Alex A

John explained the Hozen paper...............genuine Hozen=worthy of preservation. This is an Hozen level blade. These papers are enough for a lot of people, dont need anything higher, even for blades well above the quality of this particular blade. Back up what they already think for themselves, which is how it should be, not just relying solely on a paper.

Hello, looks to be a good healthy blade.

Hello, Have you done clear pictures of the nakago ? Blade length ? Start comparing to Sue-Mino , end of Muromachi, see what you find.

Always great to see Brians display. Just a few things ive learned you may already be aware of. Dont display swords near an outside wall or radiator. Dont display swords above which is a boiler, in my experience seen too many spring a leak. When you go on holiday move your swords upstairs and turn the water off at the mains (witnessed a disaster once), preferably leave them in a locked gun cabinet (get them cheap on ebay) Move them out of the way if any friends or family visiting. Lastly, dont buy any blade that shows any sign of spider rust.

Made for hefty blade Bruno, even after being altered to the 8MM width. Seller said Momoyama, ana measurements meets the stout blades around at that time. Its difficult, just got to work with what you have Not studied tsuba for a long time, but from memory, read somewhere that when you come across thin plate tsuba like this that are not of the norm (as in square), was a Momoyama trait. The plate on your tsuba looks uniform, Edo, but perhaps just in good preservation, the edges also look crisp. Ive seen tsuba that date to the end of the Muromachi in this condition. Just thoughts, im here to to learn to. Perhaps ask folk like Ford Hallam, Mariusz a good call to as he has seen quite a few of these over the years. As for Katchushi/Tosho, dont really matter, to me.

Before you do anything read just one book, take you a day or two Enlightenment. The Samurai Sword: A Handbook: Amazon.co.uk: John M. Yumoto, T.C. Ford: 9784805309575: Books Nothing worse than buyers remorse.

I like it too What is the nakago-ana size ?

Georg, with looking at the koshirae totally missed the blade. Looking at what Ray pointed out earlier, can you make out the hamon at all ?, Choji ? Nakago might be messed with but could be improved. Ishido blades in Choji, if in good polish can be also really appealing.

Aye, the blades are difficult, some good advice on here if you do a search.

Those fittings will be really appealing to a lot of collectors, real Samurai appeal. Vey nice to see. Ps, those new images are excellent, dealer quality

Hopefully just a bolt in the bottom and not glued. I got one, black marble (not granite) base from a trophy shop lol, they made me one to suit, long time ago but was only £15. Will look so much better without the wood,

Some info here Kaifu 19 05 2016v1.pdf (to-ken.uk) That nakago though

Hi Jon, everything is off about the blade, its been heavily messed with. The only thing remotely ok is the tsuka.

Hi Jon, this is a red alert for a purchase

I dont know much about these but judging from what ive looked at over the years i would expect folk to ask between $400 to $650 for it. Its ok, but when i see these statues where the sword is out and with this kind of pose it kind of puts me off and reminds me of later stuff. Seen similar in the past and when you scour the internet you find identical pieces at varying prices, sometimes low, sometimes high. Be better if was signed but then again the price would likely be sky high. Base looks cheap (which might suggest ?), would replace it with a nice granite piece if i owned it, find them for sale quite cheap. Wish i was educated on these lol, as always wanted a nice example.

Occasionally i do look over the lanes site because from time to time they do have swords with attractive koshirae. You will rarely find papered swords , the reason they gave me years ago was that sending swords abroad for shinsa was a lot of hassle and expense, which i suppose is true. As someone new to the hobby, buying a sword with papers will bring you peace of mind so you may find buying from the Lanes armoury difficult unless you really know what you are looking at and have it in hand. There are plenty of people looking for authentic Samurai swords in the UK that dont really care about papers or the blades in top notch polish etc, so they will never be short on customers. If someone goes beyond this stage and digs deeper, buys books and learns a little, they tend to get a lot more picky and look for swords that suit their interests, hence why a lot of swords get imported into the UK from overseas. In contrast, met a few guys over recent years that will never buy a sword from overseas, they need to see it "in hand", as buying from images online is not always plain sailing.

All the best Jp for a better year!

Hi Mark, Know nothing of armour but living in the UK, id be tempted to get in touch with David Thatcher to see if he is selling or knows anyone that is selling something that may suit, always a chance, i suppose, David Thatcher – Katchushi Koubou – Japanese Samurai Armour Studio (yoroi.uk)

Difficult Jon, from the dimensions it kind of reminds me of a mid 1600s blade. Perhaps if you joined something like the Token society you would get more advice. Last i heard we were down to one experienced polisher and he lives in Scotland. Perhaps have a word with him about what he thinks. If you do get the blade polished then its best to have a new shirasaya made too, another expense. A case or working out what is what and how much you want to spend. You do see some questionable polishing about in the UK, commercial polish. Im not sure who does these but wish they would stop. Mike Hickman-Smith is well known for Shirasaya, lacquer etc, perhaps speak to him also.

Hello, Acid polish (as mentioned) makes life a lot more difficult and obviously obscuring a lot of fine detail that would be there should it have been professionally polished in the first place. Not sure whether that is core steel (dark patches) or something to do with the acid polish maybe. If it is core steel then that is something definitely associated with Kazu-uchimono. Although there are things about this blade that for me dont quite fit that catagory. The nakago looks quite well finished and the hada looks quite refined The hamon, blade length and yasurime are all asking questions (so to speak) Appears to be nioi-deki, Still, reminds me of Bizen. Wouldnt be surprised if after polish it turned out to be something like Edo-Ishido, the nakago fits and if you look hard enough you will find examples where the hamon also matches. What Jimmy said above too is worth looking in to as they Bungo Takada were know for making swords similar to that of Bizen but ive not looked at examples today. Its difficult at times, you can sit here all day going around in circles, this is why signed examples make life easier and in the end are more desirable. Your blade is not worth the price of a top polish but there are experienced polishers that will improve what you have with a traditional stone polish, you will then have a greater understanding of what you have.

I see why you like the last 2 blades Jussi, but just look at the expression on Mr Tsuruta Sans Face He loves it, good sales tactical photo, even im wishing i had some money

Yes, straight to their sales page, be surprised if this does not sell in the auction though.

Pretty straight forward as to why it has no signature Either was never signed to start with or cut off due to being o-suriage. we will never know, very common

Its in good condition and the koshirae is nice too If you ask then you will always get back different opinions based on personal taste and attract some competion maybe I like it, as it stands with the price, tempting for a lot of people at the moment

Some great deals Grev!, like the Musashi