Rivkin

"We've been drinking about it for couple of weeks" but "the government still has to agree on it".

Suppose there is a prime museum venue in Europe available and nihonto exhibit is being arranged for. 15 TJ are already secured plus multiple Juyo. Would one be interested in attending? Attending or hosting additional events like clubs meetings, chats with polishers and other craftsmen? Would one consider providing a sword (Juyo+) to be exhibited? Would one be interested in a.... shinsa? The museum considers a one-off event with a team where each member has an impressive biography. What do you think about the endeavour?

It has significant curvature so if it was a very long blade it would have looked strange. Also hamon calms down towards the nakago. On the other hand - 3 mekugi ana with the bottom one placed very low... I would say it lost 5 inches? Which makes it a respectable sword. In regards to katana versus tachi, Shimada made a lot of ko wakizashi and a few katana. I actually think its a good beginner's sword which is interesting, easy to read and as of now is priced competatively. To the point I would wonder if there are worse kizu than what we see. Hitatsura can be very kizu prone, but on the other hand there is not much hard nie here.

My take will be unorthodox, per usual. It is a variation in hardening, but the causes are varied. For example, Nambokucho Aoe dan utsuri - the bright belt of nie utsuri is usually caused by a strong foldover of steel right in this area which isolates it from heat conduction either up or down and therefore causes high temporal temperature gradients and therefore - strong martensite formation. That's also quite a few circa 1360 Aoe have ware in the same area. There is utsuri which is formed by the core iron being placed very close to the blade's surface and this can produce the whole range of very distinctive utsuri patterns which are usually associated with a weaker jigane, irregular spot like appearance and dark color which is actually quite well observed with the light source from above, compared to most utsuri which require a sideplacement of light. Then there are blades where it is complicated since the core iron, the lamination and the hardening are all at play. As a result the same "midare utsuri" can actually refer to rather different things. Here is the same image as above with jifu utsuri (its kobizen/ko ichimonji Juyo Bunkazai) after a color correction for the lens I used, next is typical Nambokucho Aoe dan utsuri which is a bit simple but does illustrate nie formation well (and its really bright), then there is shirake utsuri. Utsuri is probably my favorite photography subject so I do have a lot of photographs. I feel like I did not see utsuri as well represented on as diverse set of blades even in Fujishiro's album, and few were able to raise to his level in photography.

Ugh! This is best answered by someone who routinely submits at high level. I think it used to be that you always get all papers back, then it changed but you can specifically ask them to return the lower papers.

I like it a lot, but will play a bit nasty: Where are the fukure? Considerable masame/nagare, well defined togari - Shizu as an alternative attribution? Maybe that's why its Den and not kiwame. Don't know.

Transitions from Masamune to Yukimitsu are exceptionally uncommon. It used to be not the case because Honami had a conviction that there is a significant body of Masamune works in "almost suguha", but for the past 50 years such attributions were somewhat less common. You usually go to Shizu, Go or Hasebe. It happens usually at TH to Juyo transition, in which case it remains TH Masamune. At TJ they can simply start hinting it might be something else.

Nice! Unfortunately with light shining directly down on blade its hard to see jigane, but at least it seems to be very consistent. Nie is indeed of very high level. Go, Masamune, Tametsugu... In Edo period - Shinkai, Fujiwara Kunimichi, maybe Kiyomaro come to mind.

When someone gives an advice on how to collect, a logical counter-question is how many Tokubetsu Juyo he actually owns. Juyo? Juyo Bunkazai? People who are convinced there is one specific way to collect or buy swords tend to associate with "zero" in each of these categories. Experience would have told them that every path has its pluses and minuses. Truly advanced collectors can have such narrow and specific tastes they often buy by text description as long as they trust the describer. Signed, ubu, ko Aoe, great utsuri, good jigane, good condition or simply "a better example of Sadamune tanto" - is enough to form a rough mental image. Photos work for people who do photography and understand how the light at different angles interacts with a blade. In hand study/purchase opportunity is great. Provided there is good light, plenty of time and one does not need to investigate the signature against the books. Provided the person is well protected mentally against "Well, John actually wanted this sword, he really collects the top of the top, so I don't know if I should sell it you...". An absolute beginner might also learn that few people survive the first three-five years with exactly the same taste. I remember how I wanted Yokoyama Sukenaga. And then I had it. And it was just very bright but after couple of weeks - boring. My taste shifted.

Yeap, looks legit.

I am primarily interested in what people see as lacking from the current publications and comparing it against my own opinion. I do have 600 pages text much of it is different people appraising the same 100 blades and arguing (virtually) against each other's points, and another 100 are modern photographs of kokuho and juyo bunkazai items taken with Fujishiro technique - like the attached image. If I am alive I might get back to it.

Can be showato with a fixed nakago.

I seriously doubt its shinto. Boshi and nakago are a must, but what we see is: Very dense hada. Very plasticky-uniform hamon Nioiguchi as if drawn by hand Modern low quality elements in mounts (some things are ok). Yes, acid can produce a white uniform nioiguchi, but this appears is more like showato which is oil quenched. Its something other than proper nihonto I suspect.

Imagine one can get a new book chapter on a topic of one's choosing. or the entire book. What would it be about?

By what is seen in photos this is high end gendaito. Lovely work!

Shinshinto but I would not completely discount Showa.

i think its a good purchase, but nagasa is very short, into wakizashi range. It would be ok for late Muromachi piece, but an older blade thus shortened... A waki. Generally there are about 4-5 attributions related to Echizen Rai with slightly different styles...

Not much is seen here and I don't want to check books, but: It looks like genuine Mino end of Muromachi blade, and I would take the signature as authentic. Early Edo is a possibility, but without checking different generations of this smith I would still believe its end Muromachi. Saya and tsuka are not a match. Saya looks like mid-upper grade lacquer work that would do well with Namban motifs or dragons and tsuka/tsuba might be from a different opera, as per Russian saying. Tsuba is crudely executed.

Yet to know a UK dealer who is an expert in a domain other than selling.

I think that once one's heart is set on Bizen, then one should see in hands Yokoyama, Ishido, Oei, Omiya, Kozori, Kanemitsu, Nagamitsu, Yoshioka and Fukuoka Ichimonji. That alone will provide a good perception. Ko Bizen is difficult by comparison. Good photographs are a good place to start. Unfortunately there is no book taking one from A even to K level, never mind Z.

I quote collector to collector prices... The negative here is no utsuri. Its common with Omiya, but its not going to be as pretty or highly valued as a blade with utsuri. Unless it goes full swing soden bizen, which its not. Polish is average. Big plus - very consistent work, no major kizu. Its probably at attractive blade. Ito wrapping is modern and overall the koshirae you can build much better for 2-3k. But I would wait for couple of months with any major purchase. Most of these things you are going to see them over and over. I've sold three or four Omiya daito if I remember correctly for 4k, 6k and 8k. Actually 4k was as good as 8k, just for some reason there were not many offers. But generally Omiya can be very good.

That depends on what you are looking at... Ishido, Omiya 5-8k is reasonable, Oei Bizen can be had for 8-12, good late Muromachi work 5-9k. If you aim higher you have to know much better what you want. Great swords start at 25-30k usd. 10-20k usd is the price range with very few things like ko-Aoe TH with significant condition issues.

Its a weird price range with not a lot to offer. You can get what you are looking at with 5-8K investment - Ishido, Oei Bizen, Omiya are probably the best schools to look at. They are more or less what you like, can be really wild, they are all good schools and they are beginner friendly without being shallow. You can then build quite good koshirae around it for about 3k usd. For example that's how good Omiya looks like.

Because they can. If you have established clientelle that does not look for resale value.. to be honest, if you buy top of the top blade from this seller chances are you'll get decent value. But buying something of lesser grade does not make any commercial sense. Its one order better because in hands it will be brighter, will play in light, hamon will stand out against utsuri, there is nice jigane. Its a very good blade, its just from a period which is very hard to resell above 10K.

That's a much better blade that does not have the issues that other do, but when selling you'll get maybe 5-7K USD for this one. Will be extremely tough to get more.