Gabriel L

Well, I don't know, seppuku seems a bit extreme a reaction. :D Seriously though, I agree (although it's easy for any buyer to agree that rising prices are bad) - what necessitates a bump like this?

Grumble grumble... Apparently this went up for sale a couple days ago. Not surprisingly, it's already sold. Grumble. Seriously though, even if it's not a pinnacle of art in steel, am I missing some reason that a good condition attractive heian-era ko senjuin ken would be offered for so low? This also from the guy who recently offered a nidai Muramasa tanto for less than 5k (granted it had a couple slight flaws, but still). So I guess what I'm saying is, thank you Andrew Quirt for your terrific website, even if I am currently jobless and watching terrific stuff fly past. -GLL

Hi, A long Koto Bizen blade is likely going to be expensive, rare, and desirable. But I don't know, maybe there is something of poor workmanship and in poor enough condition that despite being old and long, yet of high enough artistry to be recognizably Bizen work, it will still be inexpensive and not worth preservation. If you don't need it to be textbook koto Bizen workmanship, then things loosen a little. Here's a Koto blade that could be good for iai: http://www.japanesesword.com/Images/Swo ... 6kat7.html A better idea (IMHO) would be to go for a gendai/showato or shinshinto piece. Some people use mantetsu, which are very functional but not as expensive (see http://www.legacyswords.com/fs_ant_daito9.htm). Aoi Art has a specifically targeted "iaido" section for usable but inexpensive (not too artful) nihonto, most of which are gendai or shinshinto blades: http://www.aoi-art.com/ (just one blade in that section as of this post, but they have high turnover). Some other possibilities: http://www.legacyswords.com/fs_ant_daito3.htm http://www.japanesesword.com/Images/Swo ... katana.htm http://www.japanesesword.com/Images/Swo ... ndai4.html http://www.japanesesword.com (lots of inexpensive items, might be something usable though most were a bit shorter than your range) EDIT: yes, I realize none of the examples linked except the last have bo-hi, but I think you're either going to need to reduce your criteria, keep an eagle eye out for a while, or get lucky. The NMB has lists of sword sellers on its main page - I'd suggest you peruse all of them exhaustively. Oh, and Dr. Stein's page (The Japanese Sword Guide) has commercial links as well, although going through every one will take a while. Cheers, -GLL

If I up the gamma on my screen I can see more of the blade details, and I am pretty sure this blade is not genuine. If you retake the photos with different lighting - e.g., use stronger light (don't use camera flash), move the highlight up into the tip area, take some closeups, and finally aim the blade at a light source and take a photo looking down the surface - I'll bet that we could be certain of its inauthenticity. To add to Koichi's comments, there is no hint of a genuine hamon, I see what may be some very coarse suggestions of an ayasugi-type hada (resembling many Chinese fakes), the groove(s) are horribly cut, the shape is awkward, etc... just giving some reasons why it looks very fake to me, not trying to be harsh here. Anyway, try taking some more photos. You might try putting the blade next to a window (indoors) in late afternoon on a sunny day, that will probably illuminate the surface details well. Cheers, GLL

No problem Hank. I wanted to backtrack a bit; we don't actually know that this is by the particular Fujiwara Masamune mentioned, so for me to say "it's chu-jo saku, rated 1.8 million yen in the Toko Taikan," etc. is misleading - I meant that in the context of "if it papered to TH under that name." But I think (emphasis on "think") my estimates are reasonable based on the quality of the blade and mounts regardless. Have you tried making a rubbing of the nakago, or is the topography of the mei even shallower than the visual contrast? It looks like it's so shallow that it's mostly visible through discoloration, in which case a rubbing would be even less clear, but you'd have to tell us if it's worth a try. I personally can sort of fit "Fujiwara" into the few light marks visible, but that's indicative of nothing whatsoever except the power of suggestion. Not that the reading by the Japanese curator is implausible; the state of the nakago and the style of the tanto itself both fit the time period well enough. But a rubbing is free and easy in any case. On an unrelated note, I like the wari kogai - don't see that as often and it's a neat style.

Well... I'll venture a *very* loose estimated range, if only because I like the taste of my foot. Seriously though, this is not going to mean much except as a sort of abstract inexpert thought exercise. If I was you, I wouldn't bank on my opinion here - I'm no dealer or appraiser. Maybe between $5,000-10,000? And if the blade was given a fresh polish and both blade and mounts papered to Tokubetsu Hozon, bump that up to $7,000-14,000? It's a nice old tanto by a chu-jo saku smith rated at 1.8 million yen (~$15,000 for a flawless full length sword, but the Toko Taikan ratings can be all over the map) with very nice mounts and an interesting history; a very complete package and attractive in quality. Anyway I'm already acting against my better instincts by stating these estimates; please take what I'm saying as the guesses of a novice who is curious with you. Others here could give much more reliable opinions but probably have better sense than to go public with them . In any case, certainly a fine family heirloom. Cheers, GLL

Hi again Hank, Everyone and his dog is at the SF Token Kai right now... except me of course. Another year in which the timing just didn't work. Anyway... perhaps your father meant that short swords were rarely seen on the WWII battlefield (which is true), wakizashi are common otherwise. They were used by all classes in addition to the samurai, and were the standard shoto of the daisho adopted in the Edo period which further boosted their ubiquity. This is another old blade in old mounts (congrats, 3 for 3) although the mounts are not as fine quality and the blade is in lamentable though probably very restorable condition. You might want to get a window polish on this one to see what's beneath the surface. It looks like it was sanded or polished by an amateur at some point, and that might make the geometry very difficult to re-define, but a polisher would have to see it in person to know. Gotta go again, -GLL

To expound on Darcy's comments... he has a nice writeup on ratings on his website. Bob Benson's site is Bushido Japanese Swords, and he has a page on NBTHK shinsa here. Basically, shinsa is an process whereby a blade is attributed by a panel of recognized experts, or an attributed blade is upgraded in status, and issued official papers to that effect. The NBTHK and NTHK are the two most widely accepted organizations that hold shinsa. As Darcy said, pursuing the highest level of paper that these blades might conceivably attain is probably a waste of money if you don't want to sell them, but at least submitting the unidentified sword for the first level (Hozon, in the NBTHK system) is advisable just in case it is something special that needs restoration. Hozon indicates "worthy of preservation" after all.

Hi Gabriel. Glad to meet you here too. Haha, hi Carlo. Yeah, I never posted here much for some reason. Longtime lurker. Hank, oil (gun oil is evidently tolerable though not traditional ) and a gun safe with silica is textbook for preservation. That last ~60 years of care will have saved you quite a lot of money, since this tanto might very well be able to go through shinsa without an expensive brand new polish. Speaking of which, Darcy's comment that both the blade and mounts could possibly paper to Tokubetsu Hozon is a pretty solid vote of quality. Congrats on a fine item, -GLL

Hi Hank B, and welcome to the NMB! Wow, what an entry! Good first post, and story. That is definitely a fine old blade you have there, and in beautiful mounts (love the lacquer style). All of it thoroughly authentic and quite nice looking besides (very good that you didn't touch it in any way, and it looks pretty well preserved for a WWII blade - most inherited WWII"souvenirs" are not properly maintained, did you or someone else keep this one oiled, or else in some dry airtight place?). 3000 yen! To put it lightly, in today's market that would be a ludicrous undervaluation. Amazing. I'm afraid I'm not of much help on the practical side of ID'ing this particular blade. I see no obvious listing of any Masamune from the Keicho era (1596-1615) in John Yumoto's or Kokan Nagayama's books, but these are basic guides that touch on only the more important smiths; I'm sure that someone with a proper reference (Hawley's, the Nihonto Koza, etc.) will be better able to help on this regard. I have to go so I cannot look much more closely at this for the moment; also I'll be away this weekend, but I look forward to seeing further results of this interesting thread come Monday. Cheers, -GLL EDIT: I just realized Hawley's only costs $160. Guess that multi-year bit of procrastination just ended - ordering now.

Hi again Richard, WWII era swords (gunto or showato) vary greatly. Most are mass-manufactured and are of little interest/value to nihonto collectors, although they are still interesting and important pieces of WWII militaria that people will pay several hundred to a thousand or so US dollars for. The blades are sometimes chrome plated, or handmade but using inferior materials and methods. Many had fake hamon. Some good resources for WWII swords exist, such as R. Fuller and R. Gregory's "Military Swords of Japan" (now out of print, but still available used). Some WWII swords did have true blades, either antique or contemporary (such as by the Yasukuni smiths), but these are not very common. MANY eBay swords are Chinese fakes. Many more still are sold with dishonest or deficient descriptions. eBay is not a good place to buy unless you are pretty knowledgeable and very careful, and even then it's still a risk. There are many reliable and reasonable sellers of authentic Japanese swords, including online retailers, so there's very little reason for a beginner to ever consider eBay. Gotta go, -GLL

Hi Richard, Welcome to the NMB! Franklin Mint seems to be an American collectibles manufacturer. Therefore whatever this specific sword of yours is, while an appraiser might value it highly as vintage sculptural work (did you mean £60-100, or £600-1000?), it certainly isn't nihonto; it almost certainly isn't a real sword either, defined as a metallurgically-correct, functionally-mounted blade. This forum is dedicated to nihonto, which are antique or contemporary Japanese swords that are traditionally made (according to very strict methods and materials, and even a licensing system in the case of modern blades). In the case of nihonto, polishing or restoration would be done by a qualified professional togishi, a job that takes many years of careful study and scholarship to become proficient in. Most of the members on this forum would be able to guide you in getting authentic nihonto repolished, but I doubt that their expertise would extend to restoring a vintage sculptural model of a sword by an American collectibles manufacturer - such a thing simply lies outside of the scope of this forum. Still, I think you'd be welcome to post images of the sword here and seek people's advice; you may get lucky in that some member's interest in antiques covers your particular item. One point of advice is to not attempt anything on your own; the extent to which your antique can be restored, the correct method of restoration, and the actual act of restoration are best left to experts of the appropriate field, if you care about preservation and value. On another note, what other blades do you own? How long have you been interested in Japanese arms and armor? Cheers, Gabriel L. PS - just some semantic points: Japanese nouns are both plural and singular, e.g. one katana / many katana. Also, a samurai is a member of an historical social caste, not a kind of blade .

Mike, Pretty sure you cannot see any hada at all in the pics. There's a ton of photographic noise which looks sort of like nashiji hada on the bright sword, but if you look closer it's uniform over the entire photo (except on the black background photo, but I suspect that one had the ground edited out to pure black anyway). Maybe I'm wrong and someone's seeing something I'm not, but it would be hard to tell behind all that noise... -GLL

They don't go through to the other side; the photos are all from one side. Meaning that the "smaller" tsuba are removable. I *assume* this means that it's a large board for displaying normal tsuba, but perhaps it's a normal tsuba with miniature and removable tsuba decorations...?