Razith

Heh, I received one to, and I received one from the infamous Pawel. Aren't I lucky. Honestly though, Wilson Carter was a little better at what he was doing. At least he tried to sell me something I was semi-looking for. I was looking for a O-Katana, and he tried to sell me a Cold steel O-Katana(I have 3, so naturally I know what they look like). Not sure how doing business with his is, but hey, at least he tried a little harder than Pawel. But be careful guys, way to easy to get scammed now day.

Thanks everyone. I'm going to check the Section of for sales here, I prefer O-Katana's myself, so we'll see what I can find. Thanks again, for helping me dodge that bullet.

Ohhh, thanks for that. Was looking into it for a friend. Glad I asked for assistance, you can never be to sure now day. Thanks for the quick response, and I'll make sure to steer clear of him. Thanks everyone.

This time I have a regular length Katana that I can't Identify. I'm thinking ShinShinto era from the looks of it, but don't quote me on that. It's in rough condition. Also, does anyone know a great book or website that can help me translate, that way I don't have to keep coming back and wasting every one's time, besides the Sword index, it's down for me at the time. Thanks and any help you can give is appreciated.

Okay guys, got a little help on this one from Mr. Hofhine. He's saying the bottom one does look like Sadamune, and the top appears to be two kanji squashed together. The top part would be Mitsu or San, and the bottom part looks closer to moto to him. So we have Mitsumoto as his first name. Only problem is I still can't find anything on that smith. From the temper line patterns he's thinking perhaps Mino school blade. I'm not to educated on my temper lines though so I can't really say much on that one. Just a update, maybe someone can guess out the name from this though. A very confusing Nihonto. If anyone get's and idea's, please share them. I'm all ears. Thanks for the help so far guys. -Tyler

Will do, for now on I'll put my name down below. Kinda going to look funny to me having both my names on it. -Tyler

Thanks for clearing that up Leo, I wasn't quiet sure how to measure the Nagasa. Now I know, and Razith is my middle name. I don't usually go by it in real life.

From what I understand, they usually didn't draw them by themselves. Usually they had a little 'Helper' holding the saya and the Samurai would draw it from the saya and cut in one motion. That's what they did for Nodachi supposedly, why not Odachi. There basically the same. But I do believe that most Nodachi/Odachi/longer swords where shrine swords. And this one has a bit of damage for a shrine sword, I'm wondering if the shrine came under attack at some point and the sword stolen. Or perhaps it was just neglected, which I seriously doubt. Any thought? Thanks for the help so far everyone.

Okay, thanks John. This one would be a Odachi then. It's almost 140cm, so I think it would be classified as a Odachi. Thanks for posting that link.

The only thing that honestly making me say Nodachi is the size of it. I'd have to agree that the style is more Tachi, however the overall length is 55", with a 40" nagasa(I think that's it, from kissaki to guard, please let me know if I'm wrong). I'm out of town right now, but when I get back, I'll try to get full pictures of it. I was thinking a Tachi sword was worn at the hip, while this sword would be way to long to wear at the hip. That's the primarily reason why I say Nodachi, but that's just because I don't really know the cut off between Tachi and Nodachi. If anyone knows, then please explain the difference, besides blade geometry. Thanks for the help so far, and sorry if it's not making sense.

Okay, thanks for the help so far. I'll get more pictures of the entire blade and post them when I can, I've got some of the fittings and part of the blade right now, I'll throw those up. Thanks for the help so far.

Hello, I'm new to the forum and am glad to be aboard. I've been into Nihonto for about 10 years, yet am still a amature at Translating Mei. A friend asked me to try and translate this one for him, and I'm actually having some trouble with it. So far I'm thinking either Mihara Sadamune, or perhaps Sanemune. Any help would be greatly appreciated. If it helps, the Mei is to a Nodachi, that from the blade style, I'd say pre-1800. The fittings are the only thing that have me worried that it's not terrible old, there leaf patterned, and I don't know when that was popular. But I'm not terribly confident, I've seen some pretty "Old" "new" swords(haha oxymoron for you there). Any help you can give is greatly appreciated, and I'm glad to be aboard this board.