirae or even components thereof kicking around on the market compared to the more intricate Edo developments. You are going back over 400 years with massive changes in fashion in the meantime so no surprise that a lot has been lost to time in Japan for a variety of reasons.

Buying a blade is completely a personal thing. I like the idea that the blade chooses the owner rather than the other way round. As such one blade that tickles the fancy of one person may not tickle the fancy of others. I for example am a Soshu fan (probably the most popular category of sword collector) and others think Soshu is nice but prefer the more obscure smiths like @Jussi Ekholm. Some love blades according to their rating preferring the higher grade blades, whilst other prefer the provenance or the story behind the blade and still others (probably most again) just fall in love with the look of the blade or the smith. I can completely understand that when you start looking your list can contain blades that stretch from 1-35 million Yen. This is where the study and research into each smith starts and as such it is the start of a wonderful journey. If you do have big money available to spend then it is certainly worth being patient - there are a lot of good blades out there and the best are listed for only a short time or through friends of friends. Don't let that money burn a hole in your pocket. Find out what/who you like. Keep your ear to the ground (ask those more connected to do the same.) Follow the great apps like NihontoWatch by @Hoshi. Please do continue to share and ask questions. DM those in the community members who show the most knowledge around what you are looking at... Getting an opinion like @Andrew Ickeringill is also really worth it if you are keen on a blade. His keen eye after years of polishing great blades will give you an honest review. I can promise you most in this community are willing to share their knowledge and will help point you in the right direction. There is a blade waiting for you and I can promise you when you see it you will know. Your journey will lead you there. Excited for you bud.

Designs were often copied from artist to artist, from school to school. I've seen this job, and the quality of the work is really excellent. I even want to believe the seller about the documents…

Just finished watching the four part series called The Samurai by Tom Holland & Dominic Sandbrook part of their podcast The Rest is History. For those who don't know Tom Holland, he is a brilliant British historian who eloquently breaks down world history. This series appears to have been influenced by the current Samurai Exhibition at the British Museum. It gives a wonderful account of the early history and rise of the Samurai in Japan. A must watch for anyone interested in Japanese Swords, Early Japanese Military History & Japanese Legends. I will leave a link to the episodes here: The Samurai - Episode 1 Samurai Japan was Brutal - Episode 2 Samurai Battles Were Worse Than You Think - Episode 3 The Samurai Civil War: Japan's Greatest Epic - Episode 4 Enjoy!

Last month I was in Kyoto. went into a tourist trap antique shop. It was at the end of a long street that is aimed at the tourist trade, but had genuine antiques for sale. There was a large section of sword fittings, most of them in poor shape. Some were sets connected by small bits of plastic, others individuals. In the individual menuki box, I found this treasure and bought it on the spot. A giant frog holding an umbrella, while a man in court dress bows down and prostrates himself to the frog. (I, For One, Welcome Our New Amphibian Overlords!) Whatever it was paired with has been lost to time. I am therefore posting it here, to ask if anyone else has seen it's like? (Besides the fire breathing toad of Tenjiku Tokubei...)

I was told there was an issue but by the time I logged in, all was working fine. The whole of SA has had some serious internet disruptions the past few days. Apparently massive DDOS attacks launched against all the ISP's, and most have had some serious problems, so I'm guessing that was part of it. No-one knows why or by whom, but it's a large one, and taken down most of the providers for a bit. I expect there may be some lingering issues over the next few days.

Extra pictures of the koshirae:

Sorry, couldn't resist... the resemblance is amazing though. Or maybe this tsubako was a fan of American football? (Not that it existed yet...)

Reminds me of a local baskeball club -

Arrows? I thought the other boat was throwing Gunbai at the archers!