Alex A

Did they give a reason Piers?

Do like those bronze vases

If you like Suguha and Ko-itame Check out Hizen Tadayoshi High ranking smith, seen SIGNED TOKUBETSU HOZEN waks for the similar price to that tanto And, yes, the fact it is not signed will eventually bug you.

Why on earth would you spend that kind of money on this mumei tanto? Look through the well known Japanese sites Ps, if you cant distinguish between quality, dont buy anything until you can You will regret it.

Just to mention. Some modern oils use a rust inhibitor, may help Such as Parker Hale express plus many other modern oils Plus what John said. Don't know about anyone else but in winter here i see variation in the home from 12 degrees to 22 degrees C.

What oil are you using? Also, need see it

Aye, is a good place to shop. I have wondered why this blade don't have NBTHK Possibly, the mei may have presented a quandary.

That was my point, but from ive been seeing over the last few years, they no longer have to be the best, special, rare, whatever. Its a mixed bag.

Has this actually happened?, sounds like a proper conundrum

Good knowledge Kirill and interesting to read, thanks.

Hi Piers I always thought rare or as you point out "historical importance" was part of the TH deal that differentiated them from Hozen, maybe its something i just convinced myself over those years lol Did own what could be described an average made blade, late Muromachi. That had TH because it was rare, hence my thinking. Now we are seeing TH blades going relatively cheap, where they used to be the higher end.

It would be interesting to get a point of view from one of the Japanese dealers on the subject, again Seeing it from the point of view of NBTHK or whoever. It must be a real headache a lot of the time, with the numbers submitted and blades where they split hairs over moving up to the next level, what we might describe as "average", putting it simply. On top of that no doubt they feel pressure from dealers but lets not forget its a paid job. I've always linked TH with the words "Especially Worthy of Preservation". Repeating myself as usual, but that used to be clear, now feels like a muddled mess. Well, we all know Hozen will do just fine anyways, i guess. For folks that may be thinking focus on the blade and too much emphasis on the papers. Educated Folks are able to buy a sword with the knowledge they have but try selling an expensive sword with only that opinion.

No disrespect Brian but not good advice. Ben is right to question all the information presented. Even if it has NBTHK paper, question that too. Though as Ben probably knows, better to do all this BEFORE a purchase in future. Question everything.

Looks late Muromachi to me.

Jussi, your data colleting abilities never cease to amaze me, thanks.

I remember looking over sites (as mentioned) years ago and looking at TH blades. Back then i could work out why they were TH, they seemed to stand out for one reason or another. Even the TH blades ( to be honest) that were not by top notch smiths and of average quality seemed to have something about them, such as being rare or stood out for one reason or another. Nowadays I'm left wondering by a lot out there. Maybe i need to take off the rose tinted spectacles, i don't know.

Yeti Aye, as time has gone on its understandable there would be a lot more. Just seems recently a lot more, like dealers over in Japan are turning up the heat with shifting average blades with next level papers..

You could pull many examples up but i wont, as folks are trying to sell them. Just don't feel like anything special any more.

History, Evolution and Meaning of NBTHK Japanese sword papers (nihontocraft.com) AUTHENTIC & BEAUTIFUL Japanese SWORDS AND FITTINGS (touken-matsumoto.jp)

I will add link in other thread

Hi Michael, The issue for me is the number blades i see with TH that are plain average blades by average smiths. You only need to look around the Japanese dealer sites. As mentioned in the other thread, Shinshinto waks by average smiths, don't see why Hozen was not enough for such a sword. Looked at Aoi a while ago and nearly all the waks were TH. Several or more years ago you would see them as the minority.

A few folks mentioned they have noticed TH standards recently Anyone have any thoughts on the subject ?

Its a pity no one has started a topic regarding folks thoughts on the subject. I'm not talking about the sword above as not really looked at it When you start seeing average Shinshinto waks by average smiths with TH you got toi start thinking what's going on ? In fact, il start a topic rather than carry on here

Totally agree, feels like someone moved the goal post.

I prefer yours, I would get niggled by that exuberant Naginata. Nice though.