davidtorez

Jason, I have seen two shinshinto period blades in their original polish and they both had scant hamaguriha niku. Have a good one Dave

Judging by the pics they don't look like cracks as such, more like the grain is open, these can occur anywhere on the blade. Your blade just happens to have them near the edge. Don't look too bad in my opinion, certainly not fatal. Have a good one Dave

Hmmm, weird, I remember viewing this sword back in November 2009. How is it that date of forging is 2010? Thanks again! Dave

Sorry didn't get a chance to give it a shot myself,posted just before bedtime! :D Thanks a heap anyway for your efforts, Mike is Heisei 22 date of manufacture or date of issue of the torokusho? Cheers, Dave

hi guys, Is it possible that someone here can give me a rough translation of this torokusho? Mainly name of smith and date of manufacture. Cheers, Dave

I'm guessing Shinto, nakago too long for koto, even though jigane looks like koto, koto tang usually about 6 inches long. It appears too much polished for shinshinto, I may be wrong however. Looking forward for the mei and other anseers from the experts. cheers, Dave

Thank you to everyone for participating in this interesting discussion. However, i think its gone a little off topic, i think. Is the general consensus for shinshinto swords having slim niku that they were intended that way or a result of continual polishing over time? In comparison to the niku that the rikugun jumei tosho swords that were made in the 1940's, do the rjt swords have flatter niku or similar to most shinshintos? Dave

Found these polishing stones as example of what im talking about in regards to convex shaped polishing stones: http://swordpolish.net/html/new_studio.html Cheers, Dave

Hi Chris, Maybe "rounded" didnt describe what i had intended to mean. From what i have read and see the polishers stones are not completely flat but have a slight convexity to it to help produce the niku. Ill find some pictures or links and post them. Might be easier to see what im talking about that way. Thanks for contributing. Cheers, Dave

Hi Ruben, The way the light is reflecting off the hiraji tells me this sword has bit more niku than my shinshintos. Mind you, theyre not completely flat, as you know polishers stones are rounded in shape which give the blade a convex shape. My blades just seem to have the least amount of niku , your blade looks nice by the way, whos the swordsmith? Cheers, Dave

Thank you everyone for partaking. This is one photo i could find which looks like the niku on my shinshinto swords i own http://www.legacyswords.com/Sold/fs_ant_daito18.htm So which smiths in shinshinto period made swords with flat niku? Ill take some photos of my two blades to show. They got same profile as the sword shown in the link above. Cheers, Dave

is yamanaka an author? I would be interested in reading his book if so. any where can i purchase this? i tried googling with no luck. Or can you post some excerpts of his work here? Cheers, Dave

Hi Ken, Thanks for the response mate. Actually my shinshinto swords are very healthy with plenty of hamachi and munemachi left, and thickness at the kasane is exactly same as the thickness at the nakago kasane indicating only few polishes. Even the shinshinto swords i have seen in photos and diagrams, they pretty much look all flat niku style rather than rounded. It could be smith specific, i dont know, which is why i am asking the question here. Ive seen plenty of healthy kotos with more niku than healthy shinshintos. Maybe time period or something?? Cheers, Dave

Ive been studying mainly shinshinto blades for the last few months in books and bought couple shinshinto swords. Most shinshinto blades that i have come across have very flat niku for some reason. Is it because shinshinto blades have been repolished many times that has made them this way? Ive seen more koto blades that have more niku than the shinshinto blades I own and have seen. Whats the reason for this? Cheers, Dave

I have a friend who bought a katana signed as Kazusa kaneshige. The sugata and hamon match this swordsmith, i.e komokume hada, bit of masame in the shinogi-ji, and hamon is notare with mixed with gunome. But the shinogi seems to be low, instead of high. Did this Shinto era smith make swords with high or low shinogi? I thought his swords had relatively high shinogi? I will ask for photos soon. Have a good one. David

Thanks fellas. In the case of mukade shinae, or wrinkles from bending, would you see it on both sides of the blade normally, or is it more usual to see it only on one side? Also, is mukade shinae more common on the shinogi-ji or the hiraji? Cordially, D. Torez

I have a question about shinae. I have recently acquired a shinsakuto, but i have not had many to compare it to. I think it may have shinae, so I tried looking up pictures on the net. I found pictures of shinae on Usagiyas website showing what they look like. http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/flaws.html The shinae on their website look like white cracks running perpendicular to the blade, whereas the flaw Im seeing in my blade can only be seen in a certain angle of light, and dont appear to be white cracks. It is near impossible of me to take photos and show you guys also, as it is very hard to get the lighting correct to see it. I guess what im asking is, are the shinae shown on the usagiya website only seen in a certain angle of light, or should you be able to see them even without backlighting the blade? Cordially, D. Torez