Stever

Just came across this carp kozuka on eBay for you, Reiner... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260113674477 cheers

Interesting, I didn't think of that possibility. Learn something new all the time around here. Now that you mention it, there are some scratched marks in some seppa I have that I now realize are the same thing. Thanks.

Wow. That's one of the best forging vids I've seen. I'm amazed at how hot they work the steel, and how much they start with for a little kogatana! cheers

I guess what I should say is, I'm pretty sure this is a mei, can someone help me with it? Is this a common way of signing fuchi? I've only ever seen the chiseled mei before. How is it done, is it just black lacquer? Thanks

Thanks for the info. I guess it just comes down to the fact that I still can't tell a good tsuba (kozuka, fuchi, etc) from crap yet. :| Not really planning on starting a tsuba collection or anything. Just sort of browsing for a piece to suit a koshirae I'm trying to assemble, and trying to learn at the same time. I think it'll be a while before I try to buy anything. cheers

Hi Martin, Thanks for the info. It may just be the pictures (or it may just be me), but the patina on the tsuba look a little funny. Too uniform, maybe? Also noticed quite a few papered pieces going for quite low prices, which I found a little odd. I know nothing about tosogu - these auctions just seemed totally out of line with other similar auctions so I wanted to ask what others thought. Thanks

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&viewitem=&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.ca%3A80%2Fsearch%2Fsearch.dll%3Ffrom%3DR40%26satitle%3D270114715499%26fvi%3D1&item=270114715499&rd=1 Can anyone comment on this tsuba and/or the seller? Somehow something just seems a little strange with most of their auctions, to me. How about these papers? thanks

While I totally agree with your assessment of Mike Y, unless he has two ebay usernames, this is not him. I believe his username is historian333. I think Stephen's correct about this seller. cheers, /steve

...and if so, can someone translate it for me? I have a hard enough time with regular kanji, let alone sosho. Thanks.

Hi Stephen, I take it from this comment that you know of others that received Hidetoshi attributions at this shinsa? Do shinsa orgs do this often with blades that deserve papers but they otherwise aren't sure of? I remember hearing of something similar happening at the NJ shinsa last fall. cheers

I've definitely thought about it, but I don't know if my thoughts are of any use to you. I'll admit right off the bat that I haven't handled very many swords at all. I will say that from the info I've read it seems certain schools did tend to make beefier blades, and blades in general tended towards the heavier end in shinto times. Major generalizations there. That said, I have 3 waks - 2 shinto ubu and 1 possible koto o-suriage. The 2 shinto blades couldn't be more different. 1 of the shinto swords is ~19" nagasa and thick with little change in kasane along its length. It feels very heavy in the hand. The other shinto has a 21" nagasa and is quite thin; it feels rather light in hand. Almost too light. The last wak is ~23 inches, and in hand feels somewhere in between the other two. I haven't actually weighed any of these blades, but I'd bet the last one is really the heaviest due to length and geometry, but the balance is better which makes it easier to move around, thus it feels lighter. The heavy feeling blade balances slightly tip heavy; the light feeling blade handle heavy. The last thing is that since koto swords have been around longer, there is the possiblility (likelihood?) of their having been polished more, which I would think would make it more difficult to say if a brand new koto sword would be heavier than a brand new shinto sword. Bottom line, I have no idea. That info's probably collectively locked away in togishis' minds. Nagayama's has some info. cheers

Peter, Thanks, I was wondering when someone would say Bungo. Something tells me if I sent this sword for shinsa that's what it would come back as. What in particular would make you say that, though? Lower quality than most Bizen to, perhaps? I don't have a lot of info on the Bungo Takada school, unfortunately, so any insights would be appreciated. This reminds me of something...Hey Milt, how did your o-suriage wak do at the Chicago shinsa? Stephen, Thanks for the info, I'll have to play around with that. I finally got a tripod so my shaky hands won't be such a factor in my photography anymore. I wonder if I can get the same effect with the scanner in a well-lit room? Hmmm....gonna have to find some time to experiment. Thanks all

Thanks, guys. I used a scanner to compile the first pic; the shinogi ji is too shiny so it comes out looking black. Not sure what to do about that. I was having a hell of a time getting photos of the hamon and that seemed like a good solution. Heh, Bizen was my first thought, too. My main reference is Nagayama's, and in the shinto Bizen description seemed to fit, but then I confused the heck out of myself by reading the section on Musashi province, and it all went downhill from there. Anyone else have anything to add, or do we have concensus? What do you think of the quality - good, decent, average, pos? cheers

Hi folks, I'm hoping someone here with better knowledge of shinto schools/smiths than I have may be able to give me some insight into a wak I purchased a couple of months ago. I've been trying to make sense of all the different shinto schools and their variations, and don't seem to be getting any closer, other than to eliminate some of the obvious impossibilities. Let me know what you think. Here are the stats on the blade: Nagasa: 19.8" Sori: 0.2" Motohaba: 1.15" Sakihaba: 0.85" Motogasane: 0.2" Sakigasane: 0.2" And here are some pics:

There are plenty of Juyo around, and I bet there are even more in shops that aren't shown online. Here are some: http://www.nihonto.us/JUYO%20TOKEN.htm http://www.aoi-art.com/sword/sale/main.html http://www.yakiba.com/swords25k+.htm http://www.nihonto.com/3.4.07.html Wish I had that kind of cash. cheers, /steve added one more hope you dont mind Steve.. stephen c

The hamon is sambonsugi, which is supposed to be a repeating pattern as far as I know. Some are more consistent than others; there is much variation. Sometimes the smith seems to be going for perfect repetition, sometimes they take a more artistic approach. All depends on what he wanted to do, methinks. Were this true, that would put the signature onto the blade itself, or under the habaki in the original configuration, so either the signature is fake (likely), or this is a story to try to explain the strange nakago shape (also likely). That's my opinion, anyway. I don't say this much, and I know it doesn't come out in my posts, but if anyone thinks differently I'd love to hear it and why. I'm just learning, too, and it's entirely possible I'm wrong (even probable), so any other opinions are always welcome. cheers

Heh, that's an interesting coincidence...I did a quick search yesterday on katakiri when I posted this and found these pics:

Thanks, didn't notice the hagire. Which pic did you see that in? I'm not bidding just looking but still, as you say, be careful out there. On that note, I noticed this auction as well: http://cgi.ebay.ca/Truthfull-description-of-SAMURIA-SWORD_W0QQitemZ300104164673QQihZ020QQcategoryZ47347QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Nice to see some honesty for a change. cheers,

Interesting comment, Koichi san. Care to elaborate? How do they 'match better'? What is the photo of (and why is the pine needle there)? thanks,

Not hugely common, but they're around, along with more elaborate combinations/variations. I believe it's called katakiriha zukuri. Interesting that they say it's a feature of that school, didn't know that. Love to know if you find any more info on that. cheers,

You're right (though I only get about a US$150 difference using XE), didn't notice that before. I wonder if that's a mistake; I haven't really checked the USD pricing. Never bought from Aoi. All their nice blades are generally way out of my price range anyways. Cheers

Even if that other one isn't showa, here's one that is that's much nicer (to me)... http://cgi.ebay.ca/GENDAITO-Japanese-SAMURAI-SWORD-NIHONTO-WW2-ARMY-GUNTO_W0QQitemZ270112590920QQihZ017QQcategoryZ43338QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Although some of the lines in the mei seem a bit off. Gimei, perhaps?

Just my thoughts on this blade, entirely possible that I have no idea what I'm talking about... Hamon looks oil hardened to me, I have yet to see a traditionally made blade with a habuchi that looks like that. Also, I've seen a couple of sambonsugi showa blades that look very similar to this one. Also seems kind of inactive even though it is pretty. Not sure about the hada, either. Nakago definitely looks strange, appears to have been shortened once, but possibly as a deception(?); the shape seems to have been modified somehow. Rust/patina is weird, too. It's very fine and uniform, but there is no yasurimei visible and it seems quite worn, so I'd expect the rust to be a bit rougher. Looks like a newly-applied patina to me. As I said, just my thoughts. Did this more as an exercise, really. Still, looks like a fairly nice blade. Price seems to have ended where most showato are ending up nowadays on eBay.

Yes, yes it is. I was looking at that yesterday, what a beautiful piece. Drool!

Ah, now it's making more sense. I think we're talking about exactly the same thing, just in different terms. I don't think hishu (or bishu, or soshu, etc) is an actual province per se, but refers to a collection of provinces. I focused in on the "hishu" provinces of Hizen and Higo, as they use the same kanji as the one in the mei, whereas Hida uses a different kanji. Cheers,