Brian

I think he lists on Facebook, low value quick movers at very good prices. They sell in minutes. Nothing fancy, but very good prices. The Japanese are masters at pushing common or average stuff out to the Western market. Stuff that battles to sell there, but we snap it up gleefully. Stuff like mumei wakizashi, gimei stuff and out of polish project blades.

The tsuka is the handle...don't see a break, where is it broken? The nakago is the tang....they has snapped and is now shorter. But it doesn't render the sword dead. It still displays fine. The chips are large, but if they don't go through the hamon, then it isn't fatally flawed, just ugly. You could easily put it together, follow Grey's advice, and have a nice and genuine display piece.

Average wakizashi, not a huge name, so honestly doesn't really matter if gimei or not, you're buying the sword here, not the name. Looks like a decent honest piece. I wouldn't worry too much about the name on it, it's not one that will likely be professionally polished and submitted for shinsa. So enjoy it for what it is, a genuine wakizashi with untested mei.

Think of it this way too....the more support we receive, and are able to pay for the upgrade and hosting, the less chance I'll have to look at horrible things like advertising or paid services here. So you guys are helping everyone at the same time :-)

I would say almost certainly coral. (The fruits, not the eyes)

I was thinking nagamaki, I wrote naginata. Oof. Losing my mind a bit lately, been burning out busy with too many things. I need sleeeeeeep.

I think if we can lure @k morita in here, we'll get our answer. Holding thumbs.

Some awesome stuff, and I bet prices are decent. Man, wish it were easier to buy from the UK Btw, does someone want to tell them it's a naginata, not a Nagasaki https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/tooveys/catalogue-id-srtoo10562/lot-1c8ac754-b1a3-4f3f-9b1e-b42000e12482

Yokoyama Sukesada?

Really appreciate your help on the forum Hiro. With help from guys like you, Moriyama san, Morita san, Steve M, Ray Singer, Trystan and others that are too many to remember right now, we really do have a very solid "team" that is able to assist where few other places are able. On behalf of all of us, thanks to you guys who take time out to help so freely.

Who's that Japanese dealer that specializes in these, that comes to the US shows? Wouldn't it be worth asking him for an opinion? Really lovely tsuba, I think we are all a bit jealous

Hell....you'll get a far better appraisal here for free :-) And trust me, if Ray says something, you can take that as fact 99% of the time

Thank you Marius! And you too Sam. This will be a big help. Haven't mentioned it yet, but we are saving up for the end of the year inevitable large software upgrade See the bottom of this section. https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/clients/donations/ Really appreciate the support. Some great books there.

Very strange post.

Exactly. One of those items you search for your whole life, but are likely unable to ever own.

Man, I LOVE these. Pipe dream, but would love to own a genuine dragon or snake jizai okimono.

As other said, it's not so much looking at what fakes look like, it's more knowing what real ones look like, then when you see something like this...nothing looks like the real thing. Spend some time checking out pics of real sword and reading through the forum and you'll soon see the differences. You need to get some real ones in front of you too. Every country has somewhere you can see real ones.

One of the better dealers who deals specifically in high end stuff is in Canada. He's also a dealer member here on the forum: https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/forum/125-nihonto-art-inc/ Get hold of https://nihontoart.com/ @Nickupero Nick will be of assistance I am sure. @b.hennick Barry is also in Canada and is an advanced collector who I am sure can give advice.

I agree, unfortunately this has a very "made yesterday" feel to it, especially those surgically precision punched marks around the nakago ana. If it's non magnetic, I would guess a modern cast display piece. You always want at least some signs of use on something like this, but it looks like it was made yesterday and it lacks fine detail.

The whole "The Japanese govt will keep it and won't allow it to leave" thing is an old urban myth. Doesn't happen, won't happen. Agree that you'd probably get more for it in the West. Half the time stuff like that will be resold to a Western collector and be shipped out again. They don't care all that much about the WW2 significance, at least not as much as overseas collectors do generally speaking.

Can't believe that thing is already on almost $1000. What are people thinking??!!

https://www.jauce.com/auction/q1223551604

Agree with the above. You need to Google as many high-up contact emails as you can. CC everyone, from the CEO down. Point out that this items is historically significant and the loss is being spread widely across the Japanese art world on social media. Be angry and be persistent. Don't give up, and keep emailing. Become a PITA. Chances are suddenly it will turn up.

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.

Those fittings are definitely Meiji period export type mounts.