Alex A

Again, my point was not about the discussion of the blade, i made a point that whatever conclusion you guys come to does not matter. It adds nothing to the blade, im sad to say. In a month from now this thread will be forgotten. Lewis and any other future owner will obviously be able to view this discussion from now until eternity and it wont make a difference. Sadly, when it comes to the more sought after higher value blades, that's how it is, the only thing that matters is that it attains NBTHK papers. Personally, id be asking myself why a dealer in Japan let it go. I hope it all works out for you Lewis, as i mentioned in my post at the beginning. Michael, you are out of order, you know what i state is a fact. You can all talk about this blade until you are blue in the face but your conclusions mean nothing, just opinions that carry no clout. Discuss it all you want. Dealers and honesty, that's another subject.

So you guys think you are above NBTHK now, that have seen it in hand?, incredible. I guess pulling mei and what not from books and illuding to the the odd observation makes one an "intellectual" on a subject, give me a break. What is it with people that makes them online expert? Perhaps there really should be NMB Shinsa papers What i have learned, those that know have nothing to say, think on.

Hoshi, what's with the down vote?, Repeating words from other writers doesn't make you an "expert"

Not sure why you have gone off on a tangent Michael, what happens in the "general" thread has nothing to do with Nihonto Wise enough to know no one here can make judgements that matter on that blade, no matter what names you throw in to the mix, the only one being Jussi who i do have some kind of respect for as gets off his ass to to offer something new. Obviously, you can discuss the blade and offer opinions, but that wont further the blade as your opinions are irrelevant in the grand scheme of things and add no value, such as NBTHK papers. (sorry but that's just realistic, no talk here will add any value or authenticity, it is what it is and sadly, knowledge and references don't equal that of nbthk) Throwing the term around "Intellectual" doesn't really assist in your pursuit. You saying this conversation is above me or something? Personally, not bothered. Know enough to know you guys wont match the NBTHK , especially in images, Jacques will attest to that. Good night, God bless. ps, made a polite point but obviously brushed some feathers, for reasons i cant be assed with Weird, i guess some folks think they know better.

Its just that they have it hands with all their references next to them and still were undecided. Guys here from images with the emphasis on the mei. Who knows though, a fresh shinsa may come to an agreeable opinion.

Sounds familiar. like you copied it. Maybe im wrong, dunno, nice read though

One reason that comes to mind. And if im picky about ana in tsuba, then maybe others were in the past. I have a koshirae where the saya has no slots for either kozuka or kogai, so why would i want a tsuba with ana ? (which is on there now) Its like it makes it obvious the tsuba wasnt made for the koshirae and just cobbled together. Plan to swap the tsuba for a tsuba with no ana or filled ana in the not too distant future. Also, not so long ago needed a tsuba for a wak with kozuka. Why would i want one with both ana? Call me pedantic, Ps, think your design was added later, just too much of a coincidence they are in the place where the ana are, though just a guess.

You see quite a few Koto Katana/tachi chopped off to make shorter wakizashi. Not talking about suriage blades, as in Edo sword length regulations. Swords salvaged from broken swords. Chances are they were broken in a battle/fight?, but you will never know for sure.

Cant remember ever seeing a Koto tanto with NBTHK Hozen for that price. Great deal.

If NBTHK couldn't come to a decision, then what chance have you guys got here? I hope it all works out for you Lewis.

Nice job, got bit of a similar scenario in the making. Only for display, so not going to get pedantic about them being a perfect match. Will never find Daisho tsuba that will fit.

Thats got be the worst fake ever, not sure why the handle looks like its covered in honey. Probably why you need gloves pick it up.

Hello again Edward, had a bit of spare time today so thought i would spend a bit of time on it. Im not familiar with that Boshi so had a quick read through Connoisseurs to see what it mentions. I have added a pic below so i don't have to go through it all. With the hada mentioned and taking into consideration what it states about the boshi, would kind of start looking towards Yamato related schools, though thats not really my ball park. Hers the info from Markus and the image, just looking for links. As said, mumei blades can be difficult. Sometimes even differing Shinsa teams come up with differing opinions. Note, not much mentioned about that Boshi with Shinshinto swords in Connoisseurs Its not an exact science. "itame mixed with masame (板目に柾目まじり): Well, some kind of nagare is seen at many schools and if the running structures tend to appear in a more linear manner, we usually speak no longer of nagare but of “mixed with masame.” So the above mentioned northern and southern schools are typical for a conspicuous itame-nagare that is the dominating forging structure of the entire blade. A mixed-in masame in turn is typical for all Yamato and Yamato-related schools (e.h. Mihara [三原] and Niô [二王]), but also for early Mino-mono (Kaneuji [兼氏], Kinjû [金重], Kaneyuki [金行]) and the Yamashiro Hasebe (長谷部) school where the masame appears towards the mune and towards the ha. At Sue-Seki schools that are not classically inspired and densely forged, the nagare towards the mune often appears as masame and this feature goes back to the same approach in forging as the aforementioned masame in the shinogi-ji. So what is nagare-masame towards the mune at a hira-zukuri blade is masame in the shinogi-ji at a shinogi-zukuri blade, to put it in a nutshell."

Edward, you have something to go off now. Pretty sure you can come up with some swordsmith schools yourself, have a look about which schools used that boshi style etc etc. Off the top of my head and what i see, late Muromachi Bizen is not the first thing i think of. Only this week i saw a similar boshi on a tanto but cant remember who it was. No doubt others will chime in, it can be time consuming and lead to a few conclusions, especially from images. Unsigned swords often leave you with questions that still need answering, in other words nothing is fact. That can also happen with a lot of signed swords with generations of swordsmiths.

When i saw the pic i thought its very curved and thought it could be the images, then read 1.75" (4.44cm) and thought that's very curved, like a banana, If in the past someone was struck by that sword, there's a good chance it missed and they got away.