Shugyosha

What they all said. Best,

It looks a lot better when you know the price and it's hard to get any kind of Japanese sword for less money than that, So not so bad after all. Best regards,

Hi Jonas, Out of interest, what was the price of the blade? Kind regards,

Hi Jonas, I've just re-read my original post which I knocked out in a hurry. Apologies if that came across as a little brusque. Best,

I personally would pass on this one. The "honour mark" may or may not have occurred in an actual fight and might have been put there to make an otherwise poor blade more attractive. The kissaki looks to have been reshaped. There are some very significant ware, lots of shin gane on display, and there's almost no ha machi these factors indicate that it's a very tired blade and it's also out of polish. These issues alone would deter me before I got as far as looking at whether or not the signature might be legitimate. There are undoubtedly better blades out there and I'd look down the sale or trade section of NMB as a starting point. Kind regards,

This isn't a lot of help but it kept me amused for half an hour trying to match the kanji - I hope you don't mind me having a play as I love a puzzle and I'm trying to educate myself. The closest I got was: 是 right (as in correct) 風 wind??? - The mekugi ana runs through this but I think this matches.. 栖 dwell / a den 袖 A sleeve/ Wings 奥 - Inner part/ heart/ bottom/ depths. This is the closest match I can find to the kanji in the mei. I can't find anything else that has the same upper part as this. Neither can I find another Kanji with the same lower part as the one in the mei so I'm guessing that it is a variant no longer in use, or I just plain old got it wrong. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what meaning you would give to all of this - what you really need is someone who can read Japanese as opposed to someone with a kanji dictionary and time on his hands . Good hunting,

If you are interested, I have a couple of papered Wakizashi that Ian Chapman has kindly put on the consignment page for me at Nihonto UK: http://nihonto.org.uk/Consignment.html I might be open to offers if either of these look like something that you might be interested in. Best regards,

I think: Ishi Yama Mototada saku (Haynes H05940.0). From Haynes: born 1669 died October 13 1734. A student of the Kyoto Goto school and other Kyoto artists. Kind regards,

Sorry, I'm no help with the menuki but I did see pictures of the blade on Ted Tenold's website and I have to say that it's truly lovely. Kind regards,

If your in the UK and sending swords to Japan you are best using Paul Martin's service. He will take them to Japan and return them using checked luggage. He comes to the UK regularly and this bypasses all problems with shipping. Thanks for that idea. I can maybe get the sword shipped to him for him to bring back when the time comes. Best,

I sent a sword out to Japan from the UK in September via Parcelforce and had no problems getting it there. I'm starting to become concerned that getting it back might be an issue though. Kind regards,

I like the tsuba very much. How's the kissaki? Best,

Hi Gwyn, Made me think of the hamon on this sword, though yours isn't so elaborate: http://www.tetsugendo.com/swords/MS_152 ... ataka.html Best,

The problem you have is that a portion of the signature was lost when the sword was shortened and that this was the bit with the smith's name. Japanese art signatures can be formulaic. The "Yamato" portion of the mei would often be followed by a title such as "kami" or "daijo" and then perhaps by one of the ancient family names such as Taira, Fujiwara or Minamoto and after this the characters for the actual name of the smith would be written. I think it probable that, if this guy was signing with a title as stated above, then he would be documented. However, I feel that the best you (or some kind person who has plenty of time on his hands) can hope for is to trawl through the Hawley's or the meikan and compile a list of all those smiths working in the province of Settsu who signed using a title of "Yamato Kami" etc but I think that it is improbable that this will result in an attribution to a single swordsmith and the best that you can hope for is that it will be one of a number of candidates. Best regards and good hunting,

Dear Ken, I'll make a start on this by way of practice, but take what I say with a pound of salt as I usually make some mistakes. I think that the date is August in the 3rd year of Manji (万治) which started in 1658 so, if I am correct, it is dated the eighth month of 1651. The signature begins Bizen kuni ju (備前国住). It wouldn't be unusual for the next part to read Osafune (長船) but I'm struggling to match the second kanji and after that it all goes a bit wobbly and hopefully someone with greater knowledge will come along shortly. Best,

Sorry Marius, this is a long way beyond my expertise but I'd love to see some pictures of the blade if it's not too much trouble. :D Kind regards,

Hi Craig, Unfortunately I can't make out a great deal of detail from the photographs so the following comments should be taken in that context. For me, I don't think that the tang or file marks are well done. Also, though it might be a shadow on the photograph, I think I can see ubu-ha (the portion of blade near the nakago is sometimes left unsharpened on a sword's initial polish) and this would indicate that this is not an old blade. These points would indicate either a fake or at best a war-time blade to me. Furthermore, the kissaki looks to be in a poor state: whoever did the polish looks from the photographs to have messed up the geometry as the ko-shinogi does not run parallel to the edge of the blade at the tip. This too is reminiscent of the Chinese fakes that one sees and might be another point to put you on your guard. Hope that helps, I'm sure you'll get some other and probably better advice shortly. Best regards,

I too had a grand day out. Many thanks to Ian, Paul and everyone else who made a great event happen. Best regards,

I think it's Kane Uji (氏), but I'm sure you'll get some better advice shortly. Kind regards,

Hi Grev, Thank you very much for starting this interesting thread. I too am largely ignorant of Namban tsuba (sorry, what I meant to say was that I'm largely ignorant) but like the previous poster had thought that the first picture was of a cast tsuba. The indicators for me were the area around 6 o'clock where it appears that there is the remainder of some metal in the open-work left by casting and the carving in general and particularly on the seppa-dai seems imprecise (blurred?) when compared to the second picture. I probably have this wrong, but I'd be interested in your comments. With kind regards,

Here's one: http://www.nihonto.com/10.9.12.html Kind regards,

Hi Andres, You might already be familiar with these websites but they do have some real swords that are out of polish and may give you some pointers. http://www.japanesesword.com/ http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/catalogue.html Kind regards,

Hi Matt, What he said. Looks like a very sturdy blade...getting sword envy right now. Best,

Hi Lisa, My chance to bag an easy one: signature reads Kuni Hiro. Best wishes,

Thanks to you both for the replies.