DirkO

I'm still a beginning nihon-to student, but what I understand from this is, that this Shisogane was something special. I can't find any other reference to it, except yours. The use of Shiso-gane was so special that the smith actually thought it important enough to engrave in his creation. Now why is this ? I know they sometimes enscribed the use of Nanbantetsu, because it was different from what they used to forge with. Was the ore from Shiso district special/different in any way ? Can anyone tell me something more about this "shiso-gane" ? @ Markus : again for your help. I was helpless when it came to these kanji

First of all : thanks for your efforts !!! I already thought this was a tough nut to crack hmm seeing this smith was quite good and also known under another name, this could be right (the steel of supremest purity bit). Can anyone tell me the hiragana and the literal translation? I'm following Japanese courses, but didn't get as far as kanji yet Domo arrigato gozaimasu !

Hi, I'm trying to translate this uramei (comes from a Naomichi wak): My guess : SHO-?-SADA-CHU-ZO/TSUKU-TO I'm not bad at kanji, but this uramei is written rather shallow and the kanji have way too many strokes for me to make an educated guess... Any help or pointers would be greatly appreciated !

Nice article ! It was very informative, I must say. But I'm still somewhat confused by the two Hosokawa Masayoshi in my Hawleys. The nidai seems to be better and is extensively documented in other books as well, whereas the 1st Hosokawa Masayoshi is hardly documented at all... (although hawley's still gives him a respectable 40points)

hmmm I also thought that the mei was engraved in a confident manner, but I'm not experienced enough to make that call, that's why I ask you guys. I still think the "kawa" kanji takes up an awfull lot of space compared to the other kanji.... Here's a better shot of the tanto : Masayoshi

Merci beaucoup Jacques ! Just wanted to make sure ...

Hi, I've come across this mei and I read the last two kanji as masayoshi. But due to the mekugi, I'm still guessing at the first 2 kanji. My guess would be Hosokawa, but the space reserved for the kanji "kawa" seems totally out of scope, which I find disturbing (gimei ?) Now I've hit a few books, and I can find two smiths who signed as Hosokawa and I have various reference mei for Bakkashi Hosokawa Masayoshi (Nihonto Koza - Kanzan Sato's Oshigata Dictionary). I'm pretty sure it's not him, due to the kanji "masa" and the yasurime being totally different. So it could be the other one : MAS1402 - TK593. My question is twofold : first of all : is my translation correct ? secondly, does anyone have a reference mei for the remaining Hosokawa Masayoshi ?

OK I'm a total beginner at this (firsttimer actually so go gently on me ), but I'll bite :-) I'm not afraid of being wrong. Nanbokucho period Shinogi-zukuri Torii-Zori O-kissaki Horimono : shin no kurikara + kaen fudo Ko-mokume hada ? Ko-choji hamon with tobiyaki Yakuzime boshi ? I'll take an "educated guess" on Rai Kuniyuki...

Could it be yasurime were used to make it more difficult to counterfeit the smith's work ? If it's like you said, with tools handed down and tradition and so on, and it is in fact used for kantei, then yasurime could be a way to do this.

Aaaah I was suspecting this as well :-) At least I'm not the only one who saw that the hada-area is really blurred near the nakago...

Sorry Stephen, from your "once more" I gather you've given this explanation more than a few times I did however search this forum and it didn't give me any hits on "hagarami". In the books I had, it also spoke of an "oblique" crack, however I didn't fully understand what it meant untill your very descriptive pic from Joly's book. (don't have that book yet) So a well meant "thank you" to you Stephen (and off course also to the rest of you who so willingly answered my rather basic question)

Hi, I've come across this term here and there and they always describe it as being a variant of an hagire, but is there someone who can explain me more clearly (pref with pic !) exactly what kind of kizu a hagarami is. And is it a fatal flaw ? All my books simply describe it in words and I can't picture it, I'm afraid....

http://cgi.ebay.com/Clay-Temper-Razor-S ... 0123510449 Sorry, I couldn't resist Love the sageo-tying though

Yep I'd pre-order 3 as well :-) (for a free dedication on mine off course )

Brian's idea is the most diplomatic way to go about :-) I'd take his advice if I were you.

Not claiming to be an expert- but I would play it in the open. Simply ask him to take a total pic of the blade in which you can see the flaw. Tell him some friends of yours saw the blade at the show and they couldn't find any flaw. (you can also mention the high-res pics) It could be an honest mistake, it could be that he's simply testing the water, or it could be that he's trying to con you. Anyway, confronting him will shed light on his intentions.

There's a bit about it on Dr Steiners site : TOEN SHA ORIGAMI This organization was founded and operated by Murakami Kosuke sensei, a student of Hon'ami Koson, and once a member of the NBTHK Juyo Shinsa. The organization issued several levels of papers which are quite highly regarded. When Murakami sensei passed away some years ago the group disbanded. (Information courtesy of Arnold Frenzel).

And still, this was a really solid tsuba, the owner in question would have to be really reckless with his kozuka, to get those scratches :-s

I agree that the mei doesn't match any of these fine osigata. But it doesn't seem to have kesho yasuri markings either. Any ideas anyone which way to go ?

Merci beaucoup Jacques !!! I'll eagerly await the oshigata.

Hmmm so it is the shodai ? The suguha looks very well indeed. I can't wait to get it in hand and at least oil it properly (he doesn't know how to care for it, so that's one of the things I need to do, teach him how to care for it and how to handle it)

Hi, A friend of mine inherited this blade from his uncle. He told me it was signed "yoshimishi", but after some research I think "Yamato no Kami Yoshimichi" is more correct (please correct me if I'm wrong). Now I've looked up some info about this name, but all the smiths I found had another mei, or their hamon was far away from being something that I would describe as suguha or possibly sudare-ba. Now he knows even less than I know about swords, so these pictures are all I can go by untill I arrange a visit. I also asked hem about any flaws in the blade, and after referring to Dr Steiner's site, he told me that the "battle scar" as he described it, is probably a hagire (I asked him for a picture, but he was unable to photograph it - I'm still hoping he's wrong off course). He also couldn't find any trace of yasurime (and I couldn't either, seeing the pics) Now there are 5 Yamato no Kami Yoshimichi in my Hawleys, and untill now, none of them seem to fit the bill. Did I go wrong with the translation because the mekugiana pierced one of the characters (different province ?) ? Any info would be appreciated. I'll probably arrange a visit in the next few weeks, but it would like to know what exact details I should pay attention to when looking at it. I'm still only just a novice ... so any info would really be appreciated. I don't have a Fujishiro's yet, so I was unable to look it up there for reference.

This is the reply i got from the seller : Hello, I hope you can read my bad english. NBTHS(Nihon Bijutsu Token Hozon Shisakai) was a sword group of Honami Nagatsune. NBTHS was a large-scale meeting for the study. But NBTHS stops activity now. Because the meeting was dissolved by financial failure. The serial numbers of Kanteisho are different branch office. Thank you, Mitsuhiro.

:-) Wonderfull work indeed. But still : this seller sells a lot of swords, most of them with legit NBTHK papers. Where did these papers suddenly come from ? Who issued them ? Seeing they were issued decades ago and there's 8 years between the two issue dates, it's not a shortlived organisation that issued them... I find it hard to believe that they would be totally bogus. fwic2803 sometimes has some nice items and usually doesn't hide any mistakes. I've sent him a mail to ask for an explanation about these papers.

i stand corrected ...