Jamie

What if it weren’t signed. What does Mutsu mune point towards?

I have a Yamashiro Toshinaga with a cutting test from the same year I think. Interesting swords. Mine looks pristine. Especially thinking that it actually cut someone in half.

I have a Rick Barrett folder I carry every day. He does excellent work. Also easy to work with. He just made me a small tanto, traditionally wrapped and did the quench with a bit of tobiyaki.

Your offto a good start sending it to woody.

How long is it ? Nagasa is the length from tip to the notch of the Habaki.

I don’t think people are afraid to comment. This site is dedicated to preservation. Not doing it yourself or even really using them. I’m sure there are other sites involving such, but we are all about preservation. Which in my mind is preservation of the way it was done also.

My first one was a gunto. Sold to a friend that since sold it. Second was a pretty decent muromachi sue Soshu tanto that I literally just moved on to its new home. It had an active temper.

Look here at the board. There are good deals in our for sale section. You might first try reading and educating yourself. Asking a second opinion is good, but you should know yourself.

You might want to post a picture of the horizontal mark your talking about. I don’t personally think this looks ichimonji. I’d lean Soshu ish If old though it will have strong activity between the habuchi and ha.

There were a fair number of good swords I thought. The Go was absolutely incredible. Everything you’d hope for, literally as far as old Soshu goes. I didn’t see the hitatsura daito discussed above but I think if you look around at the sf show you’ll almost always see something incredible. I saw a Naotsuna also. I saw a few very very good swords found too right at the end of the show. One I was amazed that had sat there unsold for three days with so many knowledgeable people in the room. I love this show.

Grey had a copy in sf and I made it about four pages in before I decided to buy it immediately.

You might consider putting a good bit of choji oil on it and letting it sit for a few weeks slathered in oil. Then with a clean rag remove the oil and lots of that rust will come off with the oil. Repeat

If hitatsura killed Soshu then I think it wouldn’t have been emulated in the years following. This particular sword won an award and obviously the Smith has a very credible lineage. I don’t think the pics are outstanding but being that it won an award from the nbthk I’d think it’s probably a good sword. You’ll enjoy it. Hitatsura most times is very active and you’ll put a lot of new words into memory studying this sword. The bizen sword is a pretty damn good choice too. Utsuri being captured in pocs is rare so it must be prominent in this example.

I personally think the Akihiro was a very important find. It’s one of the finest examples of hitatsura I’ve seen in hand. It’s such a nice sword!!

When I was very new to collecting he was one of the people I initially studied with. He allowed me to look at a great many very good blades. Over and over every time I saw him. Which back then was frequent. He also showed me more armor than I’ve ever seen in one place. Some stuff that may have made it to museums and lots that wouldnt have. Because much of it had been used and had battle scars to prove that use. Chain mail from different periods. He was fascinating to sit and talk with. I think we each taught each other a good bit as we respectively learned our interests better. He mentioned Ian and piers a lot. I’ll miss him I missed catching up with him on my last trip to Nola I wish him an easy journey to whatever is next

Buy swords in person from someone trustworthy. Or here on the board. That’s your best bet. If you want something specific post an ad and probably someone will accommodate. Ebay isn’t the place for sword purchases. Too many people have bad experiences and also too many intermediaries posting things they don’t have.

Very good. Please continue

Cool

It’s incredible The hitatsura is so subtle and natural

I personally think that suggesting that a trained polisher look at it in hand is possibly better advice than dismissing a sword from photos. Just my .02

So hi good sign for high quality Soshu and it looks like it has yubashiri too.

I agree with ray. And I don’t personally feel like anyone of us has the right to do as we see fit so to speak. We are all custodians of these swords. The fee you payed to “own” it, is really just your rental fee. These blades if treated properly will outlast us by hundreds of lifetimes. That’s if they are treated properly. If you just oil it lightly and clean it periodically some of this haze will come off. By that I mean applying and removing oil from the blade. Choji oil or a light sewing machine oil. Refer to the NBTHK etiquette for good instructions. http://www.nbthk-ab.org/Etiquette.htm

The nbthkab meeting and display was second to none as usual. I’d urge new collectors to join the NBTHK just for the dolisplays at the shows. These shows are just pricelsss You won’t see as many good blades gathered together anywhere else.

I agree. Keep them together if possible.

Why not just use what been used for centuries? It seems to have worked.