Kronos

All the 3rd gen signatures I could find look pretty identical to the nidai but there was a few inconsistencies the both the nidai and sandai's mei so it's hard to tell. If gimei they would of had an example in hand to copy from and it's definitely targeted at 2nd/3rd gen. There's some in this thread http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/14877-oshigata-of-the-sandai-kawachi-no-kami-kunisuke/

I must disagree with Steve. While it looks Kanbun Shinto, I think Nanbokucho is a distinct possibility if not late kamakura and sue muromachi can look like this when suriage. The hada has a koto look to it. It's extremely hard to tell with only 57cm remaining, a chu kissaki and without better pictures/polish to see the hada and hamon. Definitely one for shinsa as it's certainly well beyond my abilities. Also I can't see why it would be shortened within 20-30 years of being made by a superior smith and there not being any records of a Yamato Kuni Kanenaga outside the Tegai line from hundreds of years previous (if not gimei). It just doesn't make sense but rarely these things do.

I've sent you a PM.

Going off the mei wouldn't be productive for now, far better to look at the sugata then hada (if possible) to narrow it down. A full length photo of just the bare blade and measurements would be ideal.

Just to add that I like the katanakake

Brian I noticed that crack as well, a close up photo of that on both sides would be enlightening.

Chill out Mark, I presume he means knowledgeable or similar as English is not his first language. As for the swords, My initial impression is that the Muneshige is beyond repair due mainly to the largest chip which won't polish out and the rust/damaged shinogi would most likely be too severe to fix without removing too much steel leaving a tired blade. The Tachi on the other hand is very interesting as it looks very early but there are a few concerns. The rust is quite severe which is of more concern given that it's probably been polished considerably in it's lifetime and is quite a thin blade already. Also the hi (groove) looks strange and maybe poorly cut. To really know whether it's salvageable it'd need to go to a polisher for sure and probably have a window opened up. Out of interest what are the measurements of the tachi, namely width at the yokote (vertical ridge line near the tip), width at the machi (the notches were the habaki goes that seperate the tang from the blade) and thickness at the machi.

http://www.nihontoantiques.com/archive/fss418.htm Probably made for the Shimazu clan.

Jussi, I have the same affliction when it comes to Ubu Tachi. Funnily enough I picked one up (from Paul of all people ) not long ago and have been trawling the internet looking at sugata etc to compare it to as there's nothing to see really apart from that until a window is opened up. I came across that Yasumitsu last week and it's almost identical except the nagasa. I think you may appreciate it. I should know about the window in the next month or two and I wish it turns out to be well worth a full polish. It's only 69.5cm but lovely sori and taper. Other sugata I'm obsessed with would be Enbun-Joji (both Tanto and Tachi) and I really have a thing for early (Oei) shinogi-zukuri Wakizashi and even earlier kodachi. To own a signed Kamakura Ko-Dachi would be almost an impossible dream for me at this point.

95% of the time they're both going to be right, it's the other 5% mainly on mumei swords by lesser known smiths that i imagine you'll find the main differences. I have seen more strange calls from the NTHK but that's not exactly taking a scientific approach.

Hi all, I recently sent some Tsuba and a fuchi-kashira on consignment with Ian at Nihonto uk you may want to check out. It's everything above the Yari Tanto here: http://nihonto.org.uk/Consignment.html They're priced to sell and if you mention you're a NMB member there's a further 10% discount. Ian has given them a touch up so they look much better irl than the photo's can convey. Ian has some fantastic stuff as well to take a look at

The best thing to use is Isopropyl Alcohol (99%) although I found it a bit tough to get here in the UK outside the internet but Maplins does it I believe. Then just wipe with a lint free cloth and follow it up with a very light coat of oil. Don't do anything to the tang.

Echizen Kuni Kanenori I believe. 越前國兼則

I've seen much better examples in the $600 range.

Agreed Greg, there must me close to 100 Japanese swords there and no doubt at least a couple of stunners in the mix.

Naginata are from my understanding more expensive to restore due to the shape and from what I've seen lower in terms of value than katana. It's not a combination that makes this a good investment without serious knowledge on your part to take away uncertainty. You need to first be able to answer some questions in no particular order: Which smith is this allegedly signed by? Does the signature match oshigata to an acceptable degree? Is this restorable? If restorable, what will the end result be on shape and therefore value? What discernable characteristics can be observed in shape/activities etc? Do these match the smith? From what can be seen how would you judge the quality? After you have answers for all of the above to the best of your ability you can move on to: What is the cost of restoration if restorable? What is the likely market value once restored given all of the above? How much is it worth to you to wait a year or more to have this polished and perhaps papered? Then you can do the calculation of what is the right price (if it is not a negative number) and whether it is right to buy this or perhaps look for something with better prospects/buy something already polished and papered. It's all about eliminating risk and each question you can answer is a little less risk. Not forgetting that it's important to buy what you like first and foremost. Buying books would be the place to start to begin to answer these questions for yourself but to get you started you already know it's signed Hizen Tadakuni and the foremost expert on Hizen-to in the west is Roger Robertshaw who I believe is quite happy to help with questions on the validity of mei although I'm not sure how much he specializes in Tadayoshi mainline. You will also want to consult a polisher about the kissaki who with a picture that includes the boshi as well should actually be able to give a good idea from just photo's. It does need to be a proper togishi though, Bob Benson, Jimmy Hayashi or Japan most likely. Brian Has alluded to the well cut hi and shape but the photo's do not show activities so outside that we cannot help with quality which is #1. After that you'll be in a much better place to make an informed decision. This is all provided that you want to restore it, if on the other hand you may keep it as is if the tip is a fatal flaw then the value will be next to nothing otherwise maybe $1000 or the $1200 Brian suggested although I'm a little more pessimistic. n.b. I have had quite a few glasses of wine this evening so ignore everything I say.

What do us guys do to you out of interest? point out a 1mm ware then offer 70% of asking price?

It's a rather extreme measure but nowhere near as extreme as the problem caused by poaching. At the end of the day while the laws could be improved substantially every other measure that's been taken is ineffective and biodiversity is one of the biggest problems of the 21st century. A good documentary where you can see the extent to which this is happening in china would be 'racing extinction'.

It's a katana not a tachi as it's signed katana mei (signed on the Omote when worn as a katana). The squared nakago is called kiri jiri and is usually a sign of suriage (shortened) swords which this is. For the record i don't think it's been shortened much, maybe only a couple of cm's.

I think part of the problem is that papers are becoming the new brand as it is for smiths, so you can fall into the trap of not buying the sword but the paper attached to it in the same way that if you find a Hisakuni with Hozon (only to confirm the mei) you may be tempted to buy that despite it being tired, flawed and overall in such bad shape that it no longer exhibits the qualities that gave that smith his reputation to begin with. You may be better off buying the sue-muromachi sword sitting next to it which is in mint condition and the quality is top notch but it's by an unknown smith. The way i see it is me and Darcy are coming from the perspective that whichever sword you buy, it's not a lifelong commitment so you may be obsessed with Yamato and show little interest in Awataguchi but would buy the Hisakuni because you can always sell it and probably get 10 Juyo Tegai's with the proceeds.

Agreed with Darcy, however there's a couple of issues. I would suggest Paul may of just meant identical condition, e.g. no flaws, same state of health, O-suriage, mumei, with the buyer being ignorant of the quality or photo's unclear. in this instance you order them Tegai, Tegai, Kanemitsu, Fukuoka Ichimonji, Fukuoka Ichimonji, Hisakuni as above. However you do have a few indications of quality. The level of paper for NBTHK papered swords and the score for the NTHK papered Fukuoka Ichimonji to start. We'll assume Juyo and Yushuto are equal for this, so the Juyo papered swords could be anywhere from just scraping above TokuHo up to top level TokuJu and just not submitted. The NTHK paper however is a very clear 79 points so you know exactly where it stands on the scale which from what I gather is the equivalent of just scraping into the mix for Juyo. From this you can place all the Juyo swords above the Fukuoka Ichimonji with 79 points as while they could be equal at just scraping Juyo they have a probability of being greater compared to the Fukuoka Ichimonji which has zero chance of being greater provided we assume the NTHK papers are accurate so you can't lose. They're either equivalent or better. With the Hisakuni and the other Ichimonji we're only told the minimum level of Hozon/TokuHo respectively so you need to take that with a pinch of salt and rely more on the original order of reputation. In regards to 80's vs 60's papers you go with the 60's as the quality was overall higher so you have better odds of getting a better sword, while that doesn't rule out the possibility of the 80's Tegai being a masterpiece that for whatever reason wasn't submitted until the 80's but we have to gamble with the probabilities as that is all we have to go on. Therefore we get: NTHK Fukuoka Ichimonji, 80's Tegai, 60's Tegai, Kanemitsu, TokuHo Fukuoka Ichimonji, Hisakuni. The only other question is how much did the quality drop in 80's Juyo papers and would that mean the probabilities would make it more worthwhile to drop them to the bottom even if Kanemitsu > Tegai and so on.

The fukouka ichimonji's may be common (I have no idea) although I don't see them for sale often, but a good comparison would be Hizen work, it's as common as sh#% but despite there being dozens of Omi Daijo's available at any time they demand a premium over 90% of other shinto swords because the quality is very good.

6, 4, 3, 2, 1, 5 Hisakuni because he's one of the top smiths of all time, then the TH Ichimonji as it's not "limited" to 79 points unlike 5 so could go a lot higher. Then it's very hard deciding between Kanemitsu and Tegai when they're all juyo as any of them could be better than the other. 6 is an easy Juyo, prob Tokoju if it's same condition etc as a Juyo Tegai.

Personally if it were my sword I'd send it to Bob Benson to inspect in hand and if he thought the kissaki would polish out I'd get him to polish it and put in a shirasaya. There are always risk with a polish as it can reveal fatal flaws etc but from a purely financial perspective if it polishes ok it should easily be worth more than the $2-3k restoration would cost. It must be noted though that waiting lists are long so a 1-2 year turn around is expected.

Congrats to all the winners, especially Brian Barrett as that Tsuba is lovely