Brian

No, it is more reasonable to deduce that favours and leniency allowed these blades to pass shinsa. I'm betting the vast majority are oil quenched, and that the ones that passed shinsa would not have passed without some exception being made for various reasons.

The exceptions are so rare as to make it fairly reasonable to assume that swords stamped this way are not fully traditionally made. This isn't an old blade, and it can be assumed reliably that it is a wartime "Showato" that is most likely oil quenched.

I think just a mis-translation, they mean post-war tsunagi most likely.

Komonjo special maybe?

I like projects, and seems to me with Tanegashima there is always a way to find parts or make them, and it isn't seen as badly as messing with swords. So I say go for it. As for the other dilemma...seems internal politics there overrules desire and decency. You may have to do something, doesn't mean I would do it under the same circumstances

Nothing this side preventing it, can only be your pc. More details. Cell or pc? Use a pc. What error are you getting? Right click and save link as...?

It's a lot better than the guide you wrote Jacques. Oh wait....you didn't write one. Hmm....how about you do one for us, make some good use of your time. You can make it all scientific and academic-y if you like.

Fantastic display Tom, wish I were there. Great job! Thanks for sharing.

Bad Chinese fake.

Done, it's in the downloads section and highly recommended. Much appreciated.

Thanks Rivkin. If ok with you, I'll convert to a .pdf and add it to the downloads section under member articles for future reference? Edit to add: Sorry, I see it's already a .pdf, so if ok, I'll go ahead and upload. It's a great article, with lots of important points. well done.

The shortening would explain the shinogi zukuri tanto thing, which as well all know is a bit awkward and more suited to wakizashi. Maybe the front end of a broken longer sword that was completely redone.

Go into your profile, click account settings. On the left, content view behavior. You can choose where it goes. Also, if you click on the subject heading you are going to, it should take you to the last read comment. If it's not, clear your cookies and try again. But you can also click on the highlighted dot next to the subject....which will take you to the first unread comment. If you hover over that dot (on pc) a popup will tell you where it is taking you.

Absolutely love them

Yip, as Sam said. Chinese fake pretty obviously.

The level of input and research you put into your replies is really impressive Mal. We all greatly appreciate it.

I think he means getting a tsuka made and wrapped, to display the fittings. Yes..quite possible. However in just about all cases, you would get a short wooden tsunagi made to hold everything including the tsuba together. If you don't want a tsunagi, then typically you would get a whole tsuka made, but it wouldn't be displayed with a tsuba.

Sam is correct. HAVE to limit editing. The common spam trick is to join forums...post fairly normal replies, and then a month or more later, go back and add in links etc in old posts. They don't get many views...but they aren't after that. They are after the bots that scan websites, and those embedded links get them better rankings in search engines etc. Lost count of the number of edited posts to add stuff like that, that I have picked up and deleted. Limiting editing time is the only way. Gold members get far more time to edit. We assume those that paid for memberships are less likely to be spammers.

Not difficult at all to make your own. There are hundreds of resources online. Check these out: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/preparing-matchlock-rope.190347/ (especially post #3) https://pyrodata.com/PyroGuide/index.php^title=Slow_match.htm

This is, was and always was illegal in Japan. At no stage would it have been allowed to be made in Japan, the laws prohibit it.

Tang notches were usually to keep the fittings and blade together. They are almost certainly never anything to do with testing or "kills"

File size limits are completely adequate. We don't need 1 meg pics taken straight from a phone. Just Google free image resizers. Drop the dpi, you should easily get the file sizes down to under 1 meg. We are at the point where phones want to upload billboard size pics to the internet.

Yeah, Namikawa sells it. https://www.namikawa-ltd.com/product/132 I have a bunch here, but have never used it.

Buy the sword, not the signature. No..it's wasn't some Daimyo gift. It's an average wakizashi. Good chance of gimei, but again...buy the sword not the signature. Looks in ok condition but you have to budget for a tsuba. In other words, if it's like $400 or so...feel free to buy it, not much to lose. If it's $1000....pass. You need to decide what it's worth to you, but you are buying an entry level wakizashi with an untested mei. Hamon looks not terrible. Check for flaws etc. needs work.

One thing I have tried before successfully is to put a very short section of cable, such as bicycle brake cable, into a drill, and go slowly. The multiple wires in the front act as a flexible "drill" but take it very easy and use oil.