Alex A

A few clues there Chris. The hamon pattern, the long turn back, and think I see an original file pattern on the nakago, the mune shape. Cant make out the hada. How thick is the blade?

If I see a blade and the work is spot on, but the mei off, the first thing I think of is Dai-mei. (signed by family or students) That opens lots of doors to variations in mei, and as Brian mentioned above, there could be another reason, in fact many reasons. Sometimes ive seen papered blades where the mei as struck me as gimei and was actually going to start a thread about it, so it works both ways. The fact that NBTHK cant give a definite answer is not necessarily a bad thing (in my book), kind of sums up the hobby, which is not an exact science.

Heres one Tsuruta San disagrees with. https://www.aoijapan.com/katana-hizen-kuni-yamato-daijyo-fujiwara-kanehiro-first-generation/ With cheaper swords, wouldn't bother me.

Hi Kevin, where did you get those framed?, looks good

Cheap fakes/reproductions will stick out like a sore thumb, lack of wear, patina, crisp edges etc, look machine made Fakers need a balance between profit, and how long and how difficult it is to reproduce. Ive read of folk buying iron reproduction arrowheads and ageing them, burying them etc, then a few years later back on Ebay as medieval Not looked into expensive yanone much, but don't think its at that level. But what do I know.

See a lot of reproductions coming from India. India coming up a lot these days in reproductions, anything from Yanone to medieval suits of armour.

Good to see folk helping out Especially after witnessing the death of another forum. Due to various reasons, but mainly finances. All the online community and all the info gone for good, was quite sad. This is an excellent forum for learning and selling, dunno what we would do without it. Best to not take it for granted.

Yes, compare the thickness at the Hamachi to a little further down the blade.

A few more from the museum, time taken its toll, as mentioned above.

3 and 4

Great examples Michael. Dont see those big Ko- kinko tsuba too often for sale, last one i saw was a few years ago, think Mariusz had one. Looks to be Higo fittings on the other, those plain old Higo fuchi can be impossible to get a hold of, most ive seen come decorated with gold etc. Very nice to see, cheers.

Good news Chris, I had a package turn up like that from the US once, looked like a dog had chewed on it. I always ask now for anything bulky to be sent in a cardboard box. Something to do with it being in an envelope and the bulky item getting it stuck in some kind of conveyer or something.

I like the old Tensho style too, but rare as you point out. Ive seen later Edo recreations, one at nihoto.us a while ago, and one at an arms fair years ago with a tired Koto Bizen blade. I should have bought it, was only £900, but did need some attention. I didn't buy it, because im an idiot Saying that though, wouldnt mind a set of matching Omori wave fittings...…….

Lets face it, without provenance/documentation, then there is no real way to be be sure if fittings were made for a blade or not, especially with older blades as fittings have been swapped about since the start. I too like what appears to be a swords final koshirae, and like Chris, the best I can get to is good koshirae and good blade. Come across good good examples maybe two or three times a year and unexpectedly, usually when im skint lol. There was one a while ago, TH koto blade and also nice koshirae, both with NBTHK papers. It was a great deal, and didnt last long. Fittings were not top quality, but good, and didnt look cobbled together. Not a fan of new tsuka. Might sound a bit padantic but on what seems like most occasions, it indicates a recent resurrection. Not that there is anything wrong with that, just not my thing. I look for fit, wear, age and as above, good and good. Tsuka obviously not too worn, but good enough to want to preserve. Tsuba are often swapped out, best to look for tsuba with hitsua-ana that match up with saya. Many you see listed are obviously swapped out, even in books. The only issue isthat if you find good and good, then you might find yourself deviating from blades that you would not usually collect. Again, not a bad thing, as it opens new doors. A problem for some, as they might wait around for a long time searching should they want to stay true to their collecting ways.

What surprises me is the disregard of the blade. A chance it will end up scuffed due to an ill fitting saya.

Wow, good spot Jussi. That shall i say, adds a little more perspective on the subject.

Hizen Tadakuni swordsmith......94, excellent by todays standards. Died 1690,s

Late reading through this, but used these pegs recently, for anyone interested.https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-tapered-bamboo-meguki-sword-peg-Shinken-katana-iaido-Iaito-Japanese-sword/112007881291?hash=item1a1430a24b:g:ysQAAOSw2gxYy9sg Bit of sanding, job done

I can see what your getting at regarding thickness, Jesper. Maybe just an exception to the rule, as sometimes occurs. Sure there's been one or two utsushi over recent years with similar plate thickness. You see Momoyama to early Edo this thin occasionally, but something telling me its not that old, but I have been around in circles a few times. This type of tsuba can be difficult to work out, especially from images.

Hi Jesper The plate is thin, but is uniform, maybe too uniform for an early tsuba and not much wear. Seen another like it a few years ago, but without sukashi. Utsushi-mono fits for me, but what do i know. The stars and suns you describe reminds me of a rain and snow design that you see on Ko-Katchushi, but look too crisp to be that old.

Folk have to be realistic when it comes to selling swords. You will only gain back what you spend at a dealer if its outstanding in some way. Something relatively rare or unusual, or very interesting about it + NBTHK et al

Well Szab, it certainly makes the ones I made a mess of my folks gate with back in the 80,s look feeble.

Seen a few books with images on ebay etc, thats about it.

Me too, but mine has a dirty cream sageo. Not the obvious colour but a break from the norm and looks ok.

One thing ive learned in life through a few bad experiences, is to no longer do this.