Brian

Rob, It's going to be easy to take offense and think you are being treated unfairly. But if you've been here long enough, you'll see that we are fairly strict about restoration, don't allow amateur work at all, and are all of the opinion that we don't entirely own these items, just preserving them for future generations. That said, it is a wartime arsenal sword, so not as critical as antiques that we generally deal with, but hopefully you'll also understand that people are going to be harsh. Mainly to make sure that those amateurs reading who haven't yet taken their swords to a buff or sandpaper get the message, and maybe will reconsider. We are in the game of preserving and properly restoring. Sanding, buffing etc may make a sword look better to a knife collector, but to a Japanese sword collector it looks worse. Hides any hamon that was there, changes the edge geometry and generally takes it out of the league of collecting and into the hands of the general "sword swinger" Again, not trying to offend, just being blunt for the next guy who reads this before doing work himself. You have a genuine piece of WW2 history. What's done is done. It has an antique tsuba that may have been worth a few hundred. Resist the urge to do any more work, and it will still have some value for the future. Nakago patina is vital to the value of a Japanese sword. Cleaning it halves that value. Anyways, hope you got some decent info on the smith and what the sword is.

All the work on the blade, fittings and tang are exactly the opposite of what should be done on a Japanese sword. Kinda hurts to read. Ruined a lot of the value it would have had. Too late now though. It's a wartime sword, and it does have a temper line. But with the work done to it, there is little chance it will be visible now, without very expensive professional restoration. These are also not sharpened like knives, you don't take a stone to the edge. Sharpening is accomplished through the blade polishing process which is quite complex and expensive. I suggest doing no more work on it, and just keeping it lightly oiled.

Always a market for custom reproductions, especially USA and maybe UK etc. The question would be the end price. But as limited production and marked as such, I think you'd find buyers who want to shoot them. And you could make them fairly accurate, so some would want them for competition. But a ballpark price would be better. I'd see this in the same league as custom modern Kentucky-style rifles.

Sam, you're one of my top picks. I'll be in touch in a day or 2 to work it out. Will be great to have you as one of the admin team. Sorry to put people on the spot, and I understand if people don't want the task, but I'd love to have @Bruce Pennington to help moderate the Military section, and @SteveM to help with the Translation section if they are willing. Maybe doing just one section would be less work and more acceptable for some, while some may be ok with multiple sections. @Matsunoki would be great in one or 2 sections if he's willing. Few others I'll mention soon.

No secret that with my health see-sawing the past few months, and also the amount of new members and off topic stuff going on...it is putting a lot of strain on myself and the maintenance of the forum. I haven't heard from @Jean in a while too. Has anyone heard from him over there in France? We need to check on him and see if all is ok. That said, it is definitely time to consider another moderator or 2. Preferably one in USA and one in UK/Europe area, maybe one in Australia timezone. Need to carefully consider who will be impartial, well liked but strict, and who will get on with most members. I have a few names in mind, but before I mention any, I would need to check if they are willing. Not a lot of work. Mainly editing the occasional post for mistakes, moving threads around, and deleting any spam etc. But that person would need to be online fairly regularly, preferably have been a member for a few years, and most of all, be willing to do it. I may even consider moderators just for certain sections. So here's your chance to maybe nominate or discuss any choices. Thanks all.

Can only laugh at the response...and after all that, still didn't address my comments about modernizing Japanese steel being irrelevant to everything we study and collect. May as well make a sword out of Elmax or Maxamet. Not sure what the point is...that the Japanese have been doing it wrong for 1000 years? Yes...if you want to talk about modern sword production from a purely functional point of view, there are many forums for that. This isn't one of them. So tell us Mustafa, once you get this electroformed steel you seem to passionate about, how does the nie, inazuma, chikei, nioi, sunagashi etc look? How about the hada? Hope you are able to duplicate 1000 years of art, beyond function. Oh...and I play chess multiple times a day. Not an expert by any means. Far from it. But I know my Sicilian from my Caro-Kann Send my regards to my good friends and suppliers at Akkar Silah Sanayi, Girsan, AKSA, Akdaş Silah A.Ş, Kral Arms etc etc.

Yeah, but what's the point? We aren't devoted to what steel performs the best in the world, we are here because of the Art of the Japanese Sword. How to improve the steel or make them in more modern ways isn't our focus.

Fair enough, I copied the wrong link. But Kotani Yasunori worked at the Yasukuni shrine and used Yasunori from 1935 to 1945, this sword was dated 1937. So was made at the shrine, right? https://yakiba.com/yasunori-kotani/ https://swordsofjapa...ani-yasunori-katana/ https://www.japanese...dex.com/yasunori.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenzō_Kotani

Ok...so let's hear you commit to an opinion. Based on the pics above, and in your opinion (you don't have to state categorically, just what you consider most likely given what we see) is this suriage or not? Don't want to hear "can't decide based on the info presented" since life and collecting is about making a call based on what you see, wrong or right. What's your call?

I guess you should take that up with Ed. https://yakiba.com/yasunori-kajiyama/

Did you read the post I highlighted above? "...September 13th 1934 he received the smith name Takenori (武徳) from general Nara Takeji (奈良武次, 1868-1962), from that time onwards he signed all blades made for the Yasukuni forge with Yasunori, and all other privately made blades with Takenori" Elementary my dear Watson. I got that by Googling "yasunori yasukuni swords" and it was in the first few links.

Umut, I can't give you references or technical breakdowns right now. However it's not rocket science. Pretty much the same way just about every single sword made by any custom maker or manufacturer does it nowadays. Regular mono steel billet, forged and heat treated. Same as any military sword worldwide. Except they did differential hardening during yakiire. https://swordis.com/blog/shingane/

Jacques, You think you can prove something by finding the occasional and rare outlier? And you call yourself a scientist? Sheesh.

As mentioned, discussions in a for sale listing are frowned upon, and can affect the sale. In this case, it was easy to answer. Also Google. All good, I'm sure many learned a bit about his swords now. But let's keep the questions to the other sections out of respect to sellers.

Very early blades were mono-core. Like 1100/1200's. Aside from many tanto, most swords after that weren't mono-steel anymore.