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Thanks Lorenzo, so that is a gourd ? Any ideas why the other one is a rectangle, I believe I saw one other tsuba with a rectangular kogai ana or kozuka ana. Kim

I just bought this tsuba, it was listed as edo period, I was wondering if anyone could help with the school style etc. The dragon on it has 4 legs, I heard that was for royalty, any truth to that ? Also the kazuka ana and the kogai ana are shaped different than what I normally see, any idea why ? Thank you Kim Toth

Thanks , Chris Adam and Ken, Adam that ayasugi hada is unbelievable . Thanks for the example much appreciated. Kim Toth

More pictures. Kim Toth

I dont have a very large library yet, but I do own The Connoisseur's Book of Japanese Swords and One Hundred Masterpieces from the Collection of Dr. Walter A. Compton. Any suggestions for more beginner books ? Thanks Kim Toth

Now for the hamon, I think this has several different types , so I have no idea what type it is. Thanks for your time. Kim Toth

I am still having trouble identifying jigane and jihada and the utsuri and also the shape of the hamon of this blade . I hate to keep bothering you guys but so far this is the only place I have to discuss nihonto . In the first two pictures does this show ayasugi ? Sorry about the file size I'll try to size them to show up as a picture on the next ones. Thanks Kim Toth

So he is a 15 point smith, thats not good is it ? Of course there probably weren't any bad smiths right the skill it takes to make one of these is mind boggling. I would appreciate any opinions, the price seams ok if the blade is thick enough for a polish, I guess thats how you tell if a blade can be polished or not. Thanks Kim B Toth

Thank you all very much, I'm going to have to start having a go at the ones on here until I get better. I didnt know that a word like fuji-wara would be 2 kanji instead of one, that might help. Thank you again. Kim B Toth

To me that first kanji looks nothing like this 豊, how do you tell what strokes can be missing and if there can be missing strokes then how can I ever figure this out. I'll try to explain what I mean. In this kanji starting from the bottom you have a long line running horizontal with two slanted strokes with a square on top of these . In the kanji on the blade the sides of the box are missing or maybe moved out of place. To me they do not look very similar at all. If anyone wants to take the time I would love a tutorial on how to count the strokes of kanji. Again thank you Kim B Toth

Thank you guys very much, I'll try to get a better picture and have a go at it myself. I do appreciate all the help I have received from this board. Thank You Kim B Toth

Could I please get some help with this mei, this is on a wak I am looking to purchase, and yes, I know I should try to figure it out myself. Hopefully, one day I will be able to do that, any help with this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you Kim B Toth

My dad was at Okinawa, I have a saki cup from the Japanese officers mess there, and some pics. Very nice flag .

Thanks Adam, I got it figured out, no they are both the same dragon, should have the other one on the way. Kim

Well, I got my katana back yesterday after having a tsuka made. The dragon menuki are the same as in one is facing down the blade looking over his shoulder and the other one is facing the kashira looking over his shoulder. In the pic that I chose the menuki from one of them was not facing over his shoulder and had a "ken?" tail and possibly holding a ball. With the sword edge up the dragon are right side up, so is this correct ? I read somewhere that a menuki facing the wrong way was a running away menuki. Thanks Kim

Congrats !

I'm in love with the first one. Very nice tsuba's. Kim

Very nice looking tsuba, I was told katana tsuba should be 3 inches or larger so maybe for a wak ? I'm new to this also, but again I think that is a nice looking tsuba. There are posts on here about that seller being honest. Hope that helps a little. Kim Toth

My name is not he same as yours ? Jmo

Crop, resize maybe ? Kim

Thank you very much. Kim

Thanks Adam, I'll read those, still waiting on some books, I found on here some where the list of downloadable books, and I downloaded about 6, I'm trying to get it. I would love to find a book that has very good pictures with names and descriptions of the blades, like the hamon , nie etc , any help there ? Like real pictures not drawings. Thanks Kim

Thanks Ray . Kim

Which mekugi-ana would have been the original the one in the mei ? Kim

Thank you Franco. Kim