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Hi Everyone, I was pleasantly surprised 30 minutes ago by a ring on my doorbell from the USPS, with what looked to be a very long box. Lo and behold, my shingunto surprisingly made it to my doorstep, despite the USPS tracking data showing no updates. Inside, there was "US Fish and Wildlife" tape all over the contents, and for some reason, it seems like the fish and wildlife department had my sword for 2 weeks. Not sure why that was so, and I'm just glad that the sword made it to me in one piece.

Hmm... The first one is 若无(無 in cursive)清風吹，香氣为(為 in cursive)誰發, part of the poem 古風·孤蘭生幽園 by 李白 Li Bai of the Tang dynasty. Gemini suggested "If no gentle breeze blows, for whom would the fragrance spread?", feels close enough I guess! (Edited again: This is quite a poem upon a second read! One of the most classic themes recurring throughout Chinese poetry history, that is not being appreciated in one's own time for their talent. This poem was written in the autumn of the second year that Li Bai (arguably THE greatest Chinese poet ever) was called to the capital by the emperor himself, one of the greatest honors and dream of every ambitious person in ancient China, slandered by the emperor's favorite eunuch because Li would not kiss up to him, now growing apart from the emperor. The poem pictures a lonely orchid (considered the gentleman's flower, signifying pure of heart and high moral standards) overrun by weeds (the evil people in the court), once blessed with the sun's warmth (the emperor's favor), now loomed by the autumn moon(absent of sun and gleam future), experiencing frost and rain, and finally, "If no gentle breeze blows, for whom would the fragrance spread?" (one's talent is meaningless without the emperor's appreciation) (孤蘭生幽園，衆草共蕪沒。雖照陽春暉，復悲高秋月。飛霜早淅瀝，綠豔恐休歇。若無清風吹，香氣爲誰發。) ↑ AI could probably translate this well, not me orz) The signature on the bottom left is a little hard, I read 化 something 主人, so master of 化 something, a typical pseudonym of an old-timey Chinese or Japanese literatus. Edited: Forgot to add! Many well-educated Edo-period people read and write Chinese poems, there are even quite a few examples where swordsmiths chisel Chinese poems onto swords (Nakago and/or sword itself). But the bowl(?) in the first pic looks a little Chinesey to me. A good magnifier may tell if it's machine-made with a mini hand drill or laser-engraved. The middle one might not have anything actually intelligible on it. The third one is too blurry to make out for me, perhaps someone trained in Chinese cursive could tell, but I'm in my third weekly class in total and from which I haven't been for three weeks......

Long time between examples - https://www.jauce.com/auction/q1228610297 Anyone seen a tsuba on a tsuba on a tsuba?

Dear all This little hamidashi tsuba just landed on my desk as an aside in a deal with a fellow collector. Dimensions 55.9 mm x 41.4 mm, thickness at seppa-dai 4.5 mm, at mimi 6.1 mm. It is made of concentric layer of copper and shakudo. Unfortunately there is significant delamination between the layers and the center of it is a little loose. It is decorated with a design of waves with very small gold drops, the ten zogan is very well executed. Without this defect it would have been a very nice piece. I have as few questions: The it can be classified as mokume-gane even though it just a made of concentric stripes of alternating metals? A tsuba with a similar layer arrangement in the collection of the Ashmolean collection is classified as mokumegane (https://jameelcentre.ashmolean.org/object/EAX.11192). Based on the design, workmanship and the use of mokumegane to which school it can be attributed? From a cursory research mokumegane was used by the Akita Shoami artist Shoami Dembei or by the Takahashi school (高橋派) a branch of the Edo Akao School. Any information is welcome, thank you in advance. Best Regards Luca

Been a bit busy lately so just reading this for the first time. Japanese without question (all parts), as others have said above, but using Classical Chinese, just as Europeans might once have quoted ancient Latin or Greek.

Just wanted to share this for anyone looking at Moses for polish - I recently received back a Taikei Naotane that was originally polished by a very elderly togisihi in Japan that had many problems. Finger stone marks left, hazy ji, a very scratchy surface etc. Now it looks incredible to say the least. The pictures do not do it justice, but I would highly recommend Moses. These pictures are very much a blue tone as his camera white balance must have been on the cooler side, but to the naked eye in real life, the hamon has a beautiful shade of light blue to it.

Unable to take part recently in the live firings with a bad knee, I have been able to concentrate on doing these static displays, and taking photographs. This time we chose a few representative guns, and I brought some different accessories for variety. (If we show the same objects every year, things can get really stale.) Although it is a Japanese shrine and we were ostensibly showing Japanese hinawa-ju related stuff, I included a couple of Korean pole weapons which Hideyoshi's troops would have encountered on the Korean peninsula. 'Bunroku-Keicho no Eki' in Japanese, and to the Koreans the 'Imjin Wars'. In the back of my mind was the possibility that the shrine priests might not approve, so I was prepared to take flak, but everyone accepted it in their stride with no negative comments. Left foreground Bronze 勝字銃 'Victory mark' 'Seungja Chongtong' hand gun, dated 萬暦 Banreki 11 (1583) Three-barrel 'Sanyan Chong' gun, iron, 1590s(?)

Golden Week includes Children's Day on the 5th of May (formerly called Boys' Day). This year our matchlock troop were asked to perform during the morning at the Kibitsu Hiko Jinja, head shrine for the Ikeda family of Bizen (Okayama) which is close by the dividing line between Bizen and *Bitchu provinces. The blessings ceremony was fairly elaborate. The Shojitsu Kenrikata IchiRyu Katchu Battojutsu sword group also performed, and we all provided entertainment for families and their children throughout the day. During the afternoon, still in armour, we sat for photographs with families, and displayed some of our swords and guns and accessories for the public to see and learn about. The day was special for me too with visiting family and friends. *(Kibitsu Jinja next door is the head shrine for Bitchu and the Abe family of Fukuyama, now Hiroshima.)

That’s highly specialized research…! （As I’m sure you are already aware, Gifu was also affected by air raids, so when you search for information from that period, you often find only references to documents having been destroyed.） I found the 1935 and 1939 commercial directories (lists compiling information on commercial and industrial businesses商工名鑑). (I can see the characters for “sword(s)刀剣” , but I am not sure whether this refers to a blacksmith’s workshop or a retail shop.）You may have already found this information, but I hope it will be helpful. 「刀劍　（古物）　美浪町Minami chō 尾關憲司OzekiKenji」 Town Minami chō 美浪町corresponds to the present-day Town Onami chō御浪町, and the numbers refer to telephone numbers. National Diet Library Digital Collection 商工名鑑 (Shōwa 10) National Diet Library Digital Collection 商工名鑑 (Shōwa 14)　　 I hope your research progresses well.

Here was the original before polish

Today I had a chance to see it again, luckily at a time when there were fewer visitors, so I tried some different shots. A B

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.

Generally, when this happens it's because in that particular line of smiths, there's a bunch of them who are more or less indistinguishable, or have enough overlap in style, skill and/or working period that it becomes difficult to separate the generations, or alternatively that the blade in question has enough features to qualify for more than one generation of that smith. The bigger the skill/quality gap between the "best" smith of that line and the "worst" smith of that line, the more likely it is that they will disambiguate, either with a generation or an approximate time period. As an example, consider Magoroku Kanemoto, the second of the Kanemoto line. He is by far the highest rated Kanemoto; his predecessor is also quite well-thought of, if not quite up to the standard of Magoroku, while the various other Kanemotos that succeeded them are a mishmash of quality with none really standing out. In this case, you're likely to see the one of the following attributions: "Kanemoto (first gen)" - the first Kanemoto. Not up to the legendary standards of Magoroku, but still quite far above the rest "Kanemoto (Magoroku)" or "Kanemoto (second gen)" - the one, the only, the big name "Kanemoto" - one of the other ones, we might have our suspicions but we're not exactly sure which one Sometimes they will add a bit more detail to the last category by attributing to "Kanemoto (Momoyama)" which might narrow it to a particular subset of those smiths within that time period, or "Kanemoto (later gen)," meaning essentially "it could be any of them other than the big two". Rather than asking "What did they mean when they said this", it's sometimes instructive to consider what they didn't say, and then try to figure out why. On occasion this can be a very diplomatic hint at the state of the blade - e.g. "Kanemoto" could also mean "this is by a smith of the Kanemoto lineage but the current polish means we can't tell you any more than that" or "the blade is too tired for us to go out on a limb because who knows what it really looked like with all the meat on its bones and the kissaki not having been reshaped".

・Hōbei / Hōhei (奉幣) refers to the act of offering heihaku to the deities. ・Heihaku (幣帛) is a collective term in Shinto ritual practice for offerings presented before the deities, excluding shinsen (神饌)—that is, food offerings such as rice and sake. It includes items such as cloth, paper, and jewels. From 1875 onward, kinpei (金幣)—monetary offerings wrapped in paper—were also included as part of heihaku. ↓Text is in Japanese only.There is a photograph of textile offerings used as heihaku幣帛. 佐川記念神道博物館　Sagawa Memorial Museum of Shintō and Japanese Culture, Kōgakkan University.

The following is information about the term. ・Kampeisha (官幣社) and Kokuheisha (国幣社)→ These are the two major categories of ‘kansha官社’ , which indicated the ranking of Shinto shrines under the Modern Shrine Ranking System that lasted from the Meiji period until the prewar era. ・Kansha (官社) refers to shrines that received offerings from the state during the Kinensai (祈年祭) and Niinamesai (新嘗祭) festivals.These shrines were divided into Kampeisha (官幣社) and Kokuheisha (国幣社). The modern shrine ranking system was historically influenced by earlier state-controlled classifications, and was organized into major, medium, and minor ranks within each category（大・中・小).Promotions within this hierarchical system were also carried out. ・官幣社（Kampeisha ）：the shrine that receives ritual offerings (heihaku幣帛) from the central government (the Jingikan神祇官,the government office responsible for Shinto affairs under the imperial court) ・国幣社（Kokuheisha）：the shrine that receives ritual offerings (heihaku) from provincial authorities (kokushi国司, and later prefectural governments) ↓The text is in Japanese only, but there is a clear diagram. Please refer to section 3: Modern shrine ranking system (after the Meiji Restoration)近代社格制度 （明治維新以降）. 神社研究所Jinja-lab

（This is an additional note.） “升格　為　国幣小社”= It was promoted to the minor rank of Kokuheisha. Is this perhaps the shrine you are referring to?→伊奈波inaba神社Shrine （In Meiji 6 (1873), it was ranked as a prefectural shrine, and in 1939 (Shōwa 14), It was elevated to the rank of a kokuhei shōsha） It is located at the foot of Gifu Castle 岐阜城 and is quite close to Seki関. wiki.inaba.shrine(Gifu) the Inaba shrine’s official website

Hi, Mr. Erik, thank you for your warning. In fact I just recently (last week I think?) helped a friend I met online a few years back, to identify a tampered NTBNK paper with a swapped photo. It's even got a stamp on, so a little more sophisticated than the ones shown here, understandable since that sword cost him more than 10 grand. A phone call to NTBHK's 台帳照会 line ( https://www.touken.or.jp/shinsa/syousyo.html, the one we use to confirm the authenticity of paper) confirmed my suspicion, and on the phone, the NTBHK staff and I talked about the Yasurime, the position of Mekugi-Ana, Mei itself, and many other things, all mismatching from their records. Although it's not very secure just talking over the phone to say the photo is swapped, so the staff suggested a mail address to me. I sent an email to them with photos of Nakago and paper, they replied in two hours to confirm that "it's very likely a paper with swapped photo", since the safest way is to physically mail them that paper, or bring them the sword with it, not very practical here in PRC. Anyway, he has to deal with that person sold him this counterfeit sword now, and hopefully he can get his money back. Buying straight from reputable Japanese stores could save one from these troubles, but apparently here in PRC shady scamy independent semi-illegal dealers trading over WeChat (and scamy "official" large-scale local stores I might add) are all the rage now, so all bets are off. Hard to sue someone scamed you if you are buying somewhat illegal? stuff from them, naturally.

It’s always worth remembering that a huge slice of Japanese art and imagery (of any variety from all periods) has been borrowed from or loosely based on earlier Chinese art/history. That includes religious figures, legends, general art styles and subjects etc That can be very confusing at times but the usual giveaway is the unique aesthetic that the Japanese bring to art. It is different to Chinese but takes a while to recognise. Also the Japanese pay meticulous attention to detail. A good example is to compare Japanese netsuke with the modern Chinese stuff. Same applies with tsuba. Even very well carved Chinese pieces are artistically totally different. it is difficult toexplain but Japanese often has a “softness” to it.

Hi! This reads 遠州横須賀住一帯子國安 文政五年月日 抜則砕敵蔵則安国. 抜(to draw)則(then)砕(to crush)敵(enemy), 蔵(to conceal, in the context to sheath?)則(then)安(peace, or to make peace)国(nation, country) means "crushing the enemy when drawn out, secure/protect the country when sheathed/kept away". It's written in Chinese, kind of like Latin to Edo Japan. Not a known proverb, and structured and worded in a way that a Japanese reader can read this after a minimum shuffling of the wording to 抜則敵砕 蔵則国安.

It should be related to the shrine's receiving an official ranking. Shintō shrines had a kind of ranking system, with the shrines most closely connected to the Imperial family receiving the rank of "Imperial Shrine", and other major shrines receiving various "National Shrine" rankings. The phrase you posted means something like "appointed National Shrine 3rd Rank" (see Wikipedia for a list of such designated shrines). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_system_of_ranked_Shinto_shrines#Imperial_shrines,_3rd_rank

From Hiroshima - the lights do flicker a bit in the room!

Latest Yamanaka Newsletter has dropped: Yamanaka V4 NL 11 & 12

Resurrecting this necro-post as this is my first kai-gunto. Kanenami blade (water quenched, I think, due to the presence of ara-nie martensite), standard polished black lacquer wood saya, no chuso, gold washed fittings, and dark blue or black ito. The interesting thing about this one is that all of the pieces have matching numbers - just like it came from the factory, I imagine. No tassel, though. John C.

Something I can add. I'm currently in the process of looking to see if I can start sending some of the items in an extensive knife collection, to the USA. Far higher prices. I have someone who does international shipping, and she specializes in sending knives overseas. Joyce is the main person here who everyone uses, and has shipped hundreds of parcels. I have been chatting to her the past few days. The process is fairly straight forward. But she cautioned me on one thing. Apparently fairly randomly (and she says in the majority...but not all cases...if they go through the Atlanta hub) the item will be selected for a CITES inspection. This is where they will check if there are any parts at all made from any endangered wildlife parts. Not just ivory, but certain woods, skins etc etc. Even in cases where these parts aren't present, she says in those cases, the item is delayed every time by between 14 and 21 days before being released. Even if they have the correct docs, once it is pulled aside for SITES inspection, you can add 21 days or so before it's released. Sounds to me like you fell foul of one of these inspections, before they decided none of the parts were a problem. But congrats, that is great news, really happy for you.

I admit even after checking and documenting thousands and thousands mumei attributions by NBTHK I am often very clueless as they give so little information to anything below Jūyō level. I believe as Robert mentioned you can ask directly from NBTHK, however as I have never sent anything to NBTHK I am bit clueless about that process. The amount of time they spend for items at Hozon/Tokubetsu Hozon shinsa is to my understanding quite short (due to huge number of submissions) so they must give out the attributions at quite fast pace. Personally I would prefer they would give more general attributions but specify the time in brackets for the items. I have been under the impression that if there is a mumei attribution to specific smith without any addons it would often mean "the famous one". Of course there are in my eyes times when that attribution would not maybe mean the famous one... it is very complicated, as sometimes the famous generation can be specified in brackets for items with mei, sometimes it is not but it is still seen as the work of the famous one. And as mentioned in another thread lately there are even some attributions where I am not sure if it is narrowed down to a single smith or if it refers to a group of smiths. One thing would be also to know when the papers have been issued? NBTHK has been issuing papers for quite long time and there can be slight variations depending on issue dates. And with more modern information they have switched some smiths to different schools for example, or they have added more information for few schools as there has been misunderstandings by collectors so NBTHK has decided to add information to specific groups.

An example with five strands, not sure what dictated the number of chains. One imagines these multi strand examples were inspired by old Tachi hangers, like on the National Treasure Hojo and Uesugi Tachi Koshirae.

Photo of our recently departed leader Mr Ōmori

swords in the exhibition Tachi — Property of Captain/Pilot Ōhori Mamoru, forged by Kanenobu (Nōshū-jū). Mounting: shin-guntō Type 98. Katana — Property of Lieutenant General Nakamura Aketō, forged by Shizumasa. Mounting: shin-guntō Type 98 with general’s tassel. Katana — Presumably belonging to Major General Shimura Fumio, Vice Chief of Staff of the 7th Army. Blade: ō-suriage, Aoe school (Nanbokuchō period). Mounting: shin-guntō Type 98 with general’s tassel. Wakizashi — Kyū-guntō Model 1906 (Japanese police), worn by a keibu (police lieutenant). Blade: hira-zukuri, Mino workmanship from the early shintō period (ca. 1615). Wakizashi — Kyū-guntō Model 19. Blade: kotō period (pre-1596). Hiriyō-mon in silver on the tsuka. Katana — Kyū-guntō Model 19. Blade signed Kashū Komatsu jū Kanemaki, dated 1642. Tassel indicates the rank of lieutenant or captain. The tsuka bears a mon of two crossed feathers (Abe family). Equipped with a “surrender tag” inscribed: Saikai-mura; Minami Kōhachirō. Nagamaki-naoshi — Kyū-guntō Model 19. Blade from the late 14th century, forged by a smith of the Sōden-Bizen school. The signature has been lost due to ō-suriage. Katana — Signed Yasutsugu, made with namban-tetsu, inscribed Bushū Edo. Featuring the Aoi-mon of the Tokugawa and the Gosan-kiri-mon on the tsuka. Mounting: cavalry kyū-guntō Model 19 for field-grade officers. Tachi — Yasunori kinsaku (Kenzō Kotani), dated August 1937. Mounting: shin-guntō Model 94 with red-brown tassel for field-grade officers. Tachi — Yasuhiro, dated June 1934. Mounting: shin-guntō Model 94 with red-brown tassel for field-grade officers. Katana — Yamato daijō Fujiwara Masanori (Keichō period, 1596–1615). Mounting: itomaki no tachi with Gosan-kiri-mon. Tantō — Yasumitsu, dated October 1935, with original wooden presentation box. Inscription: “Made by Yasumitsu” and “Received by Nihontō Tanren Kai.” Interior dated April 1936. Tantō — Yasuaki kin saku. Mounting: shirasaya. Tantō — Yasutoku saku, dated March 1936. Mounting: shirasaya. Katana — Yasutoku Kajiyama kin saku, dated 1939. Mounting: shirasaya. Tachi — Yasuhiro Miyaguchi, dated July 1937. Mounting: shirasaya, with sayagaki by Tanobe Michihiro. Tachi — Takenori (Kenzō Kotani), signed Geishū-jū Takenori and dated Shōwa 18 (1943). Mounting: shirasaya. Tachi — Yasumitsu (Ikeda), dated September 1937. Mounting: shin-guntō Model 94 with general’s tassel. Mokko-mon on the tsuka. Tachi — Yasuyoshi, dated April 1943. Mounting: shin-guntō Model 94 with red-brown tassel for field-grade officers. Kuruma-mon on the tsuka. Katana — Shin-shintō, mumei, with horimono. Mounting: kai-guntō Type 94. Katana — Mumei. Mounting: kai-guntō Type 94. Feature: Ikeda-mon on the menuki and tsuka. Katana — Ikkanshi Tadatsuna. Mounting: naval Type 1883. Maru ni Jigami-mon on the tsuka.

Jaco, if ever you should happen to pick up something Japanese, please refrain from cleaning, grinding, or polishing! The patina is often a hint to age and value, so NEVER touch it!

It would seem the member who started this thread, has now requested for his account to be deleted. Perhaps, had he received the information requested here in a more timely manor, he would have given NMB the distinguished honor of providing him with further free translations as it has in the past, representing the bulk of his participation.

Probably: 濃州関住源天秀鍛之 = Nōshū Seki-jū Minamoto Amahide forged this Amahide signed his swords in quite a few different styles. There's a similar-looking one in this thread:

If you look for GURI BORI, you will find the same technique that is used for MOKUME GANE. It is a very nice little TSUBA! Perhaps a goldsmith who is familiar with TOSOGU can solder the fissures without it being too obvious? MIssing Ford and his competence here again.....

蓋同銘中無出其右者 (Kedashi domeichu sono migini derumono nashi.) – Perhaps, among the works with the same mei, it is second to none. As for “盡忠則命” on the box, I think that we do not have to be too bound by the word on the box. I guess that the order of the kanji was Kanzan’s own understanding only because he did not know the original four-character idiom 忠則盡命. The attached article was written on the premise that the word was 忠則盡命. Ref. 忠則藎命図鐔　銘　三信家

Studied under Suishinshi Masahide, so 1800s. Sayings, prayers, exhortations were often cut into sword tangs.

大谷家之紋透鐔 (Ohtani-ke no mon sukashi tsuba) – Sukashi tsuba of Ohtani family’s mon IMO, the hanging wisteria crest on the tsuba looks a little different from the Ohtani’s Sgari Fuji.

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...)

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"?

Ah, didn't see you were in SA. Yeah, not too many places in SA to see the real deal. There are a handful of us collectors here in Jhb, and I'm sure a few in CT, but not sure. Drop me a message via pm with your details if you want to chat about it. Funny enough, just helping someone locally to value a collection of about 25 swords, they may come up for sale. Unusual, but let's see what happens. The secret is seeing as many real ones as you can, then the fakes stand out clearly. Browse the forum daily, you'll learn a bunch. I have some Japanese sword books I'm selling for someone if you are interested in any reference works, prices well under market value. Need to pull them out.

Alex, here are some more quotes about Mr. Mosle'. Henry Joly is quoted as saying, "Mosle was fortunate beyond all but two or three Europeans in securing the friendly help of Japanese collectors and experts to impart the personal knowledge necessary to weed the master’s own works from the productions of pupils, followers and imitators." “Bashford Dean (Honorary Curator of Arms and Armor at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC) writes in 1910 about this collection: “It contains objects which will never again be secured by a Japanese collector, and the actual value of it, of course, cannot be estimated in money. The set of your Goto objects alone, would be a collection which give class to any museum, Japanese or foreign”.” “(100 Selected Tsuba from European Public Collections)” “Mosle’ moves to the United States without any political pressure in 1935. He will die there in 1946 having lived like a prince. His collection will be sold by Parke-Bernet on April 22, 1948. The catalog (5 X 8”) had 53 pages!” “(100 Selected Tsuba from European Public Collections)” In 2004, the New York Times published "...Alexander G. Moslé, a German businessman who worked in Japan from 1884 to 1907. As the representative of the Gruson Company, a subsidiary of Krupp Steel, Moslé was able to persuade the Japanese government to switch from French to German arms just as Japan was asserting itself as a military power. (The first Sino-Japanese War was in 1894-95 and the Russo-Japanese War in 1904-05. ) The arms trade made Moslé wealthy; at one point he had 2249 Japanese swords, armor, more than 1600 sword fittings, Japanese paintings, prints, sculptures, ceramics, lacquer and textiles. Moslé retired in 1907 and returned to Germany, working with scholars and dealers to learn more about his collection. In 1909 he exhibited it at the Königliches Kunstgewerbe Museum in Berlin. It was published in two catalogs in 1914, which are still considered important reference works..." Two portfolio cases. Portfolio 1: Title page, Introduction and catalogue, followed by Plates 1-102. Portfolio 2: Plates 103-204. Address of Mr. Mosle: 5 East 66th St., New York City, N.Y. There are some more Mosle' details in this article. https://shibuiswords.com/joshuHaynes.htm

Beautiful polish by Moses. I ve never used him but I ve always admired his work. I am a big time lover of negare and any type of O hada and this is brought out in spectacular fashion here. It is the workmanship that confirms the skill of the artisan. Not the background of his training.

梵鐘・仏像・銅像・寺院仏具の　老子製作所 | 梵鐘(釣鐘)・寺院仏具・仏像・銅像の老子製作所は、伝統工芸高岡銅器と共に 鐘の専門メーカーとして、寺院仏具金物や洋鐘、カリヨン、モニュメント等の鋳物製品を製造しています Although Lao Tsu or Laozu is spelt like this, the Buddhist manufacturer of bronze bells is called "Oigo" (Old Child) 老子 with these characters, so presumably that is how they would like it to be read. Their blurb says that they made/make objects in the spirit of Laotsu. 老子青銅作品 - 検索

Sukaira, It has been a while since I participated on the NMB so @Brian, please delete if things have changed. I agree with above where it was said that judging a polish via pictures is challenging. As you have it in hand, I will trust that you are satisfied with the results. That said, this was a risky endeavor. You entrusted the blade of a master artisan - assuming it was done by Taikei Naotane and has or would pass shinsa - to an amateur/unlicensed polisher. When thinking of the unlicensed polishers with the best reputation, Moses and a handful of others come to mind first, which is meant to be said with respect. They have had some level of training and as such, their work is better than untrained “polishers”. Since he is in the camp of one of the better amateur togishi, there is a chance that no damage has been done, but there was a chance that a great deal of damage COULD’VE been done. That is why I’m speaking up here. For every one example like yours that looks good and shiny, there are others where an untrained/unlicensed polisher destroys a blade. People will read this and think that they can avoid the time and cost of sending to Japan and still get top quality results, when on average, that will not be the case. The other reason I’m speaking up is because of the sword you sent. Taikei Naotane is in the list of the best Shinshinto smiths and if he doesn’t have Juyo work yet, it is simply a matter of time until he does. If you would’ve sent a showato or even a mid-range gendaito (read emura or nagamitsu level), I probably wouldn’t say anything, to avoid the almost certain backlash and conflict. But you didn’t. You sent a Taikei Naotane and in my opinion - even if this worked out well, which it’s impossible to tell via pictures - was a gamble not worth taking with what could prove to be in time a Juyo candidate. Apologies for providing a more constructive response, but even if your situation worked out well, it’s important for others to understand the risk associated with engaging non-licensed polishers.

Just to be noted those are my personal take on things and the correctness of it is up to debate. Just that lot of sources have slightly varying information. I have been wondering about the Mihara smiths too, as it is very rare to encounter one that would have been attributed to late Kamakura by authorities. Of course dealers will tout Ko-Mihara attributed blades as late Kamakura items, and I admit for many mumei swords I have personally late Kamakura - Nanbokuchō as the range. The different generations might be bit varying from book to book. For example for Ko-Mihara Masaie there are 7 different one in Nihontō Meikan and 5 in Sesko Index. For Ko-Mihara Masahiro there are 3 different ones in Nihontō Meikan and 2 in Seskos. Here the notable difference is that Meikan has 1st Masahiro working roughly 1320s to 1330s while in Seskos the first gen is listed c 1360's. There are actually few items that are attributed to late Kamakura Mihara Masahiro by authorities. However all dated items I have found by Ko-Mihara smiths so far are from Nanbokuchō to Ōei. Range is 1353 to 1415 among 15 dated blades. Then you have Kokubunji Sukekuni at late Kamakura, for him there are few dated blades ranging 1323 to 1329. Then for Hokke Chikatsugu has 1352 dated blade Kaneyasu has several blades 1369 and 1370 There are 5 other dated Hokke blades by various smiths ranging 1367 to 1390 For Ichijō I have only found 1411 dated blade And one 1459 dated ōdachi by 2 Hokke smiths Then there is Tatsubō school in Bingo province And for them I have 4 dated blades ranging 1365 to 1373 Here is one problem that I am not sure about, I am not sure if the attribution Hokke Ichijō (法華一乗) is referring to one smith/lineage or a larger group among Hokke smiths. And of course attributions are attributions they need to throw out some fitting classification bracket.

Marcin: I was focusing on the distinct chisel marks and the very sharp points on the strokes. More likely a chisel made these marks. John C.

And D E F

Some general shots of the place. A B C

Dear Alexander, I finally had the opportunity to review your project: very interesting and exceptionally well done. It offers a historical perspective that is not often appreciated by modern collectors. I especially valued the inclusion of relevant bibliography for each chapter. Thank you for your effort.