bullpuppy

I just received this from a purchase on ebay. It is in need of a polish. It was in the standard WW II mounts. It is unsigned and the nagasa is 24 inches and the yasurime is Kesho Yasuri. I am having a hard time making out the hada because of the damage of the finger prints. The Hamon is interesting and is in different patterns in different places. I like to know if anyone could give me some insight on the school. The pictures are at http://bladerunnerswords.spaces.msn.com in the album Gendaito.

I am fairly new and have read posts where people suggest removing gemie in order to submit to shinsa. I like to know if this is a common practice?. Is this a ethical practice (removing something that should not be there in the first place seems ok to me)? Why don't Shinsa procedures be modified to note gemie but pass the blade under the real smith. How is removing it done? Do you try to remove it and leave the tang in that state or rust it make to make it less noticable? I also like to know the common way the gemei come into being. The ones I have read about are as follows: 1) The smith signs the blade with a better known smith. What if the smith ends up making better blades than the known smith. 2) Someone takes an unsigned blade and signs a smith to increase it's value. This one is interesting that they could sign it with a lesser smith than the original. Also this could happen hundreds of years after the blade is made and not detected to hundreds of years later.

The seller just listed them on ebay. http://stores.ebay.com/scarceantiques_W ... QpZ3QQtZkm I actually visited him and saw some of them but time constraints prevented me from examining them. The number of them is over welling for me and I do not have the experience to make any judgments quickly. In my brief discussions with the seller he is willing to deal and will sell face to face for cash.

I can't go after this one now, but it looks very interesting. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... %3AIT&rd=1

I sure there are many reasons. But when an unsigned blade is attributed to a well acknowledged smith via Shinsa and the smith signs other blades why didn't he sign all. Some reasons that I made up: 1) The finished blade did not meet his standards 2) Perhaps he didn't want the blade traced to him. (maybe tax evasion) 3) The blade has been cut down and signature was lost. 4) Perhaps he exceeded his allowable quota 5) Superstition 6) a student made it with out the teachers knowledge but duplicated the style. 7) He needed to keep his identity hidden, perhaps making blades for the enemy.

One of my sources said the following: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I read the signature as Akinaga but there is not record of this smith in Nihonto Meikan. So not well known. Looks like it might be koto but I am not sure. The hamon looks like suguha but this is a kasho polish so the hamon is hidden under the kasho polish. In the images a couple of place I might be seening the real hamon and it looks narrow. But just a guess. Sorry very hard to say but this is a gamble. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Someday I may give some kind of opinion.

The mei you posted matches this one. If you look at third picture down on the left you see something nasty.

I sent inquires out and I will let you know what I get back. The buffing concerns me but I like tha Hamon. I hope they didn't buff it down too far. I will let you know if I plan to bid. Hate to get in a bidding war with a fellow member.

Thanks for all the feedback. All the comments are most constructive. The smith seems to be hard to track down. I will keep you all updated with the progress on this project. The sword is a katana not a wak. The cutting edge is 26 1/8. I like to know if anyone could access value on this one. I am not selling but it does make the wife feel better.

If I am interpreting the writing correctly on the work sheet it says L. keio. Prior to this sword I bought 4. The first one was a Chinese fake. The second and third were Gendai which I resold for a net profit. The fourth was the one I posted http://militaria.co.za/nihontomessagebo ... c.php?t=93 and is probably a gemei but I still like it and I am still getting different opinions. This one was posted on this message board. I followed the advice given on this message board also. Actually I bought it by mistake. I set a limit on how much I would pay but I entered dollars in an pound auction and won. That's why I had to sell the 2 Gendai. I am glad the point score was relatively high. Not a Koto so I will have to get one of these another day. If the sword was in good polish would it have scored even higher? Any ideas on the maker or other examples of his work I would be most interested. What would a papered sword like this will be worth? I am going to invest in a koshirae and a good polish for it and plan on keeping it The picture of the worksheet can be save locally and if you open it in a different viewer you should be able to read it. I was hoping for a Koto but I am happy with it.

I just got the sword back from the Shinsa. I found this sword on this message board shortly after I joined. The sword was listed at the following link. http://militaria.co.za/nihontomessagebo ... c.php?t=34 I could not attach the work sheet becuause of size so I posted at the following link. You will have to save it locally to read it. http://bladerunnerswords.spaces.live.com/ I tried to look up the maker and the school in the Connoisseurs Book of Japanese swords but could not find the maker or the school during the koto period. If any one has additional information on the maker please let me know. Now it time to wait in line for a polish.

He has several swords for sale and offers polishing. http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZfwic2803QQhtZ-1

The pictures are a problem but thanks. Just out of curiosity what was the translation on the mei? My understanding from your comments is that they would mark the nakado when they did the fittings. And since the mei looks like it was applied at the time the blade was made then it was made during WWII. I don't know if it would be better to bend it back or, perhaps file it flat. Very strange that it ended up that way. I didn't pay that much for the blade and I bought fittings to make a Koshirae. The original fittings are mint military and the handle fits tightly so it was probably fitted that way. The polish is pretty good on it now and probably not worth the investment. So it sounds that the consensus is that it is not a Shinto blade but a gendaito done in traditional Kanemoto style. It probably would take a Shinsa to determine the maker. I wonder if was made by a generation of the Kanemoto group. Maybe the 27th? http://www.setocut.co.jp/sword1_6.html I forgot to mention that it is extremely sharp. The sharpest one I have, in my limited experience ever have handled. I forgot to mention that it is extreamly sharp

I tried put together some better pictures. Tang is covered with too much old black rust too get anything better. Are there any experts in the LA area that would like to take a look? http://bladerunnerswords.spaces.msn.com

Thanks Darcy for your insights. I will get some better better pictures shortly. The HABAKI is stuck on so the mesurements are a little more dificult. The widest part of the nakago 7.20 mm. Measuring the widest part on the 1/2 foward of the back notch is 6.15 mm. I cannot make out the yasurime even under madification due to the rust. The chisel marks on the mei can only be seem under magnification also. I will try to figure out a way to get sharper pictures of these.

Was it the mei that indicated that or the blade? The length at 27 3/4 seems too long for a WWii blade.

I bought this a little while ago. The owner said that it is a shinto and the inscription reads Noshu seki ju kanemoto The blade is mukume and masame hada with the temper in a nioi base. . The cutting edge is 27-3/4. The pictures are at http://bladerunnerswords.spaces.msn.com/ I did some research below on Kanemoto but I trying to figure out which Kanemoto made this one. http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:bzj ... =clnk&cd=1. I did some research and found the follow information on the group of makers. http://www.nmcollector.net/Kanemoto/Kanemoto.htm http://www.setocut.co.jp/sword1_6.html http://www.samuraisword.com/nihontodisp ... moto_2.htm http://bladerunnerswords.spaces.msn.com/

I found a person on ebay that is selling the horn saya parts.

http://cgi.ebay.com/AUTHENTIC-Japanese- ... dZViewItem

Does anyone have a good source for these parts? I am picking out parts for a couple saya. Are FUCHI used for both the Tsuka and Saya?

I will add them to my list of favorites.

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZbuyats ... netQQhtZ-1

So it may have some relation to a historical event.

Moses Becerra is will represent absentees.

I saw this on ebay. I don't think this original but I though I would ask. http://daimyoutono1.web.infoseek.co.jp/Z742/index.htm