Rivkin

An advice or personal experience on NTHK NPO paper scores is appreciated, especially its upper portion. My take is that: Below 70 - major condition issues 70-72 - an average blade by chujosaku smith, or a more ambitious sword but with condition issues. 75-76 - TH analogue. This being said, I once had Juyo scoring 76 when submitted to check if there is an alternative name. So I guess this range includes a number of good blades, but with some detriment (mumei etc.). 77 - very rare, kind of 76 in nice condition. 78 - this is an island of sorts, as both 77 and 79 are rare. Good blades of average name smiths. 81 - more or less straightforward Juyo pieces. Signed ubu kamakura. Uncommon. I don't have any experience with their Yushu etc. so any information is appreciated. There are used to be posts that NTHK (NPO?) sort of grades each smith on its own curve, but I did not find it to be particularly holding in my experience. Kirill R.

Everybody buys from Aoi. Suwaguchi, Dmitry, peasants, officers and ncos. I had couple of times issues like a minor fukure which was not disclosed in text and not clear on photographs. Tsuruta san seldom specifically comments on small-mid defects. Its something that a few others pointed out as well. Otherwise, above 250-450k yen it is well known as a shop where one can buy good things for less. High throughput, low margin. The one thing you will find lacking in this thread are the victims. Nobody says I bought a green papered sword from Aoi, which Tsuruta san said he trusts, had issues with repapering it and was sent off when complained. Or I bought papered sword, went to Tanobe for sayagaki and was told its saiha. I heard about a dozen of revelations about Tsuruta's real practices within the last year alone, none from the actual victims. All of them in fact went back to a single person who was kind enough to prevent collectors from being swindled by Tsuruta san. I guess, there are dealers who REALLY dislike Tsuruta. Otherwise if return guarantee is a big thing, then American dealers are the way to go. They also tend to have reasonable deals within this price range. nihonto.us, yakiba, nihontocraft come to mind a reliable shops that do have substantial wares in 1000-5000 usd range. Kirill R.

Absolutely NO. Kirill R.

Modern. Kirill R.

Being an ignorant man, and with reactionary attitudes largely preventing Juyo submissions, I still _guess_ the actual passing is more challenging than 10%. Ubu, signed, Kamakura has probably 99% passing rate. Suriage but still long, Ichimonji - 80%. Katana Kiyomaro - 50%? So at each session after those things are auto-papered, then starts the real competition between still very good blades, but which are better in life than on paper. Fighting for the remaining spots. What kind of chance an absolutely stellar nidai Hizen Masahiro has? Kirill R.

And while we are at it.... Continental chokuto do tend to have one ana and much later they go to two... But sometimes you get this uncommon suriage thing, and even though likely only one probably functional at any given time, it is kind of fun. Kirill R.

Yes its a bit weird, and it was I guess attributed thus as nagomaki naoshi. Regarding the red lacquer, very many people fear it, but I never saw anything disastrous with it. Its actually quite expensive to apply, and was quite often done to temple blades, usually yari and such. One has to guess that while today when publications talk about kogarasumaru they are talking about the one in Tenno collection. But by late Edo there were 16 kogarasumaru, and no less than 4 kusanagi all owned by major temples with supposed provenance all the way to the source. They had quite a lot of blades, especially some temples. Kirill R.

Yes, it is, but I've got only two mekugi coming with it. Kirill R.

There are two mekugi coming as a set. Could it be some weird reuse of a tsuka? I don't have the blade unfortunately, so no proof, but I don't think so. Kirill R.

Personal opinion: Tamahagane requirement applies to post-1935 or so swords, i.e. military patterns and post WWII production. For anything earlier, the historical-artistic value is assumed. You can get a registration for a European 19th century smallsword. You can get a registration for a 19th century Japanese sword where on nakago its written that its made from a Russian anchor. Or something made in 1914 from a steel of such and such Japanese company to commemorate something company-related. The boundary between "can get registered" vs. "illegal to own" is thus somewhat vague when we start dealing with swords made in 1920-1930s. You do see plenty of diplomatic smallswords sold with broken off blades, and then you see identical models with blades fully intact. On the artistic side, once you get to using steel which has very high thermal conductivity (extremely homogeneous and low grain size), including that between folding layers - the ability to form complex patterns in both ji and ha is impacted significantly. Its going to be a good sword, artistic it will never be. Kirill R.

Nice! My personal vote would be on Muromachi. Kirill R.

Sure, on Sunday. I will even boost the suspension - the ana are wide on one side and narrow on the other, and there are still two conical wood mekugi inserted in them. Kirill R.

No, that works in some countries with daggers. But continental chokuto had either iron or copper, not wood mekugi and went from one to two relatively early as well. Kirill R.

I own one (Momoyama) and owned a few. Kirill R.

No, its not a Kotetsu. Don't take my word on it, especially based on a photograph. But it is not a high quality sword. Jigane varies randomly, hamon is in nioi save for some sparkles of nie here and there. Kirill R.

Will be honored to! Unfortunately the list is still ambitious. I am doing reasonably well with Muromachi and Edo, except for the following: Umetada, Horikawa, Kotetsu. Which are badly needed. Also, the photos of Inoue Shinkai, Sushinshi Masahide, Shodai Hizen Tadayoshi, Shodai Yasutsugu are not the best and if there is an opportunity to photograph other pieces it would be great. The biggest issue comes with pre-Muromachi, since the diversity of blades within apparently the same school or even maker is staggering. So even though I have quite a few examples of what is listed below, they do not really reflect the schools well enough. Katayama, Fukuoka, Yoshioka Ichimonji, Hatakeda, Ko Bizen are badly needed. The ones I have cover only about 20% of the wealth of expression that exists there. Also badly needed are Rai works not in suguha, and Awataguchi (I do have Shintogo though, but there is never enough Shintogo). Aoe is badly needed. Would benefit from better Enju, Echizen Rai, Ko Hoki, and Sadamune. Also my Chogi photographs are of not very representative blade (lots of tobiyaki). Would benefit from really good ko-Mihara. Overall anything good pre-Muromachi helps a LOT. There is a reasonable representation of Soshu as is, but if there are good blades they will always be included. In the publication its owner's choice regarding whether he wants the pictures identified as coming from his collection, or a more general acknowledgement in the introduction. Kirill R.

The goal maximum (which can prove to be unreachable) is to produce a photo essay of 200 blades covering the entire history of nihonto from chokuto to gendai. Of those 50-80 will be masterpieces, and the rest - typical period items. Some very average, some quite advanced. Right now I have about 300 photosets from which I can select 70-90 items for the publication. I figured with 600 good photosets will give me the desired 200. But that's very approximate, since I am still missing specific schools and names that need to be filled if the work is to be reasonably complete. About 30 items, mostly quite rare cases, but in the worst case I have lower quality photographs for about half of them. Some dislike my photographs, but I do believe in them and the technique is simplified to be reasonably quick... The only thing that remains is getting the actual items. Kirill R.

I am on a constant quest to collect photographs of J and TJ. For a good collection - will fly in, do the pictures, the owner gets the photographs, can shoot about 30-45 blades in 2 days. I need about 600 blades photographed to do good selection for a photo-album, have about 300 as of now. Kirill R.

Well, I'll do a completely contratian and possibly ignorant opinion. Such metallic koshirae with Tokugawa's mon are considered in some circles to be Ainu type. There are Edo period examples which are quite expensive and very rare, there is one in TNM. Quite a few were made during Meiji and could be/are touristy... But they are not terribly common (i.e. you see one or two for sale per year) and do cost money. The scrimshaw koshirae is completely touristy and non-traditional (unlike this one), and yet you similarly see them maybe twice a year and they do cost money. There is a type of Ainu koshirae made of carved wood, which is made in Hokkaido even today and is very cheap. Kirill R.

The answer I feel is to buy whichever you like. There is a caveat that while Aoi has quite a few deals, no Tokyo shop is going to be the best option in 200-300k yen range, but on the other hand Aoi has a solid selection of "complete packages" with koshirae, which seems to be what you are looking for. This being said, its unlikely to have any blade of substantial importance in this price range. You might get a better deal at a sword show, but not by a great margin. No hidden gems, no concealed frauds among the items you identified. Kirill R.

I think this one would be very hard showato vs. gendaito determination, but I would err on the side of gendaito. It does not have stamps. It has well formed and pronounced kaeri, most showato don't. The hamon while in nioi and of a typical showato strictly periodic sine wave-like gunome type does show variation in brightness which is more attuned to gendaito. So its roughly in between of the two cases. Kirill R.

Ok, so we jump from an unsigned unpapered shinto to signed papered koto… why? Do you like koto? You are ready to pay significant premium for having the signature, knowing that most likely with this price range it means Muromachi name of mid to no significance? Kirill R.

For Soshu dating issues I would compare first the kamakura sugata Masamune tanto as well as his tachi with smaller kissaki, with emphasis on hada's quality and presence of Masamune kantei features and second - Masamune with substantially larger kissaki (Musashi Masamune etc.), and various tanto of substantially larger proportions, including the hocho series. For expected condition of Kamakura pre-1300 blades, attached is a fragment of period's major blade with major papers. Kirill R.

Tsuka looks new, but with old fk (not paired), tsuba, saya, not sure about menuki. The blade is in very tight itame with rather bright and very characteristically looking hamon... Probably shinto, say around 1630-1640. Remote second chance - shinshinto. Bizen imitation. It is bright, but 5k pound is just a tad ambitious here. There is some question regarding the polishing quality also, but its not a deal breaker here. I often read about hitting the books, but was never able to see this theory actually working. But after one studies extensively 1,000 or so swords with the help of a few books and hopefully someone who can give advise on how to look at swords, some understanding does tend to settle in. Out of the three components (books, advisor, blades) books are the solid third place. If you are looking for similar blade with a much better investment potential, I would consider signed early Ishido school works (Korekazu, Mitsuhira, etc.etc.), maybe trying to pick up something that has pronounced utsuri - these blades sometimes are very good and very much undervalued today. Aiming at a higher price point, Chounsai Tsunatoshi is also a good choice if you are looking for a bright Bizen Ichimonji imitation. Kirill R.

I found answering this question harder and harder as one gets more into collecting. All books say Kamakura, however this is influenced by the Edo period notion of Kamakura being vastly superior to anything associated with Ashikaga usurpers and thus quite a few Soshu masterpieces are traditionally attributed not based on sugata, but based on tradition. If one is looking for deals and likes Soshu, than Nambokucho hands down is the best era. Lots of hard to judge works with random shinsa attributions where one's bet can pay off in the long term - or not. Kamakura proper (pre 1300) pieces tend to be tachi, and they tend to be already recognized for what they are and Juyo+ unless having serious issues. And most are very tired. There is late Kamakura, 1300-1333, which probably should be treated separately from the rest of Kamakura period, and is very interesting in many aspects, but does require very significant numbers to access the top quality. But it has some of the best artistic works. Other than that pre-Tembun Muromachi tends to be good and relatively cheap, and Momoyama has also quite a few good pieces that can be had for relative peanuts. Almost nothing of substantial value was made between 1515 and 1570. If one likes shinto look, then Kambun masterpieces are great, but they will cost you full price. I very personally would argue that by comparison early shinto masters beginning with Umetada are while very rare, greatly over-valued. The best Sukehiro or Inoue Shinkai towers over Kunihiro and Yasutsugu. But in Kambun period there were also mid-name masters who did substantial works once in a while. And condition of everything Momoyama and later will be a substantial improvement over pre-Tembun. Shinshinto is thing of itself. I personally like only Satsuma school and what stylewise closely relates to its Soshu works. Some people prefer the period's Bizen works. Kirill R.