Brian

Andrew, can't express how much I admire what you do, and what you are able to do. And what a privilege to have the skill to be chosen for swords like this. Thanks for sharing your journey with us.

Thank you Francis, much appreciated. Looked like a decent sword, looking forward to seeing more when you get it.

It's from the auction currently running mentioned elsewhere

I have at least 2 swords in the same mounts as the first one. Same wrap and menuki, and diagonal saya wrap. These mounts almost always contain fairly decent Gendaito from what I've seen. Definitely swords worth checking out if you see one. Also love to know more about this style. It was clearly a pattern.

Place an order with Namikawa in Japan?

This isn't a new argument. And has been discussed many times. It doesn't come down to just "does the mei look different" There are a ton of factors that are taking into account. Such as stoke strength, direction, mei placement, kanji used, stroke count, patina, etc etc etc. Your signature may vary over time. Maybe when you are ill or tired or in a rush. But you won't suddenly start signing your strokes from a different position, or leave out lines in your signature, or the angle you write at. Ask any signature authenticator who does sports signatures. That is all taken into account. It isn't just "does it look exactly the same" and expects can confidently tell you if the writing was by someone else. Also where the strokes paused or how fluent they are. You can't just discount an opinion because a smith may have changed slightly. The data used is far more advanced than that. And you also can't just take opinions from a forum either. They are given with the caveat that they are opinions. But when you get an opinion from someone who studies that smith or school, their advice has to take preference over internet theories.

These are lovely tsuba Artur. Like them a lot. Price for a daisho pair seems very good. Someone will grab them.

Wow, that's a stunning one! Lovely hada and hamon. Really stunning.

Where does this constant assumption come from that gimei blades are "fake"? People really need to understand that fake signatures are common, done sometimes at the time of manufacture, and was an accepted and commonplace occurrence in the history of Japanese swords. The FAQ above has a write-up on it. There are thought to be more false signatures on swords than real ones. But the swords are still genuine. It's something you live with if you collect Nihonto. Also, Roger (Hizento) is one of the most qualified people when it comes to this school. He's literally written the book on the subject. If he says a mei is gimei, then there is a very likely chance that it is. I trust his opinion just slightly below a shinsa panel.

Funny thing is...as one of the few "Japanese sword guys" in South Africa, and also a major player in the buying/selling knives and edged weapons online here in SA helping guys with values and info...there is an 85% chance that I'll get a message from someone in the middle of the night in a few days from someone asking "I bought this...how did I do?"

At best it's a souvenir/good luck type knife purchased as a general purpose knife or good luck symbol for soldiers going to war. Sometimes sold as shrines as a trinket. They are not transitionally forged, and oil quenched. So no need to spend major money on restoration. Consider it as a wartime or post war souvenir tanto. Will often have a homage marking to one of the big name smiths. Not worthless, but low value. An interesting piece of Japanese history. Tang will be rough, and I wouldn't bother disassembling too much.

Lol. Nah, I have enough better project blades. Everywhere I look at home I see another one. But most have actual potential. I live in fear that after I'm gone, someone is going to find one of these out of polish old blades is an Ichimonji or early Soshu or something I wish there was a shinsa here at least once.

Yeah Jean...we appreciate the sentiment, but I think we all need a slight break from it before we start dreaming about that paragraph

Often when something is cheap enough, we want to Hoover up anything that looks like it may be a real Japanese sword. Lots of us end up with project blades that will never get polished or seen by experienced collectors, so I am trying to resist the urge to just buy anything that is cheap. Especially when you live in a country where Nihonto is almost never available. So...this one came up for sale on a local auction site. I racked my brain for a few days trying to decide if it was worth a low bid, but eventually Last night i decided to pass, and make it someone else's problem. It ended at about $95, which is cheap enough to gamble for some folks. But since the seller wouldn't show the nakago (usual "I don't know enough, I don't know what I am doing etc etc") I decided to practice my ability to refuse stuff. Here's my thought process: Does appear to at least be (part) of a real blade. Not so sure about the fittings. They look cast, maybe modern. But the blade looks like it may possibly be part of a longer sword Shape is ok for a cut down katana/wakizashi...but very awkward for a tanto. That old avoid shinogi-zukuri tanto thing is rarely wrong 2 Mekugi ana. Lower one may be the original...the upper one is off center and was likely drilled for this mount. The nakago would likely have a horrible off center hole Condition is bad. There will be some pitting that will never come out. If I looked at the one blade picture, the more I looked, the more I started to see a crack/hagire in one spot The hi. I like a well done hi, but when I followed the hi, the upper thickness of the ridge near the mune got wider and narrower. This put me off most of all. Hi tend to be well done and even. This one doesn't seem to be. So, bearing in mind this would have likely been a $100 gamble for someone, just wondering what the thought process of others here would have been. Little lesson in what we need to go through before throwing money at cheap stuff. I'm happy I left it. Curious what other think. Come at it not from the point of an advanced collector who buys polished and papered stuff...let's look at it from the pov of a novice who wants to spend peanuts, and buy a "Samurai sword" out of polish that has some age. Curious what others have to say. https://www.bobshop....ibly-ww2/p/626192023

Tadayoshi is among the most faked mei, without papers you have to start off assuming gimei and then have the sword prove otherwise. You won't get much info from just the nakago, need pics of the sword, workmanship etc etc. @omidaijo is your go-to with these.

You don't seem to understand. Don't post it in the auction section. That section marked "Auctions and Online Sales or Sellers"? Do NOT use that unless you are discussing a seller or someone else's online sale. It is not for listing your items. Use the section marked "For Sale or Trade" and in that section, the one labelled "Swords and Edged Weapons" I can't make it more clear than that.

Are you advertising your auction on eBay? Are you discussing an item that is on auction somewhere or for sale elsewhere by an online seller? No? Then STICK to the For Sale section here. We have an entire section devoted to sales here. Use it. I moved this. Again.

It's just you Paris, that's ugly as sin

It's a genuine wartime made arsenal mass produced type sword. Oil quenched, with the arsenal stamp. Kaneyoshi maybe? Edit: Oops, Kanemitsu it is.

I'm told this thin and simple tsuba may be early tosho. Don't know enough to say one way or another, but it has grown on me.

Not experienced enough to comment, but it's a good looking tsuba, looks worth getting a professional opinion to my eyes.

Good looking tsuba. Nice lines and shape, well done.

Thanks Bob. Don't know how, but I am going to do my best to try and be there next year. Looking to do about 2 weeks in Japan. Tokyo and one other city...not Kyoto. I considered doing snow this time, so maybe Sapporo. Lots of saving to do. Holding thumbs. Thanks for the update...having dates makes it much easier to plan.

It's called a ken, a religious symbol type of tanto. Does look fairly modern, but looks like a decent tanto.