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Hi, Perhaps my perspective can help. I think the scientific perspective is a dead end. Why? Because controlled test conditions are impossible to create on historical swords ("too many variables that can't be systematically varied"). Research on Japanese steel and destructive testing on Google Scholar typically yield these ridiculously small sample studies, often with a no-big-deal Muromachi blade or two, sacrificed for metallurgic examination, which typically then leads the authors to make broad conclusions on Koto steel. This is over-generalization and unrigorous. At the other end of the spectrum, there is the folk-science of Masahide's testing - I am somewhat more sympathetic to his approach. Try to cut stuff, make notes. Again, very limited. End of the day, nobody is going to sacrifice a meito on the altar of a Kabuto test cutting. All in all, the fact that Shinto blades have a higher average carbon content leading to brittleness is well attested, and even today's centralized tatara process suffers from overcarbonisation, which is the most common complaint of modern smiths. But this is besides the point. If you want to understand the battle-worthiness of swords, you need to study the market, the method of warfare, and the needs of customers. This is fundamentally more interesting approach than attempting to misapply the scientific method: study the consumer demand profile and the market feedback mechanism. The market creates incentives, producers react to these incentives to make competitive products. Koto school that flourished produced in-demand swords. The main factor driving sword demand during the Koto period was battlefield feedback. Therefore, an efficient proxy for period-controlled, battle-worthiness is the popularity of certain Koto schools and maker that were in high-demand by the elite members of the bushi class. In other-words, if Oda Nobunaga or Toyotomi Hideyoshi took a liking to a certain smith, it's because the product got the job done, pretty was secondary, and they had nearly two centuries of accrued smith reputation to work with. Better, they either had first-hand experience, or second-hand experience from testimonials of their retainers or rivals. Nicknames at the time were simple and to the point: candlestand cutter, helmet cutter, etc. Collecting good swords as war booty, off the dead hands of rivals, was a competitive field at the time. What happens during Muromachi? Well, the demand profile changes. It's no longer about absolute battle effectiveness as it was during the Kamakura Golden Age, it's about getting production to be as cheap as possible to equip flocks of Ashigaru while maintaining a workable sidearm product that was used only in last resort. Different demand profile. That, and exporting swords to the mainland in high volume to quality-insensitive consumer to fund your armies. These were the early Toyotas, or the Shahed drones of today. It works and its cheap. And during Shinto time? Well, peace is upon the land, at long last. Sword smithing loses touch with battlefield reality. Imagine your arms industry producing weapons during peace time, without any adversary to provide feedback. And besides, all the people with money already have their ancestral collectible stashed away. But swords needed to be made in small quantities, this is where you start seeing hamons that feel extremely contrived, with painted tobiyaki and mount fuji impression rendered as hamon. Authorities knew this and of course a few swordsmith had access to their collections and tried making reproductions of Koto swords (Momoyama times, for instance), but it's a slow decline after that. By the middle Edo, the sword industry became so atrophied and the Shogun had to stimulate demand by providing honors and subsidies just to get some talented people moving into the field so it wouldn't completely die out, and a few talented smiths were found in Satsuma (Ippei Yasuo, etc) that genuinely stood out. Things got bad, and everyone knew it. Customers started asking for "proof that it cuts" and that spawned an entire test-cutting industry which was profoundly misguided as the test cutting was performed exclusively on naked or barely clothed static humans in a standardized posture across standardize cut angles with a strange and unrealistic weight attached on the tsuka. That certification industry became very profitable not because of the test-cutting per se, but the side-hustle of creating snake oil out out of harvested body parts. A grim and decadent practice. So Masahide walks into this dying field, realizes something is deeply wrong, and sets himself up on a journey to rectify it and go back to the "old ways". During the Bakumatsu period, one starts to see swords getting longer and more brutal looking. This was a thing in Japan, the closer to civil war, the longer and more brutal the swords got. Nobody wants to be the one with the tooth pick when all hell breaks loose. Kiyomaro cracks the Koto recipes and produce secretly Sunno-To for the Imperialist faction as a side hustle. Naotane cracks it on occasion as well, creating the closest Bizen-mono Utsushi ever made. There is a genuine effort in making functional swords again, and demand is met by the samurai population getting prepared for the inevitable showdown. Money flows into the underground markets and civil war brews. Nobody is looking for mount fuji as a hamon or a fancy Tadatsuna Horimono at that point. So what do we learn from all of this? Well, in the end, it is the desires of the customers that drive the market and product development, and the customer gets his desires from his current priorities. In the Kamakura period, this was about that solo duel on horseback against your sworn family enemy that you'd call out on the battlefield for a one on one in an effort to get his head and earn some glory for your clan. A blade severed by impact meant death and ridicule, and it made you and your entire clan look bad. And people watched and took notes. Battlefield effectiveness at whatever the cost was the goal. It was about having the ultimate weapon, the ultimate horse, the ultimate armor for those one-on-ones to grind up on the honor ladder and hopefully be rewarded by your Lord. I will skip the mongols and the effect it has on Bizen-mono, but things evolved quickly there as well as a result of pure feedback. During the Muromachi period, Ashigaru armies with cheap yari an arquebuses was the meta. No more heroic one-on-one for trophy hunting. Just bloody volleys, and once the Takeda Cavalry went down, it was the end of an era. War had forever changed its face, and demand would never be the same again. And yet, hard earned reputation during the Golden Age would persist to this day. I hope this helps, Hoshi

Great show and thanks for organizing it! I have not been able to participate for two years and the experience was exhilarating. I hope everyone in the field gets to enjoy a show like this at least once.

#1) Bushu - there is a lot of low end Bushu, hiding the fact that there are some very high end Bushu #2) Ko-kinko - same as above. There are low end ko-kinko worth $100, on up to high end ko-kinko worth $45k The wide spread in values of certain large groups results in a propensity to value some exceptionally fine tsuba downwards towards the center of the bell curve.

Many smiths were quite proud of this, and would inscribe it alongside the mei ("made with nanban-tetsu") because imported steel was seen as higher quality than locally refined tamahagane!

The two seals to the right of the text in the first post should read 性潡 and 高氏, and I found other examples of his works with these seals, or similar. scroll with 高氏 and 性潡 https://choondo.jp/Japanese-paintings/obaku-sect-kousen-syouton-calligraphy-painting/ I wasn't quite convinced of the first character of the 性潡 seal, but I don't think it could be anything else, and the art gallery also says its 性潡, so I assume it's correct. I was also interested in the faint seal to the left which reads 囗空文字 and looked around for clues to its meaning, but I couldn't find anything. I could find one other scroll with this same seal. (Dealer suggests its 禾空文字, which looks right, but the meaning is still lost to me). https://cn.sowas-group.com/auctions/item/41237?currency_unit=JPY Anyway, not much help in deciphering the text, but it is some corroboration for the seals and, by extension, the validity of the work.

濃州住井戶秀俊作之 Nōshū jū Ido Hidetoshi saku kore

極月Gokugatsu= The last month of the year (December).

I was wrong…..they did thank us!…..

Just a few pictures from the show. This was from Sunday. Saturday was much busier! As always, Mark and family put on a great show! Lots of great items to see and had the chance to meet up with old friends.

A widely discussed and controversial topic where scientific truth will likely be difficult to come by, just to make a reflection: Regarding the topic, much emphasis is always given to the changes in raw materials between the various periods and to the hamon based on the studies conducted by Masahide, but much less is said about the actual construction characteristics, perhaps also due to a real lack of reliable information. The simple question I think many of us ask is how, a blade forged in 1300 can be considered technically superior to a blade made today... a few weeks ago my father made a classic statement: "Today, cars aren't made like they were in the '70s, it's all plastic." Regardless of whether you agree with this statement or not, it got me thinking about the concept of evolution. What rewards evolution in the field of production in general? Basically, time and money. If I can produce the same object at a lower cost and in a shorter time with better/same or similar performance, this will be taken as the new reference model. Today it would be impossible to think of reproducing a car body like in the 70s, the costs would be insane... I wonder, then, how much time was required to produce a blade in the Kamakura period compared to the Shinto period? What about the combination of hard and soft steel as at the beginning the awareness of the percentage of carbon was zero? What techniques were in vogue compared to the kobuse of the Shinto period? Without reliable sources on these answers it is difficult to reach a conclusion...

It was and is always a great show, thanks to Mark and his family, who infuse it with the DNA of Midwestern welcoming kindness. And many do come just to see people as well as have look see and don't get anything. Not me. I bought four tsuba this time around but no blades. That said sales seemed to be great and there were many fine pieces to be had, from Juyo masterworks to some promising out of the woodwork pieces at prices even mere mortals could afford. Truly, a great time was had by all. Thanks, Mark!

I was just at the 2nd phase of the Jubi exhibition at the NBTHK museum this week, and it was quite a treat to see so many Kamakura era ubu zaimei tachi. The standout to me was the 96.3cm signed Tomonari tachi below: There was also a Norishige tanto with a gorgeous jigane, but it was was odd that the mekugi ana were both punched straight through the characters of the mei: There was also a Tsunahiro hirazukuri wakizashi with a flamboyant hamon: And also a Masamune, which I honestly didn't find to be that outstanding: There were lots of koto blades with prominent utsuri, such as this Muneyoshi: And a few blades had the hamon on the kissaki running very close to the edge: One very interesting sword to me was a Kaneyoshi that was signed and dated both on the same side of the nakago:

I have officially planned my trip! Coast to coast! Looking forward to meeting some of the east coast folks. All the best, -Sam

And that is why I go by water quenched for traditional and oil quenched for nontraditional. I thus avoid what type of steel was used.

I think it's worth mentioning for the sake of broader discussion the possibility that additional mekugi-ana can, in some instances, be added later with the intent of making a nakago appear older or mounted more over time. I’m not suggesting that’s what’s happening here, only that it’s an idea I’ve come across in conversations with more knowledgable collectors than myself; and it may be another angle to keep in mind when looking at unusual examples like this. -Sam

Ha, and even that is messy! We know that some makers, way back, used Western steel. Yet, today, no one would be able to tell which blades had it. So, they would be labeled as nihonto by collectors. It's messy. I will often just say "traditionally made" or "non-traditionally made".

This example from a still active company with hundreds of faked/copied designs, operating out of Osaka https://www.jauce.com/user/9sBuThXpTqPVk2Hk6fEs19XhMiFkU?&search=tsuba&n=100&page=1 I did toy with the idea of doing a catalogue with the fakes and the original piece they are based on - but it might end up being a very very thick book!

URUSHI/lacquer cannot be removed chemically, so it remains very difficult. Heating a TSUBA up to 800°C would probably help! As we know from archaeological finds in China, a thick layer of URUSHI is a safe means to keep corrosion away, but ONLY if there are no cracks where moisture could creep in.

Looks like a nice Type94 Koshirae. For the blade you must show it full naked to see more. Its an old blade yes. But we need to see more.

The Bizen kanji that remains on the nakago of this important Juyo Tachi is splendid. Here is the link https://auctions.morphyauctions.com/AN_IMPORTANT_JUYO_TOKEN_TACHI__DEN_KO_YOSHII_SANEN-LOT664388.aspx

Also consider that koto blades have a somewhat unknown past. Even for well-documented swords, we have no way of knowing exactly how many shocks, hits, bends etc. they took before reaching us in its current state. If an old koto blade breaks after two cuts and a brand new (at the time) shinshinto blade withstood ten, is it that the shinshinto blade had superior craftsmanship? Or did the koto blade finally succumb after taking tens, or even hundreds, of such shocks on the battlefield (and having material removed via polishing and/or horimono)? For that matter, what impact does suriage have on the structural integrity of a blade that used to be much larger? It's a well-known theory that many smiths in the Kamakura and Nanbokucho period were so concerned with structural integrity that they signed with shallow lines instead of deep chisel strokes to avoid creating stress points in the nakago. For all we know, this may be the reason why some blades were simply not signed at all despite being ubu - the customer demanded the maximum possible resilience, or the smith was determined to provide it because of the importance of the intended owner.

If it is lacquer I would leave it, it is difficult to remove without taking patina off at the same time - keep moisture away from it - moisture under lacquer will do more damage than unlacquered metal. Lots of tips here but not much dealing with lacquer I think.

Great post @jdawg221 For me personaly, shinto just doesnt have any sort of appeal to collect. I have zero doubt a shinto/shinshinto/gendai sword would just about break any elegant chu/hoso suguha koto sword. And the comparisson is also kind of moot since they were generally designed for different purpose with koto leaning towards toughness for battle vs armor and shinto having the freedom of not needing to make blades that can withstand armored combat As a collector, I am heavily influenced by historical settings and the general mindset of that particular period. I am particularly drawn to schools/smiths associated with temples . Calm, rustic works that exudes power really speaks to me at a personal and spiritual level. To me that is artistic appeal in itself. The highly prized and flamboyant works like the ichimonji schools while nice to appreciate and study, isnt something I would ever collect. There has to be something that connects with me historically and asthetically. So I dont think the term "better" should be taken on a functional sense but rather it having a greater appeal for collectors. And while collectors all have their own reasons to collect from a certain time period, the general trend in how swords are priced heavily suggest koto blades are most desirable

@DocTheRoc @eternal_newbie Several of the mekugi ana on the Ayanokoji odachi seem to be paired based on their size and relative placement. As the nagasa is 100 cm and the blade weighs about 1750g, it was possibly mounted with two mekugi at a time.

Mike, Welcome to NMB! You can read up on your Navy sword (kaigunto) on Ohmura's site: Naval Officer Swords Care and cleaning tips: Japanese Sword Care - Japaneseswordindex.com

Giheiya by far has the worst images for their blades. I can never bring myself to get interested on their listings because of it. Touken Komachi by far has the best. Aoi and Eirakudo are up there as well.

Its in relatively good polish. Dense itame hada which does not seem to have a lot of ji ne, suguha with clearly defined nioiguchi but without much activity. Blades looks kind of heavy-bulky with some taper, with little bit of koshizori which however at original length could have been torizori. Shinto, circa 1640 comes to mind.

One of the interesting aspects of this is that Kosen used block/regular script throughout. His mei and the seals on the Kannon that I originally posted don't match other examples that I have found online and in books, but the top right seals of the two inscriptions for Kannon paintings appears very similar and contain the same characters carved on two distinct seals.

Hello Mike, It’s signed “Echigo no kuni Mitsuoki”. Mitsuoki is the following smith: “MITSUOKI (光起), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Niigata – “Echigo no Kuni Nuttari- jūnin Endō Mitsuoki” (越後国沼垂住人遠藤光起), “Echigo no Kuni Endō Mitsuoku” (越後国遠藤光起), real name Endō Jinsaku (遠藤仁作), born October 1st 1904, he was basically a self-taught smith but studied from 1935 in Tōkyō at the Nihontō Tanren Denshūjo(日本刀鍛錬伝習所) under Kurihara Hikosaburō Akihide (栗原彦三郎昭秀), he won several prices and made 1939 some blades for the 700th anniversary of the death of Emperor Gotoba (後鳥羽), he lived in Nishiumakoshi (西馬越) in Niigata Prefecture, in 1981 he became mukansa and died in 1997, kihin-jōi (Akihide), Special Honor Seat at the 6th Shinsaku Nihontō Denrankai (新作日本刀展覧会, 1941).” It’s dated 1944. It looks like a nice traditionally made sword. Not a factory made sword.

Kudos to you Colin, and to them for actually listening. A small victory, but a victory none the less.

I was going to say exactly the same thing Sam. Another telltale is that all the mekugi-ana appear to be the same size on the odachi, made by the same punch and thus more likely they are all contemporary to one another. The same suspicion applies to the OP's blade image. The kuro-sabi on the odachi also looks too evenly toned and gives the impression of being an application of colour.

Ah yes. I've heard of the nanban blades. And I should have said "imported" because I don't know that it was Western steel they used.

No such thing as tsuka being too difficult to remove unless it was glued in and that is unlikely. Have a search of the forum for remove tsuka, he should be able to do it without damaging anything. They were made to be taken apart. It's vital to see the blade complete and without fittings. Looks like a nice sword.

Paul, I do not believe in the measurements given. The length of the sword without SAYA will be less that 100 cm, not 135 cm. Overall length in scabbard should be something like 105 cm, if I calculated correctly. A military sword of 175 cm length would be rare and larger than most Japanese even today!

Thats a great tsuba, for me, one that did not need any extra decoration. Sometimes less is more.

If you fellow collector's, enthusiasts and scholars would like some very nice nihonto items to study then check out the upcoming morphy auctions may 12th 2026. It looks like lots 1301-1328 are some fantastic tachi, katana, wakizashi , fuchi kashira etc.. Juyo items, TB Hozon etc. I was studying the suishinshi masahide today for some time. Here is a link to the sale. https://auctions.morphyauctions.com/A_RARE_AND_IMPORTANT_SUISHINSHI_MASAHIDE_WAKIZASHI-lot664367.aspx

Perhaps kirikomi might be an indirect measure of a blades ability to withstand structural failure. Hardly scientific but provides a degree of competency by the makers. They were fully aware of what manufacture methods leads to an effective and resilient sword under the harshest of battle conditions. Afterall it was in their interests for their patrons to return home alive. The Ishida Masamune has signs of a couple of massive impacts to the mune yet survived. So I'm not sure I fully agree with Kevin's statement "shinto/shinshinto/gendai sword would just about break any elegant chu/hoso suguha koto sword". Perhaps a late koto blade when quality of manufacture generally took a dive due to the increasing need to supply the Sengoku period conflicts.

If You divide/name swords made during historical Japanese Showa era [1926-1989] those would be swords made during 2 different sword era gendai and shinsaku. Think about this my way: gendai-to [現代刀] 1877-1945 刀 of gendai and shinsaku-to [新作刀] 1946- until now 刀 of shinsaku era What is a meaning of 刀? We can’t mixing historical and sword era together. These are separate divisions. You heard term showa-to? Collectors meaning - mass produced historical - all blades made during reign of emperor showa. Same with gendai-to. Two meanings literal and one used by collectors. Maybe proposed meaning of collector’s term „showato” is to wide and cover entire showa era but producing this type of item stopped entirely way before era ended. Using word showato to describe term: „mass produced non-traditional” in collectors meaning is confusing for many. If collectors agree to use term like mass-to/sharpi-to or something different it would be better

Giheiya’s photos often leave a lot to be desired. I agree it’s a ware stemming from a “kirikomi,” but I highly doubt this sword saw combat. (I agree with Klee.) It’s fine for iai in my opinion, but if it will be used for tameshigiri, depending on the location, it would be something to keep an eye on if the sword is ever bent and re-straightened (which is likely to happen) due to the forces involved.

Of course it is for display. I’m not going to push anything inside. Metal rims visible on pics were added as some kind of repair, reinforcement. There is also long time before this blade will be polished and evaluated.

Looks like 越前住記内作 - Echizen ju Kinai saku Similar mei in this thread:

Eric, this sounds as if you are not working on it which is good news. Would you mind to disclose who does the polish?

I stabilized spots with „active” fresh rust and removed some „old” black patches. You can see from the start of this thread what was going on with black dots, it suddenly started changing from 2 little dots to entire patch. It was done only in edge area and one finger print at mune. I have decades of experience with polishing granite so I know how easy is to make dimple. Baking soda with choji abura.

Dear members, please see attached link to my eBay listing of the following tsuba. It has a Sato Kanzan Hakogaki to 3rd Jingo , however I feel it is likely to be later than this. The carving and inlay is incredibly delicate and it has a beautiful rich patina. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/257476493284 i can also sell direct for those who prefer not to use eBay. 5% of the net sales value will be donated to the NMB message me if you have any questions. kind regards Michael

Hi Rawa, Thank you very much for your interest. We can confirm that the Mekugi-ana since NBTHK Certification. It is likely that on our website it looks different due to the angle when the Photography was done by us for the website. We hope this information helps. If you are interested in this piece, please message us on our whatsapp and we can send some live photography of the tang. Best, Nicholas Fu Touken Takarado

A few more pictures

This was sent to me the other day. Posting here unless someone has a reason for me to take it down. (see below) Good afternoon, Orlando Show friends, I hope you are looking forward to our June show as much as we are. If you have already reserved your table(s) and booked a room for your weekend stay – THANK YOU!!!! If not yet, then please don’t delay. The show is growing over past years, thanks to your continued support and from a few new faces from around the country. We are laying out the sales room now because of this higher interest, so if you are coming you MUST let us know. I am trying to have all tables sold by the end of April so I will be taking payments in Chicago if you are still deciding. A few announcements. 1. The show will close a little earlier on Sunday so that we can depart the hotel for another group. As such, we will not plan for special activities on Sunday and will be promoting Friday and Saturday as the core public days. 2. We will continue with our Friday night welcome hour for table holders and are proud to present this year’s special demos and exhibits as: a. Etiquette in handing a Japanese Sword – Joe Forcine b. Orlando Toyama ryū dojo demo – Sensei Bob Lampp c. Exhibit on swords of the Yamato Tradition – Ray Singer d. Florida Tosa no Kai Hōzōin-ryū spear demonstration e. Shaolin weapons (sword) forms – Sifu Marlon Pillisoph f. Ikebana International Chapter 132 Orlando-Winter Park g. Central Florida Bonsai Club display 3. Everyone coming to our show is important, but I’d like to mention here a few new names who will be joining us for the first time to our show this year – Billy and Debbie DeNoia from Long Island, NY, Roger Robertshaw from Texas, and Jack Frost and Stephen Kunemond from Virginia. We expect a good representation of armors, swords, tsuba, ceramics, bronzes…. and Asian collectibles. 4. Remember to book your hotel rooms stay early directly with the hotel either by calling, thru our website, or the link here. https://www.hilton.com/en/attend-my-event/mcohndt-90k-1ac36892-11d1-4cc4-af3e-b772cd3f518f/ 5. It has been requested that a secure ground floor space can be made available to hold merchandise on Thursday evening instead of leaving it in a car or lug it up to an upstairs room. We will consider it, but only if you let us know you’re interested 6. For you first time attendees the hotel charges us for parking at a very reduced rate ($7.00 for overnight or $5.00 daily). Please note this is a gated lot with physical security and it accesses directly into the convention center. 7. FYI, for those flying in - the hotel shuttle can take you to anywhere within a one mile radius at no cost. We are located centrally and less than a mile from the Orlando International Airport and plenty of restaurants Thank you as always for your support of Florida’s only Japanese sword show and we are looking forward to another great weekend of Budo history

Jacques, 1. I would love to cite the source placing the use of "core steel" in the late Heian period. However; A. the computer with that information is now gone, and, B. that, along with almost half of my nihonto library including the copy of the magazine article about the use of core steel in the Heian period is now gone as well after having retired from collecting and downsized. 3. I can't recall the name of the sword forum where the conversation took place about when the use of core steel began other than remembering it had an affiliation with Guido Schiller, and the conversation was with someone from Italy, perhaps with a Carlo T., if memory serves. If the website still exists perhaps the conversation could be tracked down. I can't even remember my sign in name any longer. 4. Regardless, we're not going to get a more reliable source than the Japanese polisher who told me he polished a sword from the 1100's that had what he termed as a ladder type construction showing when asked what the earliest sword was he had seen with core steel showing. None the less, I will continue searching for answers. https://markussesko....i-2-jigane-jihada-1/ Regards

How would this construction appear as the outer Hagane (light blue) is worn away through repeated polishing exposing the Kawagane (mustard)? Would it look different to the core Shigane? Harder to distinguish especially if the jihada is mokume?