Alex A

Well spotted Chris. If your patient and keep an eye on the many various sites, something will come along and you will appreciate it a lot more with a bit of knowledge. Being reminded of what its like lately, developed an interest in Napoleonic flintlocks and been eager to buy BUT i remember where this can get you, so bought 2 books instead and eventually learned that what i was going to buy would have led to dissapointment. Always be swords etc to buy, no rush, enjoy the trip.

Hi Chris, don't forget the blade itself and not just the mei, clues there with the hamon and boshi etc. Worth just looking into that to help with date. Had a look at the mei and looking it other examples of Kanemasu, see a lot of variation with the strokes to the right of the bottom horizontal. A number of Kanemasu working around 1600, maybe a way to differentiate between smiths, but just speculating. Let us know if you find anything else out, cheers.

Read a few places where it mentions them as gifts, heres a page Kirk added to his sales page.

What Ken Said. Also, judging by the hamachi it has seen quite a bit of life.. Difficult to be exact, could be either side of 1600, maybe searching for a similar mei might throw a little light on it. The good thing about a blade like this for me, don't really require the expense of Shinsa.

Hi Christian, it was the image with the red line that made me think it may be tobiyaki, the way it followed the hamon, reminded me a bit of some hizen blades, Do a search of Tadayoshi, Tadakuni and tobiyaki, you should find some. http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/hamonpatterns.html

Hello, plenty of info available on Kanemasu tanto, one sold recently and is in the "sold" thread, they were sometimes given as gifts. Many Kanemasu smiths, don't remember reading much about late Edo Kanemasu, why do you think its late Edo?

If you look through a magnifying glass you should be able to tell if it is Tobiyaki

Hi Wah, ive had two of these in the last year, never had one before that. As you mention, honesty is the best policy. Just fill in the form and add the all the relevant info they require. Print out proof of payment, via paypal or whatever. Add a printout of the sales page with details of the item and seller. On a separate piece of paper describe exactly what it is, with some evidence, the correct customs tariff no (antique/collectable and RELIEF REQUESTED). Print some details off about the smith and add any info regarding when he worked etc Explanation of Hozen etc, should there be any. Also, with all the panic about knives etc in the UK, maybe add a few personal details, passport printout with age and member of sword society's etc, might help, might not Cant think of anything else at this hour. Bit of a an hassle but not too bad once you have done one or two, something to get used to I suppose.

Just tell him they dont polish them sharp as there is no need to and that its a myth that all Samurai swords are sharp, and grow up

just look at swords with differing steel and wear, not bothered about age, just whats appealing. Cool swords in every era

Just Jokin, wish my budget would stretch to a book collection like the ones above, until lottery comes in will have to make do with what I have. Paul, those early NBTHK magazines, silly question maybe but are they in English ?

Hi Ken, ive never had any trouble with EMS from Japan either, I have a katana from Japan at the moment with Parcelforce, just waiting for the VAT charge and hoping they get it right.

Err.....no honest Bruce, its my sword book collection, been looking for Dotanuki all day Seriously though, nice to see such collections

Heres mine, ignore the mess though

Cheers Gents, I did some measurements before the tsuka went off for a refurb, so it should fit Ken. Might be slightly out but i can sort that with various thickness of seppa. Be good if other folk could chime in with their shipping positives, might help folk to make decisions in the future and also good to read the good news, rather than what goes wrong. Cheers.

Hi Paul, read about those copies but was referring to Dotanuki, that no one copied (I presume) The others, totally understandable and you can see why Was thinking about how much time NTHK have v NBTHK, when you pay your money, last thing you want is a rushed appraisal.

One thing strikes me about this thread, that we are debating whether a shinsa panel would be so thick as to call a Muromachi blade as Shinshinto. Doubt it.

The trigger, dimensions, maybe the steel, depth and style of the chiselling in the mei compared to Koto (just an idea, you would need to see lots of Koto, which ive not) ,nakago shape, mei itself, difficult without all the resources Anyways, defo Looks Dotanuki, stout, nice blade. Never read of country smiths producing kazu- uchimono, might be an interesting thread.

Notice you have quite a few missing there John Ps, If you have anything on Shinshinto Dotanuki, theres another thread for it.

Hi Steve, i should have been more specific. I was refering to swords from around the Momoyama period, wide thick with longer kissaki. Once owned one, a Dotanuki, a beast of a sword, wouldnt want to use it in an Edo duel as it was very heavy, that one came from Ed too. I have a sword here that looks an obvious Nanbokucho, wide, o-suriage, but it was listed as Muromachi. I asked the dealer about this, and his reply was that some schools (country smiths), maybe took a while to catch on with the mainstream. I think sometimes its easy to put things in brackets.

Ok, blowing trumpet a bit. Was a sword thread, but will throw a tsuba success in to even out the thread, as this one is "if carlsberg did nihonto purchases" . Finishing off a koshirae and needed a tsuba, so buys one from Grey in US (after a certain amount of measuring twice) Arrived yesterday, should have got charged import VAT, but for some weird reason i didnt (why cant this happen with swords, and yes, all details on package complied with uk rules).....result! Fit to the nakago is bang on, like it was made for this sword, maybe it was?...……...result Fit for the Kozuka is bang on, maybe it was made for this sword...……….result Cheers Grey, Success!!

Most I have found is two swords listed as Shinshinto Dotanuki, but nothing of the school during the late Edo period and would be great if anyone can add some info. To be honest, there isnt a great deal written about the Muromachi school. Known as "country smiths" which kind of refers to them lacking in some way, but the truth is they made reliable swords for battle, sometimes very wide and thick. During the Edo period there would be no need for such blades. If you find anything out, be glad to hear, cheers.

The way i see it, cant argue with a shinsa panel, especially from images. They have it in hand and say the mei is legit. Is it Kanbun shape?,sori at 1.43 cm. See "Kanbun" around 0.6cm and almost straight, that's not to say you wont find lots of regular curved blades made in that period. Not sure on the width of this blade at the pointed end, sometimes wider blades do appear straighter in images, Dotanuki made wide blades at the pointed end. Don't see much info on later Dotanuki, be good to find out more. Congrats Jean-Pierre,

Thats one hell of a statement Jacques. End of day, all just opinions.

When I first looked at the mei, first thought was that it did not look Muromachi Dotanuki. Apparently, samurai were rather fond of Dotanuki blades.