Alex A

Ive learned just to say "its an old antique sword in wooden scabbard", I don't mention Japan apart from on the description that you need to fill in (country of origin). On the description i will write "old antique sword in wooden scabbard, 300 years old (or whatever age)", along with the customs tariff reference. I don't mention Japan to the staff member because I don't want them thinking "Samurai sword", which may raise an eyebrow. The biggest issue I encountered was an impolite staff member behind the counter, she just took one look at the long box and said "you cant post that". Really annoying as I had already checked online. We got there in the end, although I no longer go to that post office, I prefer to drive 5 miles to the guy that does not create hassles. I think in future I will do the online thing, was unaware, but sounds a great idea.

Cheers Jean, for a a while I was thinking folk might think I'm being serious

Lots of bids already, obviously some folk think its a little cracker.

Luck of the draw down the post office, baffles many of them when they ask what whats in the box and where's its going?

From memory, don't think there is any tracking on standard delivery once its left the UK. Have the rules changed recently Paul?, they took money off me at the post office for insurance on a few swords over the last couple of years, around £160 to cover £2500.

Hi John, apart from the books mentioned, check out sites like Aoi https://www.aoijapan.com/japaneseswords/katana Look at the sword differences between age, schools etc. I like window shopping, educational, and free

Having put so much effort into making the blade look o-suriage, it was never going to be signed. Perhaps just a request.

I thought the same thing as regards the sori might look weird if the nakago had continued. When i said suriage, i was not talking about much taken off. It looks like the bo--hi as been cut through along the top, rather than it running its original path, but maybe just as intended. Difficult without the sword in hand, i thought there was a change in patina on the nakago, which again effected my thinking. I always find sori difficult to judge from photos. Difficult exercise, spent some time scratching my head on this one, was supposed be stripping wallpaper......Cheers Nick The man himself, http://www.nihonto.com/abtartgassan.html

Difficult, if the blade is unaltered then someone did one hell of a job as a utsushi. (but maybe they did?) The steel patina changes along the nakago, more pitted towards the end, even in the bo-hi. The way the bo-hi is cut off. I'm finding it difficult to believe the nakago is unaltered, leaning towards suriage. As for school, struggling, but best I can come up with is Gassan Sadakazu, but may well be a bit older, I think

I once heard a tale about a few guys getting warnings off Ebay for setting up deals outside Ebay. Thought it was a myth................ until I got a warning Be careful, big brother is watching. I would only mention deals outside ebay through a private email address, should you have one, that is.

Aye, Ebays full of it, just accept it and don't pay over the odds.

Some useful info http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/tachi,katana.html

Briefly looked through the book today, excellent value for money, surprised at the number of tsuba at the museum!. I'm sure to use the book for reference in the future, so many examples. Well done Grev.

It made me think about the number of mumei blades we see, busy forge and two man job. Might seem a minor issue to us, but I can see signing mei back in the day being a real pain in the ass. Two or three swords a year like in the program then no bother. Just thinking out loud.

Good that, interesting that he used another smith when it came to signing the mei, makes me wonder.

A tsuba that some of you may find interesting, an old venerable tsuba with some history, a fighting mans tsuba. Iron plate, 2mm thickness at the nakago-ana and 8.5 cm diameter, possibly larger when first made, Circa 1400 The tsuba started off with a typical sized blade but then the nakago-ana was opened up to house a different kind of weapon, possibly an armour smashing type of weapon. Later on it again housed a typical sized blade Around1600, the Kogai-ana, shakudo rim and inlay of clouds and dragons was added, possibly gold, good to know someone thought it worth keeping and decorating. Not in the best of condition, but my favourite, still plenty of old remnant lacquer. Edit, pics gone super massive, so condition looks worse than it really is, so tried another

Right again Pete, id never realised that Muromachi Kinko tsuba could be that thin, one here at 2mm, learn something new every day http://home.earthlink.net/~jggilbert/irogane2.htm

You might be right Pete, looks to be room for a thin iron plate tsuba.

A couple from those impartial Samurai that didn't get into disputes

Even if it does reach their ears (and im sure it has), i doubt nothing will change. The answer is simple, they dont need to.

Nothing gets missed here, even know whos taken the pictures

Thanks for the heads up Ps, swords can be much older than 700 years

Interesting thread, personally, I'm drawn to Ko-Kinko manhole covers

Repeating whats been said before here, but there was a fashion for putting small tsuba on katana at the end of the Muromachi period. Seen a few small late Muromachi tsuba with Katana sized Nakago-ana over the last few years.

Hi Javier, nice Koshirae. The first thing that sprung to mind is the old saying, if it aint broke, don't fix it. I say this because even small variations in tsuba dimensions can have you messing around with seppa/habaki/tsuba (really shouldn't with a good one) to make it all fit good. Difficult to see, but appears your sword has no need for a tsuba with hitsu-ana, so in that case, I would look for a tsuba with no hitsua-ana. That way, looks less cobbled together, in my humble opinion. I like the tsuba you have picked out, just find something along the same lines, without hitsua-ana or plugged hitsu-ana. Does not necessarily need to be waves, lots of options. Just my thoughts, hope that helps Best