Rivkin

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.

Its a really weird price range because it corresponds to a good koto blade which is TH and has issues preventing from going Juyo or top Edo period smith which is suriage or severe machi-okure. Both are kind of strange things... Judging by your taste I would look for a TH Oei Bizen blade in good condition and with a wild hamon. That's about 8-12K USD in modern money. Or very good ishido school Edo period, with utsuri, that's probably around 6-10K USD. Best advice is not to rush things, wait month-two to see what comes by. Swordshow is great, but only if one tempers the spirit and does not come with attitude "I have to buy something to justify being here". Also, generally blades sold with koshirae are for beginners and not the best quality, its kind of "package". Some Japanese online stores are extremely expensive.

Frankly I think both are weak swords. There is not much variation within hamon, weak if any utsuri, mostly dense and indistinct jigane: every sin of late Bizen imitation is here.

Feels like shinto waki circa 1650. Can be Owari Seki, lower class smith. Nakago has been altered - cleaned or something. Maybe yasurime was redone. Not too much of an effect on price etc..

BTW, it does look like Oei naginata. Would gladly buy it for 1000 myself. Are they getting that desperate there in Chicago on the first day??? P.S. I did not check the new papers, was looking just at old ones. Its hard to be certain by photos, but I like Mihara and don't like Takada attribution. The way masame runs, the hamon width, the fact that jigane stands out but there is not much in the hamon, a lot of things just classic Mihara. Oei Takada looks different, they might have thought its Tensho work, but even then Bungo is suguha tends to be different. I am too lazy to check, what's the date on papers? If its recent, both NTHK and NTHK NPO declined a lot since 2022 in my opinion.

It definitely sue mihara type of work and it feels like under 1000 that's a great buy. I think old paper is also sue mihara, masaki is submitter's name.

There are plenty of signatures examples for 2nd and 3rd generation Hisamichi against which one can check the signatures. Its not too tricky one and if there is a good match then its most likely ok. Unfortunately, even the 2nd generation was faked from time to time.