Jamie

David, You might turn the pictures upright to make this easier for people to read and translate.

I like koto Yamashiro, Bizen, and especially Soshu. The livliness of the hamon. Not any certain pattern but the effects within it. I love bright and silvery nie.

I lived in a very humid place in the U.S. And normal treatment of a light coating of oil did the trick. Personally mine are all stored in shoes says and in silk bags designed for shirasaya. They are not displayed. Have you decided on any criteria for the blade? Like maybe a school, or tradition.

Please do not attempt restoration yourself. A properly Japanese trained polisher will be able to tell you if its salvageable. I have no opinion there, as the pics need to be a little bit better to determine. Even then only a togishi(polisher) will know for sure. Since the initial cost was low, and if there isn't much damage from the grinding you wrote of, it might be worth it. You might want to post close ups of the damaged areas and you'll get better opinions

I disagree that she she should buy a sword and see it through restoration. I think when starting out one might consider a decent blade in polish. Because you can study that. And navigating through restoration can be tricky if you don't know the right people to choose each piece along the way to restoration. Biggest factor there is learning the blade itself. Why do like this particular sword?

It looks like the shinogi line also isn't strong. Which it would be even on a non traditionally made gunto. I think it may be real, although greatly altered. Looks like someone over cleaned it to me. And probably grinder the nakago like Brian suggests. I could be wrong. Generally my advice is worth the price. Even for 275 you did ok. You've probably learned a lot.

I'd return it and buy a good book. The nakago also looks questionable IMO. As Brian says cleaned of the glue we'd be able to tell more. Even if not returned you can probably get what you paid for it but this probably isn't a keeper.

Photos are difficult but it looks to me like the hada might be disguised by small scatches.

While I'm not sure the correct term either, I think horimono more appropriate than bohi.

There are a few on the board now for good prices. You'll get more for your money out of a wakazashi. As pointed out above you'd probably do better buying some books and figuring out what you like before buying.

Thanks

Worst purchase was cheap differentialy hardened sword shaped object. Had a real Hamon though and it easily zipped through tatami. I bought it for 125 and cut up like 15 tatami mats. Nope not trained. Just very athletic. And I studied cutting. I am recommending people do not try this even though my dumbass did. Also just to note I examined the katana hamon with a scope to make sure I could see the granules in the gain smaller than the ones in the ji It cut as you'd expect- like a razor. I cut a lot of bamboo with it also. I then sold it for150. It was not bent or damaged in any way and it would shave hair still. Amazing. It was a bugei though. They aren't bad. I've made no mistakes with nihonto purchases thus far. Well that I know of anyway. I listened to older more experienced collectors - both here and off the nmb. Only the very first Tanto I purchased wasn't papered(was in polish), and now it is. All the rest have been in Polish and papered.

You might also post pics of yours for comparison. It will help others answer what you're asking. And it will be publicly educational also.

Also a very nice Nobukuni Tanto was on display at the nbthk lecture in Chicago.

Nice thAnks

That could be a nice find Chris.

I submitted a Tanto. I thought it was sue soshu. It passed to Den Fujishima. That seems like a good call to me. Wakimono to Soshu school. I'm happy with the results. They made one very small mistake and missed that the blade is mitsu mune. This doesn't affect the attribution and in fact strengthens it. I spoke with Tom about this and he asked me to bring it back Sunday and said they would fix it. So I went back and showed them and they not only fixed the paperwork but they related to Tom that the style of habaki on it was not seen often and was very interesting. They enjoyed looking at it. Really cool I think! They had not seen the habaki through the shinsa as you submit just bare blade. So from this very minor mistake I learned even more about the blade overall. The habaki is Osaka style. It was an entirely positive experience for me. I got to personally hand it in, and pick it up only hours later. With an attribution that I feel is right on. Tom was hustling all weekend, and I applaud his and the teams effort. Also thanks to Mark and family for running a very well put together, and run, show.

Richard, I'm glad it worked out for you. I think it's good that you submitted it and got this opinion. Now you have some piece of mind that it is probably worth having polished. That's a valuable piece of info. Hope you had fun.

If you're near Chicago I'd run it up to the hotel and submit it.

Tom I get in tomorrow evening and I'm bringing you one Tanto immediately. Glad to hear you're doing well. I'm excited for the show.

Isidro, You might want to post a few pics of the nakago.

It's in Polish and you have something to investigate and study. Like joe said, you could have done worse.

Sounds like you may have done alright. You might check out this link. http://www.nbthk-ab.org/Etiquette.htm

It's with Cody's family, he is certain. Now we know. Thank you for this valuable, well thought information(period)

Yet another reason for anyone on the fence about coming. Priceless.