Jacques

The samurai who could afford a daisho made by Inoue Shinkai with a high-quality mount could be counted on the fingers of one hand, most low-level samurai or ronin wore what they could. A daisho is a long sword and a short sword worn at the same time, everything else is a matter of fashion and flattered ego. I remember a “daisho” sold by Nihonto.com; it was a “daisho” with two Shinkai blades (different Nengo) and the koshirae had attachments (tsuba and fushikashira had different certificates). The whole thing was sold as a daisho at an exorbitant price. Clearly, they were collected pieces from all over to make a whole.

I can't read chicken entrails, without measures (sori, motohaba, sakihaba, kasane), I can't say anything.

Daisho comes from the obligation for samurai to carry two swords (some non samurai were permitted to carry a wakizashi), one long and one short, the rest being a question of aesthetics and fashion...

Dee@ Nengo on your tanto is the same than the one of the oshigata : Juji ni hachi gatsu ni hi (torokusho is erroneous on this) I am with David on a shinshinto blade. Is the mune mitsu or iori ?

I've always wondered what you mean by “study piece”. For me, all quality swords signed, shoshin and in good polished condition are worthy of study (blade in hand, of course as you can't learn anything from photos).

It's good enough to know Heisenberg's principle, it's not very common. I've checked the author's website. He points out that the shodai probably never put nengo on his nakago. http://www.nihonto-m....com/blog/mino-kinju

The oshigata from the Kokon Meizukushi taizen is said to be a nidai's tanto and no one has ever seen this tanto. Official Japanese literature makes no mention whatsoever of tanto by Kinju with a nengo and authenticated. For me, a blog isn't a reliable source, you can say anything (invoke Heisenberg's principle of indeterminacy about a Norishige tanto, for example). I would add that hamon does not correspond

I spoke about Kinju, no one else.

There is no such thing as a tanto with a nengo.

Obviously gimei

Kinju blades are extremely rare and are tantos. This is the only example I've found, and it appears in several books.

Thanks, that said i will never buy a gimei, to my eyes a counterfaint is and remains a counterfaint. I've already bought a few blades without papers (some unpolished), none came back to me from BNTHK shinsa being declared gimei... I'll see for Kinju

You do what you want, it's none of my business.

A little correct, In this case, the kanji ichi means item, not one.

I won't get into the debate because I'm not interested in shinsakuto, so I don't know much about it. As for mei, you should know that they are in no way comparable to a handwritten signature. The smith engraves his mei to the exact stroke of the hammer and with great precision, and the changes that can be seen over the course of a career owe nothing to chance. If you're wise, perhaps one day I'll be able to explain these variations to you.

Naotane is one of the best shinshinto swordsmiths. I never talk about price, that's personal business.

Well, when a kissaki is well repaired, it doesn't show at all and especially not on photos.

I disagree. A good polisher would rather leave the defect than transform the shape of the kissaki. The one on the juyo looks very much like an ikubi kissaki 猪首切先 (common for this smith).

No, i had a tachi with a broken chu kissaki, the polisher (Zenon van Damme) returned the sword with the same type of kissaki.

I's a ko-kissaki, and the first quality of a good polisher is not to transform the architecture of a sword: a ko kissaki must remain a ko-kissaki and a chu-kissaki must remain a chu-kissaki.

I don't see anything wrong with this, it's common for the late Kamakura and Nanbokucho period. It's called Hisaki agaru.

Looks uchigatana so it can be late Muromachi.

OK, many thanks.

Thanks Markus So apparently no connection with the Hosokawa school.

Many thanks Steve.