Alex A

Hi Collin Very nice, I can see your quandary, why you think shortened. First thought was "should there be more ana than just the one", if shortened. Turns out you find shortened Nagamaki with one ana, like yours. Second thought was, its looks Ubu, with the neat Nakago-jiri Then i thought, is it possible it is one of the oddball schools where you see UBU swords where the hamon runs into the nakago. An Uda blade, as an example https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-4461836, though later such schools ? Cant make my mind up either yet haha, need a lot more time than i have now, see why your saying Mino. Ps, could do with length measurement and a really good pic of the blade showing the hamon clearer, i find a pic with the sun behind you works good on blades in older polish. Sure someone else will chime in

Good bit of info on these now. Still think they look more like Kanabou then Ken though

Not quite same as your tsuba though, with the pointy bits, another interpretation maybe.

Must admit, thought it was a bit weird for a Ken shape with the exaggerated width, but there are similar examples in Piers link.

Probably wrong, but when i first saw the design, reminded me of a mace. http://gunbai-militaryhistory.blogspot.com/2018/04/kanabou-samurais-mace.html

Whoever bought 11 got one hell of a good deal!

Whilst its nice owning swords i find it much easier to look at the excellent images that you can find on line where you can ZOOM in. That's for looking at tiny details like tight hada or hataraki. This thread has brought home something i learned many years ago. Sight is so precious, used to take it for granted but certainly don't nowadays.

For a split second i thought i saw the Warner Brothers logo, top left

Seen an advert on TV about a product called Orcam With regards reading books, sounds like a great invention. https://explore.orcam.com/en/read/orcam-read-for-people-with-reading-difficulties-uk/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Read_GA_UK_Branded_Phrase_MatchRead_GA_UK_Branded_Only&utm_term=orcam&hsa_acc=5047145566&hsa_cam=14492486335&hsa_grp=135432929276&hsa_ad=592300010119&hsa_src=g&hsa_tgt=kwd-342461005379&hsa_kw=orcam&hsa_mt=p&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI57Kqssue-gIVToFQBh0taQ0JEAAYASAAEgJwEfD_BwE

Hi Malcolm, know nothing of Japanese bronze vases but when i first looked at this the bottom and middle part definitely reminded me of some Japanese bronze lanterns that you see. Found this https://sutterantiques.com/japanese_bronze_vases/ I can believe its Japanese, wish i could help more.

Some clues on nakago, looks like someone re-shaped an older damaged sword maybe

Hi Victor, its a really nice sword, i like it. Not familiar with US shinsa, but perhaps there are still folk around that might take it with them, for a fee. Sometimes, us guys at home can only take it so far with the info resources we have, sometimes just to a sword school. NTHK or whatever seen many more and have much more info. That's only if it bothers you so much. A lesson in the difficulties with swords with no mei. Saying that though, even signed swords can give you the same headaches where you just cant narrow it down to one smith. As said, check out Seki-Owari, im leaning there at the moment, Cheers.

Jacques, i was just pointing out that they are out there, in Owari province, in the fifth year of Kan'ei (E71, ... the béshi is a ch12-maru with hakikake or appears almost as yakitsume with only a very small lived in Owari ́s Nagoya (名古屋), mokume mixed with masame, ... suguha-hotsure in nie-deki, yakitsume-bōshi with hakikak just a quick google Ps, Victor, maybe send it to Shinsa.

Hi Victor, boshi good for Owari too, no kaeri, just noticed by chance on a quick search. https://www.aoijapan.net/wakizashi-mumei-owari-seki/ Connoisseurs states Ko Maru for Owari. Cheers

Actually, now looking at the red lines you draw, strikes me as unusual seeing a gunome pattern there. Makes me wonder about the hamon in that part of the blade. can we really call it Yakidashi? Wonder if polish has had an effect in that area of the blade maybe

Hi Victor, only have a few minutes, Its the blue line. Sometimes, can be real difficult to see but quite easy really in that image. Sometimes the shape of the hamon dont help. The nakago is heat treated to remove the hamon so it can be reshaped also. I dont see any reason why folk willing to try cant get to the bottom of this regarding school, trouble is it can be really time consuming, especially if your not familiar with the work. Look at the school Jacques mentioned, try find a match for hamon and boshi, the hamon is very bright. At the moment, im kind of on the end of the Muromachi going into Edo. Cant ignore that nakago chop and the masame, your sword is full of it in the Shinogi-Ji. Also the mention of dark steel, i will try add a pic of that for you when i get time. After the Muromachi period Mino smiths moved elsewhere and set up shop. It can get confusing as you see older traits mixed with new stuff. Ie, Masame mixed with Mokume. So, i would maybe be looking at smiths like Owari Seki, where you see mokume mixed with masame and also notare mixed with Sanbon-sugi. Early, and just a few thoughts. Maybe look into that school and see if anything comes up online or other Mino offshoots. Ps, not ruling out anything yet, as dont know for sure. Too easy in this game to assume and get it wrong, then make a complete plonker out of oneself online, quite good at that Cheers.

Just difficult to see in that image, but now you draw those lines then yes it does go past. In the link i sent you, the third photograph down shows it clear, what i normally look for . Cheers.

Hi Victor, difficult to tell from that image This might help, see the images. http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/suriage.html

Thanks Victor, be good to know the blade length too, cheers

To be honest, never took much notice of Yakidashi and length until now. Nothing to do with this blade, but was just looking, gets quite long sometimes. https://www.aoijapan.com/katana-kikumon-echizen-kami-fujiwara-nobuyoshi/ https://www.aoijapan.com/katana-oite-osaka-izumi-kami-kunisada-saku-kore-23th-juyo-paper/ Cheers.

Hi Jacques, when you say Shinto, are you meaning Shinto as in very early Shinto ? Little confused about how you say it is Ubu. I see the hamon run into the nakago and the end of the nakago chopped off. Are you saying it is Ubu and made to look suriage ?, as in Shinshinto maybe? The mention of dark steel got me thinking. I have a sword here, 2 character mei. Difficult to pin down to anyone particular in a specific line of Sue Seki smiths, even further on down the line into early Shinto, as the work crosses over and looks similar. Im not saying its Kanemoto or anything, as i dont know, just that the blade reminds me of Sue-Seki, though the hamon for some reason reminds me of later swords.

Kirill, i know you like the old swords, with more character. Also, as i have been saying, one size dont fit all.

To be fair, the sword at the top of this page doesn't exactly blast off at gunome. Unless you know the swords then something might just stand out as unusual. http://www.sho-shin.com/kanemoto.html

Nakago looks ok for that era too, think they call it Keicho-suriage. Dont know enough about the yakidashi on Kanemoto blades, perhaps just one of those things that crop up occasionally? Read about Mino yakidashi but this dont look to fit. You do find Yakidashi on Mino blades , an example

Hello again, actually, hope i didnt sound too confident ruling out Shinshinto! Sometimes you read a bit about whats been said, look and assume. It dont look like a Shinshinto blade, but can we see a clear image of the nakago please, out of curiosity. No point doing it unless you put the time in.