Alex A

Thats one hell of a request On the subject of Seki into Edo, steel gets better and so does mei, but, lacks so much of the Muromachi.

Hello, Dont be so sure its Kanbun, as said, tricky. All this best done before purchase., not after

Difficult enough in hand, never mind pictures Just had the impression that if the blade continued to broaden if suriage, then it would be one hell of a blade at the hamachi in its full original form. In some photos that looks the case and in others it dont. Still, always good trying to work them out. Hope it turns out the way you want. Cheers

Hello, Very difficult from images but your blade appears to have a decent amount of fumbari. In the picture with the older blade, it appears more obvious. Some info types of kissaki form (ksky.ne.jp) A tricky one.

Great. Whats the story on the rusty relic?, if anyone knows that is.

Just speculating, difficult from those images. You do come across Kanbun O-suriage.

Reminded of Kanbun too Also, maybe not suriage but made to look suriage and if suriage, no great care was taken and the nakago looks a bit odd now, which is not a good sign. But anyways, good luck.

Tracking at a few well known couriers is terrible these days, such things as "we dont recognize the tracking number", even when typed in correctly As mentioned here, fine until it reaches the destination country then goes blank for weeks on end then just turns up, had it twice over recent years. Not just other countries, its gone bad just within my own country. Special delivery next day has took 3 days on some occasions lately. They get there, eventually.

Postal services these days dont know what day it is!!, im hoping its just sat in a warehouse waiting for someone to do something about it. Best of luck.

What an unusual mix. What i find interesting is the tsuka, the way the snake has been attached over what looks to be baleen. Cant remember seeing anything so elaborate, i guess not a daily carry

Zatoichi decent, some subtle humour thrown in. The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi (1/11) Movie CLIP - Blind Fury (2003) HD - YouTube

Yes, an ornamental Samurai sword i got when i was around 10 years old, never had the heart to get rid of it. Also, not so long after, a Ninja sword with a Towkay 440 steel blade (whatever that is) along with a bunch of throwing stars etc. Found a pic, xmas 1982. Easily pleased back then not like kids of today with the ps4 etc etc (i was a strange kid tho) It was all the Ninja movies at that time.

Be good searching for a suitable tsuba

Personally, sometimes struggle with these old blades. Made so long ago and seen so much wear over the years that it shadows the blade it once was. Changes along the hamon, weaker in some areas than others, distraction for me and would probably end up getting a little bored. (at that price) As always, horses for courses.

I looked again too, and actually, for a katana with TH and decent antique koshirae/shirasaya thought the price was pretty fair indeed.

Jon, id be happy to own it, a TH sword with nice koshirae. I can see why you went for it.

We use the term "cobbled" a lot but again worth mentioning that folk have been cobbling koshirae together for hundreds of years. There are things to look for when buying swords with a koshirae. Fit.....is the saya and tsuka made to fit the sword?, does everything line up ok for kozuka/kogai Seppa, do they match the size of the fuchi correctly?, are there too many ? (not to say you wont find examples in the Tokyo museum with seppa that are undersized or stick out like a dogs hind leg) Ray skin............old or new Ito...........old or new Ito wrap, done well or amateurish Damage Quality of fittings Small things can be put right, loose tsuba, seppa, small damage, not the end of the world. Over the years, seen some very good deals on good swords with good antique koshirae. Nick and Ray sold some very nice examples if my memory serves me right.

Hope it comes with some provenance regarding its history, im not seeing any. Tsuka ito dont look so old in the images.

Jon Told you you would get some opinions! Another thought, be careful where you show potential purchases, seen one or two get snapped up on sight haha

If we are heading into blade quality, perhaps better with a wak. For a lot less than that seen blades by Naokatsu, Tadakuni, Nobukuni, Sadayoshi come and go.............

Seen some polishes, looks to be an old blade and interesting. The very first pic, i thought Bizen. (not to say thats right)

As Matt and John point out, that Tadayoshi is nice, from a long line of well known smiths. Konuka hada............

Does not seem so many great deals about at the moment. The koshirae is nice on the Owari (1), The blade itself is nice too. Ive asked for clearer images in the past with this dealer but it does not seem to go down well. Welcome to the wonderful world of buying swords online

Must admit, struggling to see a re-shaped kissaki or anything unusual about the boshi in these images.

Hi Jon, Some variety in that bunch, see your sword must have koshirae. One of the dealers there, imagesi struggle with, blades always look to be in heavy hadori polish even when they might not be, difficult to tell, for me. One of the blades is kanbun shape with little sori, not the most sought after, consider re-sale. One looks tired. All personal opinions and likes, as is what you will find when you ask