Geraint

As no one else has suggested this what do we think about the cartouches around the mimi representing fan paintings? All the best.

Dear Maxime. A good find, it seems to have been fully restored and in very good condition. Might we see the nakago please? All the best.

Dear all. Just some thoughts: The example from Christie's was from a well known Japanese museum collection and given the price was clearly regarded as the real deal for Horikawa Kunihiro. If you don't yet know who this is, Joel, then you are right about the study part, he was one of the foremost smiths in the transition between Koto sword making and Shinto and trained quite a few very significant smiths. However, he is not the only on signing this way, there are some dozens who the sword in question might be by and a polish and papers would be a great way to find out which one. A great smith will take care that the nakago is well shaped, properly finished and has the yasurime applied to a high standard, all these are clues which should be taken into consideration quite apart from the mei, though mei placement in relation to the nakago and the mekugi ana is significant. The image that Simon posted of the mei of the sword sold by Christie's has started to pixelate due to the magnification, I am sure Simon intended a direct comparison between mei and nothing more detailed. As to the comparison of the two mei, first of all the way a mei is 'cut' is actually much more like chasing, in that no metal is removed, a triangular shaped tool is used to trace the line and every detail of the way it is cut is significant up and including the width of the tool, usually referred to as a chisel. The give away for many recent fakes is that they actually engrave the mei, i.e. cut metal out of the channel to form the kanji. Next the patina. If you examine a shinsakuto the nakago is clean bare metal and the inside of the lines of the kanji are also clean. Over time the nakago ages and the look of the nakago patina is important in making assessments. The Christie's sword has had the time to develop the deep, smooth, dark patina across it's surface but also inside the kanji. I suspect that the Christie's photograph is monotone while Mark's is colour but the colouration of the sword Mark posted looks much more recent as the rust has a reddish tone, the colour inside the kanji simply suggest that both nakago and kanji are of the same age. Mark, you have the sword in hand I assume? What can you see of the yasurime on the nakago, and if it's not too much trouble could we see a picture of the whole blade minus the rather nice habaki? I also wonder what the koshirae is like, just because I'm curious. All the best.

Keep 'em coming Colin! Looking forward to it. All the best.

Dear Mark. Well if nothing else this is good to train your eye as you search out oshigata. Remember the period when Horikawa Kunihiro was working, look at the nakago patina, the yasurime, the placement of the mekugi ana, the relationship between that and the mei and everything else. The Christie's lot you linked to does not indicate whether it has papers or not, remember the auction house rules on the form of words they use and what they say they mean. Have to agree with John on this one but there were quite a few smiths signing this way over the years so the fact that it's not Horikawa Kunihiro does not mean that it's not a good sword. Just for fun here's mine, bought when the internet was not even a thing and the only books were Sword and Same and Robinson. I got quite excited for a bit! Enjoy the search, look for papered examples and those published in Japanese texts. All the best.

Dear Koltira. You didn't ask for a translation of this side so I presume you already have it as Tsuda Echizen no kami Sukehiro? At least there will be quite a few papered examples to compare with yours. All the best.

Dear Sam. Start looking around Nobuiye, no guarantee that this is genuine but a good place to start. Ah, Piers beat me to it. All the best.

Dear Colin. Lovely tsuba! You have probably already tapped into this site but here goes, you'll need to scroll down to find the relevant section. https://www.shibuiswords.com/tsuba.htm All the best.

Dear Yves. Are you asking about historical tsuba or are you looking for a contemporary maker? If the first then yes, of course, just look up daisho tsuba. If the later then I am sure there are several people who could do that for you. Interesting to see how this works out for you. All the best.

Dear Chris. Perhaps it's just been added but I see tsukushi naginata just above the rather Chinese looking glaive and the fukuro naginata, no? All the best.

Dear Lucian. Start with what you have, as you say the hada and hamon are at best indistinct at present but can you make out the boshi by any chance? The descriptions of sugata for swords are generally distinct but you do run up against variations so don't be too surprised that a sword has one feature that doesn't fit the classification. You say that you have read that such blades were cut down polearms or imitations of them and therein lies the key. You have considered the possibility that is is o suriage but there is nothing here to indicate that at present, the nakago is properly shaped with the nakago jiri intact and a single mekugi ana, so unless there is a feature that contradicts this it should be safe to assume that the nakago is ubu. So the question is when was it common for smiths to produce this sugata just as it is? The soe bi fades out and you have concluded that there is no sign of distortion in the blades surface so this was not done in a patch to remove a flaw, so far so good. Have you considered that it is just a weakly cut hi? Is the condition of the nakago really old enough to support your Nambokucho suggestion, or could it possibly be that this sword is an early Shinto blade? If we discount o suriage, in other words this is an ubu sword, then what should the length tell you about the possibility of it being Nambokucho? Just some thoughts for you to play with, I like the sword and I hope that you end up getting it polished so that you can really see what is going on. All the best.

Dear Michael. This appears to be a perfectly genuine yari blade of a form that is usually called hira sankaku, that is triangular with one wide flat. It is of course out of polish and please, whatever you do don't try to polish it as that will likely ruin it, it needs to be done by a properly trained specialist. You might try rubbing the blade only with an oiled cloth, careful, yari are likely to bite! As to age it is certainly pre 1900 but they are hard to date so a safe statement would be Edo period which covers about 1600 to 1850. One tip, pardon the pun, is that the part where the blade flairs out to the shoulder above the tang, called the kerakubi, is a little long which sometimes suggest an older blade. I'm sure I speak for us all when I ask, how about the tanto? All the best.

Sorry Eric, nothing showing for me. All the best.

From what you have shown so far the reading is, 'Uda Kuni....' The horimono on the blade will be a bonji which I can't yet identify. Of course gimei is a possibility but regardless the koshirae is very nice and worth taking some care with. All the best.

Dear Ken. The rondel dagger is a Royal Navy Midshipman's dirk, you really scored with this lot, oh and the sort of Japanese paper knife that was my first! Enjoy your expedition. All the best.

Well I'm liking it more and more, still not sure about the pearls but we'll wait and see. The blade will repay some careful study, see here for starters, http://www.nihontocr...a_Nihon_no_Toko.html (Scroll down to Uda.) The plate near the kogai slot would no doubt have echoed the one on the kozuka slot but would have included the kurikata, perhaps a ring form like the example I linked to. A very nice koshirae and a blade with some potential, what's not to like? All in all a very nice thing to have found! All the best.

I'd have to agree with Colin regarding the cabochons, easier to judge when you have it in hand. The' American Indian arrowhead' would have been something like the one here, https://nihontoart.c...gh-quality-koshirae/ though probably not of that quality. Overall this looks interesting and, post climbing expedition, I'll look forward to seeing some more. All the best.

Dear Ken. Looks interesting but as you surmise we can't tell a great deal from these photographs. So far I think it is genuine and I would be looking aroundf ebi koshirae, though as so often with tanto mounts there is a great degree of freedom of expression and it does not conform to ebi koshirae entirely. It does seem to be missing a decorative kurikata which might have been a ring mounting for the sageo. Look forward to seeing more when you get it. All the best.

Dear Howard. It doesn't matter how cheap it was, you could have left it! Now you are stuck with it so yes, it is modern, see here for the theme, https://collections....aka-unknown-Japanese I see that Mauro has got there before me. All the best.

Hi Nathan. These are Chinese, paired swords are a thing. I'm sure that a search will throw up quite a few. All the best.

Dear Adam. It is perhaps the polish that has changed this from osoraku zukuri to something else, I think I can see a spot on the shinogi where the yokote ought to be but it's clearly been ignored by the polisher. Some swords do have hamon that can be labelled as one thing or another, many have hamon that can best be described as a combination of features. Here is one from Aoi Art. "Nie Deki, wide Suguha, deep Nioikuchi. In Ha, there are many Sunagashi, Kinsuji and Yo. Boshi is Midarekomi Hakikake style." All the best.

Dear Shaun. The date for this tsuba is approximately 2022, it's a brand new Chinese fake! Keep looking but best avoid Ebay until you are really sure what you are getting. Edit to add: Sorry Shaun, a bit more time now. Just to give you something to go on here are some of the signs. The overall shape is poor, not regular, the seppa dai, the oval in the middle is irregular and the tang hole is bad, on these fakes it is usually rounded off rather than the shape of the tang. The design is poorly defined, muddy if you like, and the patina corresponds to the typical three colour attempt that seem to be the norm for these, quite unlike Japanese patina. The signature is very poorly done, normally these would be chased into the metal, these are cast in along with the rest of the tsuba. If you are interested then have a look at some of the commercial sites, here are a couple to start with, https://www.Japanese...tegory/tsuba-kodogu/ and http://www.nihonto.us/TSUBA 1.htm For educational reading you could also have a look here, https://www.shibuiswords.com/tsuba.htm Feel free to ask about any of the above. All the best.

Dear Mario. A very minor typo on Jean's part, search for Jakushi tsuba, one example here, https://www.Japanese...hi-tsuba-quite-nice/ And another here, All the best.

And just a little from the Naunton Collection. " The Mitsuhiro family of Yagami in Hizen specialised in designs of the Hundred monkeys, Hundred horses, "Hundred anything", class, often very minutely and finely chased, the work of the first dating from the middle to the end of the Eighteenth Century, but that of the second Mitsuhiro being the more delicate of the two. That style was also followed by one Taira Hattori Yoshitsugu of Nagasaki, a specimen of whose work in my possession dates from 1756. Although less involved groups of animals had been made at a much earlier date, these three workers brought the style to an analytical perfection of technique quite peculiar to them, and the dated piece is mentioned above because some writers have placed Mitsuhiro I. circa 1800 whereas the probability is that he worked circa 1750 -1770." All the best.

Dear Luca. Have a look in your messages. All the best.