Rivkin

Ordering habaki, shirasaya, koshirae, polish is fun but best done on a blade which is appreciable and of good promise. Can still be 1000$ blade, but it needs to be without major issues.

Generally any investment in unsigned Edo period's piece restoration is not financially advisable and more so when its unpolished waki.

The tip sticks up a bit too abruptly for 1350. Maybe late Muromachi.

One more option: Its been quite a while and I can't find the photograph so I am not sure about the details (!) - but I think I had at one point nijimei Kunitoshi tanto which papered NBTHK with an explicit statement it was Muromachi period's. The problem I don't remember it might have been Kunimitsu or Kuniyuki - what I do remember it was a top Rai name and the signature was clearly styled after the "real one", but still the shinsa did not want to reject the notion Muromachi's smith might have had the same name as well.

I would start by submitting it for papers. I am not at all knowledgeable on Kunitoshi's signature and I am not crazy about this nakago, but the sugata is more or less within the possible (though not of the most distinctive type) and also what little is seen of the work (second image) is very strong. I would check if boshi looks correct though (can't see). I would have doubts if its Kunitoshi, but it is within the realm of theoretically plausible and even if its judged as gimei I personally would strongly consider going with this blade as a restoration project.

Definitely would be a show stopper for me. Its not old enough to have fukure.

Sorry I missed that. I would argue that such extensive muneyaki is Soshu trait and was adopted from it by other schools of the period. But in 1540-1580 one sees such "eclectics" quite often. Still there is a chance its not Bizen... In any case it looks from what little is seen is that its a good blade. Are there kizu? If there is none, even though commercially its not that viable, still polish can potentially reveal a very good blade.

I have to admit the measurements are seldom exciting to me, but having a dedicated shot of the boshi and the nakago is usually a must. As is the overall shot from above and at least something on the activity. Since statistically pretty much 95% of what is seen are average blades from Tembun Muromachi, Kambun Shinto or Showa this can be sufficient.

In Marcus' book there is SADASUKE (定祐), Kanbun (寛文, 1661-1673), Yamashiro – “Yamashiro no Kuni Kurama-jū Sadauke” (山城国 鞍馬住定祐), Sue-Seki style But I indeed would vote for unrecorded Bizen guy from around 1540. Unless it has sugu boshi, which is not that well seen here.

I think its an interesting and authentic object but its not Japanese per se. Not an expert on SEA weapons, but one does see very large nagamaki like weapons in the region with Japanese styled blades.

Ogh, very fat, straight with some small taper... Even though its a waki, Kambun shinto is a likely option. Better guess needs closeup of boshi, nakago and activity.

Depends on what can be seen on the blade itself with a naked eye.

I would also argue its later than 1784. 1825-1850 is the peak of such "shinshinto" look, 1784 is just a bit too early. That's ofcoarse with the usual warnings about photograph quality could be a factor, but still it is shinshinto proper blades which are that high contrast and do not have proper chikei. But its a good blade.

I don't know anything about his signatures, but the work of shinshinto generation indeed can look like it. A number of smiths, Naotane included, did Hosho masame with different steels.

In archaeology its popular among some to "resin" the items which are on the verge of collapsing yet need to be displayed. The result is similar - you get this very soft defined edges and dark black-brown, uniform coloration. No cavities etc.

It looks like it has very long, clearly separated, nie-based and somewhat broad masame... Sendai Kunikane is an option, though obviously too small a photo to really say anything.

Can I ask for the nakago images with the right to use them in the future? I don't want to sound too insensitive but it looks like a great illustrative example of gimei where you don't have to read what it says.

NPO versus non-NPO separation brings up some fun memories, but by now all participating parties have departed. Which papers are "better"? Well, are you from CA, the land of NTHK or Midwest, the land of NPO? Do you paper NTHK in Japan, which I argue is more convenient to do with NPO? Who issues actually "better" papers? Could have been an interesting topic, but both groups did change a lot in their ranks and practices within the last year. I am personally very much in the NPO camp, but would prefer to discuss a particular paper rather than generalities like "which one is better". NPO has an issue, for example, that the guy who writes up the initial assessment (jigane, sori etc.) is both junior and sloppy and given the huge volume of blades to work with at times his errors go uncorrected not just into the worksheet but also into papers issued. So you end up having shinogizukuri called hirazukuri etc. It does not affect the actual judgement but sticks out. They have different "bucket attributions", completely incomparable grading scale; NTHK usually gives 60 or 70 or 80 with slight variation in scores. The number positions the item vis-a-vis those of comparable class. NPO is 70-73 for low grade items (condition issues etc.), 75-76 for something decent and 77-78 for the best 10% of submissions. This being said, they are more comfortable giving 77+ to items in near perfect condition and fresh polish, so you end up with many shinshinto names in this segment and while Nobukuni 78 is a VERY high score, Yokoyama Sukenaga 78 can be just a very good Sukenaga. NPO was traditionally more comfortable giving unusual names. You submit a Juyo to some common name like Etchu Tametsugu or Bizen Masamitsu and NPO will give you 76 points and a name from the same school you need books to even know. Generally I personally appreciated "resubmition" value of NPO for this, you see at times attribution to Daishinbo and other names whom "normal people" prefer not to touch.

Overall fittings like ko kinko for many customers do not yield a price increase with papers. I personally would not pay extra for anything papered Heian and such. Even at the mainline Goto level there are many fittings not having any papers and still going for 10-20k. With blades there are very few customers who would go for unpapered blade. NTHK is a victim of self-fulfilled monopoly. For many people having NTHK papers brings up a question "what was wrong with NBTHK ones". And Europeans are generally not used to seeing them at all. In the US people rely on them, since that's what comes to the US and that's what a lot of people have. Personally I feel the issue at times is not any particular organization per se, but there are really bad shinsa sessions. You see half of worksheets having one and the same attribution, a stream of TokuJu level names and then 5 years later these blades still can't find a customer and are still at the same basic paper level, etc.etc. Happens unfortunately more often recently than before.

Saya, sageo and ito appear to be modern, fuchi-kashira, same and tsuba are old, menuki uncertain but I suspect modern.

I don't think its (that) old. Ken is a very conservative form so not going into arcane subjects of shape (though I would argue nakago is a bit thick, the hole is a bit drilled and the patina lacks truly old luster). there is a plasticky looking perfect suguha with bright and broad nioi-guchi which is as if drawn by hand, without any indication of the active hada. Polish might be an issue here, but stil Rai Kunitoshi's ken even in pur suguha would have quite active hada (typical Rai "dashes") and occasional dots of fine nie along the habuchi. This one looks two much like a drawing in comparison. Its not that old.

I would be a bit pessimistic here. Strictly periodic wide gunome which looks bright and glassy is something one sees a lot on mass produced showa sabers. The nakago forging looks sloppy. I would guess its not too old (first half of the 20th century?) and not too well made, but I would still believe its Japanese and true to period.

I think people were a bit too polite on these two swords. These are extremely inexpensive items which have no potential. Spending any money on them is entertaining but pointless.

Its a late blade (long nakago with very deep and widely spaced yasurime which is patinated but now covered by recent agressive red rust), possibly Showa, in not a stellar condition. Yes its real, yes the signature is most likely real too, the name is not uncommon. From M.Sesko's book: KANEHISA (兼久), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Kanehisa” (兼久), real name Niwa Kihachi (丹羽喜八), his family name Niwa is sometimes also quoted with the characters (丹波), born December 6th 1908, younger brother of Murayama Kanetoshi (村山兼俊), he worked as a rikugun-jumei-tōshō and died January 1st 1989, jōkō no retsu (Akihide), Third Seat at the 6th Shinsaku Nihontō Denrankai (新作日本刀展覧会, 1941) Quite possibly this guy, not too many who signed nijimei.

Today's Japan is sort of classless they don't understand the difference between class and wealth, but until the latter days of Muromachi being proper bushi meant distinctive origin - you had a genealogy going back to someone enlisted as gokenin by the Shogun, someone of proper northern heritage. They saw themselves different from the rest of Japan and the rest of Japan saw them as a distinctive race of northern (eastern) barbarians. In Edo period it was still the genealogy but also the language and manners would be different. It does not apply to American English, but if you encounter a more class based society there are significant divergences in the spoken language. At the same time towards the end of Edo period in Shogunate's territory in particular a motivated peasant could be better educated, martial aspects included compared to a fullbred samurai. Unlike the tozama Damiyo, Hatamoto quietly dismissed most of their retinue during the financial crisis of 1700s, and Shogun was forced to rely on more provincial or mercenary-class-diverse forces. It was not nearly the same on Choshu or Satsuma side where samurai were far too numerous to eagerly accept the entrance from other classes.