Alex A

Thanks Paul, the 2nd time something as slipped my mind in this thread, late Koto as you say. Some folk (newbies in particular), will not be aware that some merchants owned blades as well, ive picked up on it once or twice on NMB, but again, its never really sank in, until now hopefully. It is not something you may read about in the usual selection of starter books, but something well worth knowing about. Cheers!

An interesting point, from an art point of view, one may wonder why this would put someone off. On the other hand, from an historical point of view, i can understand why it may dissuade some folk. For folk looking to buy good art pieces (by a good smith) at good prices, then i suppose it makes good sense to buy wakizashi, rather than the far more expensive katana. All the artwork is there, just shorter :D. The down side will be finding buyers in the future that think along the same lines. One question though, i presume Koto wakizashi blades where less likely to have been owned by merchants, would this be right?

One possibility that springs to mind is consistency. Is it possible this could be due to the carbon content of the jigane at the time the blade was forged?. A blade made by the school in question, but lacking their typical nie quality.

£29,000....point taken LOL :D Ironically, at the end of my last paragraph, i was going to add a point that at the moment there are some very good, reasonably priced Wakizashi (with hozen) around at the moment....

Thanks everyone for your wise words. It had slipped my mind that there are very expensive blades with hozen papers. I suppose some folk will be happy enough with the provenience that Hozen brings, or maybe there are other reasons they dont go for the prestige of Juyo level, either cost or flaws etc. Its good to know that there are good to excellent blades out there waiting to be picked up, at a good price, Juyo papers or not. Cheers for the link Barry, very interesting.

Hi Paul, if repeated polishes diminished nie, it is not likely you would see a trend like this on all Kamakura blades?. In other words, all blades by the same school would be the same, depending on a similar amount of polishing, just a novice thought.

Cheers for throwing some light on it Brian. For most of us Juyo level is too expensive, but It would be interesting to get opinions on what blades offer the best value in the lower price range, in regards workmanship and quality (hada/hamon/activites etc).

Whilst fighting the latest bout of man-flu, i just happened to pick up "facts and fundamentals". A paragraph in the book (pictured below) amused me. I must say, i am in favour of papers backing up the legitimacy of a sword, but as Nobuo Nakahara stated in his book (some time ago), are folk dealing on papers?. I read not so long ago that one member, whilst looking at a sword collection, did not see any merit in a Juyo blade, which at the time, did get me curious. I can understand why a sword may warrant higher papers, either because of smith/rarity/workmanship or historical importance, but heres the question (naive maybe). What differences/activities would you see in a $15000 Juyo blade that could not be found in say a $4000 blade? (or cheaper). Are there Juyo blades that simply do not deserve the title or the price tags?. A case of just needing to ask. Ranking systems and price tags have a long tradition.

Interesting Bazza, i like the garden photo, i used to have a similar dozy dog. I do like those granite lanterns. Looks like some of the photos where taken yesterday, very clear indeed.

I want me one of those elfs! very festive

Merry Christmas to ye all! Ps, Big thanks to all folk who have helped with advice in this first year, i owe you beers I know, not a Japanese dragon, but the only one i have. LOL

As it was an Ebay story, i was thinking it may go down hill at the point you mentioned opening the wakizashi, but what a very pleasant change it makes to read some great news from Ebay. An early start to christmas, nice one Chris!

Hi Ken, i think maybe Brian was referring to strippers that dance

Definitely one of low quality copies, they have a look about them, "monkey metal", is the term i would use. If these had been around in the warring states period, Samurai would have needed eye protection from a huge increase in flying shrapnel.

I spent quite some time looking at this kanji last night in the way of practice. Very difficult to make out, as mentioned above, lead me to come up with too many variations.

Saved me a grand total of £48 on the Koto/Shinto & Shinshinto Zenshin kantei books

Wise that you where not "buying blindly"

Katana: The samurai sword by Stephen Turnbull Samurai 1550-1600 by Anthony Bryant Both around £5 each from Amazon, basic little books, great for journeys. Around the same price are Samurai Woman, Sekigara 1600, The Mongol invasions of Japan 1274 and 1281, which ive not read.

One thing ive noticed all you guys have is a passion. Without that, anyone new to collecting will eventually give up.

Ive always been curious to the number of swords sold to non-collectors, just folk with money buying as a curiosity.

Wise words Chris, kind of makes me glad im not rich enough to accumulate too much loss :D. Alex.

Good to see comparisons, helps us novices to differentiate, thanks! Alex.

Check out this, didnt know it was that bad!, how lucky we are. Sorry to deviate, no need to reply. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSlwGIapFJI Alex.

Hi David, yes it does look the same size as your tsuba, i also notice less lacquer, maybe your tsuba was relacquered at some point in time or just well preserved, difficult to tell, could be that yamagane can look really dark in photos!. The picture Henry posted is a good representation of a tsuba on fashion changing koshirae, from Tensho black to Momoyama red, thats if im correct about the lacquer colour change. Alex.

Cant say everything as not been covered Alex.