Hoshi

Oh so many things in this thread, where to begin. So much nuance is lost between strong statements. Attribution first and foremost reflects quality. Higher quality blades will move up and get attributed to the founder. Beyond quality, this depends on the level of feature distinctiveness between generations. Osafune Mainline has highly distinctive differences between Mitsutada, Nagamitsu, Kagemitsu, and Kanemitsu. While there is slippage from student to master, it presumably resides mostly with early work of the student before he took the head of the school. All these masters are highly rated, and highly distinctive between each other. If we go to Soden Bizen: Chogi / Kencho. Big powerful blades by Kencho likely end up with Chogi, and slender Chogi work will go to Kencho. Here it's not about quality per se (There is a strong case to be made that Kencho is just as, if not more skilled than Chogi, especially in his hamon) - but due to a specific dimension, namely how the shape maps onto the archetype of Chogi. It could be further argued that due to the very small number of signed blade by Kencho - which all feature extreme Soshu features - that the Kencho attribution is somewhat of a construct and could map onto many of the Soden-Bizen smiths working during these times whose names may have been lost. Norishige/Soshu. Some the top Soshu works such as the mysterious but extremely skilled Hata Chogi (See attached image. Zaimei Tanto) made work of such beauty that, had they been mumei, they would be attributed to Norishige. Such as this tanto below, in this case even towards the upper tier of Norishige's work. Highly probable that the cream of the crop of Sanekage likewise ends up lumped with Norishige. These movements are due to the masterful execution of elements of Norishige's work. Such as the regular and brilliant matsukawa, the nie swirls jumping through the hamon which will let these blades of other smiths carry the master's name. Same story occuring with Tametsugu to Go. The process is somewhat poetic, I find. Masamune is a big topic. From the thousands of blades dubiously attributed to him in the late Edo period, we are now left with about 60 blades (~40 Katana). Out of these 60 blades, about a third have uncertainties cited clearly in the Setsumei. It's important to read the Zufu records carefully because the NBHTK - while beholden to some of the old attributions from the top Honami or the famous Meibutsu-sho - will express doubts when doubts are warranted. "Soshu Joko No Saku" "To Mei ga aru" "Nanbokucho top Soshu work" are all ways of expressing doubt, the Japanese way. And there are blades with no provenance at all that have been attributed to Masamune by the NBHTK. They do exist, and one of them recently passed Tokuju. Finally, the usage of "Den" for Masamune is different than for other smiths. All blades are "Den" by default - except those with Kinzogan mei by one of the top judges which are confirmed to be Masamune. A Masamune with a Kinzogan mei from a top judge which features "Den" is a rejection of the old attribution. So, to sum up, the NBHTK goes to great length to explain its reasoning in the Setsumei and is extremely conservative with its attributions to Masamune - a studious lecture of these volumes will provide much clarity. Let us contemplate for a moment that out of ~1600 or so Soshu Koto blades of Juyo or higher ranking ~30 have an attribution to Masamune with a supporting Setsumei (less than 2%). What I'm trying to convy here is that a case-by-case analysis is necessary to contextualize this (generally true) assertion. At the end, an attribution on a mumei blade reflects a probability field where multiple answers coexists, some better than others. The higher-level the blade, the more one of those answers tend to overtake the others (because the blade is highly distinctive in its masterfulness). Sometimes we are left floating between two or three guesses equally likely, this is where "Den" comes in (in most cases, again see above). This is why the NBHTK rarely slam dunks a Naoe Shizu or Yamato smith, because distinctiveness is lost, same with Sue-Bizen, Sue-most-things. Ko-Uda, Ko-Senjuin, Takeda, Bungo, Ko-provincial school and many more, all very difficult to pin-point. We must live with this uncertainty. We must also live with attributional constructs which act as convenient parking spots to lump blade via a process of elimination. The more we drift away from mainline masters, the more attributions should be read as a statement containing a list of eliminated candidates with high certainty. What I mean by this is that even something like "Den Ko-Uda" contains a lot of information about what it is not. It's no surprise finally that here in the west, we have the impression that founders or famous smiths are overrated compared to their students. Look at those beaters on AOI art - shadows of their former selves, disfigured by time. It's a minuscule market, and the blades that made the founders famous will be sold discreetly on the Japanese market. What we get here are the "value buys" and the "cheap for Rai" kind of deals. Survivorship bias at play. Hell if I was scrolling AOIart and YJP! I would think Shinto just owns, especially second and third-gen students.

What a beauty, thanks for sharing here. The sort of sublime work that makes me want to dip into Tosogu. We should create a new thread and post a best-off from the old one, along with new pieces and links. It was one of my favorite threads too.

Time to put the brakes on the swindle. Get it polished, send it for paper, maybe you get a nice attribution. Sell it or consign it with a dealer. Take your money and buy bitcoin.

Good old sword show swindle. Burning newcomers like this is just vile. Now you paid your due, you paid the protection money. Next step is to setup your stand and pass this swindle onto the next guy. Rinse and repeat until everyone gets burned. Harder to pull off these days because reputation tends to be sticky with the advent of the internet.

Kantei is about matching traits to a maker, not to guess the signature per se. The more archetypal the blade the more these things should converge, and by extension the more applicable the lesson. Now I don't think there is anything wrong with atypical ones interspersed between typical ones, because it goes to shows either the limit of our knowledge and system, or the fact that there was unexpected variation or versatility in the work of a particular smith. Would be good to have more Kantei exercises on the board, these are often the best kind of threads.

Strange one. Hizento would have been my kantei. Nosada possible, versatile guy, could do almost anything. Now with Bizen in mind. There is not a single element on this blade which would be in line with anything before Sue-Bizen to me and the hada is not what we see in Oei. So this leave late Muromachi, Offshoot of Yozozaemon? These guys did do some Suguha with fine hada (here for example). Shape isn't the typical late muromachi blade though. Perhaps a special order.

Sublime work. Thanks for sharing.

The majority of the work from the Shinto to the Gendai period can't be nailed down to a specific smiths with any reasonable certainty due to the lack of characteristic features. Often the best you can hope for is a school, and even then - the waters quickly become murky. Attribution is likely to just be a statement on quality and not much else in the end. Post unification, the centralisation of the steel production and the spread of Mino as the school to rule them all, swords started to look much more alike than they did in the good ol' Koto days. Obvious exceptions do apply as usual, but its a good rule of thumb.

Sayagakis get swapped or faked all the time. For this price level you better get a papered blades and stay away from the snake pits (Ebay, YJP, etc). If you want a high-quality sword at a steep discount get a mumei muromachi and later swords, papered and attributed to a great smith. For example: https://tokka.biz/sword/tsunahiro3.html

Run away. For that budget you can get something nice, papered and polished. I suggest looking on the forum.

Very interesting find Jim. The Habaki itself is a piece of art. All should be sent to Shinsa in Japan to get a clear picture. I'm in the shoshin camp based on gut feeling alone (with the tameshigiri part as a romantic exaggeration...) I think you have here something very special.

1. Something extraordinary in the deki: Ko-Nie like shimmering diamonds, Utsuri like an aurora borealis, Hada as moist as the the reflection of a still pond in winter, thundering Inazuma circling in and out of clouds of icy nie, Starlike tobiyaki illuminating a moonless sky. Something in the blade must leave me awestruck, beauty beyond human comprehension. Then the story: the provenance, a koshirae, an old family mon, ancient tags, remnants of a romantic past. The combination of both is what I find most appealing. 2. Utsuri. Just haven't seen enough of the more subtle types (e.g. Bo, Jifu, etc) and especially how utsuri interacts with condition. 3. I would ask Masamune to call Kirill (but do tell us more about your ideas)

Amazing guy, great service, highly recommended.

Beware Gold-digger.

Could be slightly machi-okuri. You'd need to check where the smith generally begins his hamon.

Return it as fast as you can. That is one ugly, undisclosed fukure. That's not a small kizu, especially in Shinto.

The video showcase format is a great way of knowing what you're buying - far better than photos in my opinion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSARnI8V-1s&feature=emb_logo If I were you I wouldn't sell it at a loss. You should be patient and recoup what you have invested into it. This is a mighty fine koto sword and I see no reason why you shouldn't factor in the cost of the polish. That Ichimonji has to be one of the best koto sword I've seen offered on NMB, up there with Jean's sales. Hada and hamon, simply superb.

Some nuggets: Late muromachi, Seki methods spread and dominate during Shinto times, leading to loss of school-level variations. Brief Momoyama effort to resurect the old methods, fades quickly. Some of it lives on in Hizen in a parallel universe. Shinto peace times reinforce the non-utilitarian aspect of swords, craft is driven by fades and fashions which are disconnected from function. Centralized Tamahagane production leads to loss of regional specificity in iron Reduction in demand for swords during Shinto times leads smashes the right tail of the distribution of geniuses which would have turned grand-masters. Shinshinto Masahide revival starts from scratch after observations that swords are no longer functional. Two generation, destruction test on Naotane swords reveal that the Masahide school wasn't successful in returning functionality. Mozart Kyomaro manages to reproduce some of the beauty of old Koto but then dies young and full of debt. Sword ban strangulates the craft even further... Amongst all these, I think the most underrated is probably 5.

I see a coronavirus Tsuba. I see interesting similarities between snowflakes and family Mon.

Good catch. Yes, antai. The old terminology confusion creeps up once more. Pitch black antai composed of very dense nie.

I have seen a Nosada Uchigatana in Rai style with stunning utsuri at the DTI 2019 which like you describe, was near pitch black in contrast and could be seen from a mile away. In fact Nosada's copies of Rai are so convincing that it happens, once and a while, to see a mumei "likely Nosada" posing as Rai with old papers. One of the signs to distinguish between both is that Nosada often added a subtle little blob in his otherwise perfect suguha Hamon as his trademark. Little blob in Suguha + pitch black Utsuri point to Nosada. The high quality of Rai imitations are in my experience limited to Nosada and not further generations, where the nie becomes much more faded and the metal ressembles more and more what we traditionally associate with Seki.

8 swords, and selling 4 successfully all sounds quite healthy to me. if you've been able to recoup, buy and sell, and kindle your passion this way then more power to you. You're also correct in stating that the 500$ range is the less risky of all brackets, due to the liquidity of the market and the numerous "deal hunters" you'll find on Ebay. Spice up a description, add blurry photos, mention Grandpa Binmore GI bringback as well as a mysterious tsuba and it'll move on to the next with little friction. As soon as you break out of the the EBAY treasure hunter range then this is where the minefield begins.

Kanemoto is classic target for gimei. This blade is either gimei, or "another Kanemoto" which is the Japanese way to go about it. Magoruku (first gen Kanemoto) had a great reputation for creating sharp, no-nonsense blades, which were in fashion by the more austere martial artists of the time, and even today. You'll find them associated with tea ceremony influences, bearing Higo koshirae, for instance, and quite popular with the Hosokawa. Muromachi Seki Magoroku and Nosada were very talented and shine far above what we usually associate with Seki works and can be considered the founders of the Mino tradition (unlike Shizu offshoots, which were clearly Soshu, or Kinju, but that's another topic). The first generations of Kanemoto worked in a "sanbonsugi" hamon which shows three little spikes in a repeating pattern. The first generation had a very organic expression of theme which is highly valued today, and as you move down the line it becomes more regular and ultimately less interesting. As for the Tsuba, couple hundred bucks on AOI or paperweights in Japan bought by the kilo. If I'm not mistaken you've been hoarding all sorts of Ebay freak circus blades, and it could be time to consider a trip to Japan, books, or other education tools to sharpen your eyes. "Buy before you learn on EBAY" will put you into a dire predicament...

Taima, Echizen Rai, Enju, Morikage... Probably time to consolidate and move to one first tier masterwork. Taima upgrades to Yukimitsu Echizen Rai/Enju to Rai or Awataguchi Morikage to Chogi, Kencho, or Kanemitsu PS: the Taima has a fine shape.

Here is one: