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The monetary value? In the US? Are you wanting to guess what was paid for it at 'an antique shop' in Japan? I am guessing somewhere around $50 +/-. The real value surely lies in the symbolic gift, a link between you and your teacher, of an object that was made at a historical point in time as part of the long historical culture of Nihonto.

This blade has been sold 🙏

And I feel like this sword is well deserving of a sayagaki. The workmanship is top tier for Sue Bizen and this size ( esp with the long nakago ) is unusual even for Eiroku/ Tensho / Momoyama Sukesada

Curran, in case the ANA are plugged from both sides, the copper inserts are a bit conical, so tapping them in would need more force than tapping them out. Once you get one side out, it becomes much easier. In older TSUBA, the URUSHI can become quite hard and brittle and will not move even with low heat. But on iron TSUBA, removing the plugs shold not be a big problem if you don't need to preserve them. This TENBO TSUBA has lost one insert on the left side.

Muromachi or early Momoyana example.

UPS has been amazing lately. They are now doing DHL style pre-clearance while your package is still in Japan. Just had a sword arrive today that shipped from the dealer in Japan on the 8th. That is dealer Japan -> Japanese Customs -> UPS flight to USA -> my door in 2 days total time. Usually these go from Alaska to Kentucky customs and sit in Kentucky for like 2-4 weeks. This one came straight from Alaska to my door, guessing because of the new pre-clearance procedures. Did pay 10% tariff with $50 UPS fee.

If the distribution of type 95s as reenlistment gifts were a common practice, it at least gives us another explanation as to how swords were brought back other than as "war trophies." John C.

While cleaning some blades, I thought I’d take a few quick photos and share this one, as I'm very fond of it. It’s a Rai Kunitoshi utsushi by Shodai Tadayoshi.. extremely fine ji-nie (konuka)..and in some places, clear hada reminiscent of Rai, with pure white nie along the ha..enjoy!

It is a "Tada-mei" by the first generation Tadayoshi, and is estimated to be a work from around the 15th or 16th year of the Keicho era [1610–1611]. It is a utsushi of an old work by Rai Kunitoshi and is excellently made. Hizen no Kuni Tadayoshi. Blade length: 8 sun, 5 bu. Year of the Wood-Snake, March, by Tanzan.

It’s an amazing lineup, isn’t it? The Maeda family was extremely wealthy, so they owned a large collection of treasures and have preserved them over the centuries. ---- Please note the exhibition period, as the displayed items may change depending on the dates. Around May 9, your visit falls under either Period 4 (May 4–10) or Period 5 (May 12–17). Hiro

As far as finding good sushi or any other food in Tokyo, leave your hotel, turn any direction, and walk a few 100m. It's that simple. If you stay way from the busy tourist areas, you'll find amazing and cheap sushi almost anywhere, no planning necessary. Haneda travel...as the above members suggested. Going back to Narita, the Express is for me is the fastest and most convenient. Hotels...just choose your budget and area, and use Booking.com or even AirBnB. You'll find a ton of places within any budget. Area is more important, and if you are only there for a short time, personally I'd look at near Shinjuku, Shibuya, Asakusa or Ueno. Try to avoid Golden Week. Tokyo is amazing, and anywhere you go, you'll find tons to do.

Welcome to NMB James! a GUNTO lock It would help James if we had an idea of the size of the guard, these examples show where a locking mechanism was fitted to secure the tsuba to the saya - If your guard is bigger the hole would not be for such a mechanism, but if the guard is small possibly for a tanto then a lock may be the reason there is a squarish hole in yours. However there are a number of guards that do have square or rectangular "hitsu" such as this example From David Stiles on a post from 2025 Many examples of sukashi tsuba with squared hitsu in this thread but also a number of solid plate pieces which might help.

The Kai-Go sold privately in the US. https://www.sho-shin.com/kai-go.pdf https://www.sho-shin.com/kai.pdf https://www.sho-shin.com/hoku12a.htm https://www.sho-shin.com/kaipics.htm

I have added in a picture of it for reference. Thank you for the interest and replies. The shadow is a little deceiving to make it look a little more squatish when is reality it's more rectangular with square corners. I am reasonably sure it's authentic. My teacher got it for me at an antique shop on his last trip to Japan to train. This antique dealer was recommended by his sensei who seems to be knowledgeable of such things. Jt

I am a budget traveller with very basic needs. So my standards are most likely way below average forum member. There are lots and lots of very affordable and good hotels in Tokyo. I personally see APA Hotels as very good quality for the money. People do have different standards. There are huge amounts of APA chain hotels in Tokyo, you can just pick a city region where you want to stay. There are lots of even more affordable hotels than APA, that are good enough for me. I would recommend the Keikyu Line train from Haneda Airport, it is very easy to use and Tokyo train system is amazing. Depending on the location of your hotel it will be quite easy to navigate to a nearby station. Even though the train system map can be intimidating because of huge size and number of different lines, it is excellent system.

I'm pinging you way to much but it happened I found Nagamitsu with probably arsenal number 147 cheers! Rs mounting and certified as "Bizen emura school" Watch out photos are shiny https://www.catawiki.com/en/l/102632499-katana-Japan

Well, I braced myself for what might open upon clicking that link. It was still worse than I imagined. I'm not sure if it needs a parental advisory. I think not. Still, certain things cannot be unseen.